As Science & Technology is upscaling day by day the E-waste generated is piling up and has no end on the process, an effective smart Recycling / Repurpose solution is always required to minimize and put a new life to the E-waste and manage it,

The IT industry is booming with new requirements for heavy specification on computers every day, "OLD CPU TO SOMETHING NEW" in this project we researched and analyzed the e-waste generated from old generation based computers, an average computer after its given upgrade life turns out to be very slow and not suitable for the new usage requirement, for which the user straight way purchases a new system to fulfill his requirements and the old computer eventually turns into an e-waste scrap.

In this project we have tried to repurpose the different electronic computer parts and create something new something creative out of them, this project is further categorized into different sub-projects as mentioned below

1) Computer CD/DVD Writer -based CNC Machine.

2) Computer Processor-based Hand warmer.

3) Computer SMPS (Power supply) based Lab Bench Power supply.

4) Laptop internal Cam chip-based portable USB WEBCAM.

5) Crafty Ideas from Computer waste

Supplies

Standard Tools and electronic components required for this project -

Tools-

Screwdriver set (assorted )
Wire cutter / Strippers / Plyers
Angle Grinder
L&key / Nose plyers
Soldering station
Drilling machine (bits)
wood screws
glue
insulation tape / heat-shrink tube
Multimeter

Components-

0.5sq mm Cables
dotted PCB board
Banana plugs and connectors
toggle switches
Arduino Nano
5v regulators
Servo mini
L293d Motor controller

Softwares-

Arduino IDE
Inkscape
G-code sender

Step 1: Computer CD/DVD WRITER Based CNC Machine

CD drives from computers are no longer used in today's digital world, many PC manufacturers have already terminated the provision of CD/DVD writer from PC setups, USB thumb drives have already replaced the need for CDs, and there was a time when CD/DVD writer and cd drives were used to carry Data and files from one system to another,

In this project, we have dug deep into what's inside a CD/ DVD Writer from an old PC, have tried to understand its working, and converted one to a CNC plotter machine with a small modification,

This CNC Plotter is a drawing machine that takes inputs from a computer in form of a design or drawing and converts it into a machine-understandable language also known as G codes or plot code, these plot codes are later used to control the moment of stepper motors attached in an x-axis and y-axis format, upon these moments a servo drive controls the lift moments of the tip of a pen, allowing it to touch the base which is a paper holder and creates the print we need in the given dimension,

The heart of the project is an L239d Motor controller ic and an Arduino nano to manage the communication, the stepper motor and the track layout from the CD ROM will be used as it is with a small hack to keep the project simple, and the track size provided inside a standard pc CD/DVD Writer allows us to print an output of 10cm by 10cm on a sheet of paper,

In step 1 we disassembled a CD/DVD Writer, we required the x-axis and y-axis for our CNC plotter for the base and a top, the ready setup can be salvaged from 2 CD / DVD writers to achieve the track setup forming the x-axis and the y-axis,

once we have the required tracks we need to mount them in the L shape format on a wooden board as shown in the pic, this will give us one straight base portion and a bottom base portion, the fittings need to be secured with screws and proper gaps which can be achieved from using spacers, eg in my case, I have used old empty pen body and cut it to small pipes resulting in the required Gap for the platform moments as shown in the pic, we have to make sure the fittings are not wobbly or lose which will cause vibrations to distort the output image, to eliminate vibrations I have used the same CD/DVD writer metal body as a support for the straight base portion which kept the whole structure solid and fixed,

once our track and the stepper motor are set in the required format, for the straight base portion we need to glue a small servo directly on the x-axis track keeping its position at a 90 degrees angle, parallel to the bottom base as shown in the pic, this will allow us to mount a small plastic clip to the servo which will work as a pen holder as shown in the pic, some trial and error calibration is needed before fixing the pen holder as with different pen tips the achieved output changes,

For the bottom base portion, we need to glue a flat sheet of MDF or cardboard or a dotted PCB which will hold the paper and allow the pen to glide smoothly creating the design, once this part is finished the body structure work is completed, moving ahead to the electronics we need desolder the old ribbon cable on both the x-axis and y-axis motors and tap them with new 4 core long cable which will be routed to our control board as shown in the pic, also the signal cable for the servo needs to be properly routed to the control board behind the assembly, as the whole platforms keep moving its a good idea to properly manage the wires with zip ties and some extra wire at the end for free moments of the platforms,

The control board schematic is shown in the image attached, we have mounted the components and soldered the track to form the required circuit with a connecter header to connect the servo and stepper motor to the PCB, the Arduino code attached converts the design drawn in Inkscape software into a Gcode file, this Gcode file can be sent to the hardware with the help of Google Gcode sender and the design will be printed on the setup.

The setup on the user's computer will be as follows-

1) Setup the Arduino ide software and add the provided Arduino code to it,

2) Setup google g-code sender in the Chrome browser as an extension,

3) Setup Inkscape software with a drawing scale of 10cm by 10cm, draw, write import, and design drawing into it, and save the final image as n SVG G-code format, the image will be converted to a G-code file,

4) Connect the hardware Arduino to the system and its supply voltage via USB,

5) Once ready set the pen on the holder and a piece of white paper on the base,

6) Select The com port for the hardware in the g-code sender and run the file we created,

7) The system will start to print the file, ( as per different pen and writing tip small calibration is required t the setup phase )

WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED AN OLD CD/DVD WRITER TO A CNC WRITING/ DRAWING MACHINE

Step 2: Computer Processor Based Hand Warmer

A handwarmer is a portable device that produces limited heat waves and keeps the hand palm warm in very heavy cold weather scenarios, to make something similar we need a constant heating element device that can produce heat with a very small form factor, such a heating device is already present in computers, CPU - Central Processing Unit the brain of the computer, and a very heavy heat-producing element on the motherboard, An average CPU temps can go up to 80–85°C,as the Generation of the CPU processors is getting updated day by day old slow processors to have an end to their usage, the requirement suits the best for our project needs,

