Bright ideas! for old junk.

[Frd_thmsn]

I have always recycled things and anything broken rarely makes it to the tip unless it's turned to rust... but rust is also useful I might start keeping that, it's used in something called "Thermite".

Anyway to kick off a few ideas.

Old photcopiers have high voltage transformers and inverters inside them, which can be used to make an electric fence , or for a high voltage light show like a Jacobs ladder.


The ultraviolet tube and transformer from a bug zapper can be made into a light box for use in developing printed circuit boards.I've been using one made from a bug zapper for about 5 years. The wavelength doesnt seem right though for erasing eproms.


The pressure switch in a washing machine which is used to set the water level,can be used to detect water levels in tanks (I'm not on town water where I am).They will detect down to about 12 inches of water . Have tried this and have one set up that shorts the ignition on a firefighter pump when the tank is full and turns the pump off.

DO NOT WORK ON ANY LIVE APPLIANCE AND BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN REMOVING CAPACITORS, THEY CAN HOLD A CHARGE LONG AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN UNPLUGGED.IF YOU ARE NOT SURE IF THE CAPACITOR STILL HAS A CHARGE YOU SHOULD DISCHARGE BETWEEN THE PINS , USE A BLEEDING RESISTOR IF A LARGE CAPACITOR OR A SCREWDRIVER FOR THE SMALLER ONES SHOULD BE ACCEPTABLE.

[sircruisealotVS]

your a real mcguiver man...where do you come up with these crazy ideas

[Frd_thmsn]

Here's some useful things for cars.

Use an old toothbrush to clean the air vents in the dash of the car.Also good for cleaning your nails after working on the car.

If you haven't got any hand cleaner , hair shampoo works really well.

If the heater fan speed resistor is blown , you can pull apart an old hair dryer or electric heater, and use the element to fix the heater, I did this 12 months ago and still works fine. The wire used is a special heat resistant wire, you simply wind a new coil around a former, say a pencil , open up the bottom of the resistor pack and solder in the new coil where the old one is broken.

Remove old leads from any electrical item before you dump it, you can either make a short extension lead by adding a female plug , or if you carefully score along the length of the cable with a stanley knife , it makes it easy to remove the shielding and you have some good quality multistrand wire that you can use on the car.

An old 12V solenoid from a photocopier , add some cable like used for pushbike brakes and add an electric boot opener. There's a cable already in the back of Commodores for the boot release, just add a button up the front underneath the bonnet release.

Even if your commodore doesnt have electric door locks, the door panel is already set up to take them. jaycar sell a universal door lock kit for around $20 and the bolt pattern matches exactly what is on the door of a VN, the door locks even have the mechanism in place to add locks, you dont use the parts in the lock kit, just bend some welding wire or fence wire and install the central locking . If anyone needs help with the shape of the wire let me know I can post pics of the design I made, I wouldnt be surprised if it is exactly what the original parts looked like.