Parts that are still usable inside machines people throw away, and the places those machines usually show up.
You can start from a job, from a discarded machine, or from a word on a label. You do not need a part number. Each entry says what the part is, which numbers are typical, and when you should buy a new one instead.
Remove parts from a machine that is already dead. Do not remove the overheat fuse, the door switch, or another safety part from a machine you will plug in again. If a label on your part disagrees with this index, use the label. Confirm the reading with a meter.
Donors 59
Computing
- Desktop PCeverywhereThe highest-value carcass in ordinary e-waste if you keep the supply, the fans, and the case together. The motherboard is a poor source of identifiable chips and a decent source of hardware.Prize: ATX computer supply, Axial fan, Enclosure
- LaptopeverywhereA box of modules: battery, blower, wireless card, camera, speakers, heat pipe. The logic board is not a parts board. Record the exact model; many of the useful pieces only fit the same series.Prize: Cylindrical lithium-ion cell, Lithium pouch cell
- Hard disk driveeverywhereOpened for two neodymium magnets and, if you want them, a voice coil and a spindle motor. The platters are not a useful material. The board is drive-specific.Prize: Neodymium magnet, SATA-USB bridge
- CD / DVD / Blu-ray drivecommonA kit of small motors, gears, and a laser you should probably leave in the pickup. Desktop drives are a much easier teardown than laptop slot-loaders.
- Inkjet printereverywhereThe best mechanical donor in the house. Rods, belts, a real encoder, motors, and a supply that is often 24–32 V. The ink is the part you did not want.Prize: Switch-mode wall supply, Linear shaft, Linear encoder strip
- Laser printercommonHeavier than an inkjet and richer in steppers and a high-current supply. The toner cartridge is a mess, not a donor. The fuser is hot, mains, and usually worn.Prize: Switch-mode wall supply, Stepper motor
- Flatbed scannercommonA slower, cleaner inkjet: one axis, a light bar, a rod, a belt, and a pane of glass. Often thrown out while mechanically perfect.
- Optical mouseeverywhereThe best source of small snap-action switches in the house, plus a quadrature wheel and a USB cable. The optical sensor is not a useful camera.Prize: Microswitch
- KeyboardeverywhereA membrane keyboard is a cable and a case. A mechanical keyboard is a tray of real switches. Know which you have before you spend an hour.Prize: Mechanical keyswitch
- WebcamcommonDo not disassemble a working webcam. It is already the module you wanted.Prize: USB webcam
- LCD monitoreverywhereThe panel is the valuable part, and only if you photograph the model number on the metal back before the boards are separated from it. Everything else is a small supply, a backlight driver, and buttons.Prize: LCD panel
Entertainment
- Set-top box or streamercommonSame idea as a router, with a better infrared receiver and sometimes a hard drive. The tuner is not useful.Prize: Switch-mode wall supply, Infrared remote receiver
- LCD televisioneverywhereA monitor with a louder supply, real speakers, and an infrared receiver you can actually use. The main board is e-waste unless you want the Wi-Fi module.Prize: Infrared remote receiver
- Infrared remoteeverywhereA finished infrared transmitter. The LED is the only component worth moving, and only after the remote itself is dead. A working remote plus the receiver from the TV is a complete link.Prize: Infrared LED
- Game controllercommonTwo rumble motors and a set of buttons. The analog sticks are often the reason it was scrapped, so test the pots before you plan a robot around them.Prize: Vibration motor
- DVD or Blu-ray playercommonA small optical drive, a supply, and an infrared receiver, in a box that was designed to stack. The VFD on the front is pretty and painful to reuse.Prize: Infrared remote receiver
- Clock radio or stereocommonSpeakers, a transformer on the older ones, an amplifier, and knobs. The AM ferrite rod is a nice core. Cassette belts have turned to tar.Prize: Speaker driver, Iron transformer
- Powered or Bluetooth speakereverywhereA speaker, an amplifier board, and a way to feed it. Keep those three together. The battery, if there is one, is the part that died.Prize: Speaker driver, Amplifier board
- Alarm clockcommonA small transformer or a capacitive supply, a speaker, buttons, and sometimes a VFD. Capacitive-dropper clocks are not isolated. If you do not see a transformer, treat every wire as mains.Prize: Iron transformer
- CRT television or monitoroccasionalNot a donor. The tube can implode, the anode holds tens of kilovolts, the glass is leaded, and the useful copper is not worth the risk. Recycle the set whole.
