Recycling Parts is it possible

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Is it possible to recycle and re-use compnents from old eqiutment(i.e. television,radios,computers.....). I have a lot of old junk like this that dosn't work and is beond repair yet a lot of the components still work.

Are there any problems with doing.

The resons to me for doing this are fairly simple. firstly it would be a lot cheaper for me just to remove the components + it would be envoiromentally friendly.:goodbad:
 
I can't see any problem with recycling old parts, providing the parts are still OK, ie if the unit was faulty before it was scrapped, make sure the parts you recycle are not the ones that caused the fault, or were damaged by the fault condition. I've done it myself before, and have lots of iron in my system that I took from dead amps, as well as tubes, sockets and some passives. Much old gear is simply thrown away because it was replaced with newer and is still working, had a minor fault that was 'too expensive to repair', junked in estate cleanouts etc. If you have a use for the part and it is still safe, it's better than it going to landfill, and cheaper for you.

Cheers
 
how do you think most of us got started anyway -- my first ham transmitter used the 6DQ6 sweep tube -- directly keyed. I used the tuner for VHF reception with a slight mod, and oh those power transformers, particularly from early color TV's -- you could get hundreds and hundreds of watts out of them.

used test equipment also makes for great parts supplies -- and the chasis and cabinets just can't be beat. I have one instrument in which I just gutted the entire thing and used a piece of black formica to replace the front panel.

they are still "giving away" old routers and telco equipment due to the glut in networking and telco -- these are excellent rack panel sources.
 
Some companies even sell industy surplus PCBs for price that
is a fraction of the component value, although this seems less
common nowadays than it used to.

As Jack said, desoldering componentes from old stuff is the way
many of got our first components. Keep in mind, however, that
some components, eg. electrolytics, age and might not be in
good shape. Also take care that some old or odd equipment
might be hazardous to work with. Old residual solder flux might
be more toxic than modern ones. Some equipment may use
transistors or insulators that contain Beryllium oxide etc.
 
Ham fests and flea markets are a great way to get parts, though you might have to go through a lot of items to find what you need. Sometimes at these places you can find bags of unused parts that are perfectly fine.

As Christer says, older electrolytic capacitors might not be worth salvaging, but they still might be worth a try due to the cost of new ones.
 
With Capacitor you said that some of them might have aged if you test them and there allright can you use them or do they deteriorate in the circuit.

The toxicity isn,t a big problem since i will be doing all the desoldering outside.(it is easer to bring my soldering iron outside to take a few parts and leave the rest than to take it inside and upthe stairs, take the parts of and have to carry it back down the stairs:grumpy:
 
I think I will stick with what you said about capaitors and buy new one they are Quite cheap so it is probably the best way of doing it since the ESR meter would pay for a hell of a lot of capacitors.

Are ther any makes of resistors, transformers, transistors to be wary of and are ther any to look out for.

Pressumembly if the equitment is fairly new you can use the capacitors if they are electroliytic.
 
If you are building something that you plan to use for many
years, you should make sure to buy fresh electrolytics. However,
it can be useful to have a bunch of recycled ones for test
purposes and prototypes. If you build a prototype of something
you do'nt know if you are going to use, or you don't know
what value you need, it might be useful to start with some
old lytics. Then, if it works well with these, you buy appropriate
new ones for the sharp version. If it doesn't work well, you must
of course keep in mind that it may be because of bad lytics.

You may also wish to check this thread on formating old
electrolytics
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7457&highlight=format+AND+electrolytics
 
My Leach amp still is using electrolytics that I got back in 1979. So, old electrolytics can still be quite good. However, some types that have not been powered up for a long time should be brought up gradually to help the dielectric reform. In other words, don't immediately apply 60 volts to a 75 volt capacitor. Use a variable power supply to slowly bring up the voltage. Someone might know the proper way, but I would suggest maybe applying the voltage in a series of 10 volts steps, with several minutes at each step, possible longer at intermediate voltages.
 
Weight is generally proportional to the power rating. I don't have a formula, though.

you can use an ohmmeter to find out how the windings were wound. With that figured out, apply some AC to one set of windings (from a sine wave generator - don't plug it into the wall), and by measuring voltages on the other windings you can figure out the turns ratios. You can also look at the wire sizes to get an idea of how much current each winding was designed to handle.
 
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