/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.717420]

Collection week this week /diy/

There's a lot of DVD players, Printers, and Fax Machines on the side of the road.

should I go hunting for some motors?

What else should I look out for?

Think I might head out tonight.

[Anonymous No.717426]

dayum bro all you need is a desoldering pump and some cutting pliers and you can salvage a plethora of electronic components.

[Anonymous No.717429]

damn i wish they would do that near my place ill freaking leech them all

[Anonymous No.717430]

>>717426
I have some cutters and shit.

not going to go that low-tech though.

I just wanted some motors, transformers, and complete-circuit boards.
not resistors and shit.

[Anonymous No.717440]

>>717426

>salvaging components that cost a penny each, all of which have their through hole components snipped to a specific length.

why do this to yourself

[Anonymous No.717454]

>>717440
its not about the price. its about having backup emergency pieces that are sitting there when you need them. and most of them even performs better than those brand new chinamade ones... like the vintage capacitors, tubes,... less e-waste

[Anonymous No.717457]

>>717440
>their through hole components snipped to a specific length.

I use them for soldering practice. If I could easily solder short component legs then the meanest dude in the gang must be laughing. If I was a comedian and the meanest dude in the gang is laughing, then nobody else is gonna fuck with me.

[Anonymous No.717462]

Do grab:
-transformers
-powersupplies (if they are on a separate PCB)
-motors
-BIG capacitors, but verify that they are still good
-big resistors / shunts
-heatsinks
-power transistors
-amplifier chips
-other big components

Do not waste your time on:
-resistors
-small capacitors
-diodes (unless you spot something like an ultra fast one, but don't go looking for it)
-small transistors
-inductors
-other small crap that costs just a few cents

Sometimes worthwhile: google the numbers on TO92 packages, ATX powersupplies for example are often filled with precision references in TO92 packages.

[Anonymous No.717463]

>>717462
woops, inductors should be in the list of components that are worth salvaging. always nice to have a lot if them when you start experimenting with switch mode powersupplies.

[Anonymous No.717465]

>>717440
..and I use them for prototyping, because fuck buying YET ANOTHER pack of 10k resistors and 100uf electrocaps when I can just harvest them from the nearest junk PCB sitting around.

[Anonymous No.717466]

>>717462
>do not waste your time on small capacitors

dude...

[Anonymous No.717468]

>>717466
that is such a specialty thing to find that it is extremely unlikely that you will ever find one.

also don't forget that a used one is not worth the price that they ask on the webshop where that picture came from.

I wouldn't trust a 50 year old capacitor.

three reasons not to give a single shit.

[Anonymous No.717469]

>>717457
wat

>tfw you'll never be the technomancer in a dystopian underground criminal gang who's the nice guy just trying to make a living and have a little protection from your bros

[Anonymous No.717470]

>>717462
ye this is what I was thinking.

Shit might get annoying because I don't think I can pull shit apart on the street, so I'll have to take them home and pull them apart.

but yeah, cheers, didnt think about the heatsinks.
I'll grab most of what's bulky.

[Anonymous No.717474]

>>717468
>I wouldn't trust a 50 year old capacitor.

why u don't trust them?
what's your personal experience with them?

[Anonymous No.717476]

>>717470
generally speaking: bigger is better, but there are a few exceptions

If you don't have a soldering iron (like because you do this on the street) you can always cut out parts with an old sheet metal scissor or something along those lines. Simply cut around the part and remove the piece of PCB at home.

But for street salvaging: go for things like the transformers, because they are easy to get and expensive. I would prefer a big box of transformers over a random assortment of parts, simply because the transformer is often more expensive than all other parts combined even if I buy them brand new.

good luck and post pics of the result

[Anonymous No.717477]

>>717474
that says vintage reproduction
read: same as below just wrapped in pretty paper and epoxy for 50$

capacitors are only good for so many years of operation. pretty much the only point of failure in modern electronics. everything else could keep going for fifty or more.

[Anonymous No.717478]

http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-watt-dual-temperature-heat-gun-572-1112-96289.html

It's not great, but it gets the job done, it's cheap. I mean it's cheap in every way, but it still allows me to salvage a lot of electronic shit.

