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This article was first published in 2010.
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Our articles on the parts you can salvage from old discarded consumer items are very popular – so here’s another. This time we’re looking at two small household items – a bread-maker and a small electric fan heater. While the parts that can be salvaged aren’t as numerous as you’ll find in bigger items (like photocopiers), bread-makers and fan heaters are often easier to find and always much easier to transport home!
Breadmaker
The guinea pig was a Breville design and here it is complete with external dirt and – as I later found – still with old bits of bread inside! The controls set the heat of the cooker (provided by a wrap-around element), the speed of the mixer, and the time for which the machine will run.
A few self-tapping screws later and the drive motor could be seen. It’s a brushed (ie universal) design rated at 50W and mains voltage.
And here’s why the motor assembly is such a good one! The motor is mounted on a baseplate and drives via a toothed belt a large reduction drive. The motor can then be used to turn with great torque a relatively slowly moving shaft, or the large cog can be rotated to drive the motor very fast! The latter is good for a hand-cranked generator; the former for any application where a slow rotation is needed. Don’t forget that because it’s a universal motor, it will work on AC or DC, and will rotate more slowly as the drive voltage is reduced.
And let’s not forget the small components. By the simple expedient of putting aside the screws as they were removed, a bunch of self-tappers was collected. There are also two 24V relays, a digital display, eight LEDs, five miniature pushbuttons, some long bolts, three rubber washers and an NTC thermistor. (Don’t forget it takes only seconds to remove electronic components if you use a heat-gun on the solder side of the PCB and a pair of pliers to pull the component out after the solder has melted.)
Fan Heater
The fan heater was a Skope 2400. This design provided adjustable fan speed and heating, and had a timer built in. Opening-up the cabinet also revealed some unexpectedly good bits!
As well as a lot of dust, looking inside revealed a nice squirrel-cage fan and attached motor, the timer (that was a labelled, standalone design), a heater element, over-turning switch, terminal block, high current resistor and – but we’re getting head of ourselves.
These aluminium grilles were easily unscrewed from the front panel. They’re made of extruded aluminium and would be great (perhaps with the ends cut off) in a myriad of electronic equipment – or even a car bonnet.
The mains power fan itself is an absolute beauty – about 30cm long (including motor) and about 70mm in diameter. If you’re used just to axial (PC-type) fans, these long squirrel-cage designs are a revelation in that they move a lot of air – and often very quietly. I’ve used a slightly smaller one in a home amplifier and this fan (suitably mounted with the wiring insulated) would be ideal in large electronic gear. And you’ve even go a couple of grilles to suit!
The heater element is also very impressive. Together with the fan, you (of course!) have a very effective heater. But divorced from the fan, you have a large resistor with 42 and 84 ohm tapped resistances. With a bit of judicious disassembly, you can shorten (or parallel) the windings to give you any lower resistance you want – and all on ceramic formers. The resulting resistor is ideal for testing amplifiers, or as a quick means of dropping the speed of a low voltage motor.
Finally, there are the smaller bits and pieces. From top-left and then clockwise: the over-turning switch (also ideal as a means of switching something with acceleration or braking), a room temp thermostat, 470 ohm 20 watt ceramic resistor, standalone timer, red mains power neon with bezel, knob (although it looks nothing special, I collect these because they suit a D-shape shaft, which is unusual but useful), and a high temperature thermostat.
Conclusion
As always, disassemble quickly, sort and keep the bits you want, then get rid of the rest. It’s surprising what fun it is – especially if you have an inquisitive child to help you – and the resulting parts can be put to a bunch of uses. Hmm, what about triggering an intercooler spray on hard acceleration - now where’s that overturning switch....?
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