Free sources of materials.?

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

History just drips from Your country!

[Johnboy25Participant @johnboy25]

 

Rick…. That's not old boiler tube by any chance? It's just the wall thickness looks a lot thicker than your normal malleable gas pipe. I think gas/heating pipes have a high lead content which make its crap to weld. I can stand to,be corrected.😋

John

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Next time you stop at Mcdonalds ( for the kids you know !) for a snack.

The coffee sticks make excellent epoxy stirrers and there's no limit to the number you're allowed!

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

Oops going senile I mentioned this earlier in this thread

Always worth asking about cardboard at department stores as we get rid of large ( 5ft by 3 ft) bits and it's great for templates etc. For the same reason if you know a printer it's worth asking for a few sheets of litho sheet ( thin aluminium which is great for shims etc).

Film pots 35mm are good for small amounts of oil, thinners for cleaning small brushes etc.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Ian Welford on 19/10/2015 22:34:17:

Film pots 35mm

.

I saw one of those on antiques roadshow last week.

Nick

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Next time you visit the dentist, if you ask nicely you may get a handful of these:

Shafts are 2.3mm, hardened steel and the small one (bottom right) is a diamond coated ball nose cutter.

* Danny M *

[ianjParticipant @ians]

Posted by Nick_G on 19/10/2015 23:04:12:

Posted by Ian Welford on 19/10/2015 22:34:17:

Film pots 35mm

.

I saw one of those on antiques roadshow last week.

Nick

If you go to Boots The Chemist you an get a bag full ( take your own bag !) for free. Good for storing ER 25 collets.

Ian

[Bruce EdneyParticipant @bruceedney59949]

Two of us model engineering types in Wellington NZ have just had the opportunity to strip a very large commercial colour laser printer – What a wealth of bits and bobs – shafts, bearings, 10mm flat aluminium plate, switches, stepper motors and heaps and heaps of metric screws and bolts

Photocopiers and large printers are great

Bring on the next one

This is a view of my workshop – Need to get to the scrap dealer this weekend

Bruce

[Paul NarramoreParticipant @paulnarramore61033]

And I thought I was a hoarder. I got talking to a neighbour this morning who has recently retired but did own a breakers yard. He was telling me about all the old engineering lathes, milling machines, pillar drills, stainless and mild steel, etc, etc he used to break up for scrap. Had I known………..

[mick70Participant @mick70]

old bike wheel spokes are good for thin rd rod.

also make good pointers and depth gauges.

also had some good bearings of bikes.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Surely, you only put stuff in a skip as an absolute resort?

There is very little scrap metal in the world. Only when it is too small to hold for further work, or when it is already in small blue or brown curls!

My experience of rebar is that it is not nice stuff to turn.

Wish that there was space for all the stuff that "will come in useful one day", (Probably for my great grandchildren!)

Not tight, just careful, y'ken!

And I'not a Scot.

Howard

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

We all love "free" or "cheap", that's why we hoard so much [well I do!!],following naughtyboys post, I was stripping down some of my old cycle wheels mainly for the alloy for the foundry & I wondered what the spokes were made from,I did a quick heat to red & quenched in water & did the "file test" & it was hard as rock so I assume they were a carbon steel.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

My wife gets annoyed with me because every time we buy new white goods I have to strip the old item for switches, connectors, motors and even the flat sheets of metal. Off of freecycle this morning I've just collected a 3ft roll of double fold plastic sheet which will add protection to my bigger engines which are stored outside under tarpaulines

Martin P

[Mick HenshallParticipant @mickhenshall99321]

I am the same Martin, I used to love twin tubs, if it could be removed I'd have it, I have just had to clear an outside store and it seems I have stuff I didn't realise I had

Mick

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

Posted by Mick Henshall on 10/01/2016 13:49:35:

I am the same Martin, I used to love twin tubs, if it could be removed I'd have it, I have just had to clear an outside store and it seems I have stuff I didn't realise I had

Mick

It's your "duty" to salvage anything that's being scrapped,& also repair anything in the house that's broken/damaged, does anyone remember the 1/4 hp induction motors from the old washing machines? you could pick them up from the scrapyards for a quid or two,[not now they fetch ££££s, unless you've got a little stash of them!! .

