OT cast off tools in garbage

Isn't there a google maps mashup for good stuff seen on the curb?

Dave

Some places the curb can be good, but nothing like knowing where the good dumpsters are. I know some guys that run a commercial dumpster diving operation. They have a WAREHOUSE filled with electronic test gear, computers, industrial equipment, anything you can (or can't) imagine! Medical lasers, mobile radios.....

I've done some limited dumpster diving myself, mostly at work (large private university) and gotten an almost working Silicon Graphics computer (which I fixed), a perfectly working HP digital oscilloscope, a Nicolet transient digitizer that I cleaned up and sold on eBay, some vacuum pumps, both mechanical and diffusion (eBay), enough high-end color computer monitors to keep me in stock for years, and I could go on for pages, if I could even remember it all. Just yesterday I used a piece of all-thread from a pile they threw out. There was literally more than I could carry! All brand-new, full lengths! I have enough to just about last the rest of my life!

Jon

i got a (meat cutting) bandsaw (which i converted to a wood cutting) off the street in brooklyn. got a pexto sheet metal bending brake off the street in manhattan, both about 20 years ago now. got a big old jackshaft flat belt drill press out of the basement of an abandoned warehouse in brooklyn too.

the brake was my pride and joy though. had a bent left-handed adjusting screw which i had made up and then it was in perfect working condition.

that's a DAMN shame about the carpenter clamps!!!

b.w.

I used to do that. Now the University of Illinois will charge you with trespass and theft if you take things from the dumpsters. Before anybody steps up to say how stupid that is, there are good reasons:

• Everything with scrap value is separated and belongs to the scrapper that got the contract for the year (at flat per pound rate). So it isn't heading for a landfill. It belongs to someone.

• It keeps employees from throwing things of value away so they can retrieve them for themselves later.

That was l> I've done some limited dumpster diving myself, mostly at work

What actually is stupid, is when valuable stuff is scrapped and put in dumpsters, not what happens to it when it already is in dumpsters.

The most fun is when stuff is sold at scrap price that actually has incredible resale value. Like two pallets full of new high end electrical supplies for power distribution, sold for basically nothing etc.

i

They haven't gotten so draconian where I work, and the refuse hauler's couldn't care, they get paid flat rate, if somebody wants to lighten their load, all the better.

They HAVE instituted a policy that all computer gear has to be sent through proper channels for hazmat, though, so no more good computer gear in the trash, DAMMIT!

Jon

Where I work, people put things that are repairable, have second uses, etc. out NEXT to the dumpsters on a couple of loading docks. Some of it is total garbage, electrical equipment from the 1940's or something, but some of it is really good stuff, like vacuum pumps, chairs with slight imperfections, just any sort of stuff. I've furnished our lab at work with cast-off chairs, etc. from the Engineering School's conference rooms. Even used, they are better than what our tightwads would ever allow us to buy.

Jon

Jon, that is extremely nice. Ultimately leads to a much more productive society.

i

Way too much still goes in the dumpster! We just retired a nice VCR that was heavily used in the university library until the capstan bearing seized up. I think I got over 10 years of home use out of it by just opening it up every 3 years or so and putting a drop of oil in it. Finally, the egg-shaped bearing wore so badly that the motor rotor was hitting the stator. I COULD fix it, but I think it has done MORE than enough for one life. That was IN the dumpster, I think. I literally can't remember all the goodies I've grabbed from beside or in the dump.

Jon

Some companies sort out their scarp and allow employees to have a scarp pass for specific items. Cincinnati Electronics would let you have a certain number of "damaged" hand tools per month. Machinery and old stock was sold to a surplus dealer, but all the old test equipment was kept in a storage area where they held a sale about every two years. Employees got the first shot at everything, then the rest was sold to surplus & used test equipment dealers.

