Sources of Motors/controllers

[bill south]

I'm sure this has been questioned before and I do apologize if it is a repeat! But reading the different threads I have noticed a tremendous amount of chatter on used motors and other parts of interest which have been pulled from "equipment". I've read about servo's being pulled from machinery, motors from treadmills and many other such entries. My question for the group is, what type of machines (other than treadmills) offer sources of components for our CNC hobby. There are surplus office equipment dealors, laboratory equipment and machine shop equpment dealors but which would be a good source for a CNC scrounger?? Just a thought. I can't help thinking, that everything I need to convert my smithy is close at hand and I can't see the forest for the trees!!!!.
Bill from Spartanburg

[2muchstuff]

A lot of the stuff you will need can be gotten off of Ebay. If you like to scrounge up stuff you will need to start with your yellow pages, hopefully you live near or in a large city. The headings that I look under are:

Electronics---used, surplus, recycling
Computers---used,recycle
Aluminum---scrap
Scrap metals
Recycling----metals
Surplus/Salvage merchandise
Copy machine companies

One thing that I am trying out now is biomedical equipment companies. I have gotten lucky in that used equipment is thrown away in construction sized dumpsters. Rooting thru them I have been able to find many stepper motors, connectors, timing belts, pulleys, etc. It's not that I don't have the money to go buy the stuff outright but I think it is either the thrill of the hunt or that I like to get something for nothing.

Take a weekend and go drive around industrial parks behind the buisnesses and check things out. There are many who do this on a regular basis, it's almost an underground cult. Some stuff even ends up on Ebay, food for thought.