[Anonymous No.717480]

just found some similar-lookin ones getting dumped 3 blocks away. should I hoard it?

[Anonymous No.717481]

>>717474

a few reasons:

-capacitors degrade over the years
-the technology to manufacture capacitors has improved a lot over the years. If those old ones were so awesome there would be no reason to make the ones we make now.
-the whole "vintage" and "audiophile" capacitor story is bullshit.
-as >>717477 already said; leaky/dried/exploded capacitors are one of the common reasons why a device breaks down.
I have seen enough capacitor guts splattered over electronics that I replace every single one I can find if I find a bad cap in a broken device.

pic related, "tar bombs" as the old (philips) restoration guy I know always says.

[Anonymous No.717482]

>>717480
fucking yes

[Anonymous No.717483]

>>717480
any shielded transformers are worth their weight in gold. even if you end up not using them someone will buy it on ebay for 50 bux.

[Anonymous No.717484]

>>717474
>why u don't trust them?

>50 year old cap

caps are the easiest thing to go, die over time, and these ones are older than my dad.

[Anonymous No.717489]

>>717440

[Anonymous No.717494]

>>717489
nice one, bro. glad to re-use a piece of resistor that was once part of jimmy paige's arsenal

[Anonymous No.717500]

>>717474
> those caps
This is like... audiophile tier placebo.... but for musicians...

[Anonymous No.717505]

Here's some of my collection. Motors from printers, tons of MOTs, 2kv caps, just tons and tons of stuff.

[Anonymous No.717509]

>>717505
..and as I ask every junk horder who has crap like this everywere, how often do you use any of it? How many of those microwave blowers have you used? Whats the last item you bult which uses a stepper? Do you have an inventory of your silicone so you can easily pull a part out without having to spend 15 minutes sorting through a compartment which MAY have the regulator you're after?

[Anonymous No.717510]

>>717420
The printers and fax machines will have lots of nice stuff in them, especially the motors and PSUs. If you ever want to may a DIY 3D printer then harvest the stuff out of those to make one. Stuff like DVD players don't have much. There's a few small motors in them and of course the laser and the laser's power driver board which you may want.

[Anonymous No.717511]

>>717505

Why would you want to save electrolytic capacitors? Old ones are bulky and amongst the electronic components family capacitors are usually the first to wear out and lose their original values.

[Anonymous No.717512]

>>717509
>watches "Hoarding: Buried Alive" and thinks everyone who collects anything at all is a "hoarder" on the level displayed on any of those sensationalist shows
>has a laundry list of questions
>does this with ever "junk hoarder"

It seems you have a problem you should be addressing, anon.

[Anonymous No.717514]

>>717509
>junk
dude just because those compiled electronic components doesn't look pleasing to you you have a right to label it as 'junk'
>crap
are you really that ignorant, son? u stereotypin?
>horder
its not hordin its collecting, son
>how often you use?
1 times or two times dosent matter, son. none of your biz. its our fetish "hording crap", son.

your making it sound as if we were collecting garbage, son... we arent

[Anonymous No.717520]

>>717512
> projecting this hard
I'm good thanks bud, All of my salvaged components are in the purple drawers. All of them.

I ask this question because I also had mountains of shit around till I learned how to properly sort gold from landfill, and I was going to engage the first (non cuntish) response on what they do electronics wise, and what they should ACTUALLY be keeping. Nice to see you get first for the raging shitposters though, well played.

[Anonymous No.717521]

>>717512
>>717514
> son son SON son SON SON son
> so mad he couldn't stop himself from posting twice

lrn how to unobvious samefag, you obvious samefag.

[Anonymous No.717523]

>>717520
didn't see any purple drawers there, son. all i see is your chair pointed towards the corner of the room. just like the "Go sit in the corner, dumbass" meme, son

[Anonymous No.717531]

In these modern times, one could argue that it doesn't make any sense to have any components on hand at all. Digikey is just a day away.

[Anonymous No.717534]

>>717531
so this is the perfect time to inject your modern shill, right... son?

[Anonymous No.717537]

>>717509
>how often do you use any of it?

