/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[spoiler]Low res version for people with crappy internet.</spoiler>

[spoiler]This is what my cheap ass tip on my cheap ass soldering iron looks like after the brutality of removing all those PCB components. I sponged and tinned like I should have, but the iron was getting too hot during long sessions. Good thing tips are cheap. I'll grind this one back into shape after I'm done with the rest of the component removal.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122378
>Low res version for people in a parallel universe where 4chan's servers don't suck

ftfy</spoiler>

[spoiler]This is a test Savonius VAWT I made from one of the CD-DVD-ROM motors, a plastic soda pop bottle, a couple of clear CD/DVD dividers you get in packs of discs, and some low-temp hot glue. The bamboo skewer wasn't actually needed, but it helped center things. That 5.9v motor makes the following energy,

Blowing with breath really fast:
1.25v and 100 milliAmps

Outside wind (low wind, unknown speed, unknown mA):
0.325v

>>122381
This is my first year without dial-up. There are still anons with dial-up. Normally, I don't post hi-res because it is not needed and slows 4chan down int he long run, but in this case I did because the parts are tiny and some anons may want to see them well enough to identify them for what ever reason.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122382
Underside.</spoiler>

[spoiler]it sucks big time that there isnt even a decent scrapyard or anything similar where i live.

really want stuff like this ;_;

>visiting friend
>me: "Woah! an almost new mac pro! how could you afford that?"
>friend: "Found it in a scrapyard, replaced the ram and it worked"

FFFFFFFFFFFF</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122382
Just an idea for if you want to get more power out of that motor (or any small dc motor being used as a generator): rig up some sort of belt or gear drive to step up the RPM from the turbine. Those little motors (especially CD/DVD drive ones) are meant to run at a few thousand RPM, so they'll generate the most power when they're being spun close to that fast. I'm no mechanical engineer so I don't know the correct term, but it's sort of like impedance matching with electronics.

That's hella cool though, I would have never thought to use a 2L bottle for the blades on a VAWT.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122384
Anything interesting in the HDD ?</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122384
Try Freecycle.org

It is a Yahoo Group based service. EVERYTHING is free. It is intended to keep other people's "trash" out of landfills. You simply become a member (free) and put up wanted ads. It is a must that you read all the rules and remember to not use the word "need" in your wanted ads. Other than a few restrictions you can end up with working cars, PCs, CRTs, etc etc. Anything and everything is given away and you can offer to others what you don't want. You must pick up anything you want that is offered to you and you are the first to contact the person and if you offer anything people have to come and pick it up at your location.

I have a massive stack of used glass sliding patio doors to make a greenhouse this spring. I got them all from freecycle people. I've had about 20 CRTs, 30 PCs, and I'm working on finding people with rear-projection TVs now (for those 4 feet wide Fresnel lens they have inside them!)

Also, tell people, friends, and family that you want all their broken electronics. It costs to have stuff hauled away to the dump so most people readily want to get rid of it for free. Put a free ad or two in whatever bulletin board you have in your area that allows free ads.

>>122385
Yes, normally, for optimal energy output you spin the motor at more RPMs than what the motor is rated as.

A HAWT isn't good for pulley/gears normally, but a VAWT is because a VAWT has more torque to push the gearing/pulley. My next design is to use some of those plastic gears in the OP to make a geared Savonius VAWT. Then I'll use the research I gain from all this to design the N50 VAWT with pulleys.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122385
>That's hella cool though, I would have never thought to use a 2L bottle for the blades on a VAWT.

BTW, some people take large diameter, thin-walled PVC pipe, split it in two down the middle length and use those long pieces to make a VAWT. You can use pretty much anything you want for the blades. Curved is better, but flat will also work when they are angled correctly.</spoiler>

[spoiler]I also made a windbelt from one of the HDD arms, its N50 magnets, and some VHS tape. It's an extremely poor use of N50s, but it does create power. When the arm moves up and down it's coil (hidden under the magnet mount) will pass the the magnet and make power. Since it vibrates up AND down it will cause your volt meter's needle to move + and - because it is reversing the polarity. I think the max this one with a small coil could make was 0.02v in one direction.

