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USB-IDE/SATA Adaptor

Front
Front

This is a device to use an IDE or SATA interface drive via a USB connection. Here is the front of the device, IDE interface at the bottom, 2.5″ form factor.

PCB Top
PCB Top

PCB removed from the casing. USB cable exits the top, 12v DC power jack to the left.
SATA interface below the DC Jack.
Molex connector below SATA is the power output for the drive in use. This unit has a built in 5v regulator.

PCB Bottom
PCB Bottom

Bottom of the PCB showing the interface IC.

Drive Adaptor
Drive Adaptor

Adaptor to plug into the 44-pin 2.5″ form factor IDE interface on the adaptor, converts to standard 40-pin 3.5″ IDE.

Power Cable
Power Cable

Power pigtail with standard Molex & SATA power plugs.

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Sanyo Talkbook VAS

Front
Front

Here is a Sanyo tape recorder, with built in voice activation. Takes standard audio cassettes.
Here visible is the speaker on the left, microphone is on the right of the tape window. The tape counter is at the top.

Back Removed
Back Removed

Back cover removed from the unit, showing the PCB & the connections. The IC is the controller/amplifier.

PCB
PCB

Top of the PCB, control switches, volume potentiometer & microphone/headphone sockets on the right. DC power jack top left. Switch bottom centre senses what mode the tape drive is in.

Tape Deck
Tape Deck

Rear of the tape deck, main drive motor is bottom right, driving the capstan through a drive belt. This drives the tape spools through a series of gears & clutches. Belt going to top left drives the tape counter.

Drive
Drive

Front of the tape drive. Read/write head is top centre. Blue head is bulk erase head used during recording.

Speaker
Speaker

Main speaker. 8Ω 0.25W.

Counter
Counter

Simple mechanical tape counter.

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Combo Microwave

Electronics Bay
Electronics Bay

Here are the internals of a cheap Microwave/Convection Oven combo. Electronics bay is pretty much the same as a standard microwave, with the magnetron, transformer & diode/capacitor voltage doubler, with the addition of an extra fan & a pair of nichrome elements to provide the convection oven function.

Convection Fan
Convection Fan

Convection blower which keeps the cooking vapours & smoke away from the elements, & circulates the hot air around the cooking chamber. This is a 12v DC centrifugal type blower.

Convection Element
Convection Element

The elements are inside this steel shield, air duct extends from the centre.

Thermal Cutouts
Thermal Cutouts

This oven has a pair of thermal switches on the magnetron.

Capacitor & Diode
Capacitor & Diode

The usual capacitor/diode voltage doubler in the magnetron power supply. The transformer is visible to the left.

Controller
Controller

Electronic controller PCB. This has a pair of relays that switch the elements & the magnetron transformer.

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IDE Zip Drive

Top
Top

An old IDE interface Zip drive. This fits in a standard 3.5″ bay.

Cover Removed
Cover Removed

Top cover removed from the drive, IDE & power interfaces at the top, in centre is the eject solenoid assembly & the head assembly. Bottom is the spindle drive motor.

Head Assembly
Head Assembly

Head assembly with the top magnet removed. Voice coil is on the left, with the head preamp IC next to it. Head chips are on the end of the arm inside the parking sleeve on the right. Blue lever is the head lock.

Controller
Controller

Controller PCB removed from the casing.

Spindle Motor
Spindle Motor

Spindle motor. This is a 3-phase DC brushless type motor. Magnetic ring on the top engages with the hub of the Zip disk when insterted into the drive.

Magnets
Magnets

Magnets that interact with the voice coil on the head assembly.

Head Armature
Head Armature

Head armature assembly removed from the drive. The arm is supported by a pair of linear bearings & a stainless steel rod.

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Audi TT Roof Hydraulics

Pump
Pump

This is the hydraulic system from an Audi TT that would power the soft top. Here is the hydraulic pump unit. Oil Tank is on the left. Power is 12v DC at ~20A

Cylinders
Cylinders

The pair of hydraulic cylinders that attached to the roof mechanism.

Limit Switch
Limit Switch

One of the cylinders has a limit switch built in. The brass bolt coming out of the side of the head is one contact. The other contact is the cylinder body.

Hose
Hose

Marking on the hoses. This is Parker Polyflex hydraulic hose. 1/8″ ID.

Motor
Motor

Drive motor for the hydraulic pump. Standard DC permanent magnet motor.

Motor Suppression
Motor Suppression

Motor power terminals & suppression capacitors. As the reversing relays actually short the motor out when de-energized, there is a lot of arcing at the brushes without some suppression.

Reversing Relays
Reversing Relays

Reversing relay stack. Each relay is a SPDT configuration. The pair are arranged as a DPDT bank to reverse the motor, depending on which relay is energized.

