Computer Bugs

How to turn old computer parts into cute little bugs.
Help save the environment at least a little plus make gifts for friends and family

Step 1 Tools of the trade

Gather your supplies, I included but might not use each time:
Pliers
Solder
Circuit Board (obsolete/dead)
Tape
Soldering Iron
Super Glue
Paints
Paintbrush
Toothpicks
Knife
Nail Clippers

Comments

[trevyboy]

ius there any oher resourses for electroin parts except for a computer? because i dont have a computer i would want to trash what about remotes for r/c or what about an r/c car or... an old phone?

[nnygamer]

There are all kinds of places to get the components. Old radios, boom boxes, TV's (be careful with them), some telephones (not cell phones), VCRs, DVD players, clock radios.
I just happened to have a bunch of old obsolete computer parts to work with and it turned out great to call them Computer Bugs.

[pastanaut]

If you don't know what a capacitor looks like, don't take apart old TVs! The capacitor can discharge and kill you if you don't know what you're doing.

[vadipp]

Or, just LONG-circuit (using a several Ohm resistor) all components you see before touching them :)

[redsunmtm]

not agree with you when you say "not cell phones", just take a look on my sculptures on the link i gave up here and you'll see a lot of cel phone components solded together, it is just question of pacience and good tools to solder them a sure a good technique an many imagination ! ;P

[nnygamer]

Most cell phones have SMD that are hard to work with if you have fat fingers like me. I do use them as detailing on models though.

for those who don't know SMD= surface mount device

[lsutigertuff]

Great Idea!!

[urielh]

it's realy work?

[FraKtuL]

Awesome! I think I've finally found a purpose for my collection of 386 motherboards and ISA stuff that I can't seem to GIVE away on Craigslist. :)
BTW: The "free" section on Craigslist is a great source to find broken electronics that some people just don't want to throw away.

[redsunmtm]

you should take a look here: http://www.youtube.com/user/redsunmtm#p/a/u/0/B-x8gjJVxE4 have a nice view and get good ideas !

[redsunmtm]

you should look this page i do those things for more than 15 year now !
http://eclipse-online.info/ go to sultures section and then: roll over to find SCULPTURES ELECTRONIQUES just after wood ones

[thevansleaving]

This is a great idea! Does anyone know how much these might weigh? These would make some really cute earrings to give away as presents if they don't weigh to much :D Or even a cute necklace!

[nnygamer]

They don't weigh much at all. I've seen regular earrings that probably weighed more.
Just solder a pin to the body, cut off and hook it to a craft earring hanger. I'd make sure the feet were smooth with a small blob of solder to prevent picking and catching.

[JOBGG]

And you might want to use lead free solder and ROHS compliant components for anything you ever think about sticking into a hole anywhere in your body...just to be safe, lead poisoning is no fun. But yeah, these are pretty light, unless you just have to hang a 1F 200V Capacitor monsterbug from your face.

[nnygamer]

Also a nice coat of clear nail polish over the whole thing will help seal it.

[CielMarcheur]

This is brilliant ! Congratulations. I love your creations.
I'll try to do some.

[thomathome]

love this idea been making them for ages. I made a bunch of winged ants and solderd them to some old sim cards : ) Sim-bee-ants! anyone?

[acosicris]

I hate bugs! But those seems to be harmless. LOL.
Nice ible!!!

[vishalapr]

I like the ible but I would personally use those parts, well done on this ible!!!

[SysGhost]

Oh dear. If I ever see those buggers crawling out from under my computer, it's a sign that I need to clean up my program code from bugs.
;)

[apaterson1]

would the resistors still work if i wanted to recycle them into another project?

[nnygamer]

I don't see why not. As long as you don't overheat any of the components they should be good to reuse.

[nbagf]

woudn't it be random if these were able to be used in projects

[rcosmo]

Soo cute! im so gonna make it tomorrow right after i wake up xD

[coleyy]

you could use an intigrated circuit or 2 attatched together and ad a head to make a centipede!

[syncromatic]

Cool idea, reminds me of the game ZOIKZ.

[Harry8D]

This is amazing, im going to make a couple for my dad this christmas. I've spent the day harvesting old toys like Walkie talkies (goldmines) and remote controlled cars.
Keep up the good work! :D

[Drasa]

I really love this, as soon as i can get some Resistors I will make one, thanks for sharing this awesome idea!

[Win Guy]

Love it! Totally awesome... 5/5

[Blue_Bird]

Thanks for the inspiration, I made on after I saw this instructable

[nnygamer]

The bee theme seems to be one of the best selling of all I've made. Looks good!

[ZeroXL91]

Hey, what about hard wood floor gloss?

[nnygamer]

That probably would work fine, it should be nice tough and waterproof if designed for floors.

[girlnextdoor]

I can't wait to make these!! I'm always taking these parts off of things my hubby (who's a tech) is gonna throw away. He teases me relentlessly about it too. Wait till he sees these! Think I'll make mine into fridge magnets!

[nnygamer]

Fridge magnets is a great idea. I'll have to see if I have some magnets hangint around I can use. I just sold all the bugs I made this past week, over 30 of them. A few sold before the paint was even dry.

[vitruvian8807]

Hehe, I wouldn't having these bugs around my computer. I once found an old board with colorful resistors, green, gold, pink, still have them around, not sure where I could get some more colorful resistors though.

[aliyevzaur1989]

What a waste of electronic components

[hippyland2]

your right. yuor suposed to just recycle the computer not waste them. also how does this help save the enviorment?

[nnygamer]

All the others disagree beside the components were all obsolete or broken it's better to reuse the parts then throw them away.

[vadipp]

And bring joy into this world, too :)