What did you get rid of today? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 05:04:36 pm
content: Hoarding of extra components, unfinished projects, unused test equipment, impulse vintage computing purchases, old technical books, etc... could all be remedied by simply getting rid of them. But it ain't always easy. What if for the new year you wanna clean up a and maybe you need some encouragement from other people's examples?I got rid of- 6 textbooks by putting them into a community give one-take one box- sold headphones on eBay- donated unused Analog Devices chips to coworkers- Android tablet to the local goodwilland I'm planning on getting rid of- SGI1600SW monitor, as nice as it is I will never have a PC or SGI workstation that can use itand bringing things to the recycler, like a dead UPS and batteries, useless power extensions with loose sockets.Maybe it's silly but I need to get into the mood of de-cluttering my place. Anyone else?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 05:50:53 pm
content: I've got a whole bunch of stuff listed on the local 'craigslist' waiting for a new owner. Still need to list some other stuff as well.And then there is my give-away box that gets filled up slowly with all kinds of parts. I've put a whole lot of boxes with M3 and M4 slotted head screws in there. I'm not using those because I switched to Torx.I'm planning to get rid of some old PCs as well. I might still have a couple that are 20+ years old which I stacked in a crawl space under the roof.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 06:15:19 pm
content: I don't understand... get rid of something? I'm having difficulty with trying to understand that concept.In all seriousness I made some progress on cleaning and various projects. There are several items that eventually I need to collect and list somewhere.In the meantime I've reduced additions to a few spare parts and various accessories while I work through repair and restoration projects. As these get completed space will clear up to allow better organization. I'm approaching project gridlock.However, I am collecting specific data books, equipment manuals, and text books for other projects.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 06:30:31 pm
content: I kind of find it amusing because its not like we have a over abundance of science in our society. It feel like a bit of a hold out against the idea that you need to hire a service professional to test the temperature in the refrigeratorand in general the amount of planning/effort/time/etc that went into making something. But it does feel good to get rid of a problem like a old car that is powered by a statistical anomaly... nothing feels better then getting rid of a bad car. And really that means selling it to specialists (i.e. island nation). Thats a sign of a good product, you put 3x the expected use on it, and poorer people can still make use of it and even pick it up for you when the severity of the faults overwhelms you.Also throwing away delapitated things like kitchen hardware. Don't eat the teflon.. that might actually be a problem if you are eating from the 10 years expired non stick plan. And old towels. Damaged safety equipment, molten inductors/transformers, old batteries, nasty capacitors (try opening up a spraque on a band saw some time.....), old stiff wire, degraded power components like MOV...

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 07:09:10 pm
content: I had an old car fail. I found a scrap dealer. He took anything that was cars, metal, electronics, etc. I filled the car, cabin and trunk, with boxes and piles of things that had collected over the years. Old printers, car batteries, scrap nails, old plumbing, and a lot of other stuff that I forget now.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 07:42:19 pm
content: Quote from: Tomorokoshi on December 30, 2022, 06:15:19 pmThe whole 5S concept.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 07:50:43 pm
content: Time

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 08:13:35 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on December 30, 2022, 07:42:19 pmThey try to apply 5S where I work. In the prototype / warranty return / test lab.A: "What is this thing?"B: "That's a doohickey cabulator! We haven't used this in 5 years! Throw it out!"some time later...C: "Where is the doohickey cabulator? A warranty return came in from a customer. They have 10-year-old equipment."A: "We through it out in the last 5S round."B: "Let's get a new one! I'll get the purchase order going! How much are they, $10,000?"

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 08:27:06 pm
content: A Tek 2430 scope, for which I had no use anymore (sold it).

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2022, 09:11:54 pm
content: Quote from: Tomorokoshi on December 30, 2022, 08:13:35 pmYeah. It's supposed to clear your mind. I don't know about that, but it does clear your wallet.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2022, 04:17:02 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on December 30, 2022, 05:04:36 pmI pity the poor person you allowed that android tablet to continue existing for. That’s one thing that should be E-waste immediately 😂

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2022, 04:27:38 am
content: zero: anxiety of "not buying", feel good of "buying", N * "don't have to throw"

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2022, 08:13:51 am
content: Quote from: bigfoot22 on December 31, 2022, 04:59:39 amProbably... but A) I need to think about keeping some parts to resurrect test equipment I have. B) Getting it to Australia will be expensive. What would you be interested in?

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2022, 10:49:22 am
content: Mostly I end up getting rid of money

author: Black Phoenix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2022, 12:55:13 pm
content: Well I got rid of CoVID... My wife caught it before Christmas, on Christmas day she was on the bed, 1 day later I was and the kid too.Finally today it started to shown negative on the tests for all of us.

author: rhodges
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2023, 12:48:16 am
content: Well, it was not today, but "recently" I sent a good deal of ATM networking gear to the recycling. Newbridge and Madge switches that were fiercely expensive twenty years ago are now just ewaste. I sold a couple Fore switches on ebay for very little, just to keep them from the crusher. I still have one or two Sparc Ultra 2 workstations and an HP 735 to get rid of. And some number of (small but heavy) X-terminals and (large and heavy) monitors to send to their fate.I also have some Intel 460T 100bt switches that I won't ever use, still new in the box.I might even pay shipping, if I know that $item is going to a good home.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2023, 10:38:02 pm
content: Today a guy picked up an X-axis power feed from my 1938 Bridgeport mill. It came off when I retrofitted the mill to CNC in 1996, and has been sitting on the floor under the mill ever since. I sold the old mill to a guy, but we are still waiting for the ground to get hard enough to get a truck back there to pick it up. Little by little, some stuff is getting cleared out. I donated 3 X 1/2" mag tape drives to the Large Scale System Museum in Philadelphia last week. Also, my Honeywell Alert computer from the X-15 project.Jon

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2023, 11:14:34 pm
content: False guilt. Got rid of it today and every day for years. Keep clearing it out and be free!