Nearly all the time. I'm always tinkering with something. But, the past 6 months I've not had time to do any DIY projects at all due to other IRL responsibilities. Thankfully, that is about to change and within the next 2 weeks I should have more time to do DIY stuff. Er, I mean DIY stuff that I enjoy, I'm currently remodeling one of my houses into apartments which has taken up a greater portion of my time. Nearly done with that crap though. You've probably seen most of my stuff on /diy/ (pic related, vent hood and MOT Spot welder for welding chainmail rings)

>How many of those microwave blowers have you used?

I have a big box of those. I use one as a fume extractor for the vent hood box I made for soldering and spot welding in. I use one of the centrifugal blowers to help winnow grain I harvest, it is perfect for that. I made a few spot welders with the MOTs and like to keep the transformer cool with a blower on it. Though, the MOTs don't tend to heat up from inside and instead heat up from the electrodes because of the heat produced in the workpiece.

>Whats the last item you bult which uses a stepper?

Well, not their proper use, but I made a little battery-powered truck for my cousin. It was a remodel, I took a toy and put in the motor and gears. I also use them for wind turbine demonstrations. The good ones I'm saving up for a 3D printer. I want to make some cool toys with them, not just a retrofit.

>Do you have an inventory of your silicone so you can easily pull a part out without having to spend 15 minutes sorting through a compartment which MAY have the regulator you're after?

Why would I need that? I know what the markings are on nearly everything and can pluck stuff out almost instantly.

[Anonymous No.717539]

>>717531
I'll go to digikey once my prototype is good and I'm ready to get a board fabbed, but for anything other than a quick repair or prototype its scrap components mostly. Having said that I did have a VFO that was drifting wildly and doing all sorts of gnarly shit till I realised one of the scrap resistors i had thrown down was about 30% off value. This is also something to keep in mind, especially for 1% resistors. They may not have been off enough to cause beef in the device you pulled it from, but that might not be true of your application.

[Anonymous No.717540]

Is scavenging and salvaging components really worth it?

Salvaging components takes time, that's time I'm not building. Resistors and most capacitors cost pennies new, so it hardly seem worth the effort for most components.

And I don't want my circuit designs to be limited to the components I happen to have on hand. Especially for audio circuits, where exact values are needed.

I generally create my schematics, and order my exact parts list off Digikey. Some things, like motors and proto boards, I order off eBay.

[Anonymous No.717544]

>>717540
>Is scavenging and salvaging components really worth it?

This isn't a proper question. There are far too many variables from cost to personal preference and lifestyle.

One person will say, "it costs pennies to order up brand new PCB components. It isn't worth my time to salvage something that might nor work very long," and they are correct from a limited perspective.

Another person might say, "I have the time and I don't want to have on my conscious the fact that I'm causing more pollution by ordering new stuff when I can recuse salvaged stuff," and they are correct from a limited perspective.

There's also a range of ideas, convictions, and costs between those two ends of the spectrum.

Personally, if I can salvage something for my projects I'll jump at the chance. For me, it saves costs and I'm not wasting ungodly amounts of fuel for the globetrotting an ordered component needs to do to get to me. If I can't find what I need then I'll order it. Thus, I'm using both ends of the spectrum to my advantage. I'm not limiting myself and I'm also being conscious of my costs and costs to the environment.

[Anonymous No.717572]

>>717489
I hope you die

>>717505
nice collection except for the random resistors and such

[Anonymous No.717670]

ITT: Bill "anon" Gates that make 50 thousand shekels a minute and can't spend that time doing peasant scavenging jobs.

Look, you scavenge small parts to retrieve crap that you can use to prototype and fool around sometimes with parts that are readily available.

If they have to be exact then you will probably have some company print you a professional made PCB and you'll use SMD parts brought new.

Besides, desoldering and scavenging is a fun activity, and molten lead smells awesome

[Anonymous No.717744]

OP here.

Shit was annoying.

I only have a bike and a backpack, so I couldn't stick much shit in. there were a few tower heaters and etc that I wanted to get the motors out of, but I couldn't do it with people around,
(they dont like me making a mess of plastic as I try and cut shit out )

Did get a lousy microwave transformer though. I don't have any use for it because I deal with microelectronics. I also got a scanner that I'm about to test to see if it works.

pic related.