We have used the old gen Intel CPU processors eg - i3, Pentium dual core, etc for this project, in the structure of a processor, there are different connector traces below it and a head with a metal flat surface usually where the heatsink and cooling fan sits, our main requirement is to find 2 such pins when supplied with 5v or 12v heat up the processor to a stable limit and stay constant, tracing such pin can be a bit difficult as there are a lot of connection points, but one can either test with a stable power supply of 5v and try to find the best point which releases the required amount of heat generation, or else one can either search the internet for a data sheet of the processor and try to trace the highest resistive point on the processor,

With the help of a constant current and voltage, we figure out the highest resistive point on the CPU which is able to get to good temperatures, as the whole assembly gets to a very hot condition, therefore soldering wires to the pin directly on the processor won't help as the heat melts the solder and causes a disconnection, to overcome this we have to either use epoxy resin or jb weld or hard based glue so the wires stay intact on the connection.

Once this part is finalized, we can attach the CPU to a USB monitoring device to confirm the amps and the current pull and also check the heat efficiency, once confirmed the CPU can be powered with a portable power bank and a push-to-heat button, the setup can be used in extremely cold conditions and the heat can be managed as long pressing the push button will trigger the heating element.

WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED A CPU / PROCESSOR INTO A THERMAL HAND WARMER

Step 3: Computer SMPS (Power Supply) Based Lab Bench Power Supply.

When it comes to powering DIY projects and power supply needs for different electronic requirements a lab bench power supply is always handy and helpful which helps the user to get the desired output voltage and current, the only drawback of purchasing a lab bench power supply is it is very costly or heavy in terms of use, and most of DIY Hobbyist like me cannot afford it, an alternative to a lab bench power supply which is cheaply available in all computers and provides most of the required voltages and current on a fixed scale is an SMPS unit, there are many make and models of a computer SMPS unit but most of them work the same.

As computer components require different voltages to operate and a heavy loading capacity a special type of SMPS is used inside computers that can deliver voltages eg- 3.3v, 5v,12v, -12v, etc,

we have hacked Such SMPS power supply from an old computer and moded it to deliver voltages so we can directly get the required voltage using a plug-play connecter with good current, usually, there are many cables pushing out of a power supply unit for which each has a color code which later when checked on internet results in a voltage output on the specific color cable, as shown in the attached image, an SMPS requires a start switch to trigger out from standby mode, which is to be added between the black and the green cable, once the switch is turned on the circuit between the black and the green wire closes resulting in turning on the power supply this can be confirmed by the spinning of the fan,

As per the provided diagram, there is a voltage on each cable with a specified color code, for which we have used an old motherboard connector and connected the other end to a banana terminal for the output, the whole setup is installed on a wooden board, the common or Ground is shared between the black cable and the connection status for the SMPS, an led is placed in between the 3.3v and ground wire using a resistor, This way our Lab bench power supply is ready to use for DIY makes and hobbyist projects, due to higher current capabilities this PSW is able to power car amplifiers, charge automobile batteries, run inductive based motors, and with all safety features if there is a short-circuit the PSW has an in-built safety cutoff feature which can trip in time and protect the circuit from further damage, the benefit of using an old motherboard psi connector is it helps us to upgrade the SMPS if needed in future use, also avoids the mess of cable soldering and any failure,

WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED AN OLD SMPS INTO A FUNCTIONAL LAB BENCH POWER SUPPLY

Step 4: Laptop Internal Cam Chip-based Portable USB WEBCAM

In this part of the project, we have tried to salvage Camera modules (chips) from broken laptops and convert them into a portable USB camera, as the camera sensors used in laptops are very small and with good quality video output and embedded microphone array for better audio input we have tried to use these camera modules from broken and dead laptops,

We have different chips from different old laptops, and every brand has its own circuit plan, therefore we need to do testing with a multi-meter to confirm the positive, the negative, the data +, and the data - port to connect a USB connector to the camera chip,

The camera chip size is very small it's suggested that we use the existing connector for the wires to be connected, the first requirement is to find a screw pass-through-hole with a golden track which can later be tested with the continuity feature to confirm the ground pin with the connecter wire output , as shown in the attached pic, once we have confirmed the ground we have to trace the positive input which is easy as on the cam chip there is a voltage regulator IC at the start of the PCB in parallel with the connector, can be confirmed with the continuity feature of a multimeter as shown in the pic, once the ground and the positive cable are traced, we do not have to search for the data wires as they are already very easy to trace, there is a pair of twisted wired on the connector which can be identified as shown in the pic, these 2 wires can be connected randomly to the USB data + - pin , and if there is an error of USB device unrecognized or malfunctioned we just have to invert the wires for data line,

This portable camera setup does not require any type of driver to run and with the USB addon it becomes a portable plug-and-play device, once the setup is tested for the video and audio output we can add small plastic or metal casing around it to protect it as its a fragile component,

The use for this miniature camera setup is endless, one can use different cameras set-ups at / office different locations in the home/office for CCTV surveillance, as USB protocol is supported we can simply add a USB hub and connect as many cameras as we need, this camera setup works with mobile devices easy to use with a USB converter, as the form factor is very small in this setup it's almost unnoticeable to trace the camera as it's just a size of pinhole and can be hidden in the environment easily, due to the inbuilt microphone array we can even get the audio via USB through this device.

WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED THE LAPTOP INTERNAL CAMER CHIP TO A USB PORTABLE CAMERA SETUP WITH AUDIO FEED