25th Oct 2020, 9:06 pm | #61 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK
Posts: 2,681
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
One factor in the lack of good skip diving may be the price of scrap metal. It seems very high, especially for precious metals, at the moment. I have recently been hunting for some particular items from the USSR, as was, and found that most of the websites mentioning them actually just list the amounts of precious metals present in them and offer to buy them. For even fairly unexceptional equipment, its scrap value can be hundreds of pounds. Thus not a lot of it survives.
I don't think this applies to Western gear, which was altogether more parsimonious in its use of precious metals, but it may still be a factor. Chris
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25th Oct 2020, 9:17 pm | #62 | |
Octode
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Newbury, Berkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,770
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
I'm in charge of the WEEE stuff in our Dept. I'm only too happy if someone has a use for something and hoicks it out. I have a few regular "customers". All our old Weller soldering and desoldering stations were rescued that way when we upgraded to new Metcal and Pace.
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25th Oct 2020, 9:31 pm | #63 |
Hexode
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Hohenroda, Eastern Hesse, Germany
Posts: 462
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Many years ago it was possible to rescue lots of useful items from the skip, but nowadays it is predominantly plastic, junk and Made-in-China that you may find there.
In the 90's I managed to fetch a Kawasaki 3hp generator with a FA210D engine, only the outlets were mechanically damaged. What a find, still a reliable friend that always will start at the first trial. Then I found an "oscillioscope" called "Storascope BLS 218" from Wandel & Goltermann, a very rare unit. It has a special crt where the trace stays legible for more than a day. It was lacking the separate psu. Well, I put it in the attic and thought "Wait and see". Years later I spotted the maching psu at a flea market, the seller unaware of what he had got. So I got it for 10 euros! A wonderful machine! |
25th Oct 2020, 10:23 pm | #64 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 4,108
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Scrap metal (and even just mild steel) is surprisingly high, not up to the heights of (2008-was it?) but pretty good.
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25th Oct 2020, 11:48 pm | #65 |
Nonode
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,004
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
I remember there were a few scrap men doing the rounds near me in 2009 when I moved into my flat.
At the time a lot of people were getting rid of their analogue TVs & most of the scrap men had painted on the side of their vans that they would pick them up for free. One of my best tip finds was a box of records, which me & my Dad sorted through & picked out what we wanted without any hassle apart from some rain making it tricky. Most were well worn DJ 12" singles mostly with white card sleeves with the odd album mixed it, I still have the ones I picked out.
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26th Oct 2020, 12:25 am | #66 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,343
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
They don't have skips around where I live, all they do is dig a big hole up in one of the paddocks and chuck everything in.
I know where some very collectible stuff is, but it would be fair to say their condition would be very poor now. |
27th Oct 2020, 12:43 am | #67 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posts: 541
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Back when we owned a 7 day supermarket I would make a trip to the bank to deposit the previous days takings and would stop at a domestic waste transfer yard (fancy name for rubbish dump), they had a line of skip sized metal baskets where the discarded electronics were dumped prior to being recycled, if I found anything useful it was mine for $5. Over the 18 years I visited the transfer yard some of the stuff I managed to pickup was a TEK453 scope, around a dozen 70's manufactured japanese stereo amps from basic like stuff like Rotel to higher end stuff like Techincs/Sansui/NAD, numerous speaker boxes including a pair of Yamaha NS1000's and a pair of AR2AX's (my son has them now) , numerous vintage signal generators, a broadcast compressor made locally by AWA, a 60's manufactured Australian made Moody guitar amp, a Simpson 260 multimeter, half a dozen timber cased radios dating from 30's and 40's in various states of neglect but all salvageable plus a myriad of stuff I can't think of now . It amazed me what was thrown out, the TEK was easily repaired and I used for many years a wonderful easy to use scope, after selling our business to a keen Chinese couple, my new business venture saw me working at the other end of town and I hardly ever got back to the transfer yard.
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27th Oct 2020, 3:25 pm | #68 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
"Skip-diving" and picking-up-old-appliances-from-the-roadside a decade or so back became a significant black-market industry: anything with a decent-sized motor in it [washing-machine/fridge/freezer/tumble-drier] was game: a couple of guys would turn up in a white van and drag the appliance into the back. They would then take it down a quiet lane, take a couple of axes to it to remove the motor/evaporator/condenser, and fly-tip the remaining carcase over the nearest gate.
Not only did this mean that the landowner [i.e. me] whose gate the carcases were tipped-over then had to pay a properly-licensed waste-contractor to do the cleanup, but in hacking-apart fridges/freezers to get the motors and copper evaporator/condenser these gangs were releasing the refrigerant [those nasty ozone-layer-murdering CFCs] into the atmosphere rather than collecting/recycling them as was required by law. Having helped collect video-evidence that saw one such gang end up behind-bars-and-then-deported-when-they-had-finished-their-sentence, must admit I have a bit of a 'thing' about anyone seen rummaging through skips. |
27th Oct 2020, 3:47 pm | #69 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,339
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Surely there could be some initiative, especially in the larger firms, where WEEE is offered to the populace? I had to take a van load of real rubbish from my grandfather's house the other day, and having to dump a quantity of broken ugly plates, horrid prints and the like was depressing enough. Seeing the 'electricals' filled with a lot of objects that probably worked was enough to start me railing against consumerism.