[Anonymous No.717747]

>>717744

Build a spot welder

[Anonymous No.717750]

>>717744
thats a nice looking motor

[Anonymous No.717775]

>>717744
jacobs ladder
spot welder
your death
making big ass sparks (that can kill you)

there are quite a few things you can do with it
the scanner might be nice due to the little motors and sensors. you might even be able to use the scanning sensor bar thing.

[Anonymous No.717776]

>>717747
residential electricity?

you know, I've thought about welding recently....

[Anonymous No.717778]

>>717744
>lousy microwave transformer
>lousy

Shit man, those are awesome. You can make a spot welder really easily with those or an arc welder if you have 2 or more that are close enough to the same specs.

When I go to the recycling center I just bring a couple tools to open stuff with and harvest on the spot. Whole boards or just single things like you find in microwaves that don't have a board.

>>717750
GB2: >>714433

[Anonymous No.717783]

>>717775

or maybe sell it on ebay.

probably worth at least 15 bucks.

[Anonymous No.717801]

I work full time overnights so I do a lot of "scrapping" during the day and I get a lot of these boards and other items. I'm curious if it is worth it at all to salvage these parts and sell them for cheap or should I hold on to them?

[Anonymous No.717830]

>>717801
scrap yards pay good money for any boards. Local place installed an 11 million dollar piece of equipment that has collected well over 20 pounds of gold and several pounds each of other insane priced metals.

Big corporations don't install 11 million dollar pieces of equipment unless they know they can make bank.

[Anonymous No.717941]

>>717509
I have 3 microwave blowers.
I stuck one on a pipe to make a fume extractor, the other two are in my green house

[Anonymous No.717946]

Burn it with fire. Harvest gold.

[Anonymous No.718055]

>>717537
> that cabinet
Thats fucking cool man. You are not like the guys I bump into at our hackerspace and generally around and about, who have mountains of junk like that, but cannot even into protoboard level electronics, hence never realise that some of the crap they have is literally useless

> I also use them for wind turbine demonstrations.
Neat. I use them to make ram air turbines and wind generators for camping. Horribly inneficient but it's money from nothing.

> Why would I need that?
Markings are good for identifying components, but knowing what types of components you have is the trouble I have found. Pic related is my silicon stash, and if I had not developed a rudimentary "filing" system I would literally have no idea what I have or in which tube it's in. Having said that, it appears I might have a greater stash than yourself.

Where I was going with all of this was that I have seen and found that reclaimed components can actually cause more problem that they solve. Countless times I have embarked on a build onto to discover I only have two of three required chips, or a motor that prototyped perfectly is unusable because the build calls for 4 and I only have 3. Go anywhere where hardware hackers lurk and you'll hear at least one dude whinge about getting caught out like that. Murphys law all up in that bitch. >>717540 nailed it as well. I have been caught out by buggy small sig trannies and DAC's with dead channels (remember, for the most part the device you hoiked the part from was actually faulty, and you may end up pulling the component that was the root cause of the fault). Unless you can comprehensively test them you need to be careful, your prototype might actually be good, just not so much the components (and imagine throwing the towel in on a killer project because you mistook a buggy component as a fundamental design flaw)

[Anonymous No.718080]

>>717946

Gypsie style.

[Anonymous No.718082]

>>717830
And before anyone thinks that it's gold which makes shit profitable: 20 pounds of gold is not worth 11 million or anything near to it.
The main profit is coming from the other stuff.

[Anonymous No.718106]

>>718082
just wait till china screws over the rest of the world and keeps the rare metals for themselves. That machine is going to be quite profitable in the next few decades

[Anonymous No.718108]

>>717830
it's most likely leased or paid for with a government green grant.

[Anonymous No.718161]

>>718055
>Countless times I have embarked on a build onto to discover I only have two of three required chips, or a motor that prototyped perfectly is unusable because the build calls for 4 and I only have 3. Go anywhere where hardware hackers lurk and you'll hear at least one dude whinge about getting caught out like that.

