Members ec437 Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 I do. Today I took apart the transmission module from an old car phone and phone some cool IC's. Another nice part was a peak level meter I got from an old stereo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members natasmi Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 I've been tearing the backs off old TV's and old Radio's on the side of the road to get the tubes for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan-o-guitar Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 Parts salvaging is the one the six pillars of DIY wisdom. I took apart a crappy powered computer speaker amp and found 8 vintage JRC op-amps. Good stuff. But.....be careful. Whenever you're diving into anything that has an AC cord, there could still be dangerous voltages inside. Be sure to drain the caps. Regardless of the allure, I still refuse to crack the case on TVs or monitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members packrat Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 Having been thwarted by people (including me) throwing them out recently, I finally found an old 486 motherboard and rescued the static RAM cache chips from it to use in microcontroller projects. Huzzah! B> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ec437 Posted June 1, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 Originally posted by dan-o-guitar Parts salvaging is the one the six pillars of DIY wisdom. I took apart a crappy powered computer speaker amp and found 8 vintage JRC op-amps. Good stuff. But.....be careful. Whenever you're diving into anything that has an AC cord, there could still be dangerous voltages inside. Be sure to drain the caps. Regardless of the allure, I still refuse to crack the case on TVs or monitors. What are the other 5 pillars? Any AC electronics I take apart have been disconnected from power for >6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thebeatcatcher Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 i haven't been that intense yet, but i love taking old knobs off stereos and appliances. got some really cool big, flat silver knobs off an old range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan-o-guitar Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 Originally posted by ec437 What are the other 5 pillars? PatienceResearchDeterminationTimeInsanity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members musicbox Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 found quite a few amperex bugle boy 12au7 and 12at7's, along with 2 RCA 12ax7's in an old osciliscope. i was quite pleased with myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sir H C Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 Some of those old radios have cool old germanium transistors. Cheesy tube PA amplifiers can be brought back or gutted for their great bits. Reuse is a great thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members andthenurse Posted June 1, 2006 Members Share Posted June 1, 2006 Well, that's it now - this thread has convinced me to start out on the DIY palaver. Off to the library tomorrow to get some 'electronics for morons' books... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ec437 Posted June 2, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 2, 2006 anyone wanna buy some IC's? because I sure have no use for 'em right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rylos Posted June 2, 2006 Members Share Posted June 2, 2006 I grew up in Missouri with no money. Almost all I had was scavenged parts. When I built my touch-control panel for my DX7, everything was initially done with "found" parts. There were chips in there from pinball machines & IV pumps. I only put in all new parts in the final version. Scrounge and ye shall find Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members falcon42 Posted June 2, 2006 Members Share Posted June 2, 2006 We recently got some new cordless telephones, so I went into the new ones and found tons of great capacitors. You find good stuff everywhere.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members usa83strat Posted June 2, 2006 Members Share Posted June 2, 2006 yeah i took apart a bunch of telecomunications modules for parts, found a hand full of jrc 4558 and tl072 op amps. i tested them side byside (sound wise) agains new ones and the used ones where slightly warmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctorx Posted June 3, 2006 Members Share Posted June 3, 2006 I have a couple of storage bins full of scaveged electronic parts. Some sources: Old computer power supplies for transformers and caps. Sometimes small shop computer stores will just give you power supplies that are bad. Look for filter caps, MOV's, and IEC connectors on the AC cord input to the power supplies that can be used. A lot of these have assemblies with a switch, IEC connector, MOV, and filter cap that can be lifted complete. Old 80's clock radios, answering machines, cassette decks, and other junked consumer audio for 4558's, rectifiers, and other IC's, also transformers for power supplies. Sometimes you can lift the