Salvage from defunct inkjet printer

[The Merry MillerParticipant @themerrymiller]

I recall from some posts that there are some components worth salvaging from dead inkjet printers.

As I have an A3 printer coming my way and would like to save any useful bits, advice on what to keep would be very welcome.

 

Now the nostalgia bit.

In my very early teens, just after the war (WW2 that is) I vividly remember emptying my money box and visiting the shops that sold ex-WD electronic/electrical equipment. These shops were like Aladdins caves.

I would buy the most complicated bit of gear that I could afford and rush home, sit at the kitchen table and spend hours dismantling the beast and finishing up with a mound of nuts and bolts and other weird bits and bobs that I hadn’t a clue what to do with.

My salvaging instincts still survive to this day and I suggest that this would apply to many of the present day elderly engineers that are still around!!!

I wonder if there is a name for elderly engineers who have seen a bit since the early 1950’s.

Sorry to digress.

 

Len. P.

 

 

 

[The Merry MillerParticipant @themerrymiller]

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Len,

Like you I dismantle most thing to save any useful bits before taking them to the tip. (Or being politicly correct the recycling centre.) Printers normally contain some nice precision rods on which the print head slides. They also contain small stepper motors and dc electric motors. Sometimes the motors have optical encoders on them.

 

Les.

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Whatever steel it is the rods are made from it machines wonderfully!

 

You might also want to check the carriage the carts run in as some have (albiet normally small) phosphor bronze bushes supporting them.

 

My old model “A” Boxford has two of these bushes suppporting one end of the countershaft which came from a massive old Hewlett Packard early colour printer.

 

Some also contain what appear to be thin stainless? shields of some sort which I have found ideal for shimstock.

Then theres the springs, E-clips , roll pins…….

 

Must be my Yorkshire roots nowt chucked out ere until it gets a thorough sorting through

 

Paul

 

 

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

Would say that the more recent the printer the less useful it is for bits. Old dot matrix machines often had decent stepper motors,bronze bearings, castings and some very precise chromed rod. The more recent inkjets use little brushed motors and slot sensing of printed code wheels with much thinner rods and plastic bearings. Scrap ain’t what it used to be.

 

Billy.

( also grew up with WW2 surplus from Lisle St, Tottenham Court Rd and Job Stocks Walthamstow. It was always surprising how many language lessons you could get in Lisle St.)

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Breadmakers have nice pancake motors, and yes, I wish we had not dismantled that WW2 bombsight computer – about 50 lbs of motors, giros, mercury switches,protractor and lots of nuts and bolts and and and…….

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hi Len

 

You ask:-

 ” I wonder if there is a name for elderly engineers who have seen a bit since the early 1950’s.”

 

Senior Citizens maybe?

 

 

 

I too am a magpie but the trouble is, after a lifetime of collecting, where do you PUT all the stuff? I would chuck some of it out but when I have done so in the past I invariably find a use for it within a few days! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

Norman

Edited By NJH on 23/11/2011 19:02:44

[MichaelRParticipant @michaelr]

Hi Len. P. you ask

” I wonder if there is a name for elderly engineers who have seen a bit since the early 1950’s.”

How about Time Served but worn out.

 

Mike.

 

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by The Merry Miller on 23/11/2011 14:41:15:

I wonder if there is a name for elderly engineers who have seen a bit since the early 1950’s.

Sorry – I’m a young ‘un (arrival year 1964) but may I suggest Plunderers?

[The Merry MillerParticipant @themerrymiller]

oooooh, sounds nasty even vindictive!

 

Len.

 

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

You reckon? I hoped it was more noble than that

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi All,

I agree that the older printers had more useful bits in them. This is what I made from the platen (The piece of metal behind the paper on a dot matrix printer.) from a DEC LA36 Printer. It was a piece of steel about 3/4″ x 11/4″ x 18″

 

 

Les.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Here we go then, what about the WEEE regulations?