The principle is the movement of the VHS tape in a breeze. Tensioning it correctly and having a moderate breeze causes the long tape to vibrate up and down very quickly. In turn, the tape makes the HDD arm move up and down quickly thereby producing power. It's an interesting proof of concept, but taking those N50s off and making them spin past a coil or few of copper wire will create a whole lot more energy than the windbelt could ever hope to achieve. A larger coil on the HDD arm would give more power. I've seen some power small LEDs before.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122389 this just might be the most worthwhile thing I've ever stumbled across whilst on 4chan. Thanks a lot bro.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122408
Glad to be some help.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122389
Wait nvm it's just another one of those crappy search sites that troll the interwebs and don't yield any worthwhile results. Has the domain been bought oe am I just doin it wrong?</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122416
It's correct, see pic. You must FIRST search for a Freecycle group for your location. The closest one for me is based 50 miles from where I live. THEN you join that group or a few groups if you have a large populated area.</spoiler>

[spoiler]As far as salvaging goes do you get much good stuff from old televisions?</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122423
Yes, but, I suppose it depends on what your goals are, availability of the parts, and cost if any to dispose of the unwanted materials. Most people want the flyback and high voltage component parts. you also need to be careful and decharge the TV set before touching anything once the cover is off. You can get killed from voltage that can still be stored inside any CRT-based TV. I've seen 6-inch long arcs of electricity come out of those little suction cups on the top of the TV tube (the one attached to the flyback) months after it was unplugged.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122425
cheers for the advice, I won't go ripping into any old tv's without knowing what the fuck I'm doing now.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122430
You can easily discharge a TV or CRT monitor with a flat screwdriver that has a plastic handle and a length of 14 AWG or 12 AWG electrical housing wire, and a grounded outlet. Basically, you wrap some bare wire around the screwdriver and stick the other end of the wire in the the GROUND in the wall outlet. Then you shove the flat metal end of the screwdriver under that little suction cup. The there was a charge you'll hear a crackle and/or snap of electricity. Do not touch the metal part of the screwdriver, wear gloves too. This safely discharges the electric to the ground. After that you should be able to handle the TV without problems.

Also, read up on it,

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+discharge+CRT+TV

I do similar things with PSUs and other devices that can harbor high voltage. It's the amperage that kills you, not the volts. 2 amps = death, but 4 amps = non-death. This is because the 2 amps causes your heart to fuck up and the higher amps merely causes your heart so clench hard which you can survive. Regardless, you don't want to find out first hand.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122436
wrap some bare wire around the screwdriver and stick the other end of the wire in the the GROUND in the wall outlet

Even if I was 100% sure I was sticking the wire into the correct part of the outlet I'd still be shitting myself...... sticking wire into wall outlets just feels counter-intuitive</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122440
lol I get your point. Google it from several sources to make sure. Knowledge and understanding usually kills fear.

On American wall outlets the ground is the little round hole on a 3-hole wall outlet. Older outlets may not have 3 holes and if that is true then there's no ground at all for them. Any plug with only 2 prongs or outlets with 2 holes won't have a ground.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122375
i do the same with bottle necks/caps
they are quite useful when it comes to smd parts</spoiler>

[spoiler]Here's a couple of items I'm rather proud of salvaging. Both of these motors came from a dead office copier machine. They are both geared. One has a cog head and the other a belt head. I used the cog headed motor as a make shift wood lath many years ago. Now, I'm going to turn these into wind turbine motors.

I hooked them each up to my multimeter and did a really foolish thing. 1, I forgot to check the rating of the fuse in the multimeter and 2, I did not scale down from the largest setting to smaller settings on the multimeter. Well, I tried the belt head motor and I could make about 15volts and 2 amps with it and the cog head motor made 35volts and 2 amps also. I can't hand turn them any faster than that and it's REALLY difficult to turn them under load (easy when they aren't hooked up.)

The mistake I made was when I went to test the amps. I set the multimeter to 500mA instead of the 10A setting. I instantly blew the 250V 0.75A fuse. Now I can only test in the 10A scale until I get a new fuse and hope it blew before anything on the PCB burned out. I guess I'll get a few extras and secure them inside the multimeter should this ever happen again. I know better than to make such a mistake, but I was excited that I found these motors again.

>>122542
Those do work well. I just don't drink that much other than my own water, so I don't have as many as I'd like. What you see in the OP is like 8 months worth of bottle tops. lol</spoiler>

[spoiler]Here's what I'm looking forward to today, a big old sound system (cassette, radio, and LP setup). Look at those massive capacitors, transistors, and transformer bigger than my fist in the background. The 12" long heatsink is actually 2 side-by-side for 2 transistors. The two large capacitors are 75v 8200uF.</spoiler>

[spoiler]Here's last night's meager haul after fixing my soldering iron's tip. This stuff came mostly from old Soundblaster PCI and Ethernet VESA cards.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122964
You're not supposed to be force turning them, I'm pretty sure those are internally geared, optically encoded servo motors. They are meant to resist rotation of the shaft so that they can hold position.</spoiler>

>>122972
They are motors that I'm going to be using for making electric. That is why I'm turning them. I just need to open them up to check the gear ratios to I know exactly how many RPMs they are working at. Here's the sticker info and RPMs. The low RPM one was great for a wood lathe in combination with my Dremel.