Here in Oz, its a bit similar - the local council has a "hard rubbish" cleanup once a year, and they sold the scavenging rights.......now, this is downright Un-Australian, so everyone ignores it. Cant recall a prosecution yet - in this country, it would be like booking Santa Claus for illegal parking.... Same with companies - my theory is, if you don't ask, they cant say no......and anyway, all they can do is yell at you ..........(and being married, I am used to that...water off a ducks back..)

I got a nice laser printer from the local hardware dump bin - they were re-furbishing their IT stuff - even had a 3/4 full laser cartridge. Goes well....my only regret is I didn't grab more of them while I had the chance....

Anyone noticed - with the increasing move to LCD monitors, theres heaps out for grabs - I prefer them anyway, keeps your welding rods warm if you sit the box on top of it...

Andrew VK3BFA.

I don't really need any more CRT Video monitors, I have over 100 spares at the moment. It seems that I can't go into town without coming home with at least one monitor, and some people drop them off at my shop. I had two monitors, a computer, a copier, and a flat bed scanner dropped off Saturday morning. Sigh. I'm like Gunner is with his animals, in that I can't see them being homeless, so I try to find them nice homes.

Run across any scsi drives, bigger than 40 gig, let me know. Same with any IDE etc. I need some BIG drives for storage, prefer 100gig or more.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

According to Gunner :

[ ... ]

Which SCSI? the old 50-pin 8-bit wide SCSI seems to top out at

4GB. After that, you have to choose between: 1) 68-pin HVD 2) 68-pin LVD/SE 3) 80-pin (SCA) LVD/SE

Most LVD equipment will work with SE SCSI of the same number of pins -- or even work (though an adaptor) on a 50-pin SCSI bus, but they often won't *fit* in a machine.

The biggest that I have at present is a 50GB 80-pin SCA drive -- but I'm not about to get rid of it. I want *more* of them. :-)

Good Luck, DoN.

at a garage sale near here, a few weeks ago, a lady had a stack of 100 GB SCSI bricks that she used on a video production contract - she wanted $25 for 8 of them, I think - I passed, felt the price was too high for old hardware - but this proves that they are out there

any of the utra wide (2 or 3) are cool.SCSI cards are cheap Ive got on old HP Disk Array, but has the old ISC 50 drive slots. 4 of the 5 are 8 gigs, 1 is a 20. Id love to fill it with 40s or bigger

Getting a Stack O Disks in a box would be nice.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

GACK!...you run across her again...

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

if this kind of stuff interests you, go to the TRW swap meet this Saturday and see what you can find - ends at 11:30 AM, on Aviation Blvd in El Segundo - mostly ham radio and computer stuff, lots of older hard drives and stuff and cheap prices.

According to Gunner :

[ ... ] [ ... ]

Understood.

Let's see -- if you stick to SCA interface drives, you can get six of the 1.6" drives in one style of Sun Multipac, and twelve of the

1" drives in the other style. (They look the same from the outside, other than one having twice as many LED as the other.)

The Multipacs want a 68-pin SE SCSI, and are self-terminating.

Or the Sun D1000 (depending on version) can hold eight 1.6" SCA drives, or twelve 1" drives -- in a rack-mount enclosure with all drives unpluggable from the front. These are split into two SCSI buses, but can be jumpered in series to make one bus should you wish. Switches on the back determine the SCSI-ID range of each bus.

And -- *if* you have a Sun to talk to them, the A1000 (same box, but different card plugged in from the back) is a hardware RAID box.

These (A1000/D1000), however, require a 68-pin HVD interface, and an external terminator, which may be more difficult to find.

Any of the above systems requires the Sun "spud" wrapped around the drive so it will slide in and lock in place. (The "spud" is essentially a pair of properly sized guide rails, and a hinged front panel which cams the drive into or out of its socket.

The same drives and spuds are used in the Sun Ultra-1, Ultra-2 and Ultra-60 computers that I know from personal experience. There are probably others as well.

Enjoy, DoN.