Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

What to Scavenge?

Status
Not open for further replies.

bowdenjeffery

New Member
Its bulk pick-up in my neighborhood so everyone is throwing out their old electronics such as : monitors, printers, tvs, stereos, toasters ...ect
Theres really anything you can imagine.

Im looking for somethings for noob electronics experiments..
Does anyone have any suggestions of some good components to take and what to take them from?

Thanks.
 
Everything!!!!
<evil laughter>

Umm... <cough> seriously.

Audio equipment is good stuff, usually many good discrete components. POTS (I got a set of linear pots of an old equalizer for a few bucks at a thrift shop) Some power transistors maybe mosfets. The older the better.

Printers for motors mechanical stuff and tons of digital and misc discretes.

Toasters are good (heating element and the solenoid)
Monitors are good, maybe TV's last.

Take as much as you can store, scrap it all during the week.
My two favorites are Printers and stereo equipment, everything else you should grab on a 'do I have the space for it' basis. I'd go for monitors/tvs last, only cause they're a pain (and slightly dangerous) to take apart. Mainly from accidentally cracking the tube, but that's really hard to do.
 
Last edited:
Everything! ;):)
What you cant use is scrap. Find the right electronics recycler and make a few dollars from what you cant use.
 
Fax machines! The older the better. They have stepper motors, stepper driver chips, usually a modular psu, LCD display, lots of standard pitch plastic cogs, stainless shafts etc etc.
 
Photo copiers yield also an enormous array of motors, gears, chains, belts, powerfull transformers.
You find those usually near corner shops with a bit of luck.
 
I've been salvaging since I was 14 or so (like, for 45 years) and have built up a collection of used (and new) parts that will put any Radio Shack to shame (well, it wouldn't take much to do that, now would it?). You can name a screw thread, type of head, length, type of drive, type of material and I can probably find one within 30 seconds (I also have the very systematic storage tricks, too). I don't keep TV and monitor CRTs or empty chassis and cabinets. I save all hardware: screws, nuts, washers, springs, pins, ball bearings -- no used rivets or eyelets. When it comes to circuit boards containing lots of ICs, don't take the time to desolder them -- that's wasted time since you'll end up using maybe one or two ICs from it in as many years. Instead, inventory the ICs in a book, number the board and store it 'way out of the way. Consult the book for ICs you don't have in ready stock as you need them and then just desolder that one and change the book entry accordingly.

Modern equipment is better for digital (the newest and smallest yield SMT), older equipment for thru-hole and older communications, radio, TV and audio equipment for analog ICs, transistors and stuff like that.

DO NOT scrap out old tube-type radios or anything made prior to 1950 as there's more antique value in those than there is useful parts for you. Advertize the antique electronics on ebay and use the profit for new parts.

Dean
 
Salvage as much as you can. Stereo's and amps 9the older the better) usually have large power transformers in them and tons of discretes. tv's usually have tons of components as well and as speakerguy79 stated, they have flyback transformers that are realy cool to have for high voltage stuff. Microwaves are also very good. They have a large high voltage transformer usually around 2kv~ at about 400-1000ma depending on the size. You can either use it as is or saw the secondary winding off and rewind it as there is plenty of winding space avaliable. Microwaves also contain a high voltage diode and high voltage capacitor along with a fan motor and a circuit board.
 
If you want to focus a bit I agree with the others about printers and fax machines, if you're into robotics anyway these will give you steppers, tracks, racks, pinions, gears, belts, belt wheels, and the electronics to drive motors as well.
 
Do not spend too much time

Dean's way is the best.

When I started I disassembled EVERYTHING spedning too much time in nothing.

Better to have an idea where to go to get what you know you have.

Buena suerte.
 
atferrari, the only way you'll learn what you're looking for lays in what device is if you take apart every device you come across.
 
Taking apart broken stuff was my favorite hobby as a kid, and I think I'm better off for it. It just always made me wish gears were more standard though, you can collect a 5 gallon bucket of similar sized gears and not have 5 that mesh right.
 
Triode, try modern printers/copiers/faxes the teeth style is A LOT more standardized nowdays, it's just economy of scale.
 
Best find ever! an old satellite receiver, tons of stuff; crystals, I.C.'s, heat sinks, regulators, h-bridge(relay style), 7 and 14 segment led displays, big transformer, lots of single turn pots, the list goes on and on.
 
It kind of goes without saying, the older the device is the more discretes it will have in it (meaning the more useful to a hobbyist or experimenter) Especially stuff that deals with RF. While it has no real world resale value the components themselves in the device are a gold mine.
 
Best find ever! an old satellite receiver, tons of stuff; crystals, I.C.'s, heat sinks, regulators, h-bridge(relay style), 7 and 14 segment led displays, big transformer, lots of single turn pots, the list goes on and on.

Damn! There was one i passed by earlier and its gone now.. I seriously regret it.
 
my big roadblock right now is that I live in an apartment, so no room for stuff to scrap, I get about 1 small moving box worth of stock and I scrap it, I sort the usable stuff and recycle the rest as fast as I can.
 
I have the same proble, Triode, the best thing you can do is depopulate the boards of all the useful bits store this in a bits box then you can get rid of the bulky PCB.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top