Find of the day

UPATED-- SEE THE NEWEST POST- from now on I will be adding new stuff to this thread rather than starting new ones- I have links in the new post to the other threads and a new find for you!!
add anything you find- keep this thread going for tips from all-- TY for reading this thread-- hak





I am lucky to be able to volunteer at a thrift shop that raises $ for the local animal shelter. My 'job' is dealing with everything electronic. Being seriously addicted (to lasers)I am constantly thinking about items useful to my addiction. I am willing to share SOME of these with the forum. I doubt I will find a truly unique one but who knows?? todays find is Kodak One-step instant (poliroid type)camera. I found two nice FS mirrors (fairly thin should be easy to cut)- two plastic lenses-some leds and not shown a dcv motor. It was an easy harvest and as the film is no longer available- it would never have sold. BOLO instant cameras-.............m<(*v*)>m.........hakzaw1 PS kinda hard to see the mirrors- square one in in middle of photo the other is at the 9oclock position

interesting find! those mirrors could turn out to be the best affordable mirrors altogether! they obviously are of constant "photographic quality", and being thin they would be easy to cut and light enough for mounting on fast-spinning or accelerated devices.. ;-)
are they glass? i am sure, but who knows.. what size?

manuel

Nice, ive found some interesting optical elements in cameras in the past aswell.

Unless the tech is different My best guess is that ALL instant cameras have some FS mirrors(and a dc motor) in them- which accounts for their shape-there are tons of the old cheapie plastic Polaroid cameras out there(sim. to this Kodak) and due to lack of film the are being tossed out. Next one I find gets opened for sure. Have not counted but I have found at least 6 sources of FS mirrors and still counting/looking-Obsolete rear projection TVs have a HUGE one.----------m<(*_*)>m-------

All the prismatic shaped ones and foldable ones, yes.

After all, having the objective in front, and the paper cartridge at the bottom, almost at 90 degrees, requires obligatorily a mirror

HIMNL9- damn!! I am sure I have tossed out several old poliroid cheapies out not thinking there was much in there. Always say unless I am extra careful I learn something new most every day!!!...nm<(*_*)>mn... hak

when in doubt, open it and look inside! ;-)
well, at last if it has motors or anything optical inside ;-)
oh, talking about polaroids: they have this golden "window", right? its very very thin gold-foil! real gold, so thin it looks greenish when looking through! isnt that cool? (somewhat) transparent metal! not just silly transparent aluminum, its transparent gold, baby!
(and about 1/10 mm³)

ah, its time i "explore" the innards of newer laser/led-printers, photocopiers or scanner!

manuel

Thanks Manuel- l will be looking for the gold- ive opened lots of scanners and printers --good stuff in there- and so many of them going into the landfill--what a shame...peace Len

Okay- I should have placed all 'finds' in this one thread- rather than the other four I started so I will copypasta them all here later,, BUT NOW its time for another of

Hak's tip 'o the day

whats good to use & save inside a Kodak slide projector..

Every day there are less places that develope 35mm film-
Walmart and the major drugstore chains have already stopped.
Thats too bad ,as film still does, in some ways, make for better
better photography (plus no pixels to burn out with a laser beam)and the equipment many own represents a large investment that,
in my lifetime will never be gotten back. I have 3 NikonFs and 8 lenses and much more.

But it is what it is .


..so this slide projector ( with a bad bulb) has almost no value.
BUT-- I plan to use the shell to house a laser projector , prolly a lumia and there are other parts worth saving.

The top will need some modification-its heavy duty plastic but does already have a place for the beams to exit- the lens may have some use and there is a large double convex lens and a thick flat one too. There is a squirrel cage fan run from a belt connected to a motor- I have lots of smaller and quieter fans so that fan may never be used by me.

There is a bunch of screws and wire nuts that I can use and a good HD cord with gland that will go back into this unit. The base is metal and I will have an 3/8 inch Al. base plate to go inside for my lasers and other components.
It has a handy handle and I found a good case to transport the new projector in( also free)- it once housed an old manual portable typewriter. Thrift stores often have these and if you ask nice you may get a deal like I did.

BTW... another downside to the drugstore no longer processing film is the aa or aa battery one can salvage inside every one- the store just tosses them or a salvage bin is there and the people that maintain the machines pick these up- also aside from the free ( and almost always good) batteries there is a strobe unit- which btw can give you a nasty shock if you do not short the cap inside before handling- these have some value and can also be used to make DIY taser/zapper.

You may still find places that will give you the MT cameras- last time I scored I got a garbage bag full- I will not be buying primary aa or aaa batts for a very long time to come.

I have found that you may be told they cannot give them to you if you ask the wrong employee--I ask the one that looks least like the boss first.

I seperate the leftovers and take them to re-cycle- the plastic lenses may be useable and the two gears at the top I save to glue FS mirrors for my spiro kits. the small shaft hole is perfect for the free 3vdc motors I get from every Polaroid one- step cameras-(et al) which I pay no more than $1 for, as like 35mm film, - polaroid film is no longer easy to find. There is also some plastic gears inside- another flash unit(& a good shock if you are not careful) a fairly easy to cut thin glass keystone shaped FS mirror and a few other usable parts- these have no battery as the film pack contains one.

Subscribe to this thread to get emails to let you know that Hak has scored AGAIN!!

Feel free to add to my thread any finds you may know about- if we don't recycle- reuse or repurpose as much as we can then we are throwing it all away and that means more landfills.

There are treasures for every laser geek at all thrift shops and garage sales.
Good glass for lumia ( glass ashtrays, candle holders and old timey doorknobs etc)- motors some with fwd & reverse and speed control( wired remote control cars) these can be used for a quick& dirty spiro- RC wireless toys provide wireless control for spiros and can be useful for lumia PJs too.

you only limitation is your imagination...

********************
UPDATE

I have a few other threads about this topic-
here they are if you are interested- however from this point on I will not be starting new threads but adding to this one- please post your comments and your finds too- sub this thread(in 'tools' at the top) or make a post & you will be subbing it.
If you see any uses for parts from these items that I missed please do let us all know-
********************************

here are the old ones-
EZ laser 'time tunnel' froma vcr tape re-winder
http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/find-day-2-a-43549.html
or..
a dc motor about the size a of a pinto beam and plastic diffraction gratings from old cell phones...these IIRC are the dc spiro motors used in the White Fusion Time machines built by Rog88 and Flaminpyro Jeff

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/find-day-3-a-43618.html


and...whats good inside an old kodak disc film camera..plus a good tip from a poster.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/find-day-4-a-43786.html

RE:
polaroids: they have this golden "window"

The golden window you mention is probably a "natural sunlight" filter that Kodak used to stop certain emissions/wavelengths/radiation etc from entering the unit.

From memory the Gold content should very high , 22 or 24 Carat Gold & the build quality should also be very high because without this gold light filter the Polaroid film exposure process would have failed.

In general , salvaged components like this should be kept as clean as possible or cut out of the unit with the manufacturer's protective lenses intact on both sides of the filter fore safe keeping. The scrap value is negligible compared to what a gold light filter can be used for in applied experiments.
I haven't googled'd it but Gold based filters can both block & enhance the passage of specific EM waves & possibly Particles around the Far Infra-Red to Gamma Ray range. A bit of research should back up my claims that Gold is a useful filter with funky properties.


JB

PS It's been a while since I have actively applying my knowledge