About a year ago, the cleaning lady at my office knocked one of my ball clocks off the wall, breaking a metal spoke. I looked in vain for a replacement. I soon gave up, and bought the non-standard sized thread dies necessary to fabricate my own replacement. For some reason, Howard Miller used different thread sizes on the ends of the spokes, and one of them is a real oddball. Anyway, the clock is now restored, and even I can't tell which arm was replaced.
The frustrating bit of this is that I know there's some pack rat like myself who has that replacement spoke, and could have saved me the hassle of fabricating one. Often, when someone enters the forum looking for a spare part, they're herded off to Ebay, Graham Mancha, or Hume. These places are fine, if you need a chair foot or a shock mount. But ball clock arms? Nope. Leg clip for your Eames DTM? Nope. I know there's some schmuck out there who needs the Nelson X-base leg brace I have sitting in a coffee can in the basement. Thing is, our chances of connecting in the span of a 7-day Ebay auction are pretty slim, so I wouldn't bother posting it there.
I know that the forum is not to be used for commercial interests, and I respect that. Would a thread that helps us connect people who either need or have rare spare parts to share violate that dictate? Or, does there already exist another clearing house for this type of thing?
Do you
mean that there should be a thread for random spare parts? I think that's a great idea!
I have a single Paul McCobb brass cone knob. I also have a single vintage H-base for an Eames shell.
Unfortunately, both of these items are in Switzerland, so they're probably not going to be of much help to anybody. Shipping would cost more than they are worth.
Great idea
And I have a perfect candidate. I have two of the square copper planter inserts that sit in the back/ top of a Nelson end table. I have had them for years and I have no use for them, but can't bring myself to recycle them. I know that if not now, there will be someone who really could use them and I'd rather they be mated back with a table then flounder in my studio.
Plus, I need a threaded fastener for a Nelson swag leg dining table. The chrome one that takes an allen head. Anybody have one?
I have
broached the subject a while back. Other than just posting a thread like this, which could become commercial, It is a bit complicated for me. Here is the prior discussion;
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
Wonderful idea Poach and...
Wonderful idea Poach and Glassartist! Thanks for sharing.
The 'free ad' service of the Radar seems to be the most easy way for this. For several reasons:
1. Because it allows us to keep the forum free of commercial transactions. If we start opening the door to some kind of trade, some people will use the occasion to exagerate and we think that none of us wants the forum to be invaded by commercial offers.
2. The Radar is conceived to manage this type of offer. It is easy to describe the object, to associate it to a designer, a manufacturer, a period ...
3. The Radar makes it possible to post a price and naturally, the seller can be easily contacted through a small form, without his email address being posted, which is much more secure.
4. One can also post 'wanted' ads for spare parts on the Radar.
5. The search engine of the Radar will be much more adapted for research when the spare parts list will be too long. You will also be able to easily delete or edit your listings when one of your spare parts is not available anymore.
So here we go, we have just added a 'spare parts' sub-category on the Radar. You will find it in the 'miscellaneous' category. You can therefore start encoding your listings! Remember, it's free so don't hesitate to use it (very small fee if you want to post pictures). First you must log in the Radar (link below), then, the process is very easy to follow.
Don't hesitate to post your questions here in the forum.
http://www.designaddict.com/design_radar/index.cfm/fuseaction/design_rad...
The direct link to the...
The direct link to the related page on the radar is:
http://www.designaddict.com/design_radar/index.cfm/fuseaction/design_rad...
An update
Just wanted to share this from an email exchange with Alix:
"When you post a free listing it says that it will stay for 2 weeks only, but actually, we will leave the listings for the spare parts as long as the poster wants to leave them online. The poster will then have the possibility to delete his listing when he wants to remove it from the radar."
This addresses my original intent of creating a virtual parts bin, without the time limits of the typical online auction.
Thanks again Patrick and Alix.
This is to confirm that our...
This is to confirm that our 'Spare Parts' listings (without pictures) are free and with no limit in time. Of course, you can delete your ads when your spare parts are not available anymore.
We have added a direct link on the right column of the forum pages so that you can access the page easily.
Don't hesitate to tell us if we can still do something to make this nice idea take shape and expand.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com