# Do you view everything as potential Material/Parts



## Don B (Jun 12, 2014)

I was talking to a friend about material sources so I thought I'd ask others if the things you look at when at Yard Sales/flea Markets/Second Hand Stores as "Potential Material/Parts" and ask people to post good cheap or free sources they may have found.

I'm always on the lookout to scrounge materials and parts, where I live machining materials are hard to come by, if I want to build something and need a specific size of material I have a 2 hour drive and cut off fees to consider on top of the price of materials, so every time I'm out looking wherever I view everything as potential source of part and materials. 
My project usually start with a design in my head of how I'd like to build it, then the real side of life kicks in when I start looking at the material I have at hand and need to alter the design accordingly.

Printers and scanners have a great assortment of small diameter rods, I've found some usable pieces of brass at second hand stores in the form of candle holders, the 2 paper shredders I've dismantled both had 2 pieces of 1/2 x 10 inch hex stock, our local bottle exchange also buys scrap aluminum and brass and now and then I'm able to score piece of round stock.

I'm sure there's quit a few sources I'm overlooking so if you can contribute please do, I'd much rather see people just getting into machining be able to spend money on end mills rather than materials they may be able to come by for free or cheap.)


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## hdskip (Jun 12, 2014)

Wow!!!! I thought I was the only one with this thought process. It drives my wife batty but I think she's starting to get used to it. I also suffer from the affliction of trying to figure what processes were used to manufacture different items. Tool marks, milling patterns, stamping marks. I guess it comes from spending 42 years in manufacturing.
     Thanks for your post, it's given me some more ideas about finding usable materials.

    Gary


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 12, 2014)

I've the same problem of living at a distance from industrial areas, so scrounging is a necessity.
Old computer cases are a good source for metal sheet, like kitchen appliances (fridges etc.), and a small brake press is easy to be done.
In the case of the fridges an added bonus is the compressor.
Washing machines offer motors, bearings, pulleys.
Pre-digital photocopiers are another source of rods, bearings, gears, springs and various motors.
Pallets give a fair amount of free wood.
If you have to cast something in plastic you can try polystyrene melted with acetone (see on YouTube for some examples, this has a low priority in my project list).


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## zmotorsports (Jun 12, 2014)

Glad to see I am not the only one in that mindset.  I thought I was messed up.

My wife would get frustrated when I looked at a piece of metal or a part from something and rather than look at what it is, I look and imagine what it COULD be with some machining/fabricating.

After 25 years of marriage the wife just accepts it now but at first it would drive her nuts.  Granted I don't stockpile or collect things like my father did, however, if I run across a nice piece of steel or aluminum and even if I don't have an immediate use, I will grab it for future projects.  Motorcycle parts are a different story though, I seem to snag some of them for future projects when the opportunity arises.

Mike.


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## John Hasler (Jun 12, 2014)

Doesn't everyone?  There is junk: stuff that good parts could be extracted from, and scrap: stuff that could be cut up for material.  There is no trash.


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## Don B (Jun 12, 2014)

zmotorsports said:


> My wife would get frustrated when I looked at a piece of metal or a part from something and rather than look at what it is, I look and imagine what it COULD be with some machining/fabricating.
> 
> Mike.



LOL, I know, If my wife and I are at a yard sale or something and we both want the same thing, she wants to use it, I want it for parts and or materials.

A couple of years ago we happened by a house and the people where dragging out a craftmatic bed to the side of the road, I pulled over and waited much to the disgust of my wife, when I realized they where putting it out as part of the annual clean up I snagged it, my wife wanted me to take her home first but I refused to leave I was afraid someone else would get it, there happened to be 4 road crew people close so I enlisted there help to get it on my little truck, I drove home through town with the 4 ways on and should have had wide load signs as well, my wife was cursing me and wanting to crawl under the dash board just hoping no one from work would see her.
Pieces of that bead have gone into so many of my projects, it wound up to be a gold mind of parts...!)


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## lpeedin (Jun 12, 2014)

I need to replace the closures on the storm door at the front of our house. I've been considering how I can safely remove the piston rams from them. 

- - - Updated - - -



Don B said:


> LOL, I know, If my wife and I are at a yard sale or something and we both want the same thing, she wants to use it, I want it for parts and or materials.
> 
> A couple of years ago we happened by a house and the people where dragging out a craftmatic bed to the side of the road, I pulled over and waited much to the disgust of my wife, when I realized they where putting it out as part of the annual clean up I snagged it, my wife wanted me to take her home first but I refused to leave I was afraid someone else would get it, there happened to be 4 road crew people close so I enlisted there help to get it on my little truck, I drove home through town with the 4 ways on and should have had wide load signs as well, my wife was cursing me and wanting to crawl under the dash board just hoping no one from work would see her.
> Pieces of that bead have gone into so many of my projects, it wound up to be a gold mind of parts...!)



