Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Avalanche, Sat Mar 21 2009, 12:59PM

electronics books from my old workplace - the electronics handbook, and a huge 1200 page book FULL of schematics called 'modern electronic circuits reference manual'.

Component drawers full of components from same place

Loads of 'old' computer stuff, some of which I'm still using in my main rig today

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Download, Sat Mar 21 2009, 02:03PM

A 15/30 NST

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Chris Cristini, Sat Mar 21 2009, 02:09PM

A nice 32" CRT TV the buttons did not work and it would not turn on the problem with the buttons was the circut board was pushed back too far and it needed a fuse it has been working for about a year.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
teslacoolguy, Sat Mar 21 2009, 03:28PM

I found a xerox b/w laser printer sitting next to a dumpster at local business $700 new. Printed at least 2000 pages and it still works.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
rp181, Sat Mar 21 2009, 03:58PM

For free....
2x railgun enclosures

I did find a TV. Was fun to hurl rocks at it =)

Bunch of componets from my dads work, all of my resistors are from there =)

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Backyard Skunkworks, Sat Mar 21 2009, 04:14PM

For $110 total... (I paid by the trash bag)

Roughly 2,000lbs of stuff from circuit city's liquidation sale including... (I'm having a problem attaching pics, I'll host them externally soon.)

14 cortelco phones
over two dozen power supplies, four of which are 50 amp 13.6v "audio grade"
300-500lbs total of wire and cable ranging from Cat5 to Coax to 00 to 26
around a dozen computers with LCD monitors
around 100 power strips

and obviously a lot of other less important stuff that takes up the rest of the weight.

And no, none of it is for sale.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Coherent, Sat Mar 21 2009, 05:33PM

I found a nice 19'' CRT monitor by the curb last year with the cord and everything included. I took it home and it powered right up. I also found a working Sony WEGA CRT TV with a barely noticeable scratch on the glass in the upper left corner. Other than that it works fine. I currently use it in my room.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
uzzors2k, Sat Mar 21 2009, 06:29PM

All 6 or 7 of my loudspeakers have been salvaged from the dump, along with a stereo amplifier (three CD trays AND two cassette players! It even came with "The Jungle Book" on cassette ). Two of the speakers and the stereo see regular use as a sound system for my PC, the speakers have been in use for the last 3 years. To think they were about to be tossed. The crown of my freebies however, is my beloved scope. It was gift from a Norwegian user of the Dutchforce Electronics forum, "Gorgon". Completely free, and he even delivered it!

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Steve Conner, Sat Mar 21 2009, 07:59PM

I specialize in dumpster diving tube audio equipment. It's getting rare nowadays, so the challenge is bigger.

This is my coolest find ever: six GEC KT88 tubes from old power supplies that were getting scrapped. I found a seventh one recently. They don't match well enough to use as a sextet, but they all test good. I put pairs of them into a 50 watt guitar amp and they seemed to work great and put out 60-70W.



Other cool stuff I salvaged:

Lots more audio tubes.

55 watt tube PA amp that I converted to a guitar amp.

Pair of Tannoy M20 Gold stereo speakers, a friend was going to throw them away, but turned out to be the best sounding speakers I've ever had.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
aonomus, Sat Mar 21 2009, 08:30PM

Sadly I haven't salvaged very much of note despite my large collection of crap. Probably the best unique thing is a nice heavy duty SMPS out of a oldschool Bay Networks token ring hub...

I think that if/when I get the chance, I should try dumpster diving around my uni...

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Conundrum, Sat Mar 21 2009, 09:08PM

Mind the Unisecure (aka Rentacops), they bite!
Once nearly got nailed for salvaging a battery module from a dumped fluorescent fitting- even though I had permission I still got told off because they "had never heard of it"... grr.

The amateur radio club made a "skip fishing" rod for this very reason :)

-A

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Nik, Sat Mar 21 2009, 09:22PM

2 15/30 NSTs
1 17/10 NST
14 or so microwaves

All of which have been used to power various projects.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Weston, Sat Mar 21 2009, 09:49PM

One person gave me an oscilloscope, volt meter, two lab power supplies, a frequency generator, and a organized cabinet of a few hundred 7400 series logic chips. A different person gave me an old tube amp that contained 5 12aux7 telefunken tubes. Another person gave me 5 huge organized part cabinets with capacitors, resistors, and semiconductors. I got almost all of my lab equipment for free

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Renesis, Sat Mar 21 2009, 11:38PM

I got a big, almost new mig welder from a guy for free. He thought it was busted, but he had just been running it on a 16 amp fuse. I run it on a 32 amp fuse, and it works like a charm. I almost feel kinda bad about it... Almost.

