List of Electronic Supplies From Junk

[BretCahill]

Discarded electronic equipment is ubiquitous. Someone ought to write a book on
how to salvage parts from common consumer items.


Bret Cahill

 

[Don Bruder]

In article <20031019123522.29165.00000771@mb-m06.aol.com>,
bretcahill@aol.com (BretCahill) wrote:

Discarded electronic equipment is ubiquitous. Someone ought to write
a book on how to salvage parts from common consumer items.

Easy: Soldering iron, propane torch and a good pair of tin-snips.
Bolt-cutters may be useful in some situations. And don't forget a
hammer.

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net <--- Preferred Email - SpamAssassinated.
Hate SPAM? See <http://www.spamassassin.org> for some seriously great info.
I will choose a path that's clear: I will choose Free Will! - N. Peart
Fly trap info pages: <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/Horses/FlyTrap/index.html>

 

[exxos]

"Don Bruder" <dakidd@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:eizkb.33350$dk4.896410@typhoon.sonic.net...

In article <20031019123522.29165.00000771@mb-m06.aol.com>,
bretcahill@aol.com (BretCahill) wrote:

Discarded electronic equipment is ubiquitous. Someone ought to write
a book on how to salvage parts from common consumer items.

Easy: Soldering iron, propane torch and a good pair of tin-snips.
Bolt-cutters may be useful in some situations. And don't forget a
hammer.

......and a first-aid kit for when things dont go your way ;-)

Chris

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net <--- Preferred Email - SpamAssassinated.
Hate SPAM? See <http://www.spamassassin.org> for some seriously great
info.
I will choose a path that's clear: I will choose Free Will! - N. Peart
Fly trap info pages:
http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/Horses/FlyTrap/index.html

 

[Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun]

In article <20031019123522.29165.00000771@mb-m06.aol.com>,
bretcahill@aol.com mentioned...

Discarded electronic equipment is ubiquitous. Someone ought to write a book on
how to salvage parts from common consumer items.

All you have to do is heat up the soldering iron. If you haven't had
much practice soldering, the discarded consumer 'junk' is a good place
to start practicing.

I took a tour to the Discovery Science Museum and in one corner there
were a few people sitting at a big table. The idea is that if you're
the consumer, you can sit down and disassemble, by just about any
means, screwdriver, pliers, etc., a piece of consumer 'junk' that was
donated or scrounged. A lady was disassembling an elecronic
typewriter, might have been a lexmark. It had a RF modulator that
allowed the TV to be plugged into it, sort of like the old Atari game.
She didn't know what she was taking apart so I showeed her where the
chips were and what they did. Another guy was doing his thing with a
toaster, and someone else was playing with the leftover parts. It's
quite educational for people who have never seen the insides of a
piece of electronics.
http://www.discoverycube.org/

Bret Cahill

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

 

[BretCahill]

Let's say someone wants, say, a small full
bridge rectifier.

This list would say, you can find the full
bridge rectifier in these power supplies . . .


Bret Cahill

 

[Garrett Mace]

I took a tour to the Discovery Science Museum and in one corner there
were a few people sitting at a big table. The idea is that if you're
the consumer, you can sit down and disassemble, by just about any
means, screwdriver, pliers, etc., a piece of consumer 'junk' that was
donated or scrounged. A lady was disassembling an elecronic
typewriter, might have been a lexmark. It had a RF modulator that
allowed the TV to be plugged into it, sort of like the old Atari game.
She didn't know what she was taking apart so I showeed her where the
chips were and what they did. Another guy was doing his thing with a
toaster, and someone else was playing with the leftover parts. It's
quite educational for people who have never seen the insides of a
piece of electronics.
http://www.discoverycube.org/

What's interesting is the fact that so-called ordinary people were
fascinated enough by taking something apart, and maybe gaining an inkling of
how it works. It really makes me wonder...how many people would now be
engineers or at least intelligent technology users, if they had done this as
a child. I know it was at least part of the reason I got into engineering.
Especially the part where I decided to brush together two wires carrying
house current, and realized I needed a bit more understanding if I were to
survive...call it a flash of inspiration.

 

[Wim Ton]

Easy: Soldering iron, propane torch and a good pair of tin-snips.
Bolt-cutters may be useful in some situations. And don't forget a
hammer.
A hot air gun as used for paintstripping gives a more controlled heat than a

propane torch and less flames and smoke. (and it is cheaper and smaller) The
fumes of burning epoxy are not very pleasant.