That reminds me. There's an old hospital bed in the barn at the farm. It's got a couple of DC motors on it, worm gear boxes, and rams. Might can even find a used for the chrome side rails.


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## jpfabricator (Jun 12, 2014)

One of my regular stops as a freight truck driver had an abundance of 8foot 2x4"s. I asked what they were, and got the reply "garbage". They were used as temporary load locks on 3rd party trucks.
Some negotiating, and I now have a shed full of free 2x4' s!

Jake Parker


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 12, 2014)

Don B said:


> my wife was cursing me and wanting to crawl under the dash board just hoping no one from work would see her.



Keep some paper bags on your truck:


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## John Hasler (Jun 12, 2014)

Don B said:


> LOL, I know, If my wife and I are at a yard sale or something and we both want the same thing, she wants to use it, I want it for parts and or materials.



A couple of days ago I scrounged a treadmill (not common around here).  Unfortunately, it works...


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## Andre (Jun 12, 2014)

lpeedin said:


> I need to replace the closures on the storm door at the front of our house. I've been considering how I can safely remove the piston rams from them.



Be careful! Watch for compresses nitrogen...I say shoot them with a .22 or other small caliber cartridge. Yes, crude and loud. But you can do it safely from a distance and if something goes wrong your far back anyhow.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jun 12, 2014)

when I was trailbuilding regularly years ago, I had the same problem with wooden pallets. A friend and I broke them down, cut them into appropriate sized pieces, treated them and used them to build an elevated walkway. Man I carried a lot of pallets around Bristol during that period.

I've been very fortunate that the university I work at has a large metal workshop, so I dumpster dive their metal recycling bins regularly and built up a very nice collection of bits'n'pieces of steel, brass and alu. Unfortunately, we're paying our movers by the pound, so all but the nicest bits (and even some of those, sob sob) have either gone to a friend or are on eBay at the moment. One day I'll settle down somewhere permanently!


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## JimDawson (Jun 12, 2014)

I'm glad I'm not the only one that views everything as a material source.


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## Ray C (Jun 12, 2014)

I pretty-much view everything as a resource and generally feel there's too much waste and not enough re-use.  In the next breath, I'll also mention that I take both safety and economics in-mind with such endeavors.  Cluttering your place with too much junk is a hazard and the economics and hazards involved in reconditioning and re-using something that's been painted or otherwise altered/damaged, doesn't align with common sense.  In those cases, it goes into the junk pile and a local guy picks it up and takes it to the industrial recycling place...   Basically, I think "green" in terms of both the environment and the financial bottom line.


Ray


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## Don B (Jun 12, 2014)

Marco Bernardini said:


> Keep some paper bags on your truck:



Hi Marco, when my wife was home for lunch I showed her your antihumiliation device, she laughed her a$$ off, but she did think the the idea had some potential/possibilities....! )


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## chuckorlando (Jun 12, 2014)

I once made a shift linkage for my wifes mini buggy that required parts from 2 atv's, 2 lawn mowers, 1 street bike, and another mini buggy. It was rather genius I must say. ahahaha


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## lpeedin (Jun 12, 2014)

Andre said:


> Be careful! Watch for compresses nitrogen...I say shoot them with a .22 or other small caliber cartridge. Yes, crude and loud. But you can do it safely from a distance and if something goes wrong your far back anyhow.



Great idea. I have a .22 / pellet / archery range in my back yard.


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## Rbeckett (Jun 12, 2014)

I'm so bad about collecting "raw" materials that momma rarely rides with me in the truck even.  Done the Beverly hillbillies ride home with something strapped or tied to the top too many times I guess.  I have managed to find several really nice pieces of graded material in a usable size on more than one occasion.  The key to finding more of those opportunities is to get out garage sale-n early and look for yard sales in decent looking neighborhoods.  You would be amazed at what some folks just throw away because the don't have a purpose for it right now.  So patience and perseverance will usually pay some pretty nice rewards over time.

Bob


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## Andre (Jun 12, 2014)

lpeedin said:


> Great idea. I have a .22 / pellet / archery range in my back yard.



Nice, by the way. Steel H beams cut in short pieces placed upright make GREAT .22 targets. Last forever and never ding (have not tried with stingers though).


