Salvaging Components---Where Do YOU Get Them?

I always enjoyed poking about at P&D surplus in Kingston, NY.
Wonder if they're still there?

Dave

I recommend OEM Parts in Colorado Springs.  Just _browsing_ the isles
will take you 2-3 hours.  To pick up, look over, and place back
interesting junque you see will add another 2 hours to your visit.

Jeff Jeff Duntemann describes it quite well on his website:

  http://www.duntemann.com/december2005.htm#12-30-2005

They also have an eBay store that I did not know about.  (But, then,
now-a-days *everybody* has an eBay store....)

  http://stores.ebay.com/OEM-Parts-Inc

A brief look over their eBay store merchandise doesn't EVEN BEGIN to
convey how much Really Good Crap they have there.

In the last 10 years they've moved twice within Colorado Springs -- each
time from a defunct grocery store to a yet-larger defunct grocery store.
I never got to see them do a move.  THAT would be something a feller
could tell to his grandchildren!

My wife knows she won't see me for the whole day when I head out on
the 50 mile drive up there.

HTH
Jonesy
--
  Marvin L Jones    | jonz          | W3DHJ  | linux
   38.24N  104.55W  |  @ config.com | Jonesy |  OS/2

put finger to keyboard and composed:


So they recycle grocery stores as well. ;-)

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

(posting from r.c.m.)

LOL.  funny to see "P&D surplus" here.  (international newsgroup, P&T is
local to me)  yeah, they're still there.  there's always controversy about
the name though, people always debating if it's "P&D" or "P&T".  just looked
in the phone book, i guess he changed the name, "P&T Surplus  198 Abeel St.
Kingston NY  (845) 338-6191"  he's a good guy, gave me a break/discount
multiple times, i think he has his gearmotors at too high a price though.
:-)

I'm pretty sure it *was* P&D, but my 1st trip there was in the '80s, so
I wouldn't be suprised if there was no P and no D in the name.

Dave

They were a few months ago.

My source is mostly unsold military surplus equipment. These pages use
such equipment in the most prominent role.

     http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Garage-Heater/

     http://igor.chudov.com/projects/17.5-Phase-Converter/

     http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Pullup-Bar/

I use very little stuff from dumpsters, and that mostly from nice
dumpsters like big government sponsored laboratories. Not from
dumpsters behind apartment complexes.

I try to avoid consumer goods of any kinds as source of parts.

i

It's getting tougher and tougher as manufacturing goes offshore. A few years
ago I worked at Rohr Ind. making aircraft nacells and the like. All surplus
stuff went to the one acre salvage yard open to all on Saturdays. I still
have stuff hanging from the rafter of stuff that one day will be used.
Bearings, shafts, wheel, brackets, metal parts of all kinds. And even then
there were two major salvage operators in the San Diego area where I could
pick up anything from slides to motors to bekers, to resistors and anything
in betwen.

About all we have left no days are the auto junk yards where windishield
wiper motors, window motors, solenoids, starter motors and the like can be
had for good prices. But the good old days of scrounging the industrial
salvage yards are gone. I now use McMaster Carr and say to hek with saving a
nickel or dime when all I need to do is place an order by email and have the
part next day. Speed has replaced cheap.

Wayne

Myself, as a humanoid robotic/animatronic builder only use components
that can be had
in quantity-All of my projects rely on the same steppers with different
gearing for each
joint/movement. In most cases, only the external features change all
that much, so It is
simply not feasible to re-invent the wheel for every new scrap that
comes along. I do often locate a useable item in online surplus, and
hoard as many as possible, which helps with costs.

Mark

Wayne Lundberg wrote:

Yes. And the fact that new stuff is getting more and more affordable makes
it possible to stabilize a design or concept using standard off-the-shelf
components without hocking grandma's house.

Just to prove a point. I'm in the process of developing an anti IED device.
Years ago I would be spending a lot of time traveling the local aerospace
salvage yards looking for this or that. Today I go first to McMaster for
mechanical stuff, and then to Jameco for the electrical stuff and do it from
the comfort of my home while unshaven and in skivvies. And the end cost is
about the same once you figure three bucks a gallon gas and prohibitive
parking fees in some places that should know better.

I've noticed that also...the more manufacturing goes off shore, the
less quality surplus there is.

Boeing Surplus is a good example of this trend.