 

Anyway, the name for the people old or not who dismantle and store/hoard all the goodies is:- A MAGPIE.

This is in fact my Bro. You have to fight your way through his sheds, seven of them in his garden!

 

Little story here, in the early development of what they call, ‘Total Stations’, a Theodolite that stores all the detail electronically and can measure distance to a prism using an Infra red beam, Leica rushed their version onto the market to beat the Japanese who were very close to putting their version to market.

Being first was important and we made big sales to Ordnance Survey and other big companies.

So much so that the suppliers of the Japanese theodolites cut their prices by one third and sold at a loss to make market penetration.

Later, when improved versions with less weight and better performance came in we bought back all the first version and rather than put them back for sale as 2nd hand I was told to destroy them!

They were £17,000 new and I had about 20 to dismantle. Thinks, 20 Panalactic telescopes to play with and millions of s/steel skt hd screws, skt drive grub screws and circlips.

I started the job at home and spent 2 to 3 hrs a night and recovered all I could and then reduced the bodies to scrap Alu.

The telescopes I machined the bodies down to a tube and made another tubular body to fit, got them anodised and gave them to the technicions to have.

I mentioned Panalactic, which means the field of view stays the same wherever you focus. Beautiful sharp, and clear optics ideal for bird watching.

I disposed of the scrap to the scrappy and made a bit off it.

I still have a box of screws, so I never have to buy any.

 

Clive

Edited By Clive Hartland on 23/11/2011 20:34:42

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

Never got hands on a bombsite computer but would like to see one for real. Thing is that by taking apart other people’s work you get a fantastic education in how things can be done and sometimes how not to do things. Starting off with Meccano then moving on to WW2 surplus and radio/TV certainly is a great grounding in engineering and in recycling when you are young.

 

It is only when you try to make stuff work that you are face to face with your real understanding- after that you are learning anew. Perhaps the 60+ people are lucky in having an education that you can’t get today.

 

Billy

(Also a bit of a hoarder but feel left far behind by 7 Sheds worth.)

 

Might mention that there is a bit of a secret gold mine in the annals of the HP Journal which was a quite technical monthly journal which reported on HP development of electronic and mechanical equipment- including Total Stations. HP Journal Total Station

Edited By Billy Mills on 24/11/2011 13:58:04

Edited By Billy Mills on 24/11/2011 14:14:28

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

The latest technology now incorporates phase free laser diodes. These now allow contactless distance measurement and can be used in deformation determination such as dam walls and tunnel shift.

Previously you had to use a total internal reflecting prism to return the signal for read out.

 

The Total station is now placed statically and the operator walks around with a GPS/reflector transponder on a pole and the theodolite part of the Total station tracks the transponder/prism.

By placing the pole at the point of survey and pressing a button all the detail of angle/hieght are recorded automatically.

 

You may have seen the system at work when you pass a traffic accident and the Police carry out a one man survey.

On return to the office the recorded detail is put into a PC and the software then prints out a detailed plan of the survey.

This technology is leaping ahead and the power requirements are being reduced by using minature circuitry which can work all day on a Camcorder type battery.

Clive

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Best “find” recently has been an old electric sewing machine which yielded one small electric motor (complete with foot-operated speed control), several feet of dead straight, high-quality steel rod with precision collars to fit, a cast iron crankshaft, flywheel and connecting rod, and more grub screws than I have ever owned previously.

In this household nothing goes to the tip until it has been stripped of everything which might ever be useful. Can’t beat seven sheds full, but I did once have to hire a skip at the last minute when I moved house. Hoarder? That’s what my wife calls me, but I prefer the term “freelance recycling operative.” Sounds almost like a profession, doesn’t it?

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Hi Folks.