+ A 7,5kW air compressor, a 70hp industrial diesel engine, a whole buch of relays and contactors and so on. Dumpster diving is phun :)

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Mads Barnkob, Sat Mar 21 2009, 11:48PM

25 Microwave ovens :)

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
..., Sun Mar 22 2009, 08:12PM

I inherited Wayne's gaage, that had a few kw worth of NSTs, caps of all sorts, some N2 tea lasers, 30lbs of flybacks a few tesla coil secondaries a few tools, even a small subwoofer, etc

At the UCSB junk table I have scored a 1u rackmout server (which is gong to be a new project case), a hotplate, a ultrsonic parts cleaner, a constant current power supply, a phase angle 0-50v 5a power supply (designed for powering electromagnets), countless computer power supplies, a few assorted smps/linear open frame power supplies, a stabilised HeNe laser (had a fried transistor in its psu), a water cooled tec coldplate, about 50lbs of assorted aluminum stock, a some precisions stages, assorted computer parts, etc

From various companies that my father has worked for we have ended up with about 100lbs of precison optical tables, stages, motorized micrometers, a HeNe lab style laser, glue dispenser system, some high vac equipment, tens of pounds of swagelock/etc fittings, tens of nice german modular switches, 500lbs or so of 5x 6awg cord, assorted tools, power supplies, etc, etc we also got a 7hp natural gas/propane generator for them for $40

As far as salvaging, I got soem awesome ferrite transformers and high RMS current caps, heatsinks, litz wire out of the psu for my VersaPulse laser (that wouldn't turn on without the rest of the motherboard), a few hv suppleis from plasma globes, laser diodes and dichrotic mirrors out of dvd/hd-dvd roms, transformers, etc, etc, etc

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Mar 22 2009, 08:31PM

Unlike a lot of you here, I haven't really found/salvaged anything valuable, the most valuable things probably being two old microwave ovens.
I did, however, get 5 boxes of various old electronic components from my father's friend, who was giving them away.
The most unexpected find in one of those boxes, were 10 identical flyback secondaries for tube TV's, in new condition! However most of them are damaged in some way now, as the HV lead was badly secured to them. They should be possible to repair but so far I wasn't bothered.
There also were loads of of large relays and contactors, potentiometers/trimmers and old metalised paper caps, and two 15kV 390p foil caps (another unexpected find).

Most of my other components are from old TVs/monitors and photocopier PSUs (my father works with these).

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
hotcrazyfruit, Mon Mar 23 2009, 02:08AM

A 27 inch TV from a junk yard. worked perfectly, only i had to carry it several hundred yards

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Kolas, Mon Mar 23 2009, 04:46AM

6696A : Retrieved from a 3 phase induction heater.
I also salvaged the tube stand/water jacket, filament transformer, capacitor bank, grid resistor network, and 3 phase full wave rectifier.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
coillah, Mon Mar 23 2009, 07:51AM

60 dollars worth of double sided copper clad pcb project boards from a radioshack manager

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Mar 23 2009, 09:03AM

Gen. Radio 1233-A Power amplifier with all tubes intact. I've been tweaking on it trying to get it to output more RF power because it has 2x 807's, but it blew something out recently and I have to rebuild again. The phase splitter refuses to balance and I had to scrap the enitre HV section, so I'm planning on gutting the whole thing and maybe prototyping the amp until it does what I want it to do. I want to save the chassis if possible, but there are a lot of things I want to add to it like VSWR output metering, and cathode current metering on both tubes.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Fabio, Mon Mar 23 2009, 11:27AM

Hi All!

2,5 kW RMS audio tube power amplifier designed for working at full power for months without problems. (was used to drive a shacker coil for a long term industrial vibration testing machine) plus the shacker (an enormous subwoofer without the cone), the waweform generator and some accessories (much more than 1 TON total weight!).... everything for free!!!!



















Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Steve Conner, Mon Mar 23 2009, 11:30AM

Nice amp Hazmatt :)

FWIW, that model apparently has a frequency range of 20Hz to 3MHz. From the looks of it, it's built like a push-pull audio amp, so you won't get much RF power out of it.

*edit* Fabio simulposted, so I just saw his 2.5kW tube amp. Awesome! Can I come over and play bass through it? :D I think the enormous Partridge lump in the first picture is the output transformer, not the power supply. It's probably separate because the rack would crumble under the weight!

