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There used to be little shops all over the place where you could buy surplus components, old pcbs, broken kit,etc. Does anyone know of any that are still around? It might be a good idea to keep a listing available....
A pair of powered computer speakers (Ross rms101) £4
not a mark on em, complete with 6vdc 600ma wall wart.
Even the most ardent scrounger would be hard pressed to
buy the bits for that price, even at surplus/second hand prices.
Tyco RC hovercraft (Typhoon II) £10.
(damaged skirt repaired with a paper patch and a good size dollop of superglue cos I could not find the bicycle puncture repair kit)
Yielded eight AA nicads plus charger , three motors, and of course the simple RC control gear. Or rather it would have, my brother wants to fit his cordless webcam to it for some fun first.
Yes, definitly check out local good-will/thrift shops. I did some volunteer work at one for a while. I got to 'working' in the electronics section, I mostly just looked through the stuff and picked out what I wanted.
I paid ~$5 US per box of goodies.
There used to be a couple in the north-central Dallas TX area where they got castoffs from Collins/Rockwell, Texas Instruments, etc. You almost have to be in a big city where there's a lot of electronic manufacturing going. Folks are always talking about all kinds of such places in the Silicon Valley area of California.
Yep, going through the thrift shops is the best place to get items nowadays. Many of the old discarded electronics either go to the landfill or the gold recycled back out of them.
Edgware road, London, England. Used to be solid surplus component shops thirty years back- not one to be found now. What I was suggesting was a page listing any junk shops going. Anyone travelling to the other side of the country could look and see if there were any good places to browse.
Ah, nothing beats the thrill of a successfull dumpster dive ( tip / skip / bin dive .) Especially if you can find a industrial park with a few manufacturers around. It's amazing what gets tossed, especially consumer electronics with shipping/cosmetic damage. One of my favorites was a manufacturers repair depot where they did triage on warranty repairs. It doesn't take much for them to condemn some items.
I have a really nice 19" Viewsonic monitor that has a cracked lower bezel ( horrors :lol: .) 30 minutes disassembly, 5 minutes with plumbers ABS pipe cement, a quick sandpaper on the outside, and I dare you to find the crack.
BTW it was brand new, still had the protective shipping sheet tapped over the screen.
Hardings Electrical - Cheltenham ,England
I think he's still in business, but it's been a while since I was in there.
Was also a place in Derby as I recall , but that's ten years ago.
There's always the RSGB , good for a day out.
(sigh..I do miss the bring an' buy stall at Longleat)
**broken link removed**
It seems to me that RSGB rallies, at least those that I can get to, suffered a clock failure about twenty years ago. No components made since then are available. Radio kit from the fifties and sixties, pre-pentium computers, and hideous china ornaments are available in good supply, but nothing much useful. Does anyone know different?
In my area we have several electronics surplus places. While there's lots of 20 year old stuff there is also some newer stuff and they keep a decent stock of common ICs. The proprietor of one place is very friendly and helpful to hobbyists. Unfortunately much of that is done via the internet now and much of the business that these guys do is internet based.
Amateur radio "hamfests" here can be pretty good at times but you have to attend the larger 'fests' and wade thru 100 or more vendors to find the 2 or 3 with useful, modern components. Unfortunately the smaller hamfests do not attract the vendors with discrete parts. When I do purchase parts the comment suggest that "no one builds stuff any more."
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