murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray) (11/20/90)
A question to all you tinkerers and Weirdness Electronics buffs out there:
What are the best suppliers of surplus parts, junk devices, mystery
components and all-around weird stuff?
I'm sure you know the kinds of places I mean, like the place selling
the guts out of old fax machines ("We have no specs or schematics, but
these look very interesting...") or the place selling items ranging
from a working shielded x-ray cabinet, complete with film and film
processor for $13.9K, to old prism assemblies out of US Military tanks
for $9.50 ("Buy two and make a periscope!") And of course Edmund
Scientific is a classic in my book - Complete Home Holography Kit! Zero
Vibration Table Not Included..
I'm in the US, so I might not order much from the supply houses across
the ponds, but nonetheless, let's hear about them as well.
--
Disclaimer: Any opinions above (or below) have nothing to do with reality.
John R. Murray | "Death needs time to grow in for Apuk's
murray@vsjrm.scri.fsu.edu | sweet sake, you stupid vulgar greedy ugly
Supercomputer Research Inst. | American Death Sucker.." - William S. Burroughswb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher,,255RTFM,255rtfm) (11/20/90)
>What are the best suppliers of surplus parts, junk devices, mystery >components and all-around weird stuff? Electronic Surplus Inc. 1224 Prospect Cleveland, OH 44115 (216) 621-1052 Been around as a store for 45 years or so. Been printing a catalog for maybe 5. I've been dealing with them for maybe 20. Tell Rick or Gary I sent you -- watch the price go up ;-} -- A host is a host from coast to coast.....wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu & no one will talk to a host that's close............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335
rustyh@wam.umd.edu (Rusty Haddock) (11/20/90)
In article <1429@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray) writes: > >What are the best suppliers of surplus parts, junk devices, mystery >components and all-around weird stuff? > >....... to old prism assemblies out of US Military tanks A good question. A good place for cheap power supplies and othe wierd stuff (peltair devices, WWII tank periscope prisms, intelligent LCD displays (for $16) etc.) is Marlin P. Jones & Assoc. P.O. Box 12685 Lake Park Fl. 33403-0685 Ph: (407) 848-8236 (ask for catalog 90-5 (or later)). They also have TV cameras and lenses, motors, batteries, meters etc..... -- Michael Katzmann Broadcast Sports Technology UUCP: ...uunet!opel!arinc!vk2bea!michael
tonyo@tekred.CNA.TEK.COM (Tony Ozrelic) (11/21/90)
In article <1429@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray) writes: >A question to all you tinkerers and Weirdness Electronics buffs out there: > >What are the best suppliers of surplus parts, junk devices, mystery >components and all-around weird stuff? > Here's two I've done business with recently: Fair Radio Sales Box 1105 Lima Ohio 45802 419/223-2196 All kinds of electronic junk, er, stuff, both commercial and military. Seems to be ham-oriented. I picked up a couple of infrared image intensifier tubes for $9.95 ea. Weird and cheap. Jerryco Inc. 601 Linden Pl. Evanston Ill. 60202 708/475-8440 Electronics, mechanics, chemical, tools, closeouts, surplus, commercial, military, you name it! Look here first before going to other catalogs. tony o.
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (11/21/90)
In article <1990Nov20.014330.23958@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>, wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher,,255RTFM,255rtfm) writes: > >What are the best suppliers of surplus parts, junk devices, mystery > >components and all-around weird stuff? > > Electronic Surplus Inc. > 1224 Prospect > Cleveland, OH 44115 > > Been around as a store for 45 years or so. Been printing a catalog for > maybe 5. I've been dealing with them for maybe 20. I've been there, but not for quite some time. I am still using up stainless steel allen head cap screws that I bought there 20 years ago! They had quite a selection of hardware in the basement which was sold by the pound. The store is right in downtown Cleveland and is at one end of a triangular-shaped block. There used to be a decent surplus store on a main street south of Cleveland, not that far from Parma, but I can't remember the name. For the *ultimate* surplus store experience, visit Fair Radio Sales in Lima, OH. Incredible quantities of surplus, some of which dates back to World War II. If they think you have money to spend :-), they'll let you go beyond the store area and wander about their warehouse. Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" VOICE: 716/688-1231 {boulder, rutgers, watmath}!ub!kitty!larry FAX: 716/741-9635 {utzoo, uunet}!/ \aerion!larry
aboulang@bbn.com (Albert Boulanger) (11/24/90)
In Article <4181@kitty.UUCP> larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes:
I've been there, but not for quite some time. I am still using
up stainless steel allen head cap screws that I bought there 20 years ago!
