Ask Slashdot: Projects For a Heap of Tech Junk?

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?"

Comments

Recycle it

[Anonymous Coward]

Recycle it

Leave the sequencer...

[damn_registrars]

... they are not nearly as straightforward to use as you might have imagined, even if you thought it would be difficult to use. If you don't have access to a way to purify your DNA for it, forget about it. Even if you could purify your DNA well, you would still need the supplies (primers, buffers, molecular-grade H2O, etc) to run the reactions and then the software to analyze the results. And then once you get one reaction to work you have to set up and run many many more to sequence even one important gene to a meaningful extent. That said, don't even dream of sequencing your entire genome at home with an older sequencer (or any other that you could afford on the kind of salary that a slashdot reader is paid).

If you want some of your own DNA sequenced, send it off and then throw a big crazy party with the time, money, and space you saved by not attempting to do it yourself.

Re:Time machine

[Anonymous Coward]

Before throwing electronics away make sure to check the appropriate regulations in your area. Many of these things are actually classified as hazardous waste under various jurisdictions and must be handled differently than normal trash.

There's Gold in them there CPU's

[bobstreo]

Gold is at 1,573.00 an ounce today.

Here's a link to check out cpu prices based on gold content:

http://www.ozcopper.com/computer-cpu-gold-yields/

Re:Time machine

[An dochasac]

Divide your rent or mortgage by the square footage of your house+garage+basement. Calculate the number of square feet this stuff will occupy to find out how much your "free" stuff costs per month. In much of the US it has been upwards of $1 per square foot per month. So each 19" CRT or "pizza box" Sun or SGI is probably costing a couple of bucks a month depending on how high you can stack them. Is it worth that to you? For most stuff and most people, the answer is sadly no and the value half-life of technology is decreasing every year as manufacturers lock consumers into their planned-obsolescence trap. If you'll get enough enjoyment out of it, by all means collect it. I hope slashdotters haven't lost their nerdy mojo and are just trying to hoard the good stuff for themselves. But in case people here really lack imagination, here are a few items that might be worth keeping:

• All modern hard drives contain strong rare-earth magnets.
• Laser printers have unusual optical devices. Older ones might have helium neon lasers (watch it, the power supply is far more deadly than the laser beam!) But even more interesting are the acoustical optical crystals which can modulate any light source in a fraction of a second.
• At the current price of copper, a CRT yoke magnets and flyback transformer might bring in a few bucks. But first figure out what you're going to do with the rest of it.
• Tantalum "Super capacitors" might be of value just for the rare-earth content. But you'd need a lot of them. Better to donate to an electronics recycling charity.
• Laser disk players also have Helium neon lasers, beam splitters, high quality servos and optical components.
• Early projection TVs and video projectors and studio cameras and projectors might have a cold mirror (interference infrared filter) as well as an interference filter/mirror optical device for splitting white light into red, green and blue channels.
• VCRs, Printers have strong motors, gears, solonoids and other electromechanical parts.
• Ocilloscopes often contain unusual high-persistance phosphors. Build yourself a scintillation radiation detector or see what happens if you shine a UV LED onto it.

Whatever you do, don't throw it in your ordinary trash. The only thing worse than paying $1000/month rent for a house full of junk is ruining our environment with something that does have value. Check your local area, electronics recycling is a value proposition for some metals (e.g. gold) but also for the rare earth elements in capacitors and hard drive magnets.