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I enjoy repairing things and getting more life out of an item, to much stuff goes for scrap that could easily be repaired.

Martin P

[mick70Participant @mick70]

Posted by the artfull-codger on 10/01/2016 12:43:09:

We all love "free" or "cheap", that's why we hoard so much [well I do!!],following naughtyboys post, I was stripping down some of my old cycle wheels mainly for the alloy for the foundry & I wondered what the spokes were made from,I did a quick heat to red & quenched in water & did the "file test" & it was hard as rock so I assume they were a carbon steel.

Where abouts are you?

Got loads of ali rims you can have

[Steven VineParticipant @stevenvine79904]

Well gents, that's a relief. Its not just me then. My family are trained to run everything by me before they throw it out. They think I'm weird, they just don't get it.

Steve

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I'm a Service Engineer of very large industrial washing machines, if we get wind of a customer scrapping an old machine we survey it and then if its worth it we buy it and strip for usable parts to keep other older machines going for customers, then I go home and do it as a hobby

Martin P

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Making Woodward's Gearless Clock. Pin wheel is being machined from a disc from an old hard drive, lovely bit of 95mm dia x 1.75mm thick hard aluminium. Backplate will use a rectangle of a material called Valchromat, a high spec version of MDF using a different type of resin and much more of an ekgineering material. I was able to scrounge an 18" x 6 foot sheet of 8mm thick which had been gathering dust and sun bleaching in a stockist's showroom, which will keep me going for years.

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

The auminium disk in hard disk drives can be cut up to make small mirrors with no ghosting from a layer of glass over them. I know welders who cut them up and mount them on a piece of welding wire for weld inspection down small holes and in pipes.

Martin

[OldMetallerParticipant @oldmetaller]

Here's what I got after a two-hour, very messy battle to strip an old HP printer:

• Several lengths of silver steel down from 10 mm to 2.5 mm
• A hank of cable
• A small handful of springs of all shapes and sizes
• Ditto of small machine screws
• One big and three small electric motors
• A tiny toothed drive belt
• Some strange metal bushes that are only slightly magnetic
• A huge amount of plastic that went into the recycling bin

Well worth the struggle!

Regards,

John.

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Martin You are a very fortunate man to have that job.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Empty fire extinguishers may find uses in the workshop. the base and central portion of an alloy pone provided an end cap and dew shield for along telephoto lens. A single layer of duck tape fortuitously gave an easy push fit on the lens. Naturally the inside needed to be matt-blacked.

A suitably sized one could also be used to make scale tanker wagons.

They are usually marked with their proof pressure which is typically far higher than you would wish to use, so treated conservatively an undamaged extinguisher should be safe enough. I have one rated about 300PSI I use as a reservoir for 30psi air for a small compressor. The pre-fitted threaded end plug should have plenty of metal in it allowing the easy fitting of bespoke connections.

Obviously the extinguisher should be exhausted to normal pressure before opening it up, and treated and tested like any other pressure vessel.

They often come with small pressure gauges. Usually these read very high pressures, with some designs you can remove a ring that limits the movement of a metal disc to make the gauge more sensitive and recalibrate it.

Neil

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

Posted by naughtyboy on 10/01/2016 16:44:58:

Posted by the artfull-codger on 10/01/2016 12:43:09:

We all love "free" or "cheap", that's why we hoard so much [well I do!!],following naughtyboys post, I was stripping down some of my old cycle wheels mainly for the alloy for the foundry & I wondered what the spokes were made from,I did a quick heat to red & quenched in water & did the "file test" & it was hard as rock so I assume they were a carbon steel.

Where abouts are you?

Got loads of ali rims you can have

Hi Naughtyboy, just noticed your post & kind offer,don't know where you live but I live a few miles outside stockton-on-tees n.yorks.

Graham.

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