Salvaging

[Pirateguy]

So i am considering doing some volunteer work at the local thrift store so i can
salvage components from broken devices that are thrown away.

right now i am looking for:

-CRT TVs; flyback transformer and the magnet wire from the funnel thing.
-AM radios; ferrite cores

besides those, what else should i be on the lookout for?

[Jwillis]

Depends on what your looking for. Old printers/scanners have DC motors, glass panes,and metal rods,power supplies.
Desktop computers have power supplies ,fans ,heat sinks, hard drives.Micro wave ovens have transformers ,capacitors,motors ,and magnets around the magnetron . Even a toaster has nichrome wire that could be useful.

Just be sure to check various sites and even Youtube videos on safe procedures of disassembling appliances ,especially for microwave ovens****Extreme Caution **** must be taken when working with microwave ovens!!!!.Some of these appliances and electronics can be Extremely Dangerous to disassemble.

[rhb]

The power supplies from old audio gear are very useful. The old ones are linear supplies and with the addition of an LM317 make good bench supplies.  Any non-switching mode transformer is worth scavenging.  As are working SMPSs from dead computers.

I worked in a thrift store and plan to work there more again.  We did no repairs.  Test and price or discard.  In grad school in 1978, I fixed audio gear I fished out of the trash and sold it.  Not terribly profitable, but it's a really good education in electronics.

It really depends upon how much you know.  Microwave ovens are not  that dangerous.  You can get a nasty jolt from the HV capacitor if you're careless.  And if you *really* work at it you can get beryllium poisoning by breaking the magnetron insulators and inhaling the chips. In short, for disassembling  a microwave oven to be dangerous you need to be so stupid that crossing  a busy street is a bigger risk.

Having disassembled and repaired  multiple microwave ovens without any information other than it was a microwave, I can't fathom why anyone would say it was "extremely dangerous".  I've replaced the multiplier diodes and the capacitors.  Other than the controller, I've never seen anything else go bad.

Particularly in the case of microwave ovens, there's potential for the thrift store to make money selling used parts on eBay.  The capacitors are the most common cause of failure.  So the HV capacitor from a unit with a borked controller is good for $5 plus shipping.  Similar case with the glass lazy susan trays.

[james_s]

The "funnel thing" is the deflection yoke. Not much value in the magnet wire once you factor in the effort of extracting it. Generally I would say the CRT or the whole TV is of the most value, supplies of CRTs are starting to dry up and it's becoming a problem for the classic arcade collectors.

[Pirateguy]

thanks for the replies.

what i am looking for is anything that could be the basis for a cool project for a beginning (but not entirely novice) hobbyist.
my main interest is in special effects for miniatures and dioramas but i also like to make my own tools.
right now i am working on seeing how tiny i can get a tesla coil that still has enough power to look cool,
for which i want the ferrite rods to make one i saw in a . i already built a , but i wouldn't mind a bigger one too as well as experiment with making my own plasma globes with light bulbs, and i would just like to have a few of those flyback transformers on hand for future projects.
the magnet wire of course i want for winding my own coils.
i am familiar with computer assembly and will most certainly snag any psu i can get my hands on, as well as the hard drives.
i am interested in motors, but only steppers really, and i think i know where to find those.
i guess i also want anything discrete made for high voltage like caps and diodes and such, the kinda stuff that is not easy to get cheaply on ebay.

As for safety, i am no hero in that dept lol, rest assured i will thoroughly research disassembling of anything that plugs into the wall.
from what i have seen TVs seem the thing most people warn about holding a charge for a very long time...

[Jwillis]

Awesome ideas! I'm also working on similar projects myself.That tesla coil, as you probably already know ,uses the slayer driver.There are variations that are equally good .If you have questions don't hesitate to ask .http://deepfriedneon.com is good site which can help calculate winding's ,oscilators and other things .Check it out.https://www.electroboom.com/?p=521 is another good site for understanding the slayer exciter circuit.

The Jacobs ladder I've not tried yet.Guess I'm just not that brave yet.

It's a good thing to take safety seriously.My intention in my previous comment was not to discourage or scare you but to inform.As you become more comfortable with things it becomes easier and more fun if you have a good attitude about safe procedures.
Coming from experience in the petroleum industry ,I've seen far to many people carted off in ambulances because they "thought" they knew what they were doing and didn't follow proper safe procedures.
I congratulate you keeping yourself informed about possible hazards.

Have fun and cheers   

[Pirateguy]

high voltage is not to be taken lightly.
as for bravery and jacob's ladders, i find that turning it on and off at the power supply allows you to stay well away from the business end of it.

and check out what i use for it:
https://www.ebay.nl/itm/High-Voltage-Pulse-Generator-Inverter-Module-Super-Arc-Pulse-Ignition-Coil-DH/362195494965?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=631407328312&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
this cute little module looks like one of those stun gun modules, but as it happens does not have the cap in it, so works for the ladder.

and:
https://www.ebay.nl/itm/High-Voltage-Pulse-Generator-Inverter-Module-Super-Arc-Pulse-Ignition-Coil-DH/362195494965?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=631407328312&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

this adorable little kit seems to work slightly better even though it is rated lower.
imo those numbers on ebay listings are a 'rough estimate' at best.
going by the arc distance though they both seem to be in the ballpark.

low amp though, seems to be much safer then the larger ones made with the TV flyback transformers.

[FlyingHacker]

Also keep in mind that anything with an arc, like a Jacob’s ladder produces tons of broad spectrum radio interference. Please do expect to run something like this frequently, as it will drive any radio operators crazy, and is likely illegal (harmful interference) in many countries.

Fine to experiment, but this is not a leave-it-on-all-the-time piece of “artwork.” You May find it even interferes with your own RF based devices (cell phone, garage door opener, dog collar, etc.)

[CatalinaWOW]

As stated by others, it depends on what you want.  Also the era of the gear you are reclaiming from.

40s-60s -  Vacuum tubes, sockets, terminal strips, fuze holders, mica capacitors, variable caps, if-coils, pots, switches, transformers, indicator lamps, neon bulbs.  Resistors and other types of capacitors generally aren't worth retrieving.

60s-70s - Discrete transistors, capacitors, resistors, heat sinks, transformers, resonators, pots, switches...

80s-on - SMD resistors, ICs, connectors.

None of these things is going to resell well (except possibly the vacuum tube stuff because collectors), but they can fuel a wide variety of projects and learning opportunities.

[james_s]

Probably not a lot of vacuum tube gear is going to come up for salvaging, and if it does it is almost certainly worth more intact than as parts.