I don’t know exactly what this is, but if it’s what I think it is, I think I want one.
I believe it was a vinyl embossing machine for making signs. The red part sticking out was some remaining partially embossed plastic, so it had definitely been recently used.
I was very tempted to take it, but I had no idea how many letters were left in the definitely partial set, and it was going to be very heavy. And I would have been picking them up for ages all down the street, someone had really thrown them around.
I hope someone found it and gave it back its purpose though.
It’s sad to think about how much stuff that still has life but ends up in a state like that.
I see a lot of completely useful things discarded on the side of the road where I am, this was just one of the most unusual.
Some of it is rescued and repaired, but there is a used mattress, broken brittle plastic and swollen MDF furniture epidemic in my neighbourhood. I take good materials for prototyping concepts or craft components where I can, but I have pretty limited space. I have had to try to not let the waste get to me.