[NA] Sniff internet for parts, stuff

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
Isn’t there a way to put something out there, maybe a bot, which will notify you when a thing, anything, appears for sale on the internet?
So, if I wanted a part #123456, it would continuously scan the internet & email me when it noticed one?
 
You would think the much vaunted AI stuff could do that.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Isn’t there a way to put something out there, maybe a bot, which will notify you when a thing, anything, appears for sale on the internet?
So, if I wanted a part #123456, it would continuously scan the internet & email me when it noticed one?
Click to expand...
Custom web scrapers can be written to do this and then scheduled to run from your machine. Given the effort: this would usually make sense if the part is very expensive or otherwise valuable. Whereas if you're looking to get a ping when oil filters are back in stock, probably not :)

Some websites will have alert functionality to ping you when a new item becomes available (for instance, I think Trade-A-Plane offers this?)

kontiki said:
You would think the much vaunted AI stuff could do that.
Click to expand...
The aforementioned scrapers can be written by AI these days! There's been times where I'm lazy so I've just asked GPT to write the matching criteria for me :)

EDIT: grammar.
 
Google does have search alerts that will email you. Use quote marks to ensure that’s a must, add + and so on to make your custom search tool.
 
mandm said:
Google does have search alerts that will email you. Use quote marks to ensure that’s a must, add + and so on to make your custom search tool.
Click to expand...
And here are the deets: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/4815696?hl=en

The limitation there is that the part number needs to appear on a webpage that Google crawls. That will work for sites like Aircraft Spruce or eBay, but it won't necessarily work on sites where you have to punch in a part number so that the website can run a database query to see if there's a hit, so this isn't foolproof.

I would thus periodically (once every week or two) also search one or more of the big parts aggregators. Google "aircraft parts locator" and check out some of the sites that pop up. I've used a couple of them before with some success, though it's been a while and I don't remember which. Whichever one(s) I used, it was free. Those sites generally don't sell the parts--they have interfaces to the inventory systems of multiple parts vendors, and will thus cast a wide net looking for your part. If found, you'll get a list of vendors, and they may or may not have price info. More often, there'll be a "Request for Quote" or "RFQ" link that will connect you with the actual vendor.
 
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mandm said:
Google does have search alerts that will email you. Use quote marks to ensure that’s a must, add + and so on to make your custom search tool.
Click to expand...
found it!
Thanks, searching underway.
 
If all of the parts websites are listed then an excel program could be made to search them for designated part numbers pretty easily.
 
I am looking for a TCM (CAT) Oil gage rod and cap PN 656616-3 for a TSIO-550-E

I have tried all salvage yards and engine shops.

I have tried buying new from AirPower (CAT's retailer)

(the overhauler did not send the right one)
 
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