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Hey guys,
My bits box is looking a little thin on mechanical and motor-y bits and bobs. Ive had a look through some of the sites listed in the bitz articles. But what I am really looking for is lots of odd assortments of bits. Like:

small Plastic cogs + gears

plastic engines

mechanical looking parts

anything that could be like these!

I was wondering if any of you had ideas about finding these. I am not particularly worried about them being perfect, I just want lots and lots to restock.
Maplin sell some kits but they are pricey for the amount you get. Ive scanned ebay, perhaps any ideas on things I could dismantle? Clocks?

Solar

Clocks and watches are full of gears and stuff, of course.

Also clockwork toys that run by a key or by batteries, and friction motor or pullback motor toy cars. They all use gears.

I would look at Pound shops, eBay and car boot sales. The items don't have to be working.

The imex chemical plant and power plant kits are full of tanks, pipes, eletrodes and other gizmos.

Their Hexigon and Platformer sets also have some high tech walls.

http://www.thewarstore.com/IMEXPlatformerHexagon.html

I never pass on an opportunity to dismantle broken electronics - everything from space heaters to VCRs (granted, they're a bit of a rarity, these days) to disk drives to microphones. Anything with powered moving parts (like disk bays or wind-up toys) is likely to have a few gears inside of various sizes (usually plastic and a bit chunky compared to a troop-sized model - you need metal watch cogs for the really small sizes), but various electronic bits and bobs and internal housings are useful, too, making for great generic machine/motor/computer cases, in scale. Plenty of springs to be found, too - even retractable pens can help you build up a stash of those. I also clip off the internal wiring, as even short lengths are suitable for adding oversized power cables to smaller models. Engines are likely best harvested from toy cars, if they're to be exposed, as nothing else really looks like them. Small electric motors are recognizable as such, but unfortunately look nothing like larger engines scaled down (make for great generators, though, if you remove the housing to expose the coils).

Hasslefree sells job lots of clockwork gubbinz, maybe check there? Otherwise, break mechanical stuff

Ah thanks for the ideas!
@kilkrazy - yeh i think il hit some pound shops and see what turns up. The friction toys is a great idea, plus they tend to be almost ten to a penny

Ive got plenty of electronics kicking about il see what can be mashed. I was having a brain dead day, but plenty of inspiration. Thanks guys