Oh, also I see it has six KT88s in it too, but they're just driver tubes.

steve

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Mar 24 2009, 07:15AM

Yea its designed as a push-pull amp, but I should be able to get at least 25W RF out at 50R. It has 2 cores in it to select from 20Hz to 20KHz eg. a big metal toroid, and a smaller ferrite toroid for 20KHz to the 3MHz. I am hoping that a redesign of the phase splittler will get it back on its feet. I'll probably have to redesign the B+ supply board too because the radiated heat is too much for the bias adjust pots I put on the new PCB.

Love the shaker amp. You can see the HT transformer in the big grey box. What are the 2 main output tubes?

I'd put that baby in a small row of theater seats, set up my projector and watch Die Hard or Terminator... heheheheh!

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Will, Wed Mar 25 2009, 02:25PM

At this time, not the most useful, but most definitely the most worth. I got paid to take it home.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Zum Beispiel, Wed Mar 25 2009, 02:59PM



I dunno, I always salvage everything I can, but it's usually nothing valuable. I guess the most usefull thing I've dug out of the trash is my audio amp (Which is a total piece of crap, but good enough for me). Atleast it gets the most use, daily in fact, much to the irritation of my neighbors... I got all my speakers from people who would have otherwise thrown them away, so I guess they count too.

Also, I got my first proper soldering iron from the trash. It was a Weller with a dark red/brownish handle (I'm sure everyone has seen one of those). The power cord had melted, apparently from the iron resting on it while it was plugged in. I replaced the cord and it worked like a dream.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Proud Mary, Wed Mar 25 2009, 07:33PM

That's like asking for a favourite piece of music: answers vary with time, and mood, and experience.

But TODAY, my fave rave is a 10v-0-10V 100A transformer in lovely condition.

All my anxieties about not being able to supply adequate heater current to my Rubenesque valves and thyratrons were gone in a flash. Gone forever is that heart-sinking feeling of personal inadequacy that would come over me when poring over some valve data sheet, and seeing that 10V at 50A of heater current would be required if ever the valve were to be brought back to life. The days of having to avoid other experimenters for fear of having to admit that I would be hard-pushed to do more than supply 6.3V/4A to my heaters are over. Years of secret misery were washed away in a flash courtesy of the Apex Transformer Co of New Delhi! I could look women in the eye once more, I could search out valves with such huge heater currents that only the genius and the madman would ever think of using them, and felt so good with my salvaged transformer that I even polished the brass carbide lamp on my bicycle.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
aonomus, Wed Mar 25 2009, 07:43PM


What about a re-wound MOT for 10V 50A?

Also, I rummaged through the junk pile and found another UPS board with lots of decent caps, inductors, and a few (probably working) FETs. Nothing as amazing as some of the stuff you guys have salvaged though.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
uzzors2k, Wed Mar 25 2009, 10:15PM


That was good for chuckle, nice to hear Harry!

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Fabio, Wed Mar 25 2009, 11:03PM

Hi All!

Fabio simulposted, so I just saw his 2.5kW tube amp. Awesome! Can I come over and play bass through it? :D

Yes of course, but i haven't a subwoofer bigger enough to withstand this enormous power and you should provide it (no matter for impedance, the output transformer have many taps and can be rewired for matching all typical speaker's impedances)

I think the enormous Partridge lump in the first picture is the output transformer, not the power supply. It's probably separate because the rack would crumble under the weight!

Yes, this is the audio output transformer!

Is so big because this amplifier is not designed for audio purposes (25-30.000 Hz) but for shacking test machines instead and can be used down to 5 Hz..... WHOOOAAAAAaaaaaaaaa..... EXTRABASS!!!!!

a passive filter inside the amplifier will cut down all frequencies over than 10 kHz, but of course this filter can be removed to raise the upper limit. (the shacker was designed for 5-200 Hz range)

Oh, also I see it has six KT88s in it too, but they're just driver tubes.

There are eight KT88 driver tubes and there are made by GEC !!!!!
The two output tubes are TY6-5000A and are made by Mullard.

i also have the original schematics and the original manuals; the shacker MUST be mounted over a special designed foundations (a giant concrete block of at least 5 tons weight,suspended with springs and shock absorber!) to avoid the possibility of localized earthquakes!!!!!
Definitely, this is a BIG (and absolutely useless!) gadget!



Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Proud Mary, Thu Mar 26 2009, 02:56AM


The point of my own ridiculous post, precisely. Mille grazie, Fabio!

TY6-5000A has a 12.6V 33A thoriated tungsten filament, so a pair of them will gobble up 66A of heater current all on their own, without your KT88s and all the rest.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Fabio, Thu Mar 26 2009, 09:20AM

power up this if you can!

