Wanted: Your Junk for my Super-Sekrit Project!

[tesla]

I'm looking to scavenge pieces from a wide variety of largish appliances: washing machines and dryers, refrigerators, treadmills, dishwashers, and many others.

If you have any dead or retired appliances that you would be willing to contribute, would you be so kind as to drop me a note so that I can come strip them? If you need them to go away completely I may be able to arrange that as well.

Comments

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

intellectually I know that working microwave ovens are awesome. but practically speaking I'm a little afraid of experimenting. theoretically I'd be curious to try smelting aluminum in it. although it'd have to be a fairly small quantity of aluminum. the last thing I need is a new hobby, especially one with toxic fumes and no hood...

the new platters cost $25 plus shipping, which is about the price of getting a new one that doesn't have the button pad all misshapen from Target.

[guppiecat]

I've never heard of smelting aluminum. I've heard of sparking CDs and making plasma balls out of grapes. Personally, I'd be curious as to whether you could heat brass to the braising point. If that were possible AND it didn't jump around during heating (due to sparking), certain types of sculpture would be far simpler than they have been in the past.

Regarding the hood, you could always run the microwave outside. That'd probably the safest way to experiment with it anyway.

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

http://www.hackaday.com/2005/01/24/microwave-oven-foundry/

Replacement Parts

[7ivy7.livejournal.com]

We need to do a better job. I don't know how to fix your microwave. No one ever fixes appliances now. It is cheaper to replace them. $25 vs. $35 to have a tech even look at it. All our used stuff ends up in landfills. Just wrong.

Re: Replacement Parts

[guppiecat]

Not necessarily wrong... it just means that there's a lot of cool stuff in landfills.

I'm thinking about taking a trip to my local landfill when it gets cooler. I have some projects in mind, and I might be able to find some nice free parts there.

(Were I one of those super rich people, I'd be buying up closed landfills in anticipation of when we have the technology to properly sort and recycle the useful stuff we're putting there now. We're basically building goldmines for the future.)

Re: Replacement Parts

[7ivy7.livejournal.com]

You think? Thanks for giving me hope.

Re: Replacement Parts

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

You can probably find plenty of microwave plates there, in the ones that got thrown out because they don't work, rather than because the plates got broken or something.

Re: Replacement Parts

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

well, it is.

possibly I could find a platter at goodwill or ask for one on craig's list. I must admit it's not high on the list of things I really need to do.

I once fixed my toaster oven: http://sf0.org/alisgray/Debug-the-World/