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## Terrywerm (Jun 12, 2014)

I have the same problem as the rest of you. As a result I drag too much stuff home, or used to anyway. Back in the mid 80's I worked as an equipment operator at a landfill. Anything you can imagine showed up there. I've still got a floor jack that I pulled out of the trash there, and that was after I ran over it with a D8. Luckily there was soft stuff under the jack, so it was not damaged. Anyway, I still have it, and it works fine. It even outlived the D8 that ran it over!

Anyway, I came to the realization that I cannot drag all this stuff home because I 'might' have a use for it. Now I only bring home the things that I have a definite use for, and immediate, too. It is a shame to see so much stuff get tossed out, but I certainly cannot save it all!!


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## Don B (Jun 13, 2014)

terrywerm said:


> Back in the mid 80's I worked as an equipment operator at a landfill.
> It is a shame to see so much stuff get tossed out, but I certainly cannot save it all!!



So true you can't save it all, but it's such a shame that they don't have a section at landfill sites that you could drop off things you think others could use, at our local landfill your not allowed to to take one single thing, the last time I dropped off scrap there was 3 pieces of 2x2 a little over 2 feet long right at my feet, I know the rules but I couldn't help myself, as I was leaving I was waved over and asked what I put in my truck, I said it was stuff that I drug out by accident, I got way with it but it's disgusting when you see something on top that scrap pile you could use.


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## Terrywerm (Jun 13, 2014)

Yup, cannot take anything at most places, they are all afraid of liability concerns. One county in northern Minnesota is the exact opposite, they encourage the re-use of items and materials, and people come in to their transfer stations and scrounge the scrap piles all the time. I just happen to see it when I am there picking up tires to be recycled.


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## Don B (Jun 13, 2014)

It's to bad more places weren't like that place in the county in northern Minnesota, when I asked at the landfill there excuse/reasoning is that the steel is being recycled anyways, but personally I think that's an idiotic way of viewing it, if it's recycled by a person taking and using it then the fuel used to transport it to wherever is saved and the energy used to recycle it is saved.
We have a 2 week garbage pickup cycle, if I'm going to throw something out I put it out the day after garbage day, so this gives it 2 weeks to be adopted before the next garbage day, I'd say about 80% of the time someone usually takes it, I always feel better when thats the case.


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## davidh (Jun 13, 2014)

thankfully SWMBO has given up. . . . we have two barns a 4 car garage a large summer kitchen and 40 acres. . . mostly full of dumpster divin' stuff.  I should have cataloged it 25 years ago. .    its just un-believable how much crap that's useful a guy can accumulate. ..


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## jpfabricator (Jun 13, 2014)

davidh said:


> thankfully SWMBO has given up. . . . we have two barns a 4 car garage a large summer kitchen and 40 acres. . . mostly full of dumpster divin' stuff.  I should have cataloged it 25 years ago. .    its just un-believable how much crap that's useful a guy can accumulate. ..



AMEN!!! After posting afew days ago I found 3 14" aluminum wheels and tires. The tires will go for trash, and the wheels will get broken up for the smelt furnace I will soon embark on.:thumbup:

Jake Parker


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## core-oil (Jun 13, 2014)

Guys,

   It seems to be the same the world over! Political correctness, Health & safety, +Ambulance chasing No win No Fee lawyers  & petty rules have screwed up an awful lot of good projects, It is the very same this side of the pond  I frequently think back to the late 1950/s early 60/s Dad & I had a lot of fun building up the old home workshop and having fun scrounging what materials we did not have the funds to buy  In that scenario, I can recall the old refuse collectors for a couple of packets of cigarettes they would deliver lengths of bed iron which was a light angle iron about 2"x2" section, As hard as hell, as it was rolled from old railway lines,  I can remember the challenges of drilling & cutting this stuff, Never mind this was the stock for our "Structural Engineering Section!"

  The same applied to the local metal merchants they would supply off cuts & the occasional little quantities at a very sympathetic cost, if they knew you were an amateur engineer , The local scrap dealer ditto

 Fast forward to today, I heard a story of a British local authority worker who a few years ago,   Was half way into flinging the remains of his rotted garden shed into his works skip (to you guys a dumpster) Along comes a cop. ( Who had obviously nothing better to do) & says to the man "you are getting booked for stealing from the skip, After a heated debate, the worker said to him I am putting rubbish in the skip, Right said the cop, You are getting reported to your boss, for unauthorised use of a county skip,
 Ten minutes later the guys boss arrives & said "He is doing the authority a favour, by bringing rubbish to one of our skips & not ordering a lorry & men to go out to his house for a collection with the overhead costs"

Nowadays once something in a business or municipal set up has a scrappage ticket, It due to insurance has to be destroyed , so that no claims come back
  The metal merchants helping the wee guy has by and large gone for good, I guess everyone does not want to help,   " It is not my job"