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Proud Mary, Thu Mar 26 2009, 09:48AM

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Steve Conner, Thu Mar 26 2009, 11:27AM

We should take it round to this guy's house and hook it up to his concrete bass horn.

If his calculations are correct, it should give 150dB SPL to below 10Hz.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Fabio, Thu Mar 26 2009, 01:24PM

We should take it round to this guy's house and hook it up to his concrete bass horn.

If his calculations are correct, it should give 150dB SPL to below 10Hz.

Probably you didn't realize that this enormous subwoofer (the biggest in the world) is located in Busto Arsizio - Italy, at about 30 minutes by car from here (and maybe a few more minutes by truck); do you wanna try to convince his owner to borrow it for a test?

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Proud Mary, Thu Mar 26 2009, 02:27PM

A bit off topic Fabio, but it would be very interesting to use it for VLF transmission experiments.

See the truly splendid Italian experimenters' site.

Radio Waves Below 22kHz



Some of the most original and talented experimenters in Europe belong to this Italian group - a shame we don't have more of their inspiration and industry here.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Wolfram, Thu Mar 26 2009, 02:35PM

Very nice amplifier, Fabio. What are your plans with it?



Anders M.

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Anon01, Thu Mar 26 2009, 02:59PM

7kW class D amplifier from Atomic. 80+ fets I had to replace to get it to work again. Not really salvaged but magnificent deal. I bought it broken for $200, cost about $200 in fets to fix up. Good thing only the output fets fried when the driver died, I replaced that with the good old UCC setup. driving a NPN PNP bridge driving the gates of the output fets, I think it lowered the distortion down a bit, still want to have it metered in that area. I call it a salvage. $200 in the heatsink alone I bet.

I have a 10kW(25kw+ <1minute) setup if you would want to come down here and test that. :)

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Steve Conner, Thu Mar 26 2009, 03:17PM

Nice find Anon01, can you post some pictures of it so we can compare with Fabio's tube behemoth?
(edit) Oh, I see it's a car amp, *divides power rating by marketing guy's shoe size*

Fabio: Let's do it, it would probably wipe the town of Busto Arsizio off the map :D

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Fabio, Thu Mar 26 2009, 11:57PM

*divides power rating by marketing guy's shoe size*

Please specify the measurement system, on my shoes there are four different measures!
(US 13 - UK 12 - EUR 47,5 - CM 31)

Fabio: Let's do it, it would probably wipe the town of Busto Arsizio off the map :D

No thanks!
We will probably organize a giant TESLATON in that town, if we want we can get the space and the power required inside the local exhibition center for free during the hamfests;
Surely will NOT be easy to manage a so giant event but doing it is another big challenge for us!
(All of italian Teslathons are open for general public and take place in hamfests or schools; the biggest thon ever made so far had about 4000 visitors, for Busto Arsizio we estimated 25.000 visitors in two days of exibition)

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Proud Mary, Fri Mar 27 2009, 02:18PM


Do mean you the one with 100% oxygen-free pure silver interconnects that lift the veil from digital sound with new depths of transparency and clarity, or the one with distortion-free 24k gold plated phono sockets that deliver truly punchy bases and a real sense of rhythm in the mid-ranges? All a bit too technical for me, Steve... oh got to go, ... vapour is seeping from my new speaker cables, the ones which use pure liquid mercury to ensure ultimate fluidity of sound transmission between amp and speaker. Feel a bit off colour actually....

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
aonomus, Fri Mar 27 2009, 02:23PM


Tis a bit off topic, but I laugh whenever people get conned into buying Monster cable for digital signals, since in a AV environment it'd pretty hard to bugger up a short run (3, maybe 6m?) of digital signal... yet people still buy them...

At the moment I'm also working on trying to get a deal on a trolling motor and salvaging the motor assembly out of it, should be a nice strong motor that I can build a driver for...

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
Steve Conner, Fri Mar 27 2009, 02:25PM

The different shoe sizes all have their uses. 12 or 13 for hi-fi, 31 for car audio, 47.5 for computer speakers.

Harry, mercury is so 1970s, all the cool kids are using speaker cables made of pure arsenic nowadays.

Hope this isn't getting too O.T. :O

Re: Whats the most useful item you've salvaged?
rp181, Fri Mar 27 2009, 03:21PM

I think this is a OT that everyone like =)

In other news, I will be getting a nice multmeter,scope, and bench power supply all new, for free. An i got a sponsor to make me some more railgun enclosures, for agumented, and i decided to try multistage.