Obscure parts are in pockers of junks stores.
There are pockets of old parts for consumer items in many old junky stores.
Often many are not worth placing on the internet, or there is no clear list, just a mess of old boxes.
An actual image or the part number is not what many junky stores get as an input, just a mess of time consuming vague non details. Not all store owners can spend gobs of time with customers who talk in vagueness.
The cross section reference books might have been tossed by a newbie who wants the cord cut, but us older folks still want to help fix stuff.
Thus we store owners that have junky sections of old inventory have to appear to be jerks to the outside world. Folks spend gobs of our time with zero details, thus the whole thing is really charity. After awhile many folks sell off their old stuff; or throw it out to. One makes no money in spending 1 to 2 hours in calls, emails to sell a 10 cent item.
One product I sell has many variations, the same model has gobs of parts that changed with time. To supply a spare part, even the part number will not work, there are 5 to 7 variants all an undocumented mess. Thus to fix the item, I have to see your broke one and rummage through a mess of junky old boxes to find a match.
Ideally you need to find a junky store with zillions of old parts where the owner works for fun and owns an oil well outback.
In some industries there are old chaps that know all the part numbers and cross references. They now a widget 59B fits a widget 65T that the parts book says will not fir. Once these guys die or are fired the knowledge base gets further goofed up. The new guy was born after the widget line was gone; he says there are no longer any parts.
Here I have some obscure non vacuum parts that are 50+ years old. A google search for the number shows no hits. The web is great place to find old parts, so is a junky store with an old owner too.
Walking into the store with an actual part; or sending them an image is far better than 5 to 15 minutes of dialog. You might not even get to the old dude who really knows, it might his young son who wants nothing to do with your brand.
My dad had this used stopwatch he got in the 1930's. When it broke in the 1980's EVERY guru told him no parts are available. A really old jerk of a repair guy said he would look at it and found out that INSIDE the watch was a compartment with a spare mainspring, and several jewels. It was the real jerk who fixed the old watch.
There are pockets of new old stock parts all over the place, The bulk of this stuff/crud/crap/goldmine items is not findable via a google search, it is in that junky store with the mean owner!
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