What's In Your Parts Box?

[[email protected]]

Hmm...
Being a packrat for my entire life.........
(Yes, hundreds and hundreds of electronic things....)
Not worth it... out it all goes, except for the the stuff I will use
in retirement... 4CX10000B's, huge capacitors, inductors, tower
equipment, vacuum variables, etc.
Most of what I save for the future will never materialize into an end
product.... I am a realist.

 

[[email protected]]

Hmm...
Being a packrat for my entire life.........
(Yes, hundreds and hundreds of electronic things....)
Not worth it... out it all goes, except for the the stuff I will use
in retirement... 4CX10000B's, huge capacitors, inductors, tower
equipment, vacuum variables, etc.
Most of what I save for the future will never materialize into an end
product.... I am a realist.

 

[lionslair at consolidated dot net]

Bring in an inventory crew and we can discuss mine.

Bus broke down so the Industrial sized crew can't make it.
Martin

 

[Gunner]

Bus broke down so the Industrial sized crew can't make it.
Martin

I filled 3 full sized dumpsters this weekend, tossing Stuff out. Next
weekend I have to move the machines out of the warehouse. Sigh

Then I get to start cutting all of the pallets up and disposing of
them too.

107F today...so it wasnt all that bad....(right..wimper....)

Gunner

"Considering the events of recent years,
the world has a long way to go to regain
its credibility and reputation with the US."
unknown

 

[Rich Grise]

Then I get to start cutting all of the pallets up and disposing of
them too.

For Heaven's sakes, don't cut up and toss pallets! Those things
are worth real money! Around here, we have to lock them up in the
shop at night or they disappear.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Aaron]

Normally made of hardwood and very dry, they are very good for
firewood. I can remember many camping trips with a few broken down
pallets warming my marshmellows.

-Aaron

 

[Gunner]

For Heaven's sakes, don't cut up and toss pallets! Those things
are worth real money! Around here, we have to lock them up in the
shop at night or they disappear.

Good Luck!
Rich

These are pretty hammered, and most are pine rather than the preferred
oak/hardwood. I think in this neck of the woods, good hardwood pallets
are going for $3 each with few takers.

Thanks

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

 

[Ben Bradley]

For Heaven's sakes, don't cut up and toss pallets! Those things
are worth real money!

Well, there's this, made from the wood laying out back of an
industrial warehouse, and it's surely worth a lot more than the pallet
it was made from:

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/models/pallet.html

Around here, we have to lock them up in the
shop at night or they disappear.

Do you have many luthiers in your area?

 

[jw]

We have a stack of them about 20 ft high out back at work. Free to
anyone who wants them. They haven't been moving very fast. Most of
them are the large industrial pallets, not the the little 4ft ones.
They make good firewood, but then you have to deal with all of the
hardware that is left over.

JW

 

[The Hermit]

I am crossposting this question since I think it will be of general
interest...sorry if that offends someone.

Now to the questions....what kinds of electronic and mechanical "trash"
is WORTH disassembling and keeping for parts to build other projects?

What did you keep that you should have thrown long ago?

What did you throw that you still kick yourself for tossing?

I look forward to your suggestions, experiences and jokes. ;<)

TMT

[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]

Don't bother keeping steppers. I had boxes of them, until I need one. And
couldn't get a single one to work with my driver chip. And quite frankly,
servos are a hell of a lot easier to use. So, I tossed them all.

And when you salvage sensors, keep the bracket you found them in - it makes
attaching them to your projects easier.

 

[Rich Grise]

Well, there's this, made from the wood laying out back of an
industrial warehouse, and it's surely worth a lot more than the pallet
it was made from:

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/models/pallet.html


Do you have many luthiers in your area?

I don't know. What's a 'luthier'? <google> Oh, a lute maker.

No, just scavengers who steal them and sell them to the highest
bidder.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Ignoramus5833]

I already built one, but some day, I've got to stick a top of the line
multi-processor motherboard into another one and take it to a Linux
bootfest.

actually, do you not need a top of the line motherboard/cpu to run
linux, it is very forgiving of crappy hardware.

i

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

Vacuum tubes. Particularly replacements for my Tek 545 o'scope.

Also, a few original IBM PC cases, power supplies and disk drive faces.

I already built one, but some day, I've got to stick a top of the line
multi-processor motherboard into another one and take it to a Linux
bootfest.

 

[Ingo Cyliax]

I am crossposting this question since I think it will be of general
interest...sorry if that offends someone.

Now to the questions....what kinds of electronic and mechanical "trash"
is WORTH disassembling and keeping for parts to build other projects?

What did you keep that you should have thrown long ago?

What did you throw that you still kick yourself for tossing?

I look forward to your suggestions, experiences and jokes. ;<)

I keep a box of broken laptops for spare parts. Especially, keyboards,
screens, mouse buttons, etc... which are almost like consumables.

I also have a box of harddisks from my old machines... You never know
when you need a disk with an old version of DOS to repair some old
machine to run some ancient version of software. Some of the install
floppy disks for older versions have long stopped working. Keeping the
harddisks is easier than keeping a museum of all old machines. I used
to make it a point to keep old tape drives, in case I need to read an
oddball tape; however, I had to downsize.

Other than that, I harvest rs232 driver chips (1488,1489, max232),
and small power supplies as well as PC power supplies, fans, etc...
I also keep oddballs cables and connectors, and screws/nuts, you
never know and they are always a pain to track down when you need
them. I have used old AC cords on more than one occasion to replace
a frayed one.

An assortment of glues, like epoxies, CA, rubber cement, RTV, Loctite,
just in case I don't have the right screw/nut to fix something.

Later, -ingo

 

[Mark Haase]

I don't know. What's a 'luthier'? <google> Oh, a lute maker.

Also a guitar builder and/or repairman.

 

[none]

I don't know. What's a 'luthier'? <google> Oh, a lute maker.

No, just scavengers who steal them and sell them to the highest
bidder.
OH! You mean looters.
Cheers!
Rich

 

[YD]

Luthiers make all kinds of stringed instruments, like guitars,
electric and acoustic. They really appreciate old seasoned wood for
the necks and bits and pieces. I know one who, whenever some old
wooden house is torn down, makes a bid for the beams and other large
pieces as long as the termites haven't got at it.

- YD.