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2023, 02:19:15 am
content: Quote from: Black Phoenix on December 31, 2022, 12:55:13 pmSo that's how you knew you could get out of bed?

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2023, 02:48:24 pm
content: Quote from: Black Phoenix on December 31, 2022, 12:55:13 pmMy best friend recently had a similar experience with Covid about a week ago, only one or two days was really bad. On the 4th day of symptoms, it was only mild. She attributes healthy living to why she mostly recovered so quickly.And that brings me to something everyone should be working to get rid of: an unhealthy diet. Oddly enough, I do not remember any Covid avoidance measures recommending a healthy diet, even though it's pretty well known that a healthy diet helps with immunity in general. There have been quite a few posts in healthy living communities on Facebook about how healthy living (most importantly a healthy diet) let them get through Covid with relatively mild symptoms.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2023, 06:30:32 pm
content: something for Dave's Mail Bag

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 05:31:42 pm
content: QuotePresumably because if you're not already doing that, the chance of a snotty nose isn't going to make you change your lifetime's habit. (Which ignores that some extremely healthy people died from Covid, so it's not a get out of jail card.)

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 06:13:30 pm
content: I got rid of an old ThinkPad with a broken backlight. It was at least 12 years old and it wasn't worth my time repairing it. I had recently received a bag from a charity, asking for clothes and small electrical items. I put it in the bag and left it on my doorstep and they collected it within a day. I don't know whether they'll bother sending it to the third world, or just send it to a recycling centre to salvage precious metals.

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 07:19:55 pm
content: Turned in my semi today. I was a truck driver. Now I'm a full time cancer patient.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 12:26:23 am
content: Ouch, that's a bummerIs it a pause until you get back on track or a count the days thing?

author: BillyO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2023, 02:41:52 am
content: Quote from: MarkS on January 05, 2023, 07:19:55 pmWow, dude here's hoping get through this!

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2023, 12:09:00 pm
content: @MarkS: get well soon!To get back on topic: I unhoarded a bunch of PCs (well, mostly casings with some remaining parts). Now I have a lot more space. It doesn't look like much in the picture but it is somewhere between a quarter and half a cubic meter in volume.I listed it on a local 'graigslist' for 5 euro and I actually got a few responses within a day. The guy who picked it up came from 200km away!

author: wn1fju
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2023, 02:00:39 pm
content: Got rid of about 4,000 - 5,000 pieces of paper. For years and years, I've been taking all the bank statements, bills, financial records, etc. that I was afraid simply to throw into the garbage and have been piling them up in a spare bedroom. I finally bought a heavy-duty shredder and disposed of them once and for all. It took me three hours and I filled up four 30-gallon trash bags.Of course, a metal bucket, some lighter fluid and a match would have also solved my problem, but I am willing to bet that is illegal where I live.

author: Chris56000
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2023, 01:02:54 pm
content: Hi!Tons and tons of oscilloscopes, from the days when oscilloscopes WERE oscilloscopes – all need to be repaired & their calibration checked!Mainly older British models, kept from the days when equipment was built to a specification and not down to a price, (I wouldn't dream of dumping them because of the ewaste mountain!) –I'm hoping to find them new homes in the not–too–distant future!Chris Williams

author: hvontres
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2023, 08:37:06 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on December 30, 2022, 09:11:54 pmHey, I love 5s (or 6s as they call it at my job, not sure where the extra s came from). It has provided me with tons of stuff for my home labI just had this mental image of Jim Williams and Bob Pease cornering Marie Kondo at a party.....

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2023, 09:19:55 pm
content: Quote from: hvontres on January 21, 2023, 08:37:06 pmNice. Over here it's usually not an option though. A company can't give away stuff to employees like this, even if it doesn't have any use for this stuff anymore. It's considered as a "benefit", makes things complicated and it would end up as part of your income so you'd be taxed on it. But employers usually don't want to bother with all the paperwork and prefer throwing used gear away.Quote from: hvontres on January 21, 2023, 08:37:06 pmAnd, 6S is the "Lean Six Sigma" BS. It's the new 5S indeed.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2023, 05:03:36 am
content: 4.5 digit calibrator. Normally I am against this but it had cracked wafer switches and the things were press fit into the PCB before being soldered, just would not come out. I thought to buy chip-quick and give it a go with that and a torch, but it also had corrosion problems on the cables (that green shit that goes through the entire cable) and some broken transistor or something. Don't know the part # because it was painted over, digitek or something (defunct).Felt a pang of guilt but I did get it on ebay for like $30 many years ago, but no schematics, and the compliance was funky too, wasted my entire day once when I was trying to test something and it turned out there was some weird hysterisis that if you hit the compliance limit, and then turned it back to 0, it would get a offset until you turned it off and on again. Generally unpleasant instrument to work with, I can do much better, and you needed to follow the output voltage with the compliance knob for it not to trip, there was cracked crimps on the transistor, and it also glitched out giving erronous voltages. bye troll.I highly recommend getting some jigs to hold parts in, or to bend the leads slightly, and do not make it press fit into VIA, because that is clown behavior. Bet there was cracked via's too in there because they built it with the 'broaching' process.So I think I just freed up the rest of winter and spring by letting go of that 'log'.Also when I ripped the switch out with the vias just to see when I gave up, it looks like they did not want to come out even with the soldering iron pressed against the lead of the switch when I was yanking on it with tweezers while everything is molten. A single stuck shaft on a bearding is enough to drive a man mad when its made of steel, but 30 wimpy copper parallel stamped rectangular shafts that are press fit and soldered to some plated shit on a fragile PCB?bloody animals just packed it in to a cracker.