Wim

 

[BretCahill]

"Garrett Mace" <g.ryan@macetech.com> in

Message-id: <HsLkb.53614$pg7.19566@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com> writes:

.. . .

how many people would now be
engineers or at least intelligent technology users, if they had done this as
a child.

I dunno. I cannot get any intelligent
people involved in politics when just about
everyone should be a citizen-activist under
our form of government.

At 5% donation rates even the Red Cross
blood drives are more successful. And all
they give you is a lousy t-shirt.


Bret Cahill


"Can't figger out why our readers are so
ignorant."

-- Any corp. media editor or broadcaster

 

[Garrett Mace]

bretcahill@aol.com (BretCahill) wrote in message news:<20031020021017.15203.00000322@mb-m26.aol.com>...

Let's say someone wants, say, a small full
bridge rectifier.

This list would say, you can find the full
bridge rectifier in these power supplies . . .


Bret Cahill

But, if someone knows they need a bridge rectifier, surely they would
know that old power supplies might be a good place to look.

Or are you trying to say this would be more of an actual part list,
containing part numbers and component values for specific equipment?
That would be a really tough project.

 

[Michael Black]

BretCahill (bretcahill@aol.com) writes:

Let's say someone wants, say, a small full
bridge rectifier.

This list would say, you can find the full
bridge rectifier in these power supplies . . .


Bret Cahill



So you pull the bridge rectifier out of a convenient switching supply

from a computer; I've found them lying by themselves on the sidewalk.

In many cases, switching supplies are overkill for small projects.
So once you've saved a few, the rest can be scrapped. I've made nice
analog supplies out of them, using transformers I've pulled out of consumer
equipment and the bridge rectifier from a switching supply. The regulators
come out of some other scrap equipment. I leave the switch in the box,
along with the socket for the line cord, and much of the work is done.

Michael

 

[Michael Black]

"Garrett Mace" (g.ryan@macetech.com) writes:

I took a tour to the Discovery Science Museum and in one corner there
were a few people sitting at a big table. The idea is that if you're
the consumer, you can sit down and disassemble, by just about any
means, screwdriver, pliers, etc., a piece of consumer 'junk' that was
donated or scrounged. A lady was disassembling an elecronic
typewriter, might have been a lexmark. It had a RF modulator that
allowed the TV to be plugged into it, sort of like the old Atari game.
She didn't know what she was taking apart so I showeed her where the
chips were and what they did. Another guy was doing his thing with a
toaster, and someone else was playing with the leftover parts. It's
quite educational for people who have never seen the insides of a
piece of electronics.
http://www.discoverycube.org/


What's interesting is the fact that so-called ordinary people were
fascinated enough by taking something apart, and maybe gaining an inkling of
how it works. It really makes me wonder...how many people would now be
engineers or at least intelligent technology users, if they had done this as
a child. I know it was at least part of the reason I got into engineering.
Especially the part where I decided to brush together two wires carrying
house current, and realized I needed a bit more understanding if I were to
survive...call it a flash of inspiration.


Certainly, some of the "I won't even go near it" is because something

is seen as beyond them. I knew someone who wouldn't even try to connect
the keyboard and mouse to her Macintosh, and she was basically a slave
to technology, because she didnt' want to even try to evaluate what she
could do and what she couldn't. It was amazing when a sink faucet was
all clogged with junk, and she actually got up the nerve to open the thing
herself and see how simple it was to clear out the junk. But her problem
was that she wouldn't take the first steps.

Taking something apart may not teach much, at least not to someone
who isn't also doing other things in the field. But I think it demystifies
it. There is a box, I musn't touch it, so they don't. But if they
do it when it risks nothing, on a piece of equipment that is going to
be junk anyway, then they may learn it's not nearly as scary as they perceive,
and it may let them try other things later.

In our society, there may be a bigger need for people in general to pick
up this level of comfortableness than it is for people to become fully
capable in such fields.

Michael

 

[Garrett Mace]

bretcahill@aol.com (BretCahill) wrote in message news:<20031020103820.27697.00000817@mb-m04.aol.com>...

"Garrett Mace" <g.ryan@macetech.com> in
Message-id: <HsLkb.53614$pg7.19566@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com> writes:

. . .

how many people would now be
engineers or at least intelligent technology users, if they had done this as
a child.

