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Salvage It!
BY JULIAN EDGAR
So you’ve found a no-cost VCR – let’s
salvage the good bits
Rather than building a project, this month we’re going to look at
the parts that you can easily obtain from a VCR. VCRs are now
available for nothing or near-nothing – the one shown here was
picked up at a garage sale for $5 but on kerbside hard rubbish
collection days, they are free! But what good parts are inside?
Contrary to what you might expect, the best bits are mechanical
rather than electronic. Let’s take a look.
➋
➊
, model
machine n’t really
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fi
istar h
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nt is how
are to
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Here’s th
903CH. B at’s more importa more likely you s, the
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ry mu
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le
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d
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r
c
in
ll
Huh? We eable components achines weigh an some fantastic
m
ag
nd
e
fi
p
l
’l
ta
u
. On the
o
o
e
y
find salv
switches noids
inside
atic vid
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)
t
s
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id
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olen
be li
otors and
n barely
-quality s
(some ca g, including high ht VCR has few m his Goldstar unit
T
ig
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ht want.
engineer , a super lightwe
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other han lly less of anythin
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and gene ling” in weight.
d
id
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82 Silicon Chip
It takes very little time to remove the cover (keep
those screws!) and strip out the main circuit boards.
In fact, it’s worth stressing that disassembling a VCR
is really a quick and easy process – expect to take
perhaps only half an hour to do the job from start
to finish. It makes sense to do all the mechanical
work in one go, coming back to the electronic parts
later in the process. So with the electronic boards
placed to one side, the next step is to remove the
tape transport mechanism and head. This assembly
is almost always found on a sub-chassis which is
screwed to the plastic inside the case.
siliconchip.com.au
➌
Here’s the inner chassis on its own. At this stage, the
contents of the VCR have already been narrowed down
to just this and the PC boards. Throw the rest away as
you remove it – ie, the top and bottom covers, the front
cover and the inner plastic chassis. Anyway, the next
steps involve pulling this piece of gear apart. You’ll need
a good-quality medium point Phillips head screwdriver –
invariably, some of the screws are tight and once you start
mangling screw heads with a second-rate screwdriver, it
rapidly gets too hard. Put all the screws, springs and drive
belts into plastic containers as you proceed.
➍
And here
’s
a whole V one of the pearls.
I’
C
good I th R just to pull this m happy collectin
in
g
p
drum ass k it is. But what is art out – that’s ho
w
embly tha
it? It’s the
t holds th
write and
spinning
e
e
great pre rase the tape. It’s video heads that re
cis
d
a
life of the ion many million esigned to rotate w d,
s
V
it
Specifica CR and as a resu of times during th h
lt,
lly
e
steel shaft , its mechanicals it’s beautifully m
ad
co
, sealed b
all bearin mprise a hardene e.
either an
in
g
d
with Alle terference fit to th s, brass fittings (th
n-h
ey
e
support fr ead grub screws) shaft or are secure ’re
a
need sma me. In almost any and a diecast allo d
y
ll
a
vane, sm bearings and an a pplication where
all wind
you
xle (robo
g
tic
en
parts can
be put to erator, model car, s, a wind
use. Wha
well stan
t’s more, etc), these
da
they’re p
need two rdised across all
rett
V
a
collecting xles (or four beari HS VCRs, so if you y
ngs, etc) ju
!
st keep o
n
➎
Here’s what we have so far. At top left is the disassembled drum assembly. In
the centre at the top are 10 springs (nine extension and one compression), while
below that are 38 machine screws and 44 self-tapping screws. “He’s joking,”
you’re saying. “Why bother collecting the screws?” Well, you tell me which
local hardware store has small, plated, Phillips head self-tappers in stock? Or a
fine metric-thread Phillips head machine screw – just what you might need one
day as a replacement in a piece of gear you’re working on! At top right is a DC
brush-type permanent magnet motor which uses a worm gear to drive an output
shaft. It would make a perfect winch for a model boat, or it could be used to
slowly rotate a display.
siliconchip.com.au
Rat It Before You
Chuck It!
Whenever you throw away an old
TV (or VCR or washing machine or
dishwasher or printer) do you always
think that surely there must be some
good salvageable components inside?
Well, this column is for you! (And it’s
also for people without a lot of dough.)
Each month we’ll use bits and pieces
sourced from discards, sometimes in
mini-projects and other times as an
ideas smorgasbord.
And you can contribute as well. If you
have a use for specific parts which can
easily be salvaged from goods commonly being thrown away, we’d love
to hear from you. Perhaps you use the
pressure switch from a washing machine to control a pump. Or maybe you
salvage the high-quality bearings from
VCR heads. Or perhaps you’ve found
how the guts of a cassette player can
be easily turned into a metal detector.
(Well, we made the last one up but you
get the idea . . .)
If you have some practical ideas,
write in and tell us!
December 2005 83
➐
➏
Remember the PC boards we put to one side? Well, here
they are. Now I know what you’re thinking – he’s going
to tell us to get out the soldering iron and sucker and
laboriously unsolder every one of these trivial low-cost
components . . . and who’d bother wasting their day doing
that? Fair comment – and it’s not me who’ll be spending
the time. Instead, what I do is identify the bits that I’m
likely to have a use for and which cost more than just a few
cents to buy – parts like the colour-coded RCA sockets, the
high-power wirewound resistors and the high-value, small
package capacitors. And forget the soldering iron. All you
do is secure the PC board in a vice, aim a heat-gun at the
solder side and gently pull on the component you want to
remove with a pair of pliers. Using this method, it takes
just a minute or so to salvage 10 or 15 components – and
that’s time worth spending.
These are
ju
minutes w st some of the comp
ith a heatonents tha
g
t
0.22F sup
er-capacit un yielded. They in a few
or
clu
torches), fi
ve micro p (great for human-po de a
wered LED
ushbutton
LED bargra
sw
p
high-powe h display, nine RCA itches, a 2-channe
l
r resistors
sockets an
.N
capacitors
d
that also to ot shown are the 20 three
Incidentall
ok only m
electrolyti
o
y,
c
componen what you don’t no ments to remove.
w do with
ts is put th
these
em in a “ju
readily ac
ce
n
through a ss them when you n k box”. If you can’t
kilogram
eed them
of
(a
way to fin
d them!), y assorted componen nd sorting
ts is not th
o
in multi-c
u
’l
l
n
e
v
e
ru
e
om
plastic com partment plastic tr se them. Instead, in
ve
ay
p
and be sure onent drawers to st s or a small set of c st
le
ore your c
to clearly
omponents ar
label the d
rawers.
➑
Also collected was an infrared pass filter (this photo was taken through it!), a
smoked plastic bezel, some high-power diodes, a drive belt and a heatsink. And
there were heaps of bits I chose to throw away – the mains power cord, a metal
sheet with punched ventilation holes (ie, the undercover), the rubber feet and
so on. In fact, the components that I salvaged can be cupped in two hands – and
that’s good! Good because it takes little room to store them and good because
only the most valuable bits were kept. So the next time you see a VCR on its way
to the tip, take a moment to think whether you could use any of the components
inside it.
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