finding raw materials in places you might not think to look?

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

This is not really a "look around in thrift shops for brass candle sticks and vases"
or you can make fake gauges out of plumbing parts kind of thing. Its more of a
'raw material' kinda question.


I've got a fairly specific need this time but I would bet that there are a lots of tricks out there
to find materials ( especially in small amounts for a one off project ) that may not occur to
everyone.

I'm looking right now for small pieces of transparent plastic ( plexiglass like stuff ) for
goggle lenses.... My daughter would love pink if I can find it.... I've considered clear
plastic clipboards as a possible source but I haven't found one locally yet ( not looking
hard, just keeping my eyes open )

For this specific need does anyone have suggestions that I can go...."I didn't think of that. Thanks!' to?


And while we are one the subject...... Any other suggestions for non obvious solutions to
where to get materials?

[and_solo_said]

There is a lot of perspex on ebay. Some sellers will even cut it to size or shape for you.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3MM-PINK-FLUORESCENT-PERSPEX-ACRYLIC-SHEET-150mm-SQUARE-/180665560302?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a1081acee

[Capt James Salt]

For this specific need does anyone have suggestions that I can go...."I didn't think of that. Thanks!' to?

And while we are one the subject...... Any other suggestions for non obvious solutions to
where to get materials?

While I spend a lot of time walking through all of my local craft, hobby and thrift stores there are a couple of other places that I use to find good inexpensive useful items.

One is, those party supply stores.  And they change a lot of their merchandise during various holidays.

Another is a local cake decorating supply store.

Good luck to you....................

 

[James Harrison]

I once made a pair of goggle lenses from clear plastic wallet dividers, of the sort you can find in £1/ $0.99 stores. 

[Matthias Gladstone]

Tupperware lunchboxes or food packaging?

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

Tupperware lunchboxes or food packaging?

US Tupperware tends to be slightly cloudy plastic.....

Ebay suggestion - I was kinda looking local to save having to pay shipping....

I've wandered around a couple craft stores and the plastic I'm looking for
wasn't there..... I have to check office supply stores too here in the next couple days

I may have picked a fairly easy example ( only because it is for the project
sitting on top of my pile at the moment ) but I didn't want this to be liminted to just
goggle lenses....

I was hoping for a more general purpose thread.

[Dr cornelius quack]

Quite often when scouring the poundshops, I find that the blisterpack bubbles that hold the goods are of more use than the items themselves.

Being made by vac forming or blow moulding means that they don't have undercut shapes which makes them very useful as moulds for resin casting.
Also, they are often more durable than the tat that's inside.

[Mr. Boltneck]

Some plastics suppliers (TAP, locally), have scrap bins that are worth a rummage. Also, I have made a few pairs of goggles by starting with sunglasses lenses; the round lenses are easiest, since the edge is in a single plane, and you can get them quite cheaply.

[Ld.Willoughby]

If you don't mind them being a bit on the thin side you could use regular plastic bottles or jars. Cut it out, hit it with a heat gun or hair dryer on high to get it to uncurl. Stack two or more layers if it too thin but clear enough to see through.

[Angus A Fitziron]

I'm with Dr.Quack, take a good look at plastic packaging before it goes in the recycling bin, you can recycle it yourself with some imagination. What would it look like painted? Could it be used as a mould - I have used some waffle packaging to cast very passable cobblestone paving in plaster of paris. I guess we're a bit snobby about plastic but if it's good enough for the Doktor...

I also keep a good look out when pushing the grandkids around in the push chair - look in the hedge rows for example - it's amazing what gets chucked in there and the push chair helps in getting it home - bagged a nice empty fire extinguisher that way. Rubbish, it may well be worth its weight in gold as far as we are concerned. I have a significant collection of the covers from fruit shoots - make great model ventilators - they just look interesting and the caps from the squeezy baby packets make good imitation control knobs. Soon people will know of your fetish and start offering you 'interesting' plastic junk (honest - if you don't want this to happen, ignore my advice!) I gained a very nice industrial looking control knob that way...
Lets face it, it's junk, if you find you don't use it and find you are collecting too much, you can throw some of it away - that's what you were going to do with it anyway!

I also tend to cannibalise any electronic hardware before chucking it. Cogs, rods, shafts and levers from video recorders, lasers from CD players, various knobs as well as electronic boards. Just won a very nice torroidal transformer out of a dead foldback wedge monitor, just asking to be built into an electric bolt gun!

Is this what you had in mind?

[MWBailey]

lenses for the side lights of some brands of motorcycles are nothing more than tinted round glass blanks; also, sometimes you can get replacement lenses for military/police surplus flashlights that come in the same configuration. If it absolutely has to be pink, though, you might have to dye it yourself, using a glass stain or some such. There are some costume "hippy" sunglasses (the round-lensed variety) whose lenses can be removed relatively easily, but you might have to wait 'til Halloween before you can find any of those.

Raw/usable materials in general? Mostly just keep your eyes and mind open; you'll be shocked by what things you can make from other things. A friend of mine made a tailpiece for an archtop guitar from a belt buckle he found in Spencer's, for example. The materials are quite simply where you find them.

