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Ask Slashdot: Projects For a Heap of Tech Junk?

Posted by Soulskill on from the build-a-robot-army-and-send-it-to-texas dept.

yenrabbit writes "A friend has just told me he has 80 CRT TVs, a stack of DVD players and hundreds of VCR machines, all broken and all mine free of charge. I can already think of a few awesome components I can extract (flyback transformers for high voltage contraptions and so on) and have a few ideas, such as DVD lasers, that I can build. But what else can be made from such a treasure-trove of components, and how would one go about processing such a large volume of stuff with the least amount of effort? Also, I don't have access to online shopping so I'd also like a pain free way of salvaging many simpler parts such as resistors as well." Another reader sent in a similar question: "The other day I went down to my University's property disposition center for the first time. In addition to mundane things like chairs and desks, it also had a wealth of technological devices, from old PCs and monitors to obscure medical and chemistry equipment. Honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed. I just don't know what I'd do with a old gene sequencing machine or a broken oscilloscope. Any ideas for fun projects? Or better yet, suggestions on how I can figure out which machines (or their components) are worth playing with?"

3 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Two words by MrNiceguy_KS · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not sure what anyone would do with a Beowulf cluster of VCRs, but I think it would be awesome!

    --
    Redundancy is good And also good.
  2. Re:Time machine by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hmm...I'd almost agree, though IMO one should never give up the opportunity to throw a perfectly good CRT off of the side of a building. They make awesome noises when they hit the ground.

    Haven't you ever had to throw a big piece of glass away, and you ask yourself: Why am I just going to "throw" this away without breaking it first? Honestly I rarely if ever throw away big pieces of glass without breaking it first, and I think everybody here agrees. CRT's are equally fun to destroy.

    --
    Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
  3. Re:You binned some SGI workstations??? by WillKemp · · Score: 3, Funny

    Windows 3.11 on a 286 with a Hercules graphic card.

    And a 2400 bps modem. Hopefully you can still find a copy of Trumpet Winsock around somewhere!