in a little more than a decade. But lurking inside those old video titans are motors, infrared LEDs, LEDs, buttons, and some cool female RCA jack adapters. There are tons of scavengable items in these devices!
Routers and Modems
Remember the good ol’ days of dial-up? Even though these nostalgic devices aren’t as useful themselves, they are chock-full of easily extractable components that are just begging to be reused. Expect to find tons of resistors, capacitors, diodes, and LEDs.
What Tools Do I Need?
When it comes to taking apart, modding, or scavenging old electronics, unless you are Edward Scissorhands, you will probably need more than just your nimble fingers to get the work done. Manufacturers all have unique ways of assembling products, which means that the ease of taking an item apart varies from device to device. For some reason, screws have become something to avoid in newer devices, and the trend has been to glue them together. Sadly, that makes newer smartphones and tablets more difficult to disassemble. In general, however, these tools should get you through most upcycling projects.
Rotary Tool
A rotary tool is a small handheld tool with a tip that rotates very fast. The rotating tip can be interchanged depending on the task. It is often used for cutting, sanding, grinding, and polishing but can be used for a lot more tasks than those.
Soldering Iron
A soldering iron is a tool that can heat up to high temperatures in order to melt a form of metal alloy wire called “solder.” Since solder is conductive, melting it onto a circuit board can join two circuit components together. For home electronics enthusiasts, this is a necessary tool for creating homemade circuits.
Aside from joining circuits by melting solder, soldering irons can also assist in removing circuit components by melting the solder around that component.
Wire Cutters/Strippers
Wire strippers are handheld tools that are primarily used to remove the plastic sheathing from wires. This exposes and allows access to the metal wire underneath the plastic. Used in conjunction with a soldering iron, these exposed wires can be used to connect circuit components together.
Multimeter
Multimeters are instruments that can measure and display voltage, electrical current, and sometimes resistance (depending on the multimeter). Each has a + probe and a - probe that are used to connect to the positive and negative leads on a power source. The multimeter will then tell you the value of the current, voltage, and/or resistance.
Hot Glue
“Hot Glue” is a term used to describe solid glue sticks that require melting in order to be used. Hot glue “guns” are used to melt the glue sticks. They have a tapered nozzle to make it easy to apply the glue where needed. Once the melted glue is applied, it takes a couple of minutes to dry. Dried hot glue forms a strong, solid bond. That makes it useful for repairing and joining different materials.
Arduino
An Arduino is a popular microcontroller that is easy to program and implement. Microcontrollers are small, simple computers commonly used to perform single, specific tasks. In the case of the Arduino, it can be programmed to perform a task, and then it will continue to loop through that task until it is powered down or the program is changed. This makes it useful for controlling motors, lights, buzzers, sensors, and other simple electronic components.
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is a brand of small form factor computers. These computers range from the size of a credit card to the size of a pack of chewing gum. They operate similarly to larger computers in that they have a desktop interface, audio and video output, and USB and Ethernet ports. The Raspberry Pi also features Input/Output pins that can be programmed to control different electronic components (similar to an Arduino). The largest difference between the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino is that the Raspberry Pi can perform multiple processes at the same time instead of one at a time.
Do you remember your first computer? Perhaps it was an IBM running DOS, or were you more of a Commodore 64 person? Maybe you were one of those Apple II renegades? Mine was a Radio Shack Tandy 1000 complete with a 7.16MHz processor running MS-DOS and a 3¼ inch floppy drive! That classic has been obsolete for a few decades now. It’s crazy to imagine how quickly computers and their peripherals become outdated. Remember the good ol’ days of floppy disks, zip disks, CRT monitors, data cassettes, USB webcams, and [insert favorite antiquated computer reference here]?
Aside from playing old computer games, there isn’t much utility in really old computers in their original state. However, some computers and peripherals can be repurposed and refurbished into something different and more useful. It all depends on what you have and how creative you are with it. We’ll take a look at three projects ranging from beginner to more advanced, so no matter what the level of your electronics expertise is, you should be able to create something cool!
Project 1
Old Webcam to Backup Camera
Beginner
Synopsis: Back before smart devices, computer cameras and webcams were external devices that you would have to plug in through USB. Since most computers nowadays have them built in, what do you do with your old external webcam?
Old Webcam to Backup Camera - Larger images can be found on page
102 of photo glossary
Parts & Tools Needed
•USB webcam
•Android smartphone
•Six foot USB extension cable
•USB OTG adapter
•Strong magnets
Step 1: Connecting the Webcam
to a Smartphone
I have at least a couple old webcams that I used pretty frequently before cameras
