What is worth desoldering from old electronics? || DIY Fume Extractor 

Desoldering components from stuff that was meant to be used once then thrown away is highly addictive

20 years ago it was a challenge to get any high quality parts in Russia. We even scraped all the remaining solder off the boards we were about to recycle for further usage. Even some dead parts were carefully preserved and had some usage in some projects. Nothing was thown away. And today people just toss away perfectly fine top branded capcaitors, high precision resistors and perfectly usable PWM controller ICs just because it is a pain to desolder then pin by pin with no proper tools handy. What a crazy world we are living in.

Last time I picked up a 46" tv next to someone's trash thinking I could get some components. Turned out the TV worked fine but the remote didn't. College students I swear.

I thought I was the only one cheap enough to do this LOL!

De-soldering and sorting components. Probably the most therapeutic thing you can do!

“A couple of old circuit boards,” *proceeds to place thousands of boards on table*

My dad was saving small mechanical and electrical/electronic parts more than 50 years ago and I'm still finding just what I want in his collection - definitely worth doing!

My lungs are my fume extractors.

One thing worth (really worth!) highlighting is the environmental impact of "parts salvaging". Most of these components use rare materials of require substantial amounts of energy to produce. Re-using them has a massive positive environmental impact and as well as being a great example of circular economy - cradle-to-cradle, a holly grail of CE. Well done!

let me save you time coils, relays, heatsinks, capacitors, motor, switches, push button, transistor, screws, transformer

"You may not save a lot of money ..." but you do the environment a small favour 👍 Every effort counts. And I also rescue all screws from old devices for some decades already 🆒

I realize this is an older video, but one thing you forgot to mention, as you desolder parts you are actually increasing your ability to sold at the same time. It is a reverse method, but you gain the knowledge about soldering in general. And you see how much or little heat it takes to remove parts that way. I used to desolder parts off of thrown out board decades ago and basically removed anything I thought I would need later on. And I did use so many of those parts to experiment on hobby projects that way.

@2:10 Tip: Since air is compressible, always secure filter media (or any obstruction) to the inlet side of the fan, not he exhaust side. By compressing the air against the obstruction you will create about a 15% decrease in performance. As a side bonus, your fan will also stay clean.

I love the smell of the fumes

When you are joining twin cable (like on your 12v fan), cut the wires at different lenghts along the able so they cannot touch each other. You only need one tlength of heat shrink over both at once as well.

One of my teachers in his classroom always has a pile of freshly salvaged boards ready for students to desolder. Also he has EVERY component that I or any other student could need 😀 from little resistors to big filter caps

It's worth cutting those wall wart leads a few centimeters behind the plug, instead of right at the strain relief. With some length left over, you can solder on to the plug and reuse it, too.

I've been doing this for many years now, and it helps a lot to get free parts. I like your ideas!

I also love to take electronics apart. I'm doing this since 7 or 9. I just have no idea what im looking at, but im saving all sorts of components and boards.

First time watcher here. Im Just getting into electronics and I have to say thank you. Straight to the point, accurate, essential information...no fluff. Refreshing.

A cheap hot air gun lets me remove any component quickly, including DIP's, BGA's, and SMD's of any size sweep off a board by the dozens. But the best way I have found to maintain a stock of components from old boards is not to desolder anything but the largest components, so the boards can be stored compactly, and then attempt to locate schematics/service manuals which will help me identify mystery components, like SMD capacitors which usually have no value markings as SMD resistors do. If I have the schematic in my library, then I know I have the board, and whatever good components are left. As I use parts from a board, I cross them out on the schematic. Boards with no schematic either get cleared off completely, or I will make a file with the board number listing any valuable parts.

When I was a kid and didn't have lots of money for desoldering pumps or other expensive tools, I used an old injection needle to remove complicated parts like IC's: just remove the sharp injection part by holding it against a power grinding stone for a couple of seconds until it is flush and voilá: just stick the needle over the IC legs one by one and heat it up with your soldering iron: the solder doesn't stick to the needle and pushes the solder aside. Very fast, cheap and leaves your IC's still working fine!

