How To Get Almost Any Part for Free Or Very Cheap: 8 Resources You Probably Don't Know About 086 

Let me know your favorite places to find free stuff! I completely forgot to mention that I sort and limit what I keep and throw away the rest. Also don't forgot to check out www.kiwico.com/fielding50. My kids get excited every time the boxes arrive!

The best thing about this channel is he is a good human being.

He doesn't lie. Asked my coworkers and soon didn't have enough room for all the electric goodies I received. Re-purposing old equipment and materials has been a passion from childhood. The difference between a "junker" or "hoarder" and an "inventor" or "handyman" is a very fine line. Its called "organization". Organization that isn't so perfect you create clutter with just sheer boxes/shelves - but enough organization you can reliably reach for a circuit board or device that MOST LIKELY has the part you need! I love how organic this channel is - and he clearly has a passion for the builds and challenges that it all presents! Thank you Jeremy - I love your content!

I am a vanguard baby boomer now in my twilight years. I wish one of my parents had showed me the value of math and science. It’s too late for me now, but my two infant great grandchildren will be receiving boxes Kiwico for every birthday and Christmas for as long as I remain alive. Thanks for the video Jeremy

Jeremy, you are a man of my own heart! I've been "scrapping" for almost sixty years, built a living and a machine and fabrication shop on it, and give it all up to God, who blessed me with the talent to take apart, and reuse. I've seldom seen such a clear and lucid description of what must be a great life. I wish you and your family well, and Blessed. John McClain

Jeremy, I don't know how often you hear this, but you are an absolute blessing on this world. You have such a calm voice while you're telling us about taking shit apart to make other shit that I've become convinced you are actually the love child of Bob Ross and MacGyver.

I build computers from discarded computer parts for people and especially kids who cannot afford new machines.. You're a genius and thank you so much!

One great thing I enjoy about salvaging and taking things apart is seeing and appreciating other designers' work. Most often, it's the work of an entire team. It can also be a time travel experience where no microcontrollers or modern materials were used.

"And the award for 'Coolest Dad Ever' goes to...Jeremy Fielding!" Glad to see young kids getting interested in STEM related activities 😀👍. More dads need to be like you

Gloves are important when tearing down an unknown appliance. You never know when there's going to be a sharp edge inside an appliance or item the makers left because they didnt think anyone would be sticking their hands inside there.

Jeremy, as a child growing up in the early 70's much of what you talk about in your videos was taught to us by parents, relatives, the old guys in town etc... later in life shop classes for boys and girls, tech schools were popular. learning basic mechanical stuff. Raiding the dump for a washing machine part, lawnmower engine etc... was commonplace and welcomed by the town(not anymore in most places). Experimental toys and science related kits were everywhere, electronic kits etc... all that seems to have disappeared or perhaps is not as prevalent as it was in my youth. You Tube appears to be bring this back albeit in a different way and better way, inspiring confidence to try. Your channel seems to be going well, and I hope it grows and the people listen and learn from you, then more importantly they go out and try to build or repair things as a result. I am a fairly new subscriber, finding your channel by accident actually. I love what you are doing here. Cheers from a lifelong mechanic, welder, machinist and junk fixer.

I'm upset it took so many years for RU-vid to recommend this channel to me. Really really love your content .

Another source of inexpensive parts is a “u-pull-it “ auto parts salvage yard.

“Having a good grinder and a hammer should resolve any remaining issues” 😂 so true!

Anyone this motivated and this smart I would give him things purely out of respect. Very impressive sir.

Finely I have found a man on RU-vid that is a man after my own heart. Inventing is one of the greatest gifts man has been given. Thank you for this channel Jeremy.

I love your motivation! It makes it exciting to watch your videos. I'm a nurse and people close to me think it's weird when I take things apart to see how they work or change things to better suit my needs. I'm headed out to some of the shops in town NOW to look for free stuff! You made a difference in my life today. Sincerely, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I used to work for a company that would regularly buy other companies and close them down. There's ALWAYS a cleanout party, and if the person in charge of the party decides something is trash, that means it's free to whoever wants it. I've seen a LOT of nice hand tools and power tools given away for free this way.

When I was a kid, my dad would bring home old lab equipment from the local university that was being thrown away. We would spend weekends taking it apart and looking at all the cool stuff inside. We kept the electronics and other interesting parts and recycled the rest. I remember it being a lot of fun and something I will always remember.

Dude you deserve any luck in your life! It makes me feel whole to help and also see people help reduce our modern society‘s trash and trying to restore or reuse as many parts as possible! Great work appreciate it!

Jeremy, some of the best information I have seen short of the "Fox Fire Book". If anyone does not know what this is of where to find them, at least volume 1, you have lived too much of your life in a city. I warn you, the full set is not cheap; will be worth 10 times its weight in gold should you ever really need them. I would say a set of these books and Jeremy's "can do spirit" and we will be better off after the world falls apart.

Whats the greatest part of this video.. watching him with his family. Knowing the bonds that hes making will never be broken. So many families are too busy for each other and its sad to see them grow up disjointed from mom and dad.

we need to have a whole industry of reuse like this . we take literal tons of used appliances daily in delivery business . not to mention pallets .it will be good to see it all go to good use 💡

The fact is that if everyone actually reuse and repurpose things like this instead of throwing it away the environmental load would be much smaller than it is when put in a landfill. The future can only be saved with longer lasting products and smarter second hand

Jeremy, this is the first of your videos that I've had the great pleasure of watching, sir! You now have a new subscriber. I scavenge all broken items before discarding them, and have for most of my life. I am a lifelong tinkerer, fixer, and maker. I keep everything that I am unable to use, that is recycleable, and take it to our municipal discard center, except for metal, which I take to the local metal recycler for a little extra cash. Great vieo, and fine production quality. God bless you, and your family. Keep up the good work!

I love old junk. I built my large capacity rock tumbler from an old treadmill. Used both rollers and the motor. It runs plenty fast enough on just a 24 vdc transformer with a rectifier. I can fit 4 barrels across the rollers. Beats the heck put of the cheap rock rollers, even more expensive ones.

I watched this video, sent out a broadcast message to all the relevant people in my contact list, and now, 5 minutes after watching this video, I have a broken convection oven, countless broken printers( BEARINGS!!!!! ), Working PC Monitors!? And a lot of people who will let me know when they get stuff. You sir, are amazing

I cut out and used the side steel sheet metal panels of a clothes dryer to make the top of an outdoor workbench.With frame rails from a discarded bed frame (basically angle iron). I added a found vise too I found in my neighbors trash. I use them both when I weld on stuff. I love repurposing stuff for free. I hunt my neighborhood after dark, on trash pick up night. Ive found so much stuff that Ive used or sold for money. Right now I got wrought iron handrailings and fence I just put for sale. Got it out of my neighbors garbage last Monday.

I keep an eye on Craigslist as there's often free items like treadmills, mowers, fans, etc listed. I've picked up 3 treadmills now for free, and 4th one I picked up by paying attention to what was out on the road front for trash pickup. To get steel shelving/rack, my uncle and I have a deal with the local Sam's club to pick up their "damaged" steel (if a forklift hit it, they have to replace it regardless of how superficial the damage may be). I'm building my garage out of this same warehouse grade steel and the roof will be 15'. This will give me a balcony 2nd floor inside the garage. Also will be making a large green house soon as well from this same steel racking.