I dunno. I cannot get any intelligent
people involved in politics when just about
everyone should be a citizen-activist under
our form of government.

At 5% donation rates even the Red Cross
blood drives are more successful. And all
they give you is a lousy t-shirt.

Representative goverment is a thing of the past. The people's wishes
are no longer materialized in the form of an elected official; rather,
the people believe that it does not matter who holds office. Their
wishes are conveyed to the politicians through the filter of the
media, and the politicians simply slavishly follow the polls in order
to maintain their position. The media is the fourth branch of
government....

 

[Don Bruder]

In article <20031020103820.27697.00000817@mb-m04.aol.com>,
bretcahill@aol.com (BretCahill) wrote:

"Garrett Mace" <g.ryan@macetech.com> in
Message-id: <HsLkb.53614$pg7.19566@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com> writes:

. . .

how many people would now be
engineers or at least intelligent technology users, if they had done this as
a child.

I dunno. I cannot get any intelligent
people involved in politics when just about
everyone should be a citizen-activist under
our form of government.

At 5% donation rates even the Red Cross
blood drives are more successful. And all
they give you is a lousy t-shirt.


Bret Cahill


"Can't figger out why our readers are so
ignorant."

-- Any corp. media editor or broadcaster

They give you a T-shirt now?!?!?!?!?

Hell, back when I still bothered, you got a sticker, and MAYBE a
petrified Archway cookie accompanied by a 3-4 ounce glass of something
that was at least somewhat like, but not quite really, orange juice!

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net <--- Preferred Email - SpamAssassinated.
Hate SPAM? See <http://www.spamassassin.org> for some seriously great info.
I will choose a path that's clear: I will choose Free Will! - N. Peart
Fly trap info pages: <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/Horses/FlyTrap/index.html>

 

[Gary Tait]

Whereas On 20 Oct 2003 07:52:56 -0700, g.ryan@macetech.com (Garrett
Mace) scribbled:
, I thus relpy:

bretcahill@aol.com (BretCahill) wrote in message news:<20031020021017.15203.00000322@mb-m26.aol.com>...
Let's say someone wants, say, a small full
bridge rectifier.

This list would say, you can find the full
bridge rectifier in these power supplies . . .


Bret Cahill

But, if someone knows they need a bridge rectifier, surely they would
know that old power supplies might be a good place to look.

Or are you trying to say this would be more of an actual part list,
containing part numbers and component values for specific equipment?
That would be a really tough project.

Or depending on their needs, in the front ent of a telphone modem.
--
Gary J. Tait . Email is at yahoo.com ; ID:classicsat

 

[Gary Tait]

Whereas On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:31:17 +0100, "Wim Ton"
<wimton@blueyonder.co.uk> scribbled:
, I thus relpy:

Easy: Soldering iron, propane torch and a good pair of tin-snips.
Bolt-cutters may be useful in some situations. And don't forget a
hammer.
A hot air gun as used for paintstripping gives a more controlled heat than a
propane torch and less flames and smoke. (and it is cheaper and smaller) The
fumes of burning epoxy are not very pleasant.

Wim

I use a small hotplate, in a building separate from the house.
--
Gary J. Tait . Email is at yahoo.com ; ID:classicsat

 

[JeffM]

heat up the soldering iron
Watson A.Name

First, put on the eye protection.

When soldering: not so important; when UNsoldering:
I can't count the number of people who discovered
Hook's Law, elastic rebound, specific heat of molten solder,
and the fragility of the human eye--all in one quick lesson.

 

[Ian Stirling]

Wim Ton <wimton@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

Easy: Soldering iron, propane torch and a good pair of tin-snips.
Bolt-cutters may be useful in some situations. And don't forget a
hammer.
A hot air gun as used for paintstripping gives a more controlled heat than a
propane torch and less flames and smoke. (and it is cheaper and smaller) The
fumes of burning epoxy are not very pleasant.

A propane torch can be better.

Especially when desoldering connectors, a blowtorch can get the job done
faster, as it heats the large solder mass quicker, and can avoid overheating
the connector due to the rapidity.

Propane torch is around the same price as the cheapest hot-air guns.

--
http://inquisitor.i.am/ | mailto:inquisitor@i.am | Ian Stirling.
---------------------------+-------------------------+--------------------------
"Looks like his brainwaves crash a little short of the beach..." - Duckman.