Dig my Buck Rogers knobs.

[Hiwatt25]

So, I totally lucked into the cheesiest looking knobs today.  To me they scream Buck Rogers.  They were on a piece of equipment that was being scrapped.  If it's in the dumpster, it's fair game as far as I'm concerned.  I just wish there had been more.  Oh wow, I guess I just admitted that I sometimes look in dumpsters. 




I just need to decide what to put them on.  My first thought is a phaser since they look so quasi Sci-Fi.  Maybe lable the Rate knob as "Stun".  Yeah, set Phaser to stun. 

[Dragonfly]

Oh wow, I guess I just admitted that I sometimes look in dumpsters. 

Admitting that you have a problem is half the battle.

Then again, those knobs are pretty frickin' cool.  (theres gotta be a dumpster somewhere around here )

AC

[Meanderthal]

 Oh, those absolutely belong on a "Dr Who" ring modulator! Cool!

[Pushtone]

Dumpster diver, dumpster diver 
Just kidding. I made a good living in college fixing thrown-out stereos and cassettes and selling them infront of the apartment.

I just need to decide what to put them on.  My first thought is a phaser since they look so quasi Sci-Fi.  Maybe lable the Rate knob as "Stun".  Yeah, set Phaser to stun. 

Yes, yes, yes thats it! 

Set your phaser for stun.

LOVE IT, and those knobs too.

I could machine my own version out of solid aluminum square bar.
Thanks for the pic Hiwatt25.

[idlechatterbox]

You could name your pedal the "Twiki" or something, after that little robot that always seemed to be mumbling/stuttering on the show:

http://www.thewellers.com/twiki/buck.htm

[Paul Marossy]

I wonder what the heck those things were once part of!

[Hiwatt25]

Okay, major bonus points go to idlechatterbox for actually locating a sound clip of twiki.  Man, reminds me of sitting on the floor of my parents' living room in my pajamas and dreaming of the day I'd be with Erin Gray.  Hawt! 

[Dan N]

Nice score!

Grass Instruments/Grass Medical used those on thier wonderful polygraphs, eegs, and stimulators.

[John Lyons]

Ha! My grandfather was a scientist and studied the brain as well as pioneering the electrical  brain function field.
He was close with the Grass instruments company. He had EEG machines and a whole lot of other instrunments with dozens of knobs on them at home. Sure wish I had access to them before they were most likely taken to the landfill!!!!!!!
Thos eknobs are pretty neat!

John

[Hiwatt25]

Hey, thanks for the Grass tip.  Look what I found at the Bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GRASS-INSTRUMENTS-EEG-AMPLIFIER-MODEL-7P511L_W0QQitemZ180070883705QQihZ008QQcategoryZ26230QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Too bad shipping is so much or it'd be worth bidding on. After looking at some of the other GRASS auctions, it appears that my knobs came from a bad module, probably from one of those large polygraphs.  It looks like you can just slide in new cards when you want/need to.  Whodda thunk.

[petemoore]

  Dr. Who [should be Dr. When], put them there, and this century he's always running 1 minute, one hour, or one day late, so there's a good chance in three he'll be looking for it !!1
  The Dr. needs to re-set his clocks.
  They look like one-offs, something designed to be made by hand, maybe I'm just reading that into it because I haven't seen 'em like that, a fancy boring bit and a straight cutter...looks like you could shape the end of a stick of Alum, then cut it off. Cool looking, cool design !

[markm]

scrapped.  If it's in the dumpster, it's fair game as far as I'm concerned. 

One man's garbage is another man's Gold! 

[Meanderthal]

One man's garbage is another man's Gold!

Damn straight! That's how I got my first amp way back when I was 13. Walking home from school, and there it was sitting by the curb with someone's trash- an old(even then) Silvertone combo maybe 1 to 5 watt tube amp. It had a stray wire broken off. I TAPED it back in place, worked fine. That was my 1st 'DIY' project. Funny how those amps are considered desirable now, at the time it was considered to be an absolute POS. Times change.

Edit: oops- forgot about the crystal radio... OK, my 2nd DIY...

[Ge_Whiz]

Sorry - do I understand that some folks have a problem with rescuing stuff from dumpsters? I thought that's what they were for... 

[petemoore]

  We got stupid 90 gal wheeled containers, the tops must close or they won't take the trash...some people like 'em, main drawback is that 'the pickin's' ain't visible.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Those Grass medical units are goldmines. Plus some of it you can just patch straight into modular synth setups.
All this stuff is being (or more likely already has been) thrown out from hospitals & labs & replaced by more integrated computerised stuff. Keep an eye out!!
I got a Grass "electrophysiological stimulator" from an antique junkstore. $25 but damn nearly killed myself carrying it a mile home lot of metal in there.

[Dan N]

Grass stimulators are featured "instruments" in my nephews noise rig.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/earthman606/gk.jpg

When he first started using them he was getting terrific shocks during his shows. Quite impressive.