Heres my list of where to get stuff from, always wanted an online resource with similar info on it. Barings from skates, skateboards, hard drive centres Stepper Motors Old cordless screwdrivers, photocopiers, disc drives fans old computers micro switches old joysticks, hand games Copper strand old power supplies optical sensors computer mice LED’s computer mice, remote controls 24 hr Timer Use old central heating thermostat, bedside clocks optics Used Camera lenses metal sheet Computer case, old appliance bodies Thin dowel Kebab sticks, garden plant stakes Medium/large Dowel Broom handles Sheet Glass photocopiers / multi printer Magnets Hard drives metal tubing Some mop handles are metal tube

I am in awe with the amount and quality of projects you've created with salvaged parts. You are amazing and inspiring!

Glad to know I'm not the only person who gets excited when I see "trash"

This is no joke. Probly 1/3 of my woodworking shop is filled with tools/machines from friends that were upgrading!

Step 1: Get friends. well there is my problem :(

Thank you, Jeremy! I’ve been scrounging and repurposing for 3/4 of a century now. Great that you share this with the world.

This was an amazing video, as someone who takes old components out every so often, seeing it systematized like you do is eye opening. Thanks!

Genius... We need more workshops in this country and less “man caves”

I grabbed the sheet metal from a water heater skin and blacksmithed roses from it.

You are the ONLY person I’ve seen on RU-vid that can talk about a sponsor without me even realizing it until you’re done 👏

Man, I really enjoy your channel. Thank you for all you do. Great idea recruiting "agents." You're 100% correct - Once you put it out there, pretty soon stuff comes out of the woodwork. Highly recommend going to garage sales and spot the big or obsolete stuff that won't likely sell. Tell them what you will haul away if they are stuck with it at the end of the day. Sometimes folks will even dig deeper and find more things around the house. If you are willing to take some stuff you don't need as a means of thanking them. (Set boundaries), if you have something that you don't want to keep, don't even take it out of the car - go straight to the recycler. If it goes home, it might be a long time until you get around to it) yHaving a reason to visit an e-waste service can sometimes opens doors to picking more goodies. A maker space about an hour from here gets TONS of weird stuff that they sometimes give away on Craigslist. I got some amazing stuffs, (20 bricks of new LiPo batteries!) and have given them some goodies in return which gets me an occasional first dibs on something choice. Lastly - dumpster dive - You will won't believe what you find.

You, sir, are incredibly pleasant to watch and listen to. You have such a refreshing smile and your diction is superb.

I remember a lumber yard that had a sign: We don't have any "scrap" -- Just Small Pieces

My dad makes raised garden beds from pallets. They look amazing and its a great deal. To fill them he goes to a dump where they sell heaps of really good dirt from compost

I ordering a subscription from kiwico right now for 2 of my youngin's. I never heard of them before so thank you for bringing them to my attention. And for the discount. This is a great sponsor. Showing how you use the kits with your kids sold me - I love building stuff with mine and this will relieve me of thinking up new things to do for a while! 🙂

I used to look online for sample electrical components. Texas Instruments had a a great program where all you had to do was just pick the component and they would send you a few. This service is no longer availible to your regular joe. They require a business email I think. And some other verification things. But I’m sure if you look around you can find other manufacturers willing to provide samples. Just don’t abuse the privilege though.

My local metal fabricator sells "drops" at scrap prices per pound. I've bought 12 and 15ft lengths at those prices to build a welding cart.

Your children are very lucky to a Father like you so many people today cannot fix anything in a house or use any tools. Great Education for your children and audience

i work in maintenance at a company that leases commercial property, runs an appliance repair shop and rents mini storage units, i love my job because i find all kinds of interesting things to build or fix and sell

I just started watching your videos today and I have to say this stuff is super helpful! I am a mechanical engineer that just graduated and college but I also do art and make comics. My goal is to make a comic that is all about engineering and inspired by the things I can build in real life. I can already tell this channel will be a great help and motivation!!

I've just discovered this channel & you, Jeremy Fielding, are inspiring! I have fixed stuff for many years & it's increasing with the amount of interesting things & ridiculously overly wasted materials (crap as my Mrs calls it) that people are too eager to dispose of. Even as a non-conventionally religious person I would describe it as deeply sinful what most people, (in the Western World) waste. Unfortunately there is incentivised profit in waste fundamentally built into our culture. As recently as 7-8 years ago I used to fix things I'd find on the street at night in supposedly poor areas in London, UK (disUnited Kingdom), where I live & sell them cheaply on Ebay & elsewhere to the degree I could sometimes make enough to pay my rent & bills. Now I can't even give things away that used to sell fairly easily, items are too cheap & 'disposable' now. Hair dryers are a good, typical example out of many varied items I would regularly find, fix & sell cheaply £4-£6 ($6-$8). By 'fix' I mean replace the fuse which, 9 times out of 10, or more accurately: 19 times out of 20 was/is the only thing faulty. I'm middle aged now but when I was growing up in North West England people I knew would buy a luxury item like a hair dryer from the catalogue & pay for it 'on the drip’, £1.99 over a year or 2, replace the fuse themselves when necessary, & get it repaired if it was possible. In present times it is now common to throw the thing away rather than unscrewing a plug & replacing the fecking fuse!!! I regularly commute (recently once again now The Plague is subsiding in Britain) to Glasgow in Scotland; Glasgow is now known as a culture striving to be 'Greener' but even there, even in some of the renowned, supposedly 'rough', poorer areas (one place I'm very familiar with) the amount of good items which are regularly thrown away is staggering. The increase in waste has been truly depressing in my lifetime & I'm not quite old yet! I go through spells of lethargy but have fixed several items recently, furniture, musical instruments, electrical items, & was starting to slow down/get disheartened but now feel inspired to keep going again! I’ve recently pulled a pallet apart for the wood to fix a wardrobe, I had to be quieter than would be possible if I’d used a mallet & wood blocks so I used a car jack & luggage straps to pull it apart, this worked very well, with minimum damage to the wood & was surprisingly satisfying to do! If I was going to regularly dismantle pallets I’d make a jig to use with the car jack, perhaps that’s something you could do in a video? I hope a good proportion of your viewers are or new subscribers are young & become interested in understand how things work, fixing, maintaining & making! I wish you, yours & your followers well!

That's exactly how we've worked on several projects. Not only does it get you resources for cheap/free but also teaches you where to find correct resources.

If you aren't squeamish, there is always curbside pick up on trash day. Top two finds are microwaves and TVs. Pr0 tip: take apart outside and keep a bottle of spray bleach cleaner on hand just in case you discover any residents

I can’t go pass a treadmill on the roadside. It’s like a new power tool just needing reorganising😁 Jeremy, can I make a request? make a 72x2 belt grinder from just a treadmill, structure, wheels, motor, spread control. Please😁

I would love to see a video about how you organize and store your parts! It pains me to pass up on side-of-the-road goodness because my apartment is chock full of stuff already. You forgot flea markets! Especially Amateur Radio flea markets. Find your way to NEARFest and the MIT Flea market someday - tons of cool stuff!

I have to live my picker/maker life vicariously through you. My wife would never go along with my bringing treadmills and washing machines home to dismantle. But I did have a pretty steady stream of discarded bikes to restore and pass on. Perhaps that’s the key - acquire and pass on. Give the discarded a new useful life.

How have I not found this channel years ago this channel is my whole hobby/life in a single channel. I like this guy I'm always looking to learn new things and looking to save money by building things myself

I had an old electronic organ, so I when I was breaking it apart for easier disposal I found 2 or 3 motors and 4 big speakers, along with a few belts and switches

My wife just told me to throw away something that could be fixed. She said we could just buy another. I said no- that’s not in my nature. 15 minutes later it was fixed. 15 minutes.

Wow a kindred spirit! I take most things apart before throwing away if for nothing else than the screws. I actually got a job once because while being interviewed the owner walked in and asked " If you see a nickel & a wire nut, which do you pick up first? " My answer " The wire nut. " I later asked him about the question & why my answer earned me the job. He said the wire nut cost 10 cents. He then asked about my response, I said " Because I can work with a wire nut & I need a job. " We got along just fine. Enjoyed your vid & just subscribed.