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## Grumpy Gator (Jun 13, 2014)

​Guilty but in my defense I will have to say it's a family trait passed down thru DNA. I just can't help it. It doesn't help that in the last 30 years the light industrial area where I live has grown and on my twice a day dog walks I pass right behind 40 or 50 different business.
  Last Tuesday I scored 12 / 55 gallon food grade barrels then came across 8 oversize pallets that had rough sawn 3" X 3½" oak timbers.
 So I started by makeing an elevated stand to grow green onions.
Next up some rain barrels and maybe some chairs.
***********Just Saying************Gator************


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## mattthemuppet2 (Jun 16, 2014)

nice work Gator 

I just dropped off the last of my scrounge stuff at the post office - 37lb of alu/brass/steel scrap from the metal recycling bins at work. Nearly pulled my arms off carrying it the mile or so from my lab to the PO! Didn't get much for it, but it didn't cost me anything either and I kept the nicest bits (bar a lovely 4x2in round of brass ).


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## Fabrickator (Jun 16, 2014)

I'm a trash junkie at heart, but not enough room for all of the goodies I see around the neighborhood. I need a bigger place!!


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## Gary Ayres (Sep 2, 2014)

Don - I think this is a great philosophy. I like the idea that not only is 'scrap' useful, but that sometimes it can trigger an idea and act as a starting point for creativity...


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## Ozwelder (Sep 2, 2014)

There are others like me ?
Thank goodness for that then! .My wife thinks I am not normal.
I have been known to be sent to the tip and come home with something from the recycling centre.
Repair, Recycle & Re purpose.

Oz the Normal


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## Bill Gruby (Sep 2, 2014)

Everything has potential. I look all the time for materials that can be used. Ozwelder, no, you are not alone.

 "Billy G"


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 3, 2014)

I just found a couple of bits of scrap steel in a machine/ body shop's recyling bin that I need to (re)make a drill chuck arbor. I had looked online, but shipping killed it for a small piece of steel rod (3/4in diameter is all I need), so I was very chuffed to ride past this place last night and find something useful!


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## Ulma Doctor (Sep 3, 2014)

i try to make things form other spare parts all the time.
reclaimed metal, wire, industrial controls, motors are all things that find me, instead of me finding them.

old food processing equipment and obsolete wrapping machines have left me with many parts and materials, then my neighbors all help out
by bringing me metal and plastic cutting drops of various lengths and diameter.

i had a customer beg me to take 2 old Butcher Boy B16 meat cutting saws. 3 phase(2hp baldor motors) i declined for once in my life.....:banghead:
(because i can't pack anymore shinola in my operating space without outward and upward expansion, possibly mezzanine:thinking 

you are not alone, i have the "sickness" too :nuts:


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## ortho (Sep 3, 2014)

Don, I am with you.  If I have a lathe, make no mistake, everything to me is a fair game for material and parts.  Likewise, if I have a hammer, everything's a nail.  )
---Joe


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## Charles Spencer (Sep 3, 2014)

Don B said:


> So true you can't save it all, but it's such a shame that they don't have a section at landfill sites that you could drop off things you think others could use, at our local landfill your not allowed to to take one single thing, the last time I dropped off scrap there was 3 pieces of 2x2 a little over 2 feet long right at my feet, I know the rules but I couldn't help myself, as I was leaving I was waved over and asked what I put in my truck, I said it was stuff that I drug out by accident, I got way with it but it's disgusting when you see something on top that scrap pile you could use.



Funny thing is I went and got my new transfer sticker today.  In our town recycling is free but you have to pay for every bag of trash.  And you are allowed or even encouraged to help yourself.  I got some nice things today:  about 10 drill bits, some threaded rod, a bunch of bolts, some clamps, and two pieces of pipe about 6 feet long.  I had been thinking about buying the same size pipe so I figure I got my money for the sticker back right there.

Oh, we use a trash service so I usually only pick things up.  I keep it quiet from the wife.

Charles


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## Ulma Doctor (Sep 3, 2014)

Marco Bernardini said:


> Keep some paper bags on your truck:
> 
> View attachment 78595




Good One Marco!!!!
:roflmao:


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## JimDawson (Sep 3, 2014)

I'm a pack rat also, I have shelves full of stuff.  If I think I can ''someday'' make something out of it, it winds up on the shelf.


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## Ebel440 (Sep 13, 2014)

I do it too but in my defense I think it's genetic. My grandfather had a yard I was never allowed in as it was too dangerous due to the " material" he had saved. I have to struggle not to bring junk home and try to keep realistic about what I will use.  It's all worth it though when I actually use some of it.


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