Clive, i have 3 sheds and an attic full. Those “total station” things you mention, in recent years, a local hire company has once a year sold lots of them to my friends scrap yard. They were all in various stages of disassembly but each had different bits missing. When anything interesting comes in he saves it for me to pull to bits, then he gets what he calls clean metal ( I.E. ally with no screws dowels or other bits attached ) and i get whatever bits i want for nowt. Over the years i have pulled to bits everthing from electron microscopes, to missile guidance units. and ex. RAF master giros. I still have quite a few lasers, removed from the ” total stations” and more bits from all the other stuff than i can now remember.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

My work place was recently burgled and thirteen Total Stations were stolen! These were from one Company and the total value was some £20,000/£30,000

Non of them were in a working condition and needed expensive repairs doing.

The workshop was full of equipment but nothing else was taken, niether tools or test equipment.

So far no trace of these instruments has emerged!

The damage done to get into the building has caused us a great deal of financial loss and an expensive upgrade of the security system.

It was almost a ram raid as they pulled the main door off the frame (Steel). They did this by hooking through the letter box!

My first thought was an inside job for an insurance scam, normally the items appear on EBay shortly after and the Police are informed but after six months nothing.

We now have to lock all the Instruments into two large steel safes every night, what a hassle.

 

Clive

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Going back to the seven sheds, my Bro. is/was a Vehicle engineer and likes pottering about with cars and lawnmowers and cultivators so goes to boot fairs and buys up old engines to replace duff ones.

He is also given stuff like cement mixers and old ovens and lengths of wood, all now riddled with woodworm.

It all gets stored and forgotten and I joke with my Sister in Law that they will need two ten ton lorries to clear it all.

He never disposes of the cars he has had and dumps them in the orchard we own. This is where they go rotten rusty and I complain but to no avail.

Dont mention old baths as they are used to collect rain water off the roofs of sheds to irrigate the garden.

I do despair sometimes, ask for something and a long search begins and stuff gets pulled out with the comment, ‘I was looking for that last week’.

At 82 years of age he must stop sometime surely? I do not think I want the job of disposing of it when the time comes.

 

Clive

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

I am not quite that bad. I only collect small bits and pieces. I was very dissapointed when the last lot came from the “total stations ” company, as it had all been stripped down, and only the ally casings arrived. Good thing realy, as i have too many other jobs to do at the moment.

Nostalgia bit, yes i to used to buy lots of ex WD stuff in the early 50’s, and had to cart it home from the shop 4 miles away in an old hand cart. Happy days !!!!

 

Cheers Derek

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Back to printers, paul is right about the bits to look for.

 

A Panasonic KX-P1022 donated much of its innards, including the slide bars and broze bushes for my ‘worden-a-like’ grinder.

 

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The best one I’v had was an old Xerox copier. Full of gears, shafts, bearings, motors etc. The power supply, after modification now is a low voltage supply around the workshop, it powers the fed on the mill, an 18 V hand drill, the electolitic rust bath, and anything else that will take the 18 V. A small 12 V compressor seems quite happy running on it too.

The whole thing was found at the local dump (when there was one), I had to disasseble it there and bring it home on my bike and trailer, about 5 or 6 K. Ian S C

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

Yes the old ones were great, EHT supplies and all. Xerox invented the electostatic process that everyone else uses. But you can also get their update on the Tectronix “Phaser” solid ink printer which uses coloured wax fired through a full page width piezo print head. Very fast and excellent colour but-tale of woe- very few moving parts so not a great scrapper.

 

My fave scrapper at the moment is Hard Disk Drives, I have a few score to melt down for the alloy. Some time in the future I would like to have a go at the Mike Cox DIY foundry concept.

Do use a few ATX PSU’s doing various odd things. They must be the cheapest way of getting 400W of low voltage that is roughly stabilised. You can always stack them too for 24V or 48V.

There is also the LV lighting “transformer” which gives out 60W of high frequency AC and is “dimmable” with a light dimmer which sells for a couple of quid at the moment.

 

Billy.

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