Instead of throwing away old circuit boards which are beyond repair, I find myself removing the caps etc for possible future re-use (just using a soldering iron, as wick is quite expensive). Is anyone else here this sad? :-)
Productivity increases (and obsessiveness) if you use a hot air gun to desolder things. I salvage all HV, many very small or many squat format caps, any unusual format pots, switches, knobs , but mainly ICs, sorted on leading 3 digits once a year, if I get time, now how sad is that?
-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
I keep a box of scrapped boards around to pull parts when I need to try to get something going NOW, and sometimes that includes caps, but given the choice I always use new lytics and I always check used ones with an ESR meter before reusing.
Show me the true professional on here who doesn't. Like James, I keep a scrap box (in ham radio circles, it's called "The Junk Box" and stuff built from it is called "Junk Box Construction") and use parts culled from it, regularly. I don't pre-remove the parts that 'might' be useful. Just remove stuff, as it's needed.
Arfa
Caps, switchs, sockets, IC's, larger resistors, HT's Displays etc etc etc I use to do that, boxes, tin cans, antistat IC sheets all chookers but then I got divorced, that cured that :o)
Cheers Ian Manners
What's wrong with recycling components? Why spend money for new ones when you can pull good ones off old equipment?
exactly. I have boxes, mostly of of old tv chassis and monitor chassis. when that gets into overspill, i usually remove:
-switches
-larger or odd value electrolytics
-polyester film and other types of small non electrolytic caps
-bridge rectifiers
-regulators
-some ICS
-some resistors. especially over 1/2watt.
-knobs and push switches
-LOPT /flyback transformers.
I don't usually bother with:
-caps with next to no 'legs' - if the leads are too short you can't reuse them easily. same goes for resistors and diodes. they're common anyway so i don't bother much.
-most caps that are in hot-running areas like power supplies and deflection as they have usually had a hard life.
-common value caps rated less than 105=BA-especially if they're under
25von the whole, i have found motherboards to be the least satisfying for recouping bits, everything is soldered hard up to the board. old printer power supplies and monitors are usually good for bits.
"Arfa Daily" wrote in news:kjgoj.1382$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe6-win.ntli.net:
At TEK,I built a 2213 from boards and parts that other techs gave up on and threw away. Got a free "B-grade" CRT from the head of CRT manufacturing,had to spend about $50 on a few new parts.
-- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net
I remove any "good" or at least "thought" to be good parts which can be done as quickly as possible without being destroyed in the process. I do so from most any item. I've got parts from many older AM/FM radios - 2 way radios - CBs, etc. The "ONLY" way I use to "repair" is if the part is no longer available otherwise - to replace "new". The "majority" of parts are used for my own use - building items to serve me on the bench. I've built some basic equipment from scratch parts out of junked items - which has saved me lots of time.
Saving parts isn't so bad - you're recycling - those which can be used. AND some day - they may dry up! Look at it positively - "not" negatively.
On Jan 31, 7:20=A0am, "radiosrfun" wrote: > I remove any "good" or at least "thought" to be good parts which can be done > as quickly as possible without being destroyed in the process. I do so from > most any item. I've got parts from many older AM/FM radios - 2 way radios - > CBs, etc. The "ONLY" way I use to "repair" is if the part is no longer > available otherwise - to replace "new". The "majority" of parts are used for > my own use - building items to serve me on the bench. I've built some basic > equipment from scratch parts out of junked items - which has saved me lots > of time. >
Good grief not small electrolytics !! We buy those in 1000 lot to repair the old Sony and Panasonic gear. SMT 'lytics are the WORST. The old US built gear (Ampex notably) has nearly no issues with caps. We do keep 'donor' machines for the hard to get or oddball parts.
GG
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:23:08 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com (Terry F.) put finger to keyboard and composed:
I always remove potentially useful and hard-to-get components from scrap PCBs before junking them. That includes HV ceramic, polypropylene, silver mica, and metallised film caps. In fact I find it hard to throw anything away.
- Franc Zabkar
-- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
d
For some reason this reminded me of the Johnny Cash song "One Piece at a Time".
Jerry
A great number of the people here repair stuff as a profession. Using scavenged parts in a customer's gear without alerting him to what you are doing is fodder for some consumer advocate to jump on you with both feet.
That said, most customers contacted say something like "Why are you bothering me with the details? Just fix it."
I like the notion of components that have proven themselves. 8-) A modern instrument can sort out the junkers. ...and there's no guarantee that a newly manufactured item will perform better than the tried-and-true one; the old one may have been the best of its lot and the "mint' one the worst of its lot.
On the relatively rare occasion that I repair something for money, I inform the person if I use any used parts, and I don't charge for the used parts. I've never had someone request to pay for new parts instead.
At the very least, any salvaged electrolytics should be tested for ESR and uF value. And of course that they haven't pre-exploded or leaked. :)
--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:
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Some parts are reasonable to re-use, some not. Electrolytics are not something that I like to pull, unless the value or size is something really odd and I can't get it other ways. ANY time we put a used part in a customer unit we clearly state this and make sure that they understand that if the part fails and we have to buy a replacement they pay the difference or if it is not available, there is no refund on the repair. We do this, but sometimes it makes sense if the customer is in a hurry and the part is not in stock, or for cost reasons. We calculate the cost of the new part and sell used parts for half price. The bottom line is that we won't do it without good reason and we let the customer make the decision.
Leonard
In article , Franc Zabkar writes
And when you do, a short time later you have a use for a part on that board you've been hoarding for years and finally threw out a couple days ago.
You get up to go and retrieve it from the bin, only to see the bin wagon disappearing around the corner.
BTDTGTTS.
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Electrolytic caps have a 'service lifetime' that depends on temperature and ripple current. It may be unwise to re-use these as they may be on the way out.
Graham
I would trust a good 10 year old cap more than some of the junk modern caps I'm seeing in everything. These caps often explode after less than a year. While nothing beats a brand new high quality cap, and ESR meter will weed out ones that are on their way out. Andy Cuffe
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On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 09:00:59 +0000, Mike Tomlinson put finger to keyboard and composed:
I had to repair a friend's 38 (?) year old stove. It needed a rewirable fuse block such as was common in old meter boxes but which could no longer be purchased anywhere. Naturally I had just thrown a bunch of them away after hanging on to them for several years. Fortunately I was able to locate a discarded stove (different make) at the local dump (aka recycling depot) and it just happened to have two of these fuses in almost off-the-shelf condition. It cost me $3 for the pair.
- Franc Zabkar
-- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
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