[Nathaniel Flood Harwick]

I'm currently working as a mechanic to pay for school in September, and have managed to accumulate some nice parts. Large roller bearings, brass hose fittings, air brake valves, about a dozen tire valve cores, a copper blow torch nozzle, some gold plated connector pins that resemble tiny bullets (I'm thinking a chain gun for a little robot), a nice rotor from an electric motor, various small springs, about a dozen large steal hexagonal rings, and a very nice looking sprocket from a dirt bike (I want to use it to make a clock since it has twelve evenly spaced holes in it).

[Captain Lyerly]

If you haven't found anything yet, swim goggles at the bigger sporting goods stores (Dick's, Academy Outdoors, etc.) might do the trick.  They might be a little small for what you are trying, but the kids' versions do come in many colors.


Chas./Z

[Rev. Jade]

If you haven't found anything yet, swim goggles at the bigger sporting goods stores (Dick's, Academy Outdoors, etc.) might do the trick.  They might be a little small for what you are trying, but the kids' versions do come in many colors.


Chas./Z

Or if you're feeling up to it, you could get the larger SCUBA/snorkeling type goggles at a sports store and cut out the shape you want. I'm not sure if that type of goggle will come in any different colors though.

[Mrs. Whatsit]

Office supplies can work wonders...those little brads that hold paper in file folders, can be used as rivets or the long silver ones can be formed into curli-ques other shapes for uniform decorations (only watch the sharp edges). 

Can you find a see-through plastic binder for reports?  Like one of those clear report covers but in pink for your daughter's goggle lenses?  If you already have a frame, this would be cheap and easy.  If you got more than one color of report cover, she could change out the "lenses" as the mood strikes.

[micropunk]

Dollar stores are a great source of raw materials for all kinds of projects.For plastic lenses for goggles  I have used clear clock faces.Go to your local hobby shop and you should be able to get clear Tamiya acrylic paint that comes in a good range of colors and dip the plastic lens in some of the paint that has been thinned to color the lens. Don't look at what the item is,look at what it can become.
Cheers.

[bmgillies]

I'm lucky enough to be studying prop, set and costume design at university, and I'm constantly raising the off-cut bins and rubbish skip for scrap wood, metal and other stuff. Building site skips sometimes have some great stuff 

[WillRockwell]

All my goggles are made with 3D lenses that I get free from movie theaters.

[Frolicking Johnson]

Garbage-picking down the street on trash day has bagged me some usable materials of all sorts.

[Dr. Madd]

Lenses... Hm....Check out yard sales, rummage sales, flea markets.. Sometimes you can find old eyeglasses, and the like.

[escherblacksmith]

fortunately, or unfortunately, I am problem solver oriented.  So, I have to have a specific problem and then wander around to find a solution.

So, for instance, if I need pink lenses, then perhaps I would use regular ones with pink cling wrap stuck to it. 

so, for any problem I'd wander around various hardware/surplus and whatnot to find the solution. 

And, of course, we have a local store known as Ax-man. 

[Hektor Plasm]

Some plastics suppliers (TAP, locally), have scrap bins that are worth a rummage.

Agreed, A friend of mine at college used to make badges and sculptures from perspex after asking for scraps at a sign-makers shop. They even gave him some perspex glue for nothing.
(he was also a dab hand at glass engraving on off-cuts from a window making firm... top scrounger!   )

HP

[VampirateMace]

If you haven't found anything yet, swim goggles at the bigger sporting goods stores (Dick's, Academy Outdoors, etc.) might do the trick.  They might be a little small for what you are trying, but the kids' versions do come in many colors.

Chas./Z

Or if you're feeling up to it, you could get the larger SCUBA/snorkeling type goggles at a sports store and cut out the shape you want. I'm not sure if that type of goggle will come in any different colors though.

I've seen both plastic safety goggles and glass riding goggles in pink, both would give you a wider area to work with than most swim goggles.

As for unusual sources for raw materials, I check out every sale I can find, pick abandon stuff up, and save anything that looks like it could be useful... but one must avoid hording, so if you can't think of a use for it, toss it.

[Captain Shipton Bellinger]

Car boot (flea) markets, auctions, rubbish bins, engineering scrap, charity shops, pound stores, eBay, found 'just lying in the street', disassembly of old items (it's amazing the interesting components you'll find in everything from a child's toy to a dead computer to a microwave oven). Scavenging and salvaging can all too easily become a way of life.

fortunately, or unfortunately, I am problem solver oriented.  So, I have to have a specific problem and then wander around to find a solution.

I'm almost exactly the opposite; more often than not I acquire things because "that looks interesting and useful for… something." Everything gets used eventually.

... but one must avoid hording, so if you can't think of a use for it, toss it.

Three or four years ago I decided to have a clear out of electronic, electrical and electro-mechanical parts that had been sitting in my spares store for upwards of 20 years. Big, BIG mistake. Within a month I was kicking myself. And, considering the source of some of those parts, I doubt I'll ever find anything quite like them again.

[PatronZero]

Of all sources, the veterinarian who services our kennels has been an unexpected source of odd bits for me and my bits box.     Some of the better pieces I've received have been plastic packing trays and racks that hold serum vials and the individual capped 'tubes' that held various syrettes-syringes.

Mind all of the above are neither sterile or contaminated accounting for their 'casual' disposal or discard from the vet's lab and generally toss-away items bound for recycle.

That said, by no way do I encourage anyone to sift through medical waste bins or prowl health-services supply cabinets for goodies.