"Jon Elson" wrote in message
...
Michael Koblic wrote:

Since when has it become cheaper to buy an assembled piece of second-hand
equipment and cannibalize it for parts rather than buy parts alone?
Go to your local car dealer and check the sticker price of some particular
car.
Now, go to the parts department, and tell them you want to buy that same
car as all separate parts, and assemble it yourself. You will find out
that $20,000 assembled car will cost at least $50,000 as parts.

A fair point. However, in the case of a drill press (an example I happen to
be most familiar with) a cost of only three parts (2 step pulleys and a
1/4HP motor) exceeds the cost of the whole unit *new*. All the other parts
are a bonus. Buying it in an auction nearly new for much less would just be
an icing on the cake.

The other issue is availability: At this time I am not aware of any supplier
which carries step pulleys in Canada, let alone locally. An EBay search
threw up precisely 5 entries and not all of these were pulleys and some of
the pulleys were highly dubious.

Making parts fit the design is just not realistic. I have so far found only
one shop that carries *any* kind of pulley locally or in the next town. If
your design does not fit them, tough luck. Thus a barnful of junk and
genesis of a project on the basis on what is available seems the way to go.

There is not question that parts are more accessible in the USA, however
shipping costs can double or triple the purchase price.

I am really talking about step pulleys to illustrate a point. I am not
married to them as a solution for this particular problem. However, they are
the most available item here. Gears of any shape are rare as hen's teeth and
more expensive.

I had always thought people who cast things out of melted beer cans in their
back yard as mildly weird enthusiasts. I am not laughing any more :-)

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC