Re: Dumpster Diving
 

well recently i was able to snag 2 ibot gearboxes and a an ibot leather seat....it pays to know which dumpsters to look in ;)

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

Laying by the trash can I found two new and working JBL 100 watt speakers. The stereo system that was with them was broken, so they just threw out the whole thing with the speakers.

I also found an IPAQ h3900 and an old MP3 player in a box with old stuff thrown out. It doesn't work but the LCD looks fine. I hope it works and I can find a pinout so I can hook it up to something.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

A certain someone dumped a $350 sprocket into the school dumpsters during the last week of the build season. Luckily, a mentor helped me jump in and dig around until we finally found it!

I have to admit, among the countless things FIRST has taught me, dumpster diving might just turn out to be the most practical ;)

My brother did this for the past year in Madison, WI. While he was training for the Chicago marathon, he would take long runs all around the city and see bikes in various stages of (dis)repair chained up or abandoned in front of buildings. His rule of thumb was that if a bike was left out for more than one week in the same location, it was his to take (the city claims them after 10 days).

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

:ahh: What sprocket costs $350?!! :ahh:

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

I think it's been settled, legal depends on where you are.

As for cool stuff, I have found...

* Working transmitter radios
* A 440 MHz commercial antenna (for the transmitters)
* A Roto-tiller
* A snow blower (older than me, but still runs great!)
* Countless bicycles and computers
* A GPS antenna (working!)
* Chairs, bookcases, racks, other furniture
* Materials (wood, metal, plastic, glass, hardware)
* 1000' of #6 bare aluminum wire.
Saved from the dumpster are countless other things, like a metal bin rach with bins, AT-type power supplies with +12v input (run a PC in the car!), and so much more...

Don

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

I've picked up two gas powered lawnmowers for free; one a horizontal shaft and running. I also scored a bunch of aluminum network racks and cabinets. All the stuff was obtained with permission. None of it cost me a dime.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

me and my friends found a couple tricycles and a couple of aluminun backs we got picked them up took them to my friends house and for about an hour just beat the devil out of the tricycles with the aluminum bats and some help from a certain sledge hammer it was a fun day we all took parts oif the tricycles i got a wheel and a bike chain :D

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

A few years ago, some teammates of mine went to the local junkyard to get electrical connectors for some of the FIRST and OCCRA kit motors. I believe they found some for the old Keyang seat motors, Van Door motors, window motors, and several of the others that are automotive motors. They looked up which vehicles those motors were used in, and then went searching for junked cars with those motors, and took the connectors. It's not quite dumpster-diving, but it's close.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

If you consider our robot room a dumpster (which it practically is) some anonymous person (a teacher no doubt, our work-room is at school) came and left a massive card-labeler/reader/addresser/thingy in our room. We took it apart and got all kinds of cool stuff. Including Gilmore belts, a 3 hp AC electric motor, and a whole ton of sensors; with the exception of the Ac motor we will likely be using the belts and sensors on future robots.

As for the legality of dumpster diving I really don't know. But I seriously doubt a cop would give you a ticket for taking card-board-boxes out of Safeway's dumpster.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

Sad to say, the supermarkets all compact their cardboard boxes. I needed some when I was a kid, and Mom took me to the store to ask for some. They wouldn't give me any, saying they had already compacted all their boxes. (Obviously, they didn't want to be bothered helping me.) Ever since then, I've been envious of people who can acquire giant pieces of cardboard.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

Cardboard boxes? Maybe, maybe not.

But taking metal from a scrap metal dumpster? That can most definitely land someone a ticket - especially if that company sells their scrap metal back to a metal recycling company.

It all depends on whether the stuff being thrown out has any value to the person, company, or city, and if there are any laws pertaining to dumpster diving.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

I'm glad I don't live near your safeway!

Mine is only too obliging to give away giant boxes. :)

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

Dumpster Diving in NH could go either way. Its considered private property if its in a sealed opaque container (IE double bagged with black trash bags) but its on the side of the road with the trash in plain view its my understanding that its free for the taking (or at least my law teacher thinks so!)

This was all decided when the police in NH went through a suspects trash without asking or a warrant...

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

That is by no means a one time incident. I recall a big raucous raised over a Dartmouth College security guard going through a friend's garbage looking for some stolen college property he suspected the kid had taken and then ditched when the cops started asking people about it. He found it, but later in court defeated the charges as Dartmouth security had no right to go through his family trash.

In another incident involving my favorite rent-a-cops, a different friend was found rummaging through a dumpster on campus. He was looking for old computer stuff, but there happened to be a nice collection of old student data on some ancient dot matrix style printer paper. He didn't care about it at the time, but it was a huge possible source of embarrassment for the college which is probably why it stayed out of the courts. He is still forbidden from campus grounds.

Don't get caught, even if you are sure it's legal where you live.

-Andy A.

Re: Dumpster Diving
 

Wow.. and I thought my family was the only one who liked to "recycle" this way... We're not into dumpster diving per se, but have been known to occasionally help the sanitation engineers by removing some of their work which was put out at the curb!
Here in CT when my kids were young, there was a recycle organization that got things from local companies and you could fill a bag for $1. We would bring home eyeglasses (minus the lenses), empty lipstick tubes, cardboard tubes, etc. etc. All the way home we'd go over our "treasures" and the kids would build stuff for hours. Even now I can't pass by an empty computer box or styrofoam insert or heavy duty cardboard tube without thinking, "Can this be an ambulance? Fire truck? Television set? Matchbox car tunnel? Troll house?"
If you live up this way, a great place to check out is Flexcon in Spencer, MA. They manufacture pressure-sensitive films. Like in window "cling" material and bumper sticker material, or the stuff that goes on bus windows that you can print on but see through. I haven't been in a few years, but they used to allow non-profits and youth groups to take away leftover material. It's great for teams making spirit items, etc.

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” - Thomas Edison