I propose a Reprap tgimboej

Since a good deal of us reprappers and repstrappers are electronics geeks I think we could get a The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronics Junk aka Tgimboej going on. A Tgimboej is a USPS flat rate box full of electronic stuffs that you can not bring your self to throw away but also might not use in the near future. It is a way to share components, and other electronics stuff with friends and members of the community who you otherwise may not get a chance to interact with. It is also a great way to get cool components and other electronic stuffs that you might find useful where as the person who put it in the box had no use for. I mean I have a junk box full of electronic components both used and unused and all kinds of other goodies and I am sure others on here do to. Don't have a box full of spare parts or junk? Do like I do every now and then. Buy one of the $5 surprise boxes from [www.goldmine-elec-products.com]

So what is the official definition of a Tgimboej?

The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk is a progressive lending library of electronic components. An Internet meme in physical form halfway between P2P zip-archive sharing and a flea market. It arrives full of wonderful (and possibly useless) components, but you will surely find some treasures to keep. You will be inspired look through your own piles, such as they are, and find more mysterious components that clearly need to be donated to the box before it is passed on again.

The rules.
Recipient Conditions for The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk:

1. Take out and add as much electronics junk as you like (but keep it small enough to fit in a USPS flat-rate Priority Mail box or the equivalent for your postal system).
2. Write up, photograph, document or otherwise publish in some way online at least one thing you took out (suggested flickr tag: TGIMBOEJ, see also: flickr group ). ****I Use my blog [cjganttphotography.com]****
3. There is a little book in the box. Add a checkmark by your name to show that the box has been to you. Also propose a future recipient by adding their name and e-mail address to the book.
4. Within two weeks pass the box along to one of the people whose name is in the book. Before mailing it to them, send them this list and make sure that they want to participate.

More info on other Tgimboej's that are circulating around the world can be found here. [tgimboej.org]

I know cost would prohibit the sending of the Tgimboej across the pond to our foreign friends but they could start one too. There is no limit as to how many boxes we can start.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2008 09:20AM by SCphotog.

Anyone?

At least I'm the one you'd call foreigner
So I guess I'm out of reach anyway ...
(but hey.. I'm closer to the pob of the project than you are, so you're the alien )

don't get me wrong, but the last time I participated in something similar,
it wasn't a good idea at all..
Someone took almost all valuable parts and replaced them with junk.
I don't know how long it took exactly, but not long and the project was closed.

That was the first and the last time I did something like that.

But true;
it's a good idea to give, and sometimes it's a pleasure to take,
But I'd prefere some .. let's say more transparent system
Just one (sorry) idiot and the tgimboej is not even worth the shipping rates.

what else to say..?
Good luck, honestly.

'sid

SCphotog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Don't have a box full of spare parts
> or junk? Do like I do every now and then. Buy one
> of the $5 surprise boxes from
> [www.goldmine-elec-products.com]
> ?number=G9321
>

Sounds like it would be less trouble for everyone who's interested to just buy their own mystery box. This seems like something that would work better minus the internet part.

Greetings all,

I'd like to foster a culture of sharing among reprappers, and I proposed swapping/trading as an alternative to buying/selling in this thread: [forums.reprap.org]
In my experience, the minimum order of materials is often more than an individual reprapper needs.

Similarly, SCphotog proposed the idea of a "Reprap tgimboej" which (unfortunately) doesn't seem to have much support. SCphotog also graciously offered samples of the low-friction "ebony Star" laminate he's used in other (astronomy) projects, in this thread: [forums.reprap.org]
I've taken him up on his offer (and sent him some bushings in return.)

Instead of a mystery box, I'd like to encourage people who have more than they need of materials to post about what they have, and/or what they're interested in getting from others. This is easiest for smallish parts, and where shipping costs aren't prohibitive. (And for items that can be shipped without freaking out the (IMHO overly skittish) authorities.)

For instance, I have a little "high-temperature ceramic blanket" insulation to spare. (I'm going to use this to insulate my extruder.) Any interesting swap opportunities lurking out there?

---

Larry Pfeffer,

My blog about building repstrap Cerberus:
[repstrap-cerberus.blogspot.com]