Office & comms
- Router or modemeverywhereA small enclosure, a known barrel jack, antennas, and an external brick that is the actual prize. The SoC is not a hobby computer you can repurpose just because it runs Linux in someone else's firmware.Prize: Switch-mode wall supply
- Barcode scanneroccasionalAn office cleanout part. If it types numbers into a text editor, it is a finished tool. The laser or imager inside is not a better prize than that.Prize: USB barcode scanner
- Paper shreddercommonA universal motor and a metal gearbox that will outlive the basket it came in. The interlock is there because the gearbox does not care what it is shredding.Prize: Universal motor
- DoorbellcommonA solenoid chime and, somewhere near the panel or in the chime box, a small mains transformer at about 16 VAC. Wireless buttons are just a battery and a radio you will not reuse.Prize: Doorbell transformer, Solenoid
Kitchen
- Microwave oveneverywhereTwo different machines in one cabinet: a useful slow motor and some heavy door switches, and a high-voltage section that kills people. Take the motor and the switches. Leave the transformer, the capacitor, and the magnetron alone unless this is already your trade.Prize: AC synchronous gearmotor, Microswitch
- DishwasheroccasionalA pump, a valve, a heater, and a float. Wet, grimy, and electrically ordinary.Prize: Small pump, Solenoid water valve
- Electric kettleeverywhereA sheathed element, a steam thermostat, and a thermal fuse. The base is a cordless connector. Leakage from element to sheath is the test that decides whether any of this goes back near water.Prize: Tubular heating element
- BlendercommonA universal motor with brushes, a multi-speed switch, and an interlock so it does not run with the jar off. High speed, intermittent duty.Prize: Universal motor
- Toaster and toaster ovencommonNichrome on mica, a mechanical timer or a simple board, and a thermal fuse. The pop-up mechanism is a bimetal or an electromagnet, depending on the era.
- RefrigeratoroccasionalA sealed refrigerant system you do not cut, plus a few honest parts: fans, a door switch, a lamp, a start relay. The compressor is not a vacuum pump you can liberate.
- Digital kitchen scaleeverywhereOne aluminum load cell and almost nothing else. This is the cheapest precision sensor in household trash.Prize: Load cell
Laundry
- Washing machinecommonA pump, valves, a motor, and a pressure switch. Older belt-drive machines have a motor you can reuse. Direct-drive machines have a BLDC married to an inverter; keep them as a pair or not at all.Prize: Small pump, Solenoid water valve
- Clothes dryercommonA heater, a motor, a belt, and a stack of thermal cutouts that exist because the heater is serious. Gas dryers have a burner instead of the element; do not improvise with gas valves.Prize: Tubular heating element
Climate & water
- Desk or box faneverywhereA shaded-pole motor that runs forever, an oscillation gearbox that is a small mechanical education, and a switch. Newer DC fans are a brick plus a BLDC and are a different animal.Prize: Shaded-pole motor, Gears
- Window air conditioneroccasionalA run capacitor, two fan motors, a contactor, and a refrigerant loop you do not vent. The capacitor is the salvage people actually want.Prize: Film capacitor
- Ultrasonic humidifiercommonA piezo disc driven at about 1.7 MHz, a small fan, a float, and a low-voltage supply. The disc pits away and is the usual failure.
