Tag Archives: recycling

Scrap Yard Success

Posted on by Rehorst, Mark

Yesterday some of us went on a little field trip to a couple local scrap yards.  We met the people there and learned the ropes of how to do things right and not get hurt while digging for treasure in the piles of stuff they have laying around.  Wear gloves, old clothes, safety glasses, and sturdy shoes!  Stay away from moving cranes!

Here’s one of the discoveries from yesterday’s trip- explosion proof mercury vapor light fixtures:

A pallet full of explosion proof lamps at the scrap yard.

A pallet full of explosion proof lamps at the scrap yard.

And here’s what can be done with about an hour to figure out how to get it apart to remove the mercury vapor lamp and ballast and  clean it up a little.  Another 10 minutes went into installing the hardware, wiring, and a 6W LED bulb.  I wouldn’t call it finished yet- the base is crying out for installation of pipes to act as feet, a little more cleanup, and maybe a dimmer switch.  Total invested: $18 to get the fixture from the scrap yard, and another $12 for the hardware and LED bulb.

Explosion proof industrial lamp turned into table lamp.

Explosion proof industrial lamp turned into table lamp.

We help in all departments!

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Becky Tesch

We’re currently in the process of moving to our new space, but we had our last Tuesday night meeting of the year this week and we had a few guests stop by looking for help with some projects.

Becky’s a local artist who works in “duct tape & bike parts” making unique recycled jewelry and other things. (You can check out some of her work on Etsy.) She was interested in using the laser cutter for some of her pieces. While we didn’t get a chance to do any test cuts due to some laser downtime, we grabbed some inner-tube rubber and we’ll be giving it a test run for her.

The Artery

While talking to Becky, a guy named Jacob showed up and asked about cutting some stencils to sandblast things for rewards. Rewards? Yeah, he’s one of the guys involved in a recent Kickstarter campaign. Check out Matireal in this OnMilwaukee story. We gave Jacob some good advice and a member offered to cut the stencils he needs. Pretty cool! (And yeah, it did seem a little weird that we had one person who works with old inner-tubes and another who works with old car tires, but we love recycling too!)

So yeah, we like helping people who like making things, and even if the laser is down or we’re in the process of moving the entire Makerspace, we’re glad to help!