When I lived in Phoenix Arizona, the city did what they called "uncontained trash" collection every so often. People would put out everything from tree limbs to broken appliances to *working computers* out on the kerb, and there was no restriction on anyone taking what they wanted from the piles (being polite and not leaving a mess was a plus of course). I didn't hurt for parts and stuff for years. Other municipalities do this too- check on the legality of foraging though.

There's nothing I love more than having a relative/friend/coworker call me and say, "Hey I got an X that stopped working. I bought a new one. Do you want the old one?" There's a certain cathartic serenity to disassembling broken equipment you were given for free, especially when you know it's FUBAR or that you have no use for it as is. No pressure, no stress, just the freedom to dismantle it carefree. Keep what you can use and recycle/scrap the rest. It's already broken, so you can only go up from there. That and half the time all the thing needs is a little TLC and you can turn half an hour of tinkering into $100 to fund other hobbies.

I had a side business fixing and selling washers and dryers people threw away. The Direct Drive Whirlpools are so easy to fix.

If you live near Santa Clara, CA They do 4 weeks of "clean up days" where people put all their junk for pickup. Just last weekend I saw at least 10 treadmills. Also about 400 microwaves. It is encouraged for people to go around picking up what they want before Monday when the trucks come from the landfill. There is so much stuff!

In watching this video again years later, a good source for large items although not free is a public auction for leftover material from construction sites that the company sells for pennies on the dollar instead of things going to a landfill. I’ve bought to date about four 46’ flatbed loads mainly from their Denver site. They’re called Repurposed MATERIALS and I think they are even posting things on local craigslist sites. BTW, would love to see you, make your own shop exhaust for welding, metal work, and plasma cutting!

The poor man's Tony Stark. Your awesome dude.

Chuckles, "like that would keep me out." Love it! Thank you for sharing your insight!

You, Mr. Fielding, are an amazing parent, I can guess that your wife is excited every time a new box shows up. With that kind and level of encouragement, I can see engineers and tinkerers for a long time.

u can also go to construction sites (renovation,loft,etc) or u can go to car boot sales they sell all sorts of stuff

You are one of the best DIY life hack heroes ✌️ respect 🌎♻️ thank you for sharing.

I've had an idea for a long time for a sort of "Makerspace supply warehouse". A centralized location where people could bring and donate old appliances, pallet wood, and scrap metal. Then it could all be disassembled, sorted, and given away for use. A space where things can be recycled by hand. Unfortunately, I've never thought that such a thing would be economically feasible. Nor would I know how to convince a city to fund one as a public good. Plus, even if employees and volunteers would be excited to disassemble things at first, I'm afraid that it would get old for people. It's rare to find people like ourselves who have an innate and unending desire to disassemble and sort things for use. I do have a plan though. I live in Houston and we have a giant Makerspace called TX RX. The pandemic put things on hold but right before it happened I was speaking with someone about building an all plastic workshop for DIY by hand recycling. They're expanding anyway and will have extra room. If that can be successful hopefully it could expand into other small-scale recycling projects and with their help I could approached the city with a more professional base. Our recycling is terrible here, so I think it's the perfect city for something like this to work.

Okay, this gentleman can be a consultant to me & my garage. Watching this fellow & a german fellow, on RU-vid, lowers my blood pressure & motivates me to spend time in the garage.

I've been harvesting parts from everything since I was a kid. I used to rip my toys apart to wire up new ones. I had more fun ripping everything apart and assembling it into something else than I ever had with the toy.

Capacitors in welding plants can hold a charge after unplugging that could kill you.

"Like that will keep me out! (Laugh...). THAT'S the attitude! Love it, thanks for the info.