I have also noticed that the consumer goods available today offer
little to salvage even as the volume of the goods headed towards the
landfill increase.

TMT


Wayne Lundberg wrote:

There are actually three other reasons there is less industrial/military
surplus these days, and at least for military surplus offshore
production isn't one of them:

1. The gobment is mandating more and more of the "retired" components be
destroyed, rather than liquidated, because of its sensitive security
issues. Even when there are no secret mechanisms to protect, the gobment
feels certain individuals could purchase Uncle Sam's discards to use in
terrorist devices.

2. The core materials in some of this stuff is worth more as salvage
than as surplus, and the money gets paid faster. Prices for copper is
going through the roof.

3. New state and federal laws regarding disposition of anything with
lead has surplus dealers not as willing to purchase palettes of
miscellaneous junk. They used to just throw the extra stuff out; now
they can't do that, because of the lead content in everything including
old IBM PC motherboards. They have to pay to have it recycled.

-- Gordon

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:19:56 -0700, Gordon McComb

I see about same quantity of military surplus stuff as before, and at
no worse prices.

As for "sensitive security issues", I am begging people to take my
submarine navigation equipment from Ohio and Los Angeles class
subs. For free. I bought this from the military itself, as part of my
buying/selling surplus stuff, and could not sell.

So, if you want submarine pieces for free, stop by and pick them up, I
am west of Chicago. (yes, I already posted to craigslist anf freecycle)

http://yabe.algebra.com/~ichudov/misc/ebay/SubmarineSwitch-2/

(US citizens only plz)

These would make nice outdoor boxes for whatever you might fancy.

i

    That's not the gyrocompass. It's the switch to select which gyrocompass
drives the repeater.  That's not a security-related item.
    
                John Nagle

On 28 Jul 2006 12:05:51 -0700, "Too_Many_Tools"


Silicon Chip magazine has a dedicated salvage column:
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/search/index.html?scope=&keywords=salvage+it&Search=Search

Otherwise here in Australia we have surplus outlets such as ...
 http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/

Here's a CNC machine:
 http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/images/k142_1049.jpg
 http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/kits/cnc_machine.htm

"Most of the bits and pieces, motors, power supplies, mains socket and
switch, opto switches were recycled from the German printers that
Oatley Electronics once sold".

"The basic structure of the machine was made with off-cuts of various
aluminium extrusions and some recycled linear bearings from some old
photo processing equipment".

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:14:31 +1000, Franc Zabkar


I snapped up that stereo microscope they had. It's cool, you can see
the cells of plants through it, well I *think* they're cells.


____________________________________________________
"I like to be organised. A place for everything. And everything all over the
place."

Any Place like this inthe Northern Virginia / Washington DC area?

We have several industrial surplus companies in our area.  There are also
several manufacturing resources in the area to furnish fodder for these
companies.  Lucent (deceased), Seagate, Hitachi and other smaller companies
produce a wealth of materials.  One reason we now live in a warehouse is my
"familiarity" with these companies.  The main one (over 100,000 sqft under
roof) has one area just for salvaging industrial equipment.  Several years
ago, Hitachi closed a production line and it went to salvage there.  After
the assembled equipment was found not marketable as such, I spent many
evenings, weekends and spare time disassembling the devices and bought
parts.  Servo motors, lots of bearing rail, ball screws, manufacturing
process camera equip, a pot-load of aluminum unistrut type material, stepper
motors and controllers, plc's and lots of misc, etc and-so-on stuff (even
micrometer air cylinders) were included.  Lots of little CNC devices have
come from the old Seagate plant.  Got a nice x-z Daedal (6x12) positioner
with Parker/Compumotor drive.  Got another nice xyz with rotation unit that
has a Galil controller and all servo drives.  Anyone like Galil and C++
programming?  Not I.  Did some trading for some old Intelidex robot arms and
controllers and if anyone knows ANYTHING about these guys, we need to talk.
I've found nice DC motors and controllers on paper shredders and treadmills.
Hospital surplus is great for this stuff.  Got a fairly complete CT table
and controller cabinet with several DC motors, b-rails and ballscrews, etc,
at one place.  Now, what have I built?  Mostly an accumulation to draw from
when we finally get our house sold and settled here.  I have been able to
help some local friends with their projects, though.
Respectfully,
Ron Moore