But, that is when you merely order what you are unable to find via salvaging.

>bad components

This is why you test them. You should always test your components, even the ones you buy new, before you actually use them. That is standard protocol. Much of the latter stuff in your post is just, "what if" and is inconsequential. The same type of screw ups can happen when working with new parts "if" you ordered the wrong ones or a new one is faulty.

One of the best things about used components is that you learn how to test for faulty ones, get to see what a faulty one looks like, what its readings are when faulty, and how to even know one is faulty just from looking at it. This is great when you are wanting to fix an electronic device for someone or yourself. A simple example is knowing what a bulged cap means or what a discolored zener diode or resistor looks like.

[Anonymous No.718163]

>>718106
The machine is there now, (presumably) making money now. Your speculations about the Evil Chinamen are irrelevant in the context of this machine.

[Anonymous No.718166]

>>717744
> tfw got electrocuted by one of those bad boys and am still alive to tell the story

[Anonymous No.718168]

>>718166
Did it knock you out?

[Anonymous No.718173]

>>718161
So you've basically just reiterated my entire post then. Literally the entire point of that post was a warning against getting caught out by buggy/obsolete components, and a further warning to test thoroughly before deployment.

> But, that is when you merely order what you are unable to find via salvaging.
Assuming of course the chip or a near enough equivalent is still in production, unlike some DTMF generators I once got caught out on (thought I'd need one initially but suddenly needed a bunch more, meaning I had to redesign a functional and reliable circuit from the ground up around a modern equivalent).

> bad components
> This is why you test them.
Ahh, then I guess my statement "Unless you can comprehensively test them you need to be careful.. etc." would be some of that "inconsequential" fluff you were talking about. I also find it odd that you would call real world examples of the shit that has caught me out inconsequential. Most would call them a learning experience and keep the in mind so they don't make the same mistakes, but you don't seem to have enough comprehension skill to learn from the experience anyway, so thats not really our problem.

> The same type of screw ups can happen when working with new parts "if" you ordered the wrong ones or a new one is faulty.
A situation covered by warranties and free return postage. Do you get the same on a 15 year old saw tooth resonator you pulled out of something a year and a half ago? Is there even a modern equivalent?

>>718166
> electrocuted
> still alive

Choose one.

[Anonymous No.718187]

>>718168
>>718173
It drew a bright yellow arc between my thumb and my little finger so I didn't fibrillate or fry my heart.
I had second degree burns all over my hand tho.
For the first 10 minutes it doesn't hurt at all. I guess the shock tetanises the nerves.
After those 10 minutes, you do suffer a lot.

[Anonymous No.718245]

>>718187
So you just got shocked.

I got totally knocked out by an electric fence one time. Thankfully, there was no problems, except for floaters in my eyes after that. It was a weird experience. I was walking near the fence after swimming, was barefoot, and in knee high grass. Something metal I was carrying flipped back and touched the fence (theory.) It was literally me looking at a hillside and suddenly opening my eyes looking at a perfect azure sky. No in-between, just having my eyes open then opening my eyes in the same instant, only I was then laying in the soft grass looking at the sky instead of walking. Really weird. Thankfully, I didn't fall against the fence.

[Anonymous No.718252]

>>718173
>So you've basically just reiterated my entire post then. Literally the entire point of that post was a warning against getting caught out by buggy/obsolete components, and a further warning to test thoroughly before deployment.

I had to. You made it sound like old parts are the only way you have problems and new parts never have problems. Testing is always needed regardless of the parts being new or old.

Your entire set of posts are nothing more than "what ifs" that have no additional bearing because they are merely made up to suit your needs during this conversation. All steps from testing to parts sourcing are built around the final design phase. You don't pick up 5 parts and start putting things together. You design it first and see if you have the proper parts then order what you don't need and make changes.

The reason these things are inconsequential is because that's electronics 101.

>A situation covered by warranties and free return postage. Do you get the same on a 15 year old saw tooth resonator you pulled out of something a year and a half ago?

Completely irrelevant since you didn't pay money for the salvaged part. And, you should be testing these in the first place, if you have the proper equipment to test them with.

>Is there even a modern equivalent?

