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Disaster Outraged!

Discussion in 'Modding' started by Recoil, 26 Sep 2008.

  1. Recoil

    Recoil What's a Dremel?

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    Yesterday my step-brother brought over some older computer parts that someone had "discarded" over by the river...I live in a small farming community by the Mississippi river. So I went over there to see what all was there and I can honestly say I wanted to cry. I would estimate about 20k floppy disks, some older (large) towers without a place for the mobo connectors, about 100 misc hard drives (some about 2 gigs and some larger ones Ive never run into), older ram sticks out the yin-yang, old monitors, older PSU's that did not have a mobo connector just a power button, etc. Tons of useful stuff if someone were to scrap it. It was just sad though, but I gathered what I could before it got too dark to see and plan on going back this afternoon.

    Any idea what to do with some of this older stuff? Most of it was used, or bad, or thrown and then bad, but some stuff was still in packages. I is just sick:waah:
     
  2. identikit

    identikit Minimodder

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    Meh, pretty cheap stuff really. I would cost more to dispose of properly so they just dumped it. Contact your council/environmental health it needs cleaning up properly and quickly.
     
  3. Recoil

    Recoil What's a Dremel?

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    Yeah it is cheap stuff, but there is some stuff that can still be used...I just don't know what for yet. Problem with contacting anyone is that I would have to admit to going through their gate which was supposed to be locked...not to mention someone took down the no trespessing sign (not me). Another thing is I would look like an idiot when someone did finally show up because the water will have raised and taken the stuff away by Sunday.
     
  4. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Get the heat sinks from the motherboards and power supplies.
    -and all the wiring connectors and reset switches.
     
  5. stuartwood89

    stuartwood89 Please... Just call me Stu.

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    Use the material from the cases and make an uber case.
     
  6. Andy Mc

    Andy Mc Modder

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    Grab all the metal you can and what you dont use sell for scrap.
     
    Last edited: 27 Sep 2008
  7. mattthegamer463

    mattthegamer463 What's a Dremel?

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    Apparently old processors have a fair amount of gold in them, and have decent value at recyclers. I talked to a guy who said he gets $25/pound for Pentium 1 chips.
     
  8. Recoil

    Recoil What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for the replies guys...

    I did find an NEC 15.5" monitor. One part on the top in the back plastic is cracked, but I plugged it in and it works suprisingly...it did make a clicking sound when I put my hand on the plastic part that was broke, but it did not shock or anything, just peculiar that it would do that when I messed with the cracked plastic part. I got my flashlight and nothing seems broke inside, but I will have to take it apart and look.

    I did grab all of the processors I could find except the huge "block" pentiumII's. There were only a few of them. Grabbed all of the heatsinks, and some of them were slightly big being from older systems, but they can be cut down for custom stuff. And even though they probably are 2x or broke, I grabbed the cd drives so I could use parts off of them especially the motor stuff. Some of the larger bodied (like twice as thick) hard drives I left cause they looked ancient, but I did grab all of the smaller ones. Most are scsi and really small...I am not even sure that they work. But I figure I can make clocks out of them or something.

    Grabbed the 3 large towers, but only one had the outer shell cover to it. I can atleast use parts off of the other cases if needed. And while I was grabbing all of the batteries off the mobo's and I came across one that looked in good shape. It is a small socket 462 and has built on video (nVidia nForce 2 IGP integrated chip), so I figure it is atleast worth a look.

    Dumpster diving I guess, but they were illegally throwing this stuff away anyways. :thumb::thumb: (two for me).
     
  9. jakenbake

    jakenbake full duplex

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    forget all that. hop on those hard drives and steal their credit card info, then buy all the stuff you want!

    haha, just kidding (kinda).

    i say home server.
     
  10. Recoil

    Recoil What's a Dremel?

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    I thought about a home server, but I dont know if any of it works. The board is probably not going to work cause I noticed that the video card chip has a slight brown spot on it and it looks like it has a crack in it. I am not sure if I can just over ride the on-board with an AGP or PCI, and being that it is cracked it might cause something to fry. One of the other boards that my step brother initially brought me looks good, but it is one that has the huge pentiumII processors on it, and I have never messed with a board like this. Oh well, atleast I have stuff to tinker with.
     
  11. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    Once your done salvaging what you can, contact your local sanitation/disposal/EPA and alert them to the dumping so that they can take care of it. If there are any OS codes on the machines, they might be trackable so that the culprit(s) can be caught and fined.
     
  12. Cthippo

    Cthippo Can't mod my way out of a paper bag

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    There was probably a reason it was tossed. Around here they charge $20 to properly dispose of CRT monitors.
     
  13. Recoil

    Recoil What's a Dremel?

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    I have to go over tomorrow and get this large metal dresser I am going to use to store my tools, and a slightly warped piece of particle board to use as a top for it. I think I am done getting what I wanted and can use, but I also thought that the other day when I first went over.

    And there is nothing to track on the property when there are some things with certain folks names on them. I know where it came from too though...I am probably going to drop a note, but I am not sure if they are completely done and I might be able to find more stuff.
     
  14. bigsharn

    bigsharn Officially demotivated

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    If worse comes to worst....

    take what you can to a scrappies, I don't know what the money's like over there for scrap metal, but scrappies are buying decent chunks for really good $$$
     
  15. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Aluminum and copper is through the roof right now. The old HDs are solid aluminum and chock full of rare-earth alloy supermagnets. I have a few on my fridge that can hold up 1/4" thick booklets and a dozen keyrings.:D
    -I'll say it again: The switches, molex pins, and especially those tiny black header pins that connect to the motherboard are a must for modders. They charge a lot of money for those black connectors in some places. (-The same places that sell LEDs for $3 each.:hehe:)
     
  16. Recoil

    Recoil What's a Dremel?

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    I did grab the newer motherboards as the older ones had nothing useful on them. Also there was some external housings for SATA drives that cnnect through an I/O port on the back...not sure about them, but got'em anyways. One thing I wasn't sure about was the really old SIMM/DIMM RAM sticks. Not sure if they work or not, and I have absolutely no use for them, and since I am trying to conserve what space my wife lets me have here at the house I left them too. I might go back and see if I can get the older thick hard drives and just rip the magnets from them...but I already have so much stuff I have to go through.

    Left the floppy's as I already have quite a collection of ninja stars :thumb:
    But now I think about it I could make spiffy pen holder and sell on ebay for donation the the "Help send a Redneck to school college fund".
     
  17. Andy Mc

    Andy Mc Modder

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    If thats the situation your in then defo go back and grab all the old ramsticks. They can very easily be turned into keyrings (just go to a craft and hobby shop and buy a bag of keyring rings). I used to turn old ram (and even an old proc) into keyrings. THey last a good few years before the ram chips start to come off - but that depends on how many keys you have....
     
    Last edited: 29 Sep 2008
  18. stuartwood89

    stuartwood89 Please... Just call me Stu.

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    Agreed, get as much stuff as possible and turn them into retro merchandise. I sure would go for a HDD medallion and some RAM ear rings.
     
  19. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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