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Thread: Wrecking Photocopies for Goodies
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23rd April 2014, 02:36 PM #1
Wrecking Photocopiers for Goodies
I picked up an old photocopier for nicks last week and spent several hours ripping it to pieces. It was a Canon with document feeder and a stacker. This is the third one I've wrecked over the last few years and they are a great source for good quality steel rod (4mm, 6mm, 10mm, 12mm and 14mm) that machines beautifully, steppers, motors, solenoids, micro and other switches, transformers, power supplies, gears, belts, bearings, sheet metal, plastic, wheels, struts, wire, rollers etc and heaps of 3mm, 4mm and 6mm screws.
The first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant.
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23rd April 2014, 03:40 PM #2.
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
- Perth
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- 24,746
Sounds very familiar.
I dismantled one a few years back and got 4 really good rollers out of it that I made in/out feed rollers for my bandsaw. It had a beaut set of large rubber wheels which I put on a planer at the mens shed. I still have a few bits and pieces from it. It reminds me it's about time to pick up another one.
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23rd April 2014, 06:12 PM #3Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
- Location
- Griffith NSW
- Posts
- 257
Ive got one at school that is awaiting demolition. Thats quite a haul you can fetch out of them, I was only looking for the steppers!
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23rd April 2014, 09:05 PM #4Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Tasmania
- Posts
- 92
I reckon I've broken down a dozen or more printers now for the shafts. As you say, it machines beautifully and I've made a bunch of stuff with them.
Any idea what the alloy is? I've heard it might be a leaded steel or some free machining stuff but whatever it is, I'll keep grabbing printers when the come available. Hard rubbish days are very productive. I'd like to get one of the big copy centres from work places to see if they have bigger shafts.
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23rd April 2014, 09:24 PM #5
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24th April 2014, 12:17 PM #6GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- May 2011
- Location
- Murray Bridge SA
- Posts
- 2,956
I've done the same, mainly for the cogs and shafts. If anyone wants some steppers I've some they can have for gratis + postage.
Kryn
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24th April 2014, 12:21 PM #7
sewing
old sewing machines are good too
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24th April 2014, 04:00 PM #8Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- melbourne
- Posts
- 59
This sounds like a great idea. I've just got to think of a way to jam the door to the photocopier room first, or someone's bound to complain.
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25th April 2014, 08:30 AM #9
Oooo Can I add a "Me Too" for this one.
There are some really nice bits of salvageable goodies in those machines. One of the problems here in the UK is that virtually all of the larger photocopiers and printers are rented or leased by the manufactures or their agents. As a result it can be quite difficult to get you hands on them. I've had the odd one.Best Regards:
BaronJ.
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25th April 2014, 10:33 AM #10.
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
- Perth
- Posts
- 24,746
One of the most unusual and useful bit of gear I managed to get some buts of was bits from an old X-ray machine. They are perfectly safe to work on (although really old ones might use PCB filled transformers) and because they are high current/voltage devices the quality of components is usually military grade. The metal panels are typically 2 mm powder coated and there are often some seriously chunky bits of metal such as stainless inside them. I must have pulled more than a dozen 15A microswitches out of one. I used one on my bandsaw brake. I also made my lathe coolant tank from a coolant tank.
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25th April 2014, 02:39 PM #11
Yeah used to work at Ricoh in Melb. All sorts of goodies in the graveyard.
Sales guys used to try and resell/lease copiers that done too much work, or hadnt hard too hard a life. Dusty joints like quarries, building sites dont do much for em.
There were old machines that had been traded in that were scrapped for parts. A guy used to come in and buy up the crappy units.
if you can get past all of the BS these places are gold for the aquirers of bits.www.lockwoodcanvas.com.au
I will never be the person who has everything, not when someone keeps inventing so much cool new stuff to buy.
From an early age my father taught me to wear welding gloves . "Its not to protect your hands son, its to put out the fire when u set yourself alight".
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25th April 2014, 02:52 PM #12
The prized goodies were the network interface cards and any associated items. Got to the point where I would take these items out upon arrival, so the sales guys and field techs couldnt pilfer em without coming and seeing me first.
The value of a unit was greatly reduced if they couldnt be connected up to a network. Once you take out the laser (scan) unit, fuser and drum unit, then theres not much thats considered of value left.www.lockwoodcanvas.com.au
I will never be the person who has everything, not when someone keeps inventing so much cool new stuff to buy.
From an early age my father taught me to wear welding gloves . "Its not to protect your hands son, its to put out the fire when u set yourself alight".
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26th April 2014, 10:46 AM #13
I'll join in many an old printer started this about 15 years ago now with the likes of scanner printers there is more to be had.
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28th April 2014, 05:59 AM #14
I am pressing some of these plastic gears into service. In this case literally.
Some will remember the photo of the gear box. Well one of the long gears has been cut down and bored out with a 30 degree taper and it is now firmly fixed to the output shaft of this motor gearbox.
But more about what I am up to in another thread. I've a lot of design work to do yet.
The pictures show the original gearbox,
The gear used,
The motor,
The gear on the motor shaft.
The last photograph shows the motor on the mill table being machined. There is a brass collar to be pressed onto the machined surface. The only reason that I decided to machine it was because of the taper. It wouldn't have been wise to try to force a collar onto a tapered form. Plus the shaft wasn't truly concentric with the casting.Best Regards:
BaronJ.
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