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Author Topic: Cheap source for really tiny stuff  (Read 848 times)

Offline Peter Nevai

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Cheap source for really tiny stuff
« on: March 12, 2021, 07:22:03 PM »
While doing the cockpit detail on my RSM Pathfinder LE shown elsewhere on stunt hangar, I made use of some very small screws to attach items and give additional detail. Over the years I have reclaimed screws, bearings, brackets and magnets from old broken video camcorders. You would be surprised at the amount of unique bits and pieces you can reclaim from the transport mechanism from an old 8mm defunct camcorder. Another excellent source for ultra miniature hardware and high speed bearings, magnets etc are broken or obsolete computer hard drives. Really small stuff can be salvaged from old notebook mechanical hard drives. They are abundant and cheap from ebay. They need no work and the amount of tiny hardware that can be salvaged from a single drive is well worth the effort of dismantling the  drive and sorting the parts. The bigger desk top hard
drives yeild the same stuff just a little bigger in general. The bearings from these make great bell crank pivots. I attached a photo of part of my stash I have accumulated over the years using a penny to give the items perspective scale.
Words Spoken by the first human to set foot on Mars... "Now What?"

Offline Dave Hull

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Re: Cheap source for really tiny stuff
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2021, 09:11:30 PM »
I did much the same with the older office-style typewriters, pre-IBM-ball era. Lots and lots of threaded pushrods, clevises (clevi?), bellcranks, springs, screws and bushings. You name it, if you wanted a linkage it was in there. Now, you'd be lucky to find one in a museum.....

I can tell you that there was some very intricate mechanical engineering in those old machines. Speaking of which, did you see that the engineering department of London College has recreated a front end for the world's oldest mechanical computer? The Antikythera mechanism made by the Greeks and dating from around the turn of the millennium?

Dave


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