Tool Tip: How to Salvage PCB Parts

Step 4 Create Containers

This step is for all you green people out there.

We are going to make containers for the components out of old water bottles. Recycling before recycling!

Using an x-acto knife, cut the bottom of the water bottle off, starting 3 or 4 bumps up. Stack three to create a set. Repeat this for as many water bottles as you like.

These containers are pretty stable, and are quite useful, too.

I find I am always wanting tact switches, for simple projects or more complicated ones. And who doesn't like LEDs? Salvaging parts is a great way to save money and get the parts you want. So that's it! Thanks for reading!

Comments

[samsao]

yes, good idea

[NT86]

how to you figure out how many volts the LEDs run off without frying them

[mage]

use a mulitmeter

[Minifig666]

 In exactly what way do you use a multimeter?

[Derin]

all leds will work safely up to 3.3 volts,except the ones with built in resistors

[Patented]

Thx too! I was wondering how to know

[LOOK!!! something shiny!....ZAP!!]

I did not know about that, thanks for putting that on there (I really hate the smell of a fried LED)

[dagenius]

noxious.

[NT86]

lol

[Derin]

np,happy to help someone(at last)

[hore]

can you tell me what did you do with the pcb board, or what people usually people do with the board , can it still be used .

[xboxzombie]

I just throw them out, but you can use them in some kind of art project or try to reuse them for small projects. Except you need to be really creative with cutting and soldering in jumpers, and the traces may not like being reused multiple times depending on how thin or how old the board is.

[hore]

how about project that involved electric with the board, making robot or something.or any electronic project.

[aqren550]

Another tip you probably should add is that when salvaging, the older the better. the older something electronic is, the bigger its components and thusly the easier it is to both get them off the board and the easier it is to use them after you do get them off

[xboxzombie]

True, except for the electrolytic caps. they begin to go out of tolerance after about 15-20 years depending on quality. not to mention the fact the newer electros are much smaller compared to similarly rated caps 20 years ago. Everything else is likely to be in good working order. And old PCBs dont have amy pesky SMD parts or lead free solder to cope with.

[Avasar10000]

Which components are most likely to be affected by static? How would you store the static sensitive components using this system? This has been an informative Instructable. Thank you.

[1up]

Probably just IC's. If you have any antistatic foam, stick them in that then in the bottle.

[ReCreate]

Ah no,Variable Regulators,transistors and a few other things like that are static sensitive

[Unit042]

This is a good instructable! I thought that desoldering with pliers was common knowledge, but I guess I'm wrong. I have tons of parts I've salvaged that saved me money. I like to look up average prices of the parts I've salvaged to see how much I've profited. Nice warm, fuzzy feeling! And the plastic bottles are a killer idea! They would really help organising large quantities of stuff instead of using plastic ziploc bags.

[kidNeutrino]

good idea on the water bottles, those storage boxes can get expensive.

[samurai1200]

This is pretty common knowledge, but the addition of the stackable waterbottles was definitely a handy tip. My biggest problem while salvaging parts is heat... for instance, I was jacking a few op-amps out of an old computer speaker sub amplifier... all 8 pins were soldered down. what i ended up doing was wrapping a string around the chip, tied something heavy to the other end (like a nut or some washers, etc) and then heated up all the legs until the part was ripped off the board.