Tank
Tank

Detail of the oil tank showing the level markings.

Power Valve
Power Valve

Solenoid valve on top of the unit. This valve provides full pump pressure to the cylinders when energized.

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Portable Power Pack Charger

A quick update to my portable power pack, a mains charging port. Uses a universal DC barrel jack.

Connection to the battery. 1N4001 reverse protection diode under the blue heatshrink tubing. I used a surplus PC CD-ROM audio cable (grey lead). Seen here snaking behind the battery to the DC In Jack.

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Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone

Phone
Phone

This is an old cordless landline phone, with dead handset batteries.

Handset Radio Board
Handset Radio Board

Here’s the handset with the back removed. Shown is the radio TX/RX board, underneath is the keyboard PCB with the speaker & mic. All the FM radio tuning coils are visible & a LT450GW electromechanical filter.

Handset Radio Board Bottom
Handset Radio Board Bottom

Radio PCB removed from the housing showing the main CPU controlling the unit, a Motorola MC13109FB.

Keypad Board
Keypad Board

The keypad PCB, with also holds the microphone & speaker.

Handset Keypad Board Bottom
Handset Keypad Board Bottom

Bottom of the keypad board, which holds a LSC526534DW 8-Bit µC & a AT93C46R serial EEPROM for phone number storage.

Base Main Board
Base Main Board

Here’s the base unit with it’s top cover removed. Black square object on far right of image is the microphone for intercom use, power supply section is top left, phone interface bottom left, FM radio is centre. Battery snap for power backup is bottom right.

Power Supply Section
Power Supply Section

PSU section of the board on the left here, 9v AC input socket at the bottom, with bridge rectifier diodes & main filter capacitor above. Two green transformers on the right are for audio impedance matching. Another LT450GW filter is visible at the top, part of the base unit FM transceiver.

ICs
ICs

Another 8-bit µC, this time a LSC526535P, paired with another AT93C46 EEPROM. Blue blob is 3.58MHz crystal resonator for the MCU clock. The SEC IC is a KS58015 4-bit binary to DTMF dialer IC. This is controlled by the µC.

Base Main Board Bottom
Base Main Board Bottom

Underside of the base unit Main PCB, showing the matching MC13109FB IC for the radio functions.

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Bosch GSR 14.4v Pro Drill-Driver

Drill Case
Drill Case

Here is a Bosch 14.4v Professional cordless drill/driver, recovered from a skip!
It was thrown away due to a gearbox fault, which was easy to rectify.

Internals
Internals

Here is the drill with the side cover removed, showing it’s internal parts. The speed controller is below the motor & gearbox here. The unit at the top consists of a 12v DC motor, coupled to a 4-stage  epicyclic gearbox unit, from which can be selected 2 different ratios, by way of the lever in the centre of the box. This disables one of the gear stages. There is a torque control clutch at the chuck end of the gearbox, this was faulty when found.

Motor
Motor

Here is the drive motor disconnected from the gearbox, having a bayonet fitting on the drive end.

Drive Gear
Drive Gear

This is the primary drive gear of the motor, which connects with the gearbox.

Cooling Fan
Cooling Fan

The motor is cooled by this fan inside next to the commutator, drawing air over the windings.

Gearbox
Gearbox

This is the gearbox partially disassembled, showing the 1st & second stages of the geartrain. The second stage provides the 2 different drive ratios by having the annulus slide over the entire gearset, disabling it entirely, in high gear. The annulus gears are a potential weak point in this gearbox, as they are made from plastic, with all other gears being made of steel.

Charger
Charger

Here is the charging unit for the Ni-Cd battery packs supplied with the drill. The only indicator is the LED shown here on the front of the unit, which flashes while charging, & comes on solid when charging is complete. Charge termination is by way of temperature monitoring.

Transformer
Transformer

Here the bottom of the charger has been removed, showing the internal parts. An 18v transformer supplies power to the charger PCB on the left.

Charger PCB
Charger PCB

This is the charger PCB, with a ST Microelectronics controller IC marked 6HKB07501758. I cannot find any information about this chip.

Battery Pack Internals
Battery Pack Internals

Here is a battery pack with the top removed, showing the cells.

Temperature Sensor
Temperature Sensor

This is the temperature sensor embedded inside the battery pack that is used by the charger to determine when charging is complete.

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HP Photosmart 375

Top
Top

This is a HP PhotoSmart 375 portable photo printer. With built in card reader, screen & PictBridge.
Top of the printer showing the UI Buttons & Screen.

Front
Front

Front of the unit, card reader slots at the top, Pictbridge USB connector at top left. Paper out slot at bottom. Cartridge door is on the right.