That is what eBay and electronics trader forums are for. There's a fairly good niche market for restoring old things, including electronics. It increases exponentially every year as more people go online that need or offer parts that are no longer manufactured.

[Anonymous No.718253]

>>718252
>then order what you need and make changes.

lol fixed

[Anonymous No.718274]

>>718163
yes but it will make even more money in the future

[Anonymous No.718338]

>>718252
> The reason these things are inconsequential is because that's electronics 101.
> because everyone is born with a comprehensive electronic skills.

yes yes, you're a very clever cookie because you already knows all this. what about the people who are kind of new to electronics who don't? if you are too fucking dense to understand you are not the target audience, maybe you should shut the fuck up and go find another thread to be a pedantic motherfucker in. the guy is making way more sense than your argumentative ass is.

[Anonymous No.718418]

>>718338
>what about the people who are kind of new to electronics who don't?

Then they will wonder why their brand new parts don't work sometimes. Or they will wonder why their salvaged parts won't work sometimes.

There's really not much difference here. The only knowledge you need for that is testing stuff before using it.

>electronics 101

That means things complete beginners learn.

[Anonymous No.719431]

>>717747
could a spot welder work on 240v~ home power? sorta tempted by this because I've been wanting to do a bit of welding lately..

[Anonymous No.719494]

>>719431
If the transformer(s) work with your household power then it will work as a spot welder.

There's a few things you need to know. Not all transformers are good for all spotwelding jobs. Sometimes you need a few more volts on the secondary side of the transformer to properly spotweld. Sometimes you need to hook up 2 spot welders together to attain either enough volts or amps needed.

The best way to know what your transformer can do is to know how many watts it can safely put out. You need to look on the device the transformer came from to know that. Sometimes you can find enough googleable info on the transformer itself.

Normally microwave oven transformers (MOTs) range from as low as 500 watts to as high as 2000 watts. I find that most cheap ones are for 800 to 1200 watt range. The higher the better for spot welding. If you need higher watts and don't have it with the MOT you have you may need another MOT hooked in with it to get the right amount of power needed for whatever you are going to do with it.

Regardless, here's a loose general list of max wattages and their uses in DIY spot welding. Keep in mind this is for very short amounts of time making the spot hot,

500-700watt: very thin metal, wires, chainmail rings.
1200-2500watt and higher: normal range of pretty much any cheap store bought spot welder

Normally cheap a 240v spot welder is around actual output of 10-10.5 amps for 2400-2,520watts. While a cheap 120v spot welder is around 13-13.5 amps for 1,560-1,620 watts.

You can have a sliding scale for the secondary coil output. Like if you can't get metal hot enough, but you have the right amount of amps then you may only need to increase the voltage so it makes better contact and carries more power. Like a single MOT running at 1.86v 490amp (911.4watts) may not do much for welding two 1/4" rods together, but a second MOT of the same specs in series with the 1st MOT will give you 3.72v 490amp (1822.8watts) that can power through and make the weld.

[Anonymous No.719496]

>>719494
...continued

Or, you can wrap another wind around the secondary coil to raise the volts and lower the amps of the single MOT which often times gives you the right balance to power through things and make a successful weld in thicker materials and still use the same amount of watts. Each MOT is different, so expect to play around a bit winding and rewinding to get things right.

If you have a multimeter tester, don't test for amps on the secondary side. Only test for volts. Otherwise, you could blow your meter. You can calculate the amps by measuring the volts and amps for the input and the volts for the output. (input volts x input amps = input watts then divide the input watts by the output volts to get the output amps).

Example:

Primary input: 124v x 10amps = 1240watts
Secondary output: 1.8volts

1240watts / 1.8volts = 688.888...amps.

So you'd have a MOT spot welder that outputs 1.8volts 688.888...amps for 1240watts

One tip. Most heat is generated at the workpiece and travels back the wires to the transformer. Just have something to help take the heat away before it reaches the MOT and you can have a full duty cycle spot welder. The shorter your secondary wires are from the MOT to the workpiece the better the MOT will work as a spot welder. So, there's a balance between efficiency and the size of the workpiece you are working on.