As long as she wasn’t expecting you to replace the batteries and return them to service!
–Randy
Parts is parts. Good, cheap parts is even better. In our throwaway age, this is often the only way to get the parts to maintain old equipment, but it also works when cadging new stuff for a cool price. Great idea and thanks for passing it along.[B]
Cedar that’s a great idea. My wife has some of them too. I doubt I would’ve thought of salvaging the parts.
Mike
I’ve been doing this type of thing for many years. I’ve salvaged from past and present employers, friends, relatives, etc. I retrieved motors, gear systems, belt drives, cabling, relays, usable electronic components…on and on. Even those items that say ‘No user parts inside’ can have many user parts for a thrifty and imaginative model railroader.
I see those tea lights at work all the time going out to customers and they get the wheels of the mind turning. By being the proverbial ‘dumpster diver’ and making someone elses junk into my treasure, I’ve managed to do some serious dollar stretching in a very expensive hobby.
Mark H
I used the same LEDs for ditch lights on my AC4400. The wife is used to me taking her things for the hobby. She can’t seem to keep those foam fingernail files either. She came home one day with a makeup kit. As soon as she opened the box to show me, I said Hey you gonna use that brush? Without batting an eye she handed it over without question. It still dusts off my fleet of railroad equipment.
Pete
What? you can salvage and repurpose stuff???[;)]
My 10 x 20 railroad room was salvaged! It was a 10x12 stick built add on room on a mobile home. The owner was gonna demolish it, but I offered to haul it away. I added 8 feet more to it from lumber salvaged from another odd shaped add on on the other side of the house.
Anyway, good idea on the tea lights. I’ll keep my eyes open. Dan
Well done Dan!
A few years ago (probably more than a few actually[swg]) when I was working for Sears Canada, my office was in the same building as the Parts and Service Dept. One day I noticed several boxes of circuit boards that were apparently headed for the dumpster. This was prior to the recycling processes that are in place today. At the time Sears had a major operation going that rebuilt faulty appliance control panels but not all of the defective panels fit into the program. The stuff headed for the dumpster was what couldn’t be rebuilt. Well, I was like a kid in a candy shop with unlimited funds! The Service Dept. was quite willing to let me have the lot.
I spent hours culling the bits from the boards. I had more mini push buttons and relays and capacitors than I could ever figure out a use for. However, it turns out that my limited knowledge of electronics has prevented me from using most of what I pulled from the circuit boards so the laugh is on me! The mini push buttons may eventually come into play, but the rest of the stuff has mostly proven to be unsuitable for modelling, at least within my limitations.
Oh well, at least I had a ball taking all of that stuff apart![(-D][(-D][D)][swg].
Dave
Never toss anything electrical or mechanical without taking it apart first. At the least, you might come up with something to load into an empty gondola.
As for, “No user parts inside,” that’s aimed at the typical consumer, not at someone who actually knows how to use tools, components and a multimeter. It’s an idea promoted by lawyers who assume that everyone is as technologically challenged as a pet rock.
I recently dismantled a defunct printer, which yielded, among other things, three operable motors and a whole pile of assorted-size gears.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with junk box parts)
You can not only repurpose mechanical stuff, but ask the wife for stuff. Old makeup brushes work great for weathering chalks.
My wife spends a little on her fingernails. Often she gets these little flat jewels add on for sparkle. She saves me the old ones when she either drops one off or when her nails get redone…they make great HO car headlight lenses!!
Though I agree with the general premise, in truth my experience has been much more similar to that of HOn30critter. In that a lot of things that look salvageable will in the end have no function other than to set around taking up space in the junk drawer. I only recently threw away a box of small electric motors salvaged from old tape decks. After comming to the realization that if I hadn’t found a use for them in the decade + that I had kept them, I probably never would. Also the other thing that many people don’t realize about electronic components is that in many cases the heat required to remove the component has the potential to damage it to the point of uselessness. So these days, I keep the fasteners and that’s about it.
I used one of those salvaged tea light circuits on my layout. I removed the led and added a pair of really fine wires leading to a blue-white SMT LED being held by an HO employee. When on, makes a great welder simulation … and costs a LOT less than the ones made specifically for that purpose !
Mark.
Stebbycentral – while I think you’re generally right that a lot of old junk just makes for clutter, here’s a story for you, Last year we were setting up our Pinewood Derby laser timer, and found that someone had nicked the power supply. One of the parents said, “Hey, I can take care of that.” And went dashing home, returning with a large cardboard box filled with power supplies. Sure enough, a little digging came up with the right kind and connector. The guy shot a triumphant look at his exasperated wife and said, “I never throw these things away! I knew they’d be useful one day.” And he was right, although I don’t think I’d have wanted to be in his shoes when he got home that night.
I use those on my winter/Christmas layout as a fire pit. I pulled off the rubber bulb cover, decorated the top to look like a ston lined fire pit, and some “logs”, (sticks blackened and painted to look burnt), and dug out the styrofoam scenery base so the “fire pit” sits flat with the surrounding scene. These “tea lights” were the “flickering” type.
Mike.
Interestingly enough, I have one of those boxes also. When I tossed the motors I went through my box of a dozen or so “wall-warts” and sorted them by output voltage. It was quite a range; from 3v to 24v. I kept one of each variant, and tossed the duplicates.
See, now, I would have just looked to replace the batteries, PROVIDING the batteries did not cost more than a whole new set! {which might be the case}.
I got XMAS lights to use for building lights, though I have yet to light one.
I just had to throw out a {cheap} watch. It had been “recessed pressure fitted back” on it and I could not get it apart. I don’t know if a jeweler could have or not, but he’d charge me the $10 to replace it and the watch lasted 4 years. I’d have just as soon replaced the battery!
I never can often think fast enough of destroying something to make somehting else, though I save a LOT of stuff. I am not as adept at such things as some of you may be.
[8-|]
Notice my avitar. That’s a scratchbuilt 1/25…er… call it G scale operating crane. it relies heavily on repurposed items, including all 13 of it’s motors, the aluminum used for the upper unit deck, the aluminum in the hubs and rims, aluminum in the drums, some brass in the 3 front axles and much more. And, yes, I spent a chunk of change on a lot of new materials and components too. But the salvaged stuff was what made the whole project even a possibility when it began. Later, I discovered sources of new motors, but only because I knew what to look for based on what I was already using. Even the grills on the body of both the upper unit and the carrier are salvaged from discarded items. I have to admit, this stuff was not used as it was found, but modified on Sherline machines.
My HO scale RR has more than it’s share of salvaged items used on it too, mostly under the surface (controls). Partly to see if I could pull it off, I put a motor from an old Cannon camera in a Tyco 2-6-2. It runs even with, and can even double head with a Spectrum 2-8-0 without speed interferences at any speed.
I have a few boxes of salvaged materials, but I can say I don’t hoard every single item that ever had any possible potential. I like to think that I know what has potential for my use, at my skill level. Actually, a lot of the layout benchwork structure is also salvaged. Learning how to spot stuff and put it to use can bring a lot of satisfaction. Dan
Galaxy: See, now, I would have just looked to replace the batteries, PROVIDING the batteries did not cost more than a whole new set! {which might be the case}.
Well, if you buy a 3-pack for $ 5.43 at Wal Mart, as 3 of the LR44 button batteries are required for EACH light, you would spend $ 130.32 or more for a full replacement set for all 24 lights- that’s just a bit steep for my tastes!
Cedarwoodron