Well, I just got back from a visit with a very nice gentleman named @Fred_Miller He isn’t a member, but noticed my post about wanting an old DEC terminal and a couple of 8" disk drives and offered me some from his collection.
He has been at his current location since the 1980’s but his land lord recently died and the man’s son want to get the building to store his classic car collection. The result is that Fred has a large collection of electronics, engineering, and science stuff that he has collected over the years and desires to give it away to people that will use it (either for its original purpose or to re-purpose it). I will list some of the major things I can remember, but the place is worth the visit from every able bodied member and our like minded friends. @zmetzing was there with me an can further attest to the sheer wonder of the place and its stuff
The only caveat is that the walk paths are narrow and you frequently have to step around and over stuff. So only go if your physically fit enough for that.
Now first @ChrisPattison contact this man immediately. He has a number of high voltage power supplies that will meet the need for your vacuum deposition work that your doing. To put it in perspective the most powerful system he has is 25,000 W, which can provide 2500V at up to 10A. But he has other more reasonable ones for what you are trying to do.
@Ashley_Newland @OpCode @Tron There are a number of devices that may prove interesting to science, including research lasers, numerous vacuum pumps, heating chambers, vacuum chambers, etc… Well worth the time to visit
@JohnK for you and your robotics friends there are a vast hoard of computer controlled motion devices like X-Y tables single axis motion, etc.
@bgangwere For the machine shop and metal shop there are some very interesting items including roughly two tons (he purchased a lot) of resharpened end mills in a variety of shapes and sizes. He also has a lot of metal angle iron and other scrap.
He has all of the material except the panels for drop ceiling. Large collection of hardware, casters, plumbing fittings, etc. Good for its original uses, but also of interest to the creative folks for repurposing @Photomancer
@Lampy @artg_dms In addition to the electronic stuff there is a huge assortment of test gear, power supplies, etc. The business performed chip and silicon wafer testing for various companies. I suspect that Art and this gentleman could spend several years chatting…
Anyway, the point is that I think nearly every member would find items of interest. So here is the contact information:
Fred Miller
email: mil-tec at msn dot com
13948 Distribution Way
Farmers Branch, TX 75234