whole usable power supply right out of the unit. Also the chassis and cases of old audio and computer gear are sometimes reusable for building amps, jackplates, and other projects. Brand new cases are expensive, this is a good source to save money. With a good sabre saw and a metal blade, you can cut and form the metal any way you want. Wear eye protection. Wall warts for transformers. I picked up a pair of junked hifi speaker cabs at a flea market for next to nothing and put a piezo and a $30 PA woofer in them for a pair of cheap side throws. Take a walk through your local Salvation Army or other thrift store for old cake pans, small baking pans, metal dishes, and crappy 80's brass trinkets to use for effects cases. All of this stuff has nuts, bolts, screws, standoffs, and feet that can be reused. Old sewing machine motors can be converted into pickup winding machines for cheap. I got mine for $6. A real score would be an old console tube stereo. You could get vintage 6V6's, EL84's, 12AX7's, power and output transformers, even whole amps that could easily be coverted to a guitar amp. Sometimes the speakers can be used too. You'll need tools. Harbor Freight has astonishly inexpensive tools that work great for the DIY hobbiest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctorx Posted June 3, 2006 Members Share Posted June 3, 2006 Also, if you want to see the ultimate guy who does DIY with nothing but junk, check out John Fisher's page. That guy could take your grandpas old radium watch and a couple of used car batteries and build a nuclear reactor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hoerni Posted June 4, 2006 Members Share Posted June 4, 2006 Originally posted by Doctorx Also, if you want to see the ultimate guy who does DIY with nothing but junk, check out John Fisher's page. That guy could take your grandpas old radium watch and a couple of used car batteries and build a nuclear reactor. That's incredible! I like the calculator/counter. I remember a few years ago a colleague at work gave me a copy of an article from QST where a ham actually built a crystal radio with only junk he found in the street. Pretty amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cap'n'crunch Posted June 4, 2006 Members Share Posted June 4, 2006 I salvaged some jacks, resistors, caps, LED's, and stuff from broken SS amps, cordless telephones, boken cheesy pedals to build my first pedal. The "Bazz Fuss" from home-wrecker.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LeftyTom Posted June 20, 2006 Members Share Posted June 20, 2006 Of course, I scavenge. If you do not, you are missing a key gene which makes tinkering enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members edster Posted June 20, 2006 Members Share Posted June 20, 2006 I've been repairing all types of music equipment for 15 + years. Often w/items such as older keyboards, mixer, powered mixers and guitar/bass amps the customer chooses to replace rather than repair. They have the option of giving me the unit for parts in lieu of paying the bench fee. Most of these have dozens of cool and useful dip/sip ICs (not to mention jacks, pots, xisitors, xformers etc.). They usually run at 30v dc rail to rail. This does seem to change the way they sound in a 9V pedal. Some people, myself included, think it mellows them some. Especially the Malaysian RC4558. I have used them in custom builds w/very good results. Good stuff salvage is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6onzalez Posted February 24, 2007 Members Share Posted February 24, 2007 god damn i am going parts huntin' in the mornin'. Any tips on taking extra care not to blow ones self up with this stuff?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mumford Posted February 24, 2007 Members Share Posted February 24, 2007 My mother in law gave me an old console radio to use as a stage prop (we put our amps behind them) and the electronics were unsalvageable, but I got 2 old 6v6s out of it that sound great in my gibsonette. I also have 10-12 fully loaded boards out of a data tape machine, tons of chips but nothing I recognize-- mostly things with 16-20 pins. (estimating) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ibanezfoo Posted February 25, 2007 Members Share Posted February 25, 2007 I also have piles of components salvaged from VCRs, stereos, circuit boards from big Shacoh, Oce, and Xerox copy machines (good source for odd value caps and resistors), and any other electronics equipment I come across. I started collecting junk ~20 years ago when I wanted to build R/C projects and robots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted February 25, 2007 Members Share Posted February 25, 2007 Of course, I scavenge. If you do not, you are missing a key gene which makes tinkering enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cheesemaster Posted February 25, 2007 Members Share Posted February 25, 2007 wow! this thread is really inspiring me to go make a champ put of scavenged parts. i will never do it but, if i do i will surely post it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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