Cartridge Door
Cartridge Door

Here the cartridge door is open. Takes HP 95 Tri-Colour Inkjet Cartridge.

Battery Compartment
Battery Compartment

Battery compartment on the bottom of the unit. A Li-Ion battery pack can be installed here for mobile photo printing.

Bottom Label
Bottom Label

Specifications label.

USB + Power
USB + Power

Power adaptor & USB connection for PC use.

Paper Tray
Paper Tray

Rear door opened. Showing the paper feed tray.

Paper Feeder
Paper Feeder

Rear door has been removed in this shot. Paper feed roller & platen roller can be seen here.

Rear Cover Paper Feeder
Rear Cover Paper Feeder

Paper holder attached to rear door.

Top Cover
Top Cover

Bottom of the top cover, with connections for the buttons & LCD panel.

Main PCB
Main PCB

This is the main PCB of the unit. Controls all aspects of the printer. CPU in center, card reader sockets are along bottom edge. various support circuitry surrounds the CPU.

Rear
Rear

Rear shell has been removed here. Showing the main frame & the carriage drive motor on the left.

Carriage Drive
Carriage Drive

Closeup of the carriage drive motor & timing belt system. All the motors in this printer are DC servo motors, not steppers.

Main Drive Motor
Main Drive Motor

Main drive motor, feeds paper, drives rollers, operates cleaning mechanism for the inkjets.

Shaft Encoder
Shaft Encoder

Mainshaft encoder. Main drive motor is bottom right hand side with timing belt drive.

CPU
CPU

Closeup of the CPU. This is a Phillips ARM chip, unknown spec.

Card Reader Sockets
Card Reader Sockets

Detail of the card reader sockets, this unit takes all current types of Flash memory card.

HP 95 Tri-color Inkjet Print Cartridge
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ICL Barcode Scanner

Top
Top

An ICL barcode scanner from the 80s is shown here. This is the top of the unit with cover on.

Cover Removed
Cover Removed

Plastic cover removed from the unit showing internal components. Main PSU on left, scan assembly in center. Laser PSU & Cooling fan on right. Laser tube at top.

Scan Motor
Scan Motor

Closeup of laser scan motor. This unit scans the laser beam rapidly across the glass plate to read the barcode.

Controller PCB
Controller PCB

View of the bottom of the unit, showing the controller PCB in the centre.

Scan Motor Driver
Scan Motor Driver

The 3-phase motor driver circuit for the scan motor. 15v DC powered.

Laser Unit
Laser Unit

This is the laser unit disconnected from the back of the scanner. HT PSU is on right hand side, beam emerges from optics on left.

Laser Unit Label
Laser Unit Label

This unit is date stamped 1987. The oldest laser unit i own.

Tube PSU
Tube PSU

Laser tube power supply. Input voltage: 24v DC. Output: 1.8kV 4mA.

Laser PSU Board
Laser PSU Board

Rear of HT PSU. Obviously the factory made a mistake or two 🙂

Laser Tube Mounting
Laser Tube Mounting

Top cover removed from the laser unit here shows the 1mW He-Ne tube. Manufactured by Aerotech.

Tube Label
AeroTech He-Ne Tube

Tube label. Manufactured July 1993. Model LT06XR.

Plasma
Plasma

Here the tube has been removed from it’s mount to show the bore down the centre while energized.

OC Mirror
OC Mirror

OC end of the tube shown here lasing.

Beam
Beam

Beam output from the optics on the laser unit.

Tube Optics
Tube Optics

Optics built into the laser unit. Simple turning mirror on adjustable mount & collimating lens assembly.

Scan Lines
Scan Lines

Kind of hard to see but the unit is running here & projecting the scan lines on the top glass.

Laser Tube Mounting
Laser Tube Mounting

Laser tube mounting. A combo of spring clips & hot glue hold this He-Ne tube in place

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Hair Dryer

Housing
Housing

This is a 1500W hairdryer, death caused by thermal switch failure.

Switch
Switch

This is the switch unit. Attached are two suppression capacitors & a blocking diode. Cold switch is on right.

Heating Element
Heating Element

Heating element unit removed from housing. Coils of Nichrome wire heat the air passing through the dryer. Fan unit is on right.

Thermal Switch
Thermal Switch

Other side of the heating element unit, here can be seen the thermal switch behind the element winding. (Black square object).

Fan Motor
Fan Motor

The fan motor in this dryer is a low voltage DC unit, powered through a resistor formed by part of the heating element to drop the voltage to around 12-24v. Mounted on the back of the motor here is a rectifier assembly. Guide vanes are visible around the motor, to straighten the airflow from the fan blades.

Fan
Fan

5-blade fan forces air through the element at high speed. Designed to rotate at around 13,000RPM.