"Unplug it first..." I nearly lost my lunch on that line. Please keep up the great energy and enthusiasm as you share this knowledge. Many thx!!

My family has always repurposed stuff. My grandmother did woodworking, and build several of her tools, including a big bandsaw. That was just what you did living on a farm in the middle of the 20th century.

I grew up with Meccano, a construction toy that taught me so much about structural engineering that I became a beekeeper... Just kidding - it's great that your kids get to learn how stuff works and how to fix it.

Jeremy- do you have a method for organizing your harvested components? I've been taking things apart for "future use", but I'd be interested in if you have a method of cataloging your components that facilitates ready use. Thanks !

Good man Jeremy. I don't even throw out 'junk' until I've taken the nuts, bolts and screws; anything usable and store them away in little jars. The time it takes is repaid by generally having what I want on hand and not having to go to a store.

I’m a border or used to be, wife doesn’t like me dragging stuff home from work 😆😆😆 I’m an industrial mechanic and I get all kinds of things but here lately I’ve not brought anything home, I don’t have a shop big enough to house all the stuff I would bring home. Love the videos and what you’re doing, keep up the great work.

I have an industrial surplus store at the end of my block. They sell most things at a tenth the retail price.

This has to be taught to our kids in school. How to reuse and breathe new life into things. Awesome!

I used to work for some apartment complexes replacing countertops and ceiling fans and stuff whenever a lease was up. You'd be shocked at the amount of good microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, etc. they throw away on a regular basis. At one of these places they had a huge dumpster that was constantly getting filled with appliances, many of them made by general electric and seemingly brand new.

Lin seed oil my friend, to protect your metal surfaces. It won't wet your projects, just a thin coat once a month should do it. I dig your video's Chris

Dude, were you your own inspiration or did you have a strong personality type of a person in your growing life? Kids need to see you, hear you while they're in elementary, middle, high school and college. Real talk.

can you be my buddy during the post-apocalypse?

In some countries like the Philippines you can find several junkshops. They're like a scrapyard that buys and sell broken parts and other scrap materials. Pricing is usually by weight. You may buy fixable motors and raw materials before they resell them back to recycling plants.

It's so good to know you aren't alone! 😁 My missus is always saying "that's so cute" because I love taking apart old discarded crap and making beautiful objects. The world is FULL of treasure.

There's no such thing as a "security fastener" when you own an angle grinder 😇

Craigslist has a free section that sometimes posts old appliances, and other things for people to come take away.

As a woodworker: the dumpster behind a cabinet shop is a damn gold mine. I imagine having a buddy in aerospace manufacturing would be handy for good stainless steal and aircraft aluminum... but can only “imagine”.

Thank you, i get so many good ideas from you. I am 73 and have always fixed all my stuff . When i was young i was always taring things apart. Thank you again god bless

You seem to be a member of the Wandel school.

Thanks 🙏 good man for the info and everything you share. Bless ya

I live in a condo and regularly check out the electronics recycling bin and other bins. I've gotten functional and broken computers, TVs, microwaves, LCD monitors, cellphones and more. Some of them required only minor repairs to get working again, eg. usually blown capacitors for the monitors, replace a backlight for TVs, etc. They're a goldmine!

CRT TV's are good for high-current or high-voltage transistors, resistors, capacitors and wire from the degaussing coil. That coil can have 60 to 100 meters of 0.4 mm enameled (magnet wire) copper wire. I use it to wind coils for my metal detector.

When the zombie apocalypse happens I want to live wherever this man lives.

The forgotten step 1 - Obtain a space to disassemble and store components.

We have formal networks called "freecycle". The important points are that things go to the highest reuse. Someone who will fix and use is better than someone who will break down and recycle is better than someone who will scavenge and landfill is better than someone who will just landfill. If you don't have a freecycle program in your area, start one.

When I asked people for broken electronics appliances most people say what are you a hoarder.Yet this is what I have in mind good to know I'm not alone.