- Space heatercommonA heater, a fan, a tip-over switch, and a thermal fuse. Oil-filled radiators are a sealed heater you do not drill. Fan heaters are the donor. Old tip-over switches may contain mercury.Prize: PTC heater
Personal & toys
- Hair dryereverywhereA fast universal motor or a small DC motor, a nichrome stack, and two thermal protections. The thermal fuse is why many of them died.Prize: Universal motor
- Cordless vacuumcommonA lithium pack and a motor. The pack is why it was scrapped: one weak group, or a BMS that will not wake. The motor is usually fine.Prize: Cylindrical lithium-ion cell
- Mobile phoneeverywhereMost of a phone is not salvage. The vibration motor, the speaker, and a healthy battery are. The camera is MIPI and will not become a webcam. Boards are nothing but unmarked BGA.Prize: Vibration motor
- HeadphoneseverywhereTwo small drivers and a cable that failed at the plug. The drivers are usually fine. The cable is the wear item.Prize: Speaker driver
- Photoelectric smoke alarmcommonA very loud piezo horn. Confirm the label says photoelectric before you open anything. Ionization alarms contain americium and are not a donor.Prize: Piezo horn
- Digital cameracommonGlass, a tiny gearmotor or two, and a lithium cell of a proprietary shape. The sensor is not a webcam. The flash capacitor bites.Prize: Lens and optical glass
- Motorized toyeverywhereBrushed motors, plastic gears, a battery box, and a switch. The motors are unmarked. Meter them. The radio in a toy RC car is almost never a usable module.Prize: Brushed DC motor, Gears
- Electric toothbrushcommonA tiny geared motor and a pair of inductive charging coils. The battery is often a single NiMH and is often dead.
- Blood-pressure monitoroccasionalA small air pump, a bleed valve, and a pressure sensor, already on one board. Useful if you are doing pneumatics at cuff pressure and not useful as a medical device afterwards.Prize: Small pump
Lighting
- FlashlighteverywhereA LED, a switch, a lens, and sometimes an 18650. The valuable version is the one that took a real cell. Keychain lights are a coin cell and a disappointment.Prize: LED array or COB
- LED lampeverywhereA few LEDs and a driver. Many cheap bulbs are not isolated: the LED board sits at mains potential. Treat every one as live until you have looked at the topology.
- Fluorescent fixturecommonA magnetic ballast is a heavy choke. An electronic ballast is a mains high-frequency supply with little salvage value. The tube contains mercury and is recycled whole.
- Solar garden lighteverywhereA tiny solar cell, a dead NiMH cell, a white LED, and a one-chip boost converter that also detects night. The best small teaching circuit in the trash.Prize: Small solar cell, Indicator LED
- Seasonal light stringeverywhereA seasonal donation of thin wire and LEDs wired in series. One open LED darkens a whole section. The plug sometimes hides a rectifier and a blink controller.
Power & battery
- Wall adaptereverywhereThe correct salvage is the whole sealed supply, labeled with the voltage you measured. Opening one to steal a controller throws away a working supply.Prize: Switch-mode wall supply
- Uninterruptible power supplycommonA lead-acid battery that is usually already dead, an inverter transformer, relays, and a fan. People scrap the whole unit because the battery died. The battery is the heavy part and often the only dead part.Prize: Iron transformer
- Power stripeverywhereA switch, a cord, and outlets. The MOV that made it a 'surge protector' is a one-shot and may already be sacrificed. Do not trust a salvaged MOV to protect anything.Prize: Mains cord
Shop & tools
- Cordless drillcommonA lithium pack with a weak group, a gearbox, and either a brushed motor or a BLDC with its controller. The charger is matched to the pack voltage.Prize: Cylindrical lithium-ion cell
- TreadmilloccasionalA large high-voltage DC motor and the board that drives it from the mains. A known maker salvage for a lathe or a grinder, and a disappointing one if you wanted a 12 V motor.Prize: Brushed DC motor, Treadmill motor controller
- E-scooter or hoverboardoccasionalHub motors, a dual controller, and a lithium pack that must be treated as a fire until it has been tested. Hoverboard packs are a known cause of scrap-lithium fires.Prize: Brushless DC motor, BLDC controller, Cylindrical lithium-ion cell
- Garage door openeroccasionalA motor, limit switches, a pair of infrared safety beams, and a logic board. The beams are a finished sensor pair.Prize: Phototransistor, Infrared LED