[spoiler]>>122972
They are motors that I'm going to be using for making electric. That is why I'm turning them. I just need to open them up to check the gear ratios to I know exactly how many RPMs they are working at. Here's the sticker info and RPMs. The low RPM one was great for a wood lathe in combination with my Dremel.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122970
From the bottom board in that pic I was able to pull all this!

Any ideas on what to use those big capacitors with the high uF for?</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>122375
>>122542
Well, I'm making some pop bottle parts organizers when I get home.</spoiler>

[spoiler]While bumbling around the internet I found this useful link for you fellow salvagers:
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/gadget.htm

Lately I have been salvaging heat sinks, motors, and magnets out of old computers. Going to try to make a dynamo for my bike out of an old HDD spindle motor.

I have had no problem separating HDD magnets from their backing by wedging a knife between them. Maybe not the safest method but I'll keep doing it until I lose a finger or figure out an easier way.. .</spoiler>

[spoiler]Besides the Freecycle Network link that was posted,
where do you guys get most of your salvaged items?</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123126
You can take two of them and put them together like this and use them for pocket containers you can carry around. If you put a divider between them with a bit of plastic from a soda bottle it will then have two compartments. All of those are just hot glued.

Notice on the ones in >>122375 that their rim is right on the board. I used a hacksaw to cut them that close. With the ones in this pic I cut further away from that rim using a knife; giving this container more room inside. The hot glue evens out most irregularities in the surfaces, so you don't need to be very neat with it.

This one is water proof.

>>123139
I use heat to remove the magnets. They slide right off without too much trouble. I was going to use the knife method but after applying x amount of power I decide I didn't want to lose a finger and though that there was a chance of breaking the magnet. Each set of magnets have been glued differently. Some are in 1-3 spots and others are all over the surface.

>>123142
Besides freecycle, friends, family, local networking like at the library. also, there's a local recycling center, but it does not take certain items. I gave them my contact info. When someone comes in that has something they don't want they give them my contact info.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123139
Good link btw.

Oh, and one more thing. Keep all those HDD platters! you can make a Tesla Turbine with them. you can do the same thing with CD/DVD discs too, or any disc for that matter. I have 15-20 HDD platters I plan on making into a Tesla Turbine as soon as I get sheet metal drill bits for my drill press.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123143
Only been to the recycle center a few times to drop things off.
But do they allow you to look at whats currently there and take home what you want? I imagine there'd be a fee?</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123153
metal recyclers near me will sell stuff. They even have a little shack where they put cool things and useable sub-assemblies. Lots of good shit down there. I have a large SS strainer that I use for brewing from there. Other odds and ends; copper mesh for example which could be useful for electro-chemistry or ...? I need to restrain myself down there though; have much junk already. Lots of amazing stuff though.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123153
I've never done that, because the place near here only deals in pure metals. So there's no heap of good PC/electronic parts anywhere.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123102
why did you destroy that amplifier instead of using it/fixing it if it doesn't work?

the amplifier chips are only useful in an amplifier, so they are useless unless you assemble it back, and you don't even know what to do with the rest of the parts</spoiler>

[spoiler]err odd question: what's the difference between salvaging and scavenging anyways? I know this is salvaging, but not sure why.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123178
It's worth more to me in pieces than working as a amplifier unit.

>you don't even know what to do with the rest of the parts

True, I have yet to make up my mind which projects I want to launch next. I need to look at all available materials then cross check that with my list of projects and see what comes first.

>>123182
Scavenging is going through stuff, looking for salvageable parts.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123198
at least you could sell it and use the money to buy parts that you need

capacitors, transistors, diodes and resistors cost a few cents

you're losing money, getting random parts instead of the ones that you need and destroying working stuff</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123208
I'm re-purposing only I'm doing it in a way that I gain more from it than simply selling it.

>cost a few cents

Then I should be buying these exact parts and using them to construct dozens of these amps and selling them instead. If I wanted a job of making money I'd do that instead of simply selling this one amp.</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123214
no, the expensive parts are the amp chip, the transformer, the pcb and the case, which are all specific to the product

the common parts you're salvaging are cheap as fuck

I'm not saying you shouldn't do it with broken useless stuff, I'm saying that doing it with useful stuff is stupid, even more to get cheap parts that you can buy a bag full of for one dollar</spoiler>

[spoiler]>>123219
I'm salvaging all the parts actually. They are useful to me. I've already downloaded the power amplifiers' data sheet. Which gives me all the circuit diagrams on how to use it and what it can and can't do. Each one of these semiconductor chips costs about $18, fyi and I have two of them.</spoiler>