I use the sun and a magnifying glass to desolder parts to keep it green

The random "saved screw" bin has helped me in almost every DIY project. Great video thank you.

When you cut off the old DC plug from a PSU to re-use it, leave 50mm of cable attached to the plug so you can use a screw-terminal block with it - handy for bench rig-ups ;) A major advantage is that you can easily add an extra capacitor at the terminal block to see if your circuit under test requires extra smoothing or RF filtering.

Personally, I do keep capacitors, resistors, ic circuits, and even diodes. Yes, they are cheap. Easily obtained online. Free shipping even usually. In fact I have new diodes and resistors ect. I have desoldered many resistors and almost always they test correct. I also just use flush cutters and clip out diodes with long leads. Just test them with a multi meter. Personally, I never had a problem with any of it not working. The value in doing so is many fold.

I somehow got sucked into these videos through the youtube algorithm and now I'm hooked. But I don't even know what this hobby or profession is even called to start my own learning.

I felt like a hoarder saving old electronics for parts, now after watching this i feel better!

Always salvage fasteners. Everyone needs a good screw at one point or another.

Great video. May I add, when cutting a plug from a wire, leave enough wire to reuse it. Transformer plugs are always worth keeping.

I agree, I salvage parts such as what you mentioned as well. You never know when you might be pressed for time, and need a component to fix a device that otherwise you might have to wait days or weeks for new to arrive. Also a great way to remove suspicion of a bad part right away when troubleshooting. If the used part fixes it, then you always have the option of buying a new part if critical of using an aged part for the application.

I just built a fume extractor today! Thanks for the video.

Heh, kids these days. Bulk desoldering with a soldering iron? In my day, we took a propane torch and ran it across the solder side of the board while pulling off parts we wanted. When you get good at it, you can us a flame spreader to heat a large area of the board then whack it from the component side with a few sharp blows and the solder facing down. It almost all falls out then the components can simply be picked off the board. Fumes? Do it outside.

you can never have too many screws

Just made the fume extractor and planning on doing some more minor projects. Thanks for the video!

U r always awesome Scott, it has been more than a year of subscribing your channel and it's always a pleasure to watch your videos. Cheers from Egypt 😁

If you are looking for carbon filter but don't need 10yrs worth a pet store has it in aqautics.

Everytime i see one of your videos i am reminded how much we are alike. I do the same thing; i salvage everything i can and store it in a labeled box. Keep the videos coming. You are inspiring a lot of would-be hobbiests and teaching them the right skills in advance; which they would learn eventually.

I love taking apart old stuff because it takes me back in time to see how things used to be made

My dad was doing this for years and reached me as a child to do it too. I'm so glad we did this because I can't count how many times we reused a salvaged part!

Good info. I've used several salvaged components in the past to repair broken electronics.

Thanks for the good content , I'll happily pledge the good work you do at, sharing your time to make these videos.

Nice video! This is very knowledgable for someone who just started soldering 3 weeks ago! Thank you!

Danke danke danke genau so ein Video hab ich gesucht! Das + deine Soldering Tips sind Gold wert, tausend dank!

I'm currently sick as hell from not using fume extraction. Anything is better than nothing, but honestly your health is worth the $40.

Good video. When I was younger I also desoldered every component from broken boards "for later". Now I remove only parts which I need, it isn't worth to waste time, electricity and solder for parts which you may never use.

Used to do this with my Grandfather back in the late 70’s Although a lot of stuff back then was valves and massive caps, a lot less IC’s etc. He got me started in electronics as a hobby, which in turn lead to My engineering jobs and then to my IT works. Thanks Gramps you shaped my world and didnt even get thanked.

I just saw this video again, and think it should be viewed by anyone starting in electronics. Very useful advices

Thanks for another great vid! :D edit: Don't forget the environmental impact! Sometimes it's easier to throw it out but if it works and doesn't take two days to salvage save it for latter!