Freecycle and eBay have been good in this regard, but the effort required for packing online sales, taking the photos etc. is often far more than the item is worth monetarily. As the firms have to pay contractors to take away their stuff, unless the contractors repurpose it I imagine most goes to sit in the ground for a few thousand years. It'd be great if it could make its way out in a formal setting that would do better for halting fly-tipping. The other day I came across a lovely old cast-iron Spong worktop mincer - the hand-cranked type. It was just sitting by a bin, so now it's clamped to the tabletop and ready for making Manchester eggs. |
27th Oct 2020, 5:02 pm | #70 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,643
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
So called "landfill" is very expensive these days, skip companies do sort them, and anything reusable or recyclable is. An acquaintance of mine used to work for one, even the wood is repurposed to heat the offices.
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27th Oct 2020, 5:07 pm | #71 |
Triode
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 15
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Some years ago a friend of mine was visiting his local 'tip' where he noticed a man with a very posh car pulling a Dyson vacuum cleaner out of his boot. As he owned the very same model my friend asked if he could have it.
Looking somewhat sheepish the man reluctantly agreed and hurriedly got into his car and drove off. On arriving home my friend proudly showed his wife his new possession. She commented that 'it looks almost new, shall we see if it works' ? They were both delighted that it appeared to work perfectly and conducted a quick test run on the living room carpet. After a few minutes they noticed that a terrible stench was filling the room and that it was emanating from the cleaner. My friend quickly switched it off and took it to his workshop for 'investigation'. Here he discovered that the cleaner internals were covered in a very smelly substance and concluded that the previous owner had used it to 'hoover up' dog pooh ! Undeterred he took it to pieces, washed it with soap and water and used it as his workshop vacuum cleaner for a good few years. P.S. It seems that whenever I go to the tip there is always someone chucking away a Dyson cleaner but I am never tempted as ask why . |
27th Oct 2020, 5:07 pm | #72 |
Hexode
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: W Yorks, UK.
Posts: 407
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
My bench isolation transformer came out of a server tower that I found in a skip. I had to wait till dark to climb in and unscrew it.
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27th Oct 2020, 5:45 pm | #73 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
All to get me - what - a lot of heartache/hassle and a 'profit' of a few thousand quid at most - and HMRC would have demanded 40% of _that_ in Inheritance-Tax! So we hired a couple of "Walk-in" skips and got the house cleared in a day-and-a-half. We were able to offset the skip-hire against IHT as "Executors' Expenses". One person's "Valuables" "Treasured Collection" or "Family Memorabilia" are another person's burden/cost/garbage. Don't get precious about junk. |
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27th Oct 2020, 7:02 pm | #74 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Madrid, Spain / Wirral, UK
Posts: 7,498
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
In the case of the fridges and the like, I thought retailers had a responsibility to take in such appliances upon sale of a new one. That should keep quite a number out of the way of the hack-and-dump brigade. Incidentally, there's a great documentary by the late Agnes Varda, les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I), which is a fascinating glimpse into the world of skip digging/harvesting/making use of what others discard.
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27th Oct 2020, 8:05 pm | #75 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 3,310
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
I am very naive sometimes. At risk of getting back on topic..... My AVO VCM mk3 which was about to be thrown out at work. Not sure if that counts, as it wasn’t technically in a skip, or free. I purchased it for a fiver. I literally tripped over an old green Megger and an ELCB tester( which works perfectly) at the tip once.
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27th Oct 2020, 9:06 pm | #76 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 3,077
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
I doubt any of it would be offered to the general public though. There would be too many things to do with health and safety to worry the admin staff!
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27th Oct 2020, 9:10 pm | #77 | ||
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
Please - let's not do anything to encourage/legitimize/promote illegal/untraceable theft of stuff from skips. |
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27th Oct 2020, 9:27 pm | #78 | ||
Nonode
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,339
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Quote:
The over-production and over-consumption by large companies is especially egregious, as whole industries depend on them replacing good equipment in only a few years, when it all still works. The technological imperative of Georg Henrik von Wright - the new tech exists so we must use it regardless of the consequences. The informal network of people like the members here who are willing and able to fix equipment that has been discarded can only go so far, and it does seem very silly that so much is prevented from being reclaimed because of the tiny minority of flytippers, or the (probably imagined) risk of litigation. Quote:
I think we'd all rather people were like my namesake - 'making good use of the things that we find; things that the everyday folk leave behind'. |
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27th Oct 2020, 11:00 pm | #79 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 5,000
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
Yes, I acquired one recently, one of those Dyson Balls. Unfortunately all the attachments had been lost by the persons son. It works perfectly, but like you said, I've noticed a strange smell when powered up. It's not electrical and it's not 'poo', but could be just a general 'animal' type smell, so it's going to have to be completely stripped down and thoroughly cleaned internally - apparently smells when in use is a 'known' problem with these when they've had some use. This cleaner was heading for the bin rather than the skip, but I happened to be in the right place at the right time. The person told me that if her son happens to find the attachments that he'd managed to lose, then she'll let me know, but I don't hold out a lot of hope. It's a shame that all the important 'tools' are missing, as these seem to be a very good and powerful cleaner - better than the 'old' Dyson that's being used around the house at the moment and would have been quite expensive when new.
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28th Oct 2020, 12:23 am | #80 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posts: 541
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Re: Skip Useful Finds
We built a new home around 5 yrs ago - builders had a large skip parked in the front for normal builders rubbish and also for anyone that thought it was fair game for their unwanted "stuff" - a couple of tele's, an evap air con - the biggest thing we saw has a complete fiberglass canopy from a ute big enough to cover 3/4 of the skip - looked in pretty good order.
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