They had quite a selection of hardware in the basement which was sold
by the pound. The store is right in downtown Cleveland and is at one
end of a triangular-shaped block. There used to be a decent surplus store
on a main street south of Cleveland, not that far from Parma, but I
can't remember the name.
One of the highlights of interviewing for a scholarship at
Case-Western was a visit by some of the Case-Western student-hosts
and me to this place. I have now developed the habit of checking out the
local surplus situation when I travel. One of the best-buy
opportunities that I can suggest it to avoid the main-line surplus
places. (Although Jerryco in Evanston is not bad on some prices.) In
Gainesville FL, there was a basic metal-recycler that bought a lot of
NASA, etc surplus. They bought the optical simulator used in the
Apollo missions (made by Ferranti optical). What a bonanza! I still
have the 8in achromats from this. Many bargains were also acquired at a
private landfill including a Perkin-Elmer diffraction grating and
cheap Neon-sign transformers. I think this way has long past not been viable.
A favorite metals-oriented surplus place in Miami Fl is Simmons surplus.
Today, a good resource is the advertising in the Nuts & Volts magazine.
Subscription # 1-800-783-4624
For instrumentation-style surplus, check out C&H Sales in Pasadena,
1-800-325-9465. They are on the expensive end though. Two companies
come to mind for the test-equipment surplus (expect to pay $$$):
Microwave Equipment Company, 305-871-2171 (no catalog).
4121 N.W. 27 St
Miami Fl. 33142
and
Tucker Surplus Store
1717 Reserve St.
Garland TX, 75042 1-800-527-4642 ex 135
In the Silicon valley area, I have visited Halted (HSC),
1-800-4-halted, Haltek 408-744-1333 and one other near HSC (ACE?).
Haltek has a lot of basic-materials-style surplus. All Electronics
Corp, Van Nuys, 1-800-826-5432 seems to be a pretty reasonable ($ wise,
lots of stock) place.
Yours in surplus,
Albert Boulanger
aboulanger@bbn.comwb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher,,255RTFM,255rtfm) (11/24/90)
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes: > They had quite a selection of hardware in the basement which was sold > by the pound. The store is right in downtown Cleveland and is at one > end of a triangular-shaped block. There used to be a decent surplus store > on a main street south of Cleveland, not that far from Parma, but I > can't remember the name. Alas, both Jeff-Tronics and Dixons Radio/Key {honest!} are now gone. Gene Jefferies, however, goes to Dayton with us most years. Electronic Surplus is still in the same building. Because of the street parking restrictions in the area, their hours are 0900-1600 but the basement is often open only @ lunch hour. They may or may not be open Monday's -- I don't recall. Clyde Daniels founded it. His grandson Rick is now in charge. Cylde's wife used to stand and sort used resistors and pots into the bins. One of Clyde's habits was to tell you how that left-handed Fragulator (priced at $3.50) cost Uncle Sam $23,456.89. Rick revived this to some amusement with a sign proclaiming that the original price of the in_the_dash AM/FM/Tape/CB radio (now $45.00, I think) was $9,146.89. The fine print, however, pointed out that THAT figure included the carrying case -- an '75 Mopar product ;-} The LARGEST surplus store to be found, however, is the Dayton Hamvention. Every April, 30,000+ crazies such as myself descend on that poor city. They come from as far as Usenet reaches, which is to say .oz-->.dk and beyond. The flea market has somewhere around 2000 parking spaces. Maybe 5% are empty at one time. I'm hard pressed to think of something I have NOT seen there over the years. If you've never been to Dayton, come. You won't regret it -- until you bring the stuff home and have to explain it to the boss...... -- A host is a host from coast to coast.....wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu & no one will talk to a host that's close............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335