Wait soldering fumes harm you? I absolutely love the smell of it though :(

More videos like this, I love your projects but videos like this help give us the ability to learn

Yay you sound super excited! Keep up the great work Scott!😁👌🔋

Great video thank you. some may consider using a microwave fan for the extractor it comes with its own housing and they're really powerful and have plenty of space on the housing to mount a switch. Here in the US they are shaded pole motors and damn near indestructible. Most refrigerators have two of them and bathroom exhaust fans are another source, those just don't have housings

Videos like this make me wish I had a work room/carage.

I've made a similar fan for soldering and de-soldering. Thank you very much, your videos are amazing.

I never thought about solder being dangerous I’ve just started working with electronics a little bit thank you you maybe have saved my health!

Hi Scott! What an awesome topic you have found for this video. I just dont have words to describe how close and familiar this topic to technicians from Russia and CIS. Truly heartwarming. Just like my comrades say below, our elder generations salvaged mostly all parts they could find, but for now its not quite right. And i talking about an electrolytes: they dont like heating and subject to bloating, regardless of quality. As a friendly advise i would suggest to avoid salvaging capacitors or at least use them in projects woth lowest requirements(HV cap are bad! I still have some scars after explosion) anyway thank you for the video!

Awesome advice, and very environmentally friendly thing to do :-) It's terrible how much is just thrown away.

What do I remove? EVERYTHING I can, including smd parts - I pre heat the board then a heat gun and using a soft brush, sweep the parts off the board to sort out later. Gradually going up in size until getting to awkward parts. Then it's a case of using a Dremel, cutting through the board around larger parts like sockets and transformers, then dip the board piece into a solder pot by holding the part (wearing leather gloves!) and within a few seconds off comes the board away from the part. Sometimes it's necessary to pull the board section off the component with pliers. For a large mobo it takes around 20 minutes for a whole host of parts. The sorting takes a bit longer, but I do a big batch at a time.

I appreciate what you are doing. Im doing thesame. I actually built a 5 channel amplifier using my old amplifier boards and salvage parts from other circuit boards.

Nice vid, Imho it's also nice to reuse old components in order to reduce waste and contribute to a more sustainable maker community.

Awesome video! Everytime i see : GreatScott uploaded a video It is like christmas:D Because maybe i get to know something new or learn something new about electronics that i didnt know before!^^ In this video it was not like this because i love to desolder and take apart things since i was 9 or so xD Everytime, i was interrested in how electronics work! Because of your videos i know a lot and my physic marks are extremely good ( 1-2 ) ^^ thank you for teaching us way better than our teacher:DD

Your my inspiration to get my electronics lab going back up now that I have my own garage

Great Scott I'm from Jamaica I've been fixing tvs alot of times I love watching your videos

Your plug cutout technique is terrifying. What a waste of a good dc Jack!

Borrow parts from your TV for a few days then solder I’m back on lol

Super Video! Löte schon seit Jahren an alten Platinen rum. Man weiß bei den Geräten vorher nie was man bekommt und es macht unglaublich Spaß! 👍🏼

I was just about to go buy a switch, you reminded me to harvest one from something old!

3:47 ... "every freakin' pin" Love that bit.

thank you mr greatscott. I remember my childhood memories! I always love to salvage dc motors and i made it as my generator. hahah mr great scott before when i was a child i just only dispose those special electronics component like capacitors and transistor! but i never thought they are so special so much. I got tears of joy again because you made me remember my dream childhood. to be an invetor and engineer! ? more power to your channel. have you do that when you was a child?

Thank you so much from Malaysia. So real and practical. Keep it up. Thanks again

I built a wah wah pedal a few years ago from old home appliance circuit boards using this method of scavenging parts. I used to help a friend whose job was appliance repair, so any time we switched out circuit boards I'd take them home with me. Most of the parts were easy to find, I did buy some of the resistors and caps though, but it took me forever to find a good suitable inductor coil. The coil is the main component that gives the pedal it's particular "wah" sound. Eventually, I got one when we repaired, I think it was, an oven. I was delighted!

