[GreenKeys] OldTime surplus parts houses list builder

[Peter Gottlieb]

I heard that Apex and Norton in LA are worth going to, although they are 
more into the aerospace than purely electronics end.  I live on the East 
coast so plan on hitting them the next time I am out there visiting my 
son at Caltech.  C&H in Pasadena is indeed closing down.  They are right 
there in Pasadena and I went there the first time we made the college 
visit.  I picked up a bunch of stuff on each visit but it seems most of 
the good stuff is either gone already or they still want too much even 
if on "sale."

In Reading, MA there is Parker Products which seems mostly to be solar 
cell stuff and a LOT of junk.  If you are friendly enough and can 
"social engineer" you will be allowed to go roam freely throughout all 
the stuff.  Bring rough clothes and a big flashlight and be prepared to 
climb over mountains of dusty stuff.  There are gems in there if you 
take the time to find them.

If you like to work with metal, by far the best place I have ever seen 
is "The Yard Store" in Wichita, Kansas.  They get huge amounts of 
aluminum, copper, stainless and more from the aircraft manufacturers and 
sell for not much more than scrap value.  You can get everything from 
huge machined precision blocks to every kind of extrusion you can 
imagine.  I was visiting a friend nearby and ended up shipping hundreds 
of pounds of aircraft aluminum back home (shipping is cheap if you bring 
to the Fedex hub there).

For radio gear there is Murphy's in el Cajon and I visited there once 
(it was a big drive from where I was).  He can be expensive but will of 
course haggle and I left with a good sized pile of gear, enough to upset 
the airline at least (it would have been easier to ship it).  Again, go 
digging and be prepared to spend some time, and always ask to see the 
back area.  He pointed me to another place down the street which I never 
found (I had very limited time) but found a different one where I bought 
a big bag of assorted mil round connectors.

The government is slowly shutting down all military surplus, instead 
they are grinding and crushing all equipment not sold to other countries 
such as China so I expect over time all surplus will be commercial or 
from government contractors directly.

Peter


RLAAG at pacbell.net wrote:
> WE WERE OUT IN RIVERSIDE, CA., AND OUR LOCAL PLACE WAS CALLED MATERIEL TECHNIQUES, NOW CALLED ELECTRONICS WAREHOUSE...  IT IS 'OK' BUT NOT LIKE THE OLD DAYS OF SURPLUS GOODIES...  WE EVEN GOT TO GO TO C&H MANY TIMES AND COULD HARDLY WAIT TO SEE ALL THE NEAT STUFF...  AND ALSO A SURPLUS STORE IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES CALLED J. J. GLASS...  J. J. GLASS WOULD BE SHIPPING BIG MODEL 28 KSR'S AND GETTING LIKE $2500 FOR THEM IN SOUTH AMERICA...  THOSE WERE NEAT TIMES...  73  BOB
> -------------- Original message from Randy or Sherry Guttery <comcents at bellsouth.net>: -------------- 
>
>
>   
>> KC0NNC at aol.com wrote: 
>>
>>     
>>> C&H Surplus, Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA seems to still be alive. 
>>>       
>> The last time was by there they had a sign in the window saying the 
>> store was closing - that all sales would be via the internet (basically 
>> ebay). I grew up at C&H - I remember getting a dynamotor for my BC-654 
>> there - (and remember using a "key" to open the "can" it was in - like a 
>> giant coffee can). 
>>
>> Those days are long gone. 
>>
>> I guess we're really lucky here in Meridian, MS. We have one of the few 
>> remaining true "local" electronics distributors in the country - 
>> complete with tubes, Philmore, GC, Jimpaks, resistors, capacitors (no 
>> twist-lock electrolytics - I bought the remaining stock several years 
>> ago), ECG/NTE semis, relays, etc., some NOS PRB (belts, idlers, etc.), 
>> huge stock of fuses (some of them are 40+ years old!), hundreds of types 
>> of wire - spools/boxes - or "roll your own" bulk. The owner is getting 
>> on in age - I'm hopeful his grandson (who does seem to be taking an 
>> interest lately) keeps the stores open (yes - more than one - they also 
>> have a branch on the coast that serves Litton, et. al down there; as 
>> well as one in Jackson (at least I think it's still open)). 
>>
>> best regards... 
>> -- 
>> randy guttery 
>>
>> http://www.glimpsesofmeridian.com Trains, planes (LOTS more just 
>> added!), steam and stuff... 
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>>     
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