15 minute small universal welding table.

[thehomeengineer]

15-minute, small universal welding table.
Hi All
Got really lucky today and found these two items in a scrap bin. So, in I go skip diving to recycle the two items. The first item that caught my eye was the shinny painted swivel bracket that had a broken vice attached to it, the second item was a drilled and tapped M10 jig plate.
Home they both came and the vice was removed and the hole in the swivel joint drilled out to M10 a bit of studding screwed in and loctite and the final part of this creation, screw the jig plate to swivel joint stud and a universal welding table was born with very little effort.



Another man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure. I love skip diving amazing what you can find and what is discarded as rubbish.
The Home Engineer

[bruce.desertrat]

I want to find the skips and scrap bins you frequent! That's an awesome find!

[will52100]

Cool find.

[mbsilvia]

I have both of those items!! I'm building one!! I love the idea..

[thehomeengineer]

I just can't help myself. I think my family get a little embarrassed by my skip diving technique, probably because it is head first and feet in the air. (but I guess they are used to it by know). It is quite funny if we walk past a bin of interest (as I like to call them), they make a point of saying not having a look in then, I think deep down they like the treasure as much as I do.
Some of the finds have been amazing. The best places are industrial estates where companies have relocated or have closed down there are always goodies in these skips. It is well worth having a look in reclamation yards skips. If its in the skip they normally let you have it or the cost of the scrap value. Well worth a look and to ask the question you never know what you might find.
Good luck to all the new treasure hunters/skip divers. Please post your finds so we can have some skip envy LOL
The Home Engineer

[Texf1]

When I was growing up, my parents said that I was a dumpster diver. I do believe our dumpsters are the same as your skips. A large metal trash container. Great find. Now I have something else to keep an eye out for. Thanks for posting.

[thehomeengineer]

Hi Texf1
Good luck in your future Dumpster Diving escapades looking forward to some dumpster envy. We do call them skips in the UK.
The Home Engineer

[NortonDommi]

You're lucky to be able to look in Skips. Where I live most businesses were quite happy for people to go through their bins as it cut costs at the end of the month then some mongrels started throwing household waste in bins which meant that many were padlocked or moved inside of a weekend. The final straw came when a total idiot took his two very young kids to one of my favorite bins at a sheet metal and general fabrication shop on a holiday Sunday morning, put both his kids inside the bin and got in after them. He was wearing singlet,shorts and jandles and stood on a sharp off-cut, fell over, rolled around and got cut some more then to top it off had a heart-attack!
This was discovered many hours later by a security guard inspecting a neighboring property who heard the kids crying.
The guy survived, the company got a massive fine and laws were passed that prevent any public access to commercial skip bins which includes padlocks and fences.
A real bummer.

[Frank S]

Back in the 70's when I lived in Germany we had what was called junking. This was where at certain times of the month or of the year residents of whole blocks would cart out their cast offs to the curb. Anyone was welcome to take what they wanted as everything left over the following day was loaded and hauled to the reclamation dump I had a rare vehicle over there at the time, that being a full sized Dodge pickup. Some of us in my off post housing would hear of a junking block party. then drive over and load up on all sorts of items. One night I helped a bud haul a complete living room Schrunk a kind of portable entertainment center/ storage closet which would have cost thousands of dollars to buy. It was disassembled and even at that by the time we got it loaded we looked like Sanford & son hauling it away. By the time he got it assembled and did a little touch up to the finish and replaced a few of the glass panes in the doors it looked brand new.

[thehomeengineer]

Hi Nortondommi
Really sorry to hear that. It is getting harder in the UK as well with the price of scrap still high companies are a lot more careful and claim the money for themselves which I totally understand. Also, a lot gets stolen and this must be frustrating for them. I always ask if I can take items from a skip/dumpster (well nearly every time) most people are happy if you explain what you want it for and understand if you are not taking it for profit and are happy to see recycling. Can you not speak direct to individual companies about offcuts even if you have to pay scrap value? Good luck on becoming a fellow skip diver

The home Engineer