I didn't know abt the fumes being harmful ...so thanks for that

Basically, any part your can use is good to keep...but trust me there comes a limit to how much you can keep on hand...and no matter how much you have there is always that one part you need to buy...;-)

..what a relief that somebody give those old transistors a new hope ..

Dude, you're awesome! God bless you and yours! Happy New Year!

I raid my school e-waste and I'm able to source over half my project materials from it

Usually you can desolder DIP ICs using a heat gun for the few that are worth keeping. After you've removed everything else you want to keep. While I don't desolder then in advance it happens from time to time I'll desolder especially SMD resistors but also other stuff. Usually the resistors are for replacing in stuff that has way to bright (usually) blue LEDs in them.

I used a fan to blow away the fumes, never thought of this. Great idea.

Never even thought of this, but this is genius! Thank you!

The Fluke model 12b is a fantastic meter. My favorite. The reason being that it has "z" function. It reads capacitors and coils. Good luck finding one.

A quicker way to solder things is use a heat gun on the backside of the board for a few seconds and give it a good whack and the parts will often just fall out.

Love your videos mate. Excellent info for professional and novice

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who does this

Years ago I fixed a CRT monitor just by replacing a simple resistor that was taken from a PCB of some electronic.

I got a cheap desoldering Iron that has a built in solder sucker. Its really good for desoldering. IC's just fall out on their own.

Thanks Mr Scott, I learned a lot about the bits and pieces soldered to motherboard and what they are for, there were so many that I never knew existed before, so . it was nicely explained for the non electronic geeks like me out here in digital space. Thanks. I too have collected boxes of old tat and electronics from here, there and everywhere because visually, they look so cool. I had them fixed, edge to edge on my wall but needed the space for more tat so put up 7, 10 foot long wooden shelves. Some of the older model PC's have amazingly engineered metal cooling systems built around their CPU's. When my local car doctor upgraded to a digital system I was given all kinds of amazing probes, tweezers and pump things with tubes, fans and lots of Steampunk fixings and light bulbs. I also keep the magnets, especially the neodymium flat ones near the hard drive reader mechanism and every microwave microtron magnets I can get my paws on to build the first working perpetual motion machine. Actually not because magnets lose their magnetism and I'm told it just isn't possible to make.

Yes, I too am a tinkerer of electronics as well as automotive stuff. I built for my HAMM radio license class a working transceiver about 40 years ago. I sourced the parts out of the kind of throw away stuff available in the midwestern United States in the late 70’s. It was not complex but could send/ receive Morse code out to about 30 miles. I am the same with car/ motorcycle parts... made a perfectly working Muncie M-21 4 speed transmission out of 2 broken M21s. Keep at it brother. We’ll see who builds the first time machine! ;)

Thing I like to salvage : Everything except the PCB itself. don't turn it on TAKE IT APAAART

Damn your English improved drastically within these three years

Really interesting video. One of my students once asked me about a capacitor on a motherboard and I didn't know the answer. I brought it to the attention of the whole class and told them it was their homework for the next week to identify the part 😳

i love your videos keep up the great work!!!

you can never have too many of the basic parts (screws and other random stuff) if you think you have barely enough you don't have enough

Before this, I thought I'm alone lol

Great bit of organisation at the end there

Really interesting, I've been collecting and desoldering for a while - I'm building up a rather large microswitch collection for some reason...

Don't laugh, but I had three times the amount of trash pcb's here from servers to household crap. I just took a small torch lighter and took most useful parts of this way. Surely this isn't a great idea because of the intense heat, but it worked ..

please make a guide for how to arrange components and manage them

Makes sense. I've been getting into the idea of electronics design. This is a good way to save some money and as well have parts on hand at all times.

Me too! I hate throwing away old electronics and will always take them apart for wires and such other parts. The amount of good condition screws you can get is amazing.