Projects From an Old Casette Player

Intro: Projects From an Old Casette Player

Hi! Did you ever thought that you can build many gagdets from an old electronic device? Yes, maybe. Now I'll show you that what can build from an old casette player/radio. I made an FM transmitter bug and a wind turbine battery charger. The most of the parts are from the casette player. I only needed a 9v battery, a propeller and a AA battery holder. The wind turbine is the easiest project that I've ever made I think because the circuit only requires the 6v DC motor from the casette player and a diode from the circuit.

The FM transmitter is a little bit harder project but works fine. Now let's begin!

STEP 1: Parts and Tools

For these projects you'll need only the casette player, soldering iron and some crafting tools.

STEP 2: Salvaging Components

Open your casette player or radio then take out as much electronic components that you can. I've found inside a bad speaker :-( , but the other components were good. Removed capacitors and and te resistors. Then I found inside a microphone. These parts are perfect to make an FM transmitter from them. And the 6v DC motor is also perfect for a wind turbine.

STEP 3: FM Transmitter

So you'll need :

• -a BC547 transitor
  
• -1nF and 22nF capacitor
  
• -4.7pF and 20pF capacitor
  
• -a coil with 4 turns-a small piece of PCB
  
• -9v battery clip
  
• -wire for the antenna
  
• -4.7k and 330ohm resistors

STEP 4: Heat Up Your Soldering Iron

Following the circuit diagramm make the circuit on a small piece of PCB. Add the 9v clip and the antenna then you're done.Add the 9v battery and test it with your phone's FM radio or with an FM reciever. If don't works try to modify the antenna's position until you'll get the chanell.

STEP 5: Test It!

But what is a FM transmitter?

Is a device that can amplify the microphone signals and transmitts frequency modulated signals via radio waves to your phone or to a reciewer. Works between 90 and 106mHz. My one was 97.8.

STEP 6: The Wind Turbine

You'll need the DC motor, a water bottle a germanium diode from the circuit of the casette player, a propeller and a AA nattery holder. That's all! The simplest wind turbine on the world.

STEP 7: Soldering

Solder the motor and battery together but add the diode between the positive wires. The anode needs to be connected to the motor's positive output and the catode to the battery's positive wire. This is very easy.

STEP 8: Crafting

Glue the turbine to the cap of the bottle and the battery holder to the bottle.

STEP 9: The End

Boom! We've made two nice projects only with reusing components from a casette player. Have a nice day, and thanks for wathing!

Comments

[GaryA120]

If I use different inductor and capacitor e.g 200 uH and 160 pf (they will give a frequency of 889 khz)will the same circuit work for am radio?
Also you say to use a BC547 transistor but in the diagram you show a 2N3904. Will they both work?

[bostroglav]

nice instructable.
I searched in two old radios, but I did not find a bc547 transistor... could it be replaced with an other transistor?
If yes, tell me :)

[agis68]

but this series of transistor is very popular and cheap...

[bostroglav]

i found them... thanks.

[Imetomi]

yes, no problem

[krstecd12]

Great project, but can you tell me where can i find fm radio receiver circuit i want to make it.

Sorry i have bad english.

[Imetomi]

You can use a simple FM Radio or your phone for the reciever, but down, in the comments, you can see a reciever and transmitter circuit. Thanks!

[Isfaaq]

How can I regulate the frequency? Thanks.

[jerenmie]

use variable capacitor

[Imetomi]

The frequency can be regulated with the trimmer capacitor if you have. In my casette player I didn't found.

[Isfaaq]

step 2/9, there's a small typographic error. Very nic project. Simple and Sweet ;)

[Nikolajco]

how can i connect my phone on the transmitter ?

[Imetomi]

Open the FM Radio app then search ths frequency of your traansmitter.

[Cyberchipz]

Why doesn't the battery make the motor run; not enough juice?

[Imetomi]

The diode blocks the current flows backward.

[Cyberchipz]

Oops, should have caught that... my eyes are old, I looked again... There it is, it's so tiny I overlooked it. lol. Thanks for the reply.

[BruceE3]

cool

[pankajp]

Please tell me what is range of this transmitter

And tell me how can i increase the range

[Imetomi]

Hi! The range depends on the input voltage and on the length of ths antenna. With my 15 cm antenna and with a 9v battery would be 40 meters.

[pankajp]

Thank you for help!!!