Lasers from copiers...?

[Trevor]

I have the opportunity to gut some copy machines that are anywhere between fairly new and several (or more) years old. I know these are going to have nice optics in them - but what about lasers?

I remember reading somewhere in the vast ocean of knowledge that is Sam's Laser FAQ that quite often copiers will have laser systems inside them other than straight infrared diodes (namely Argon or DPSS).

Is this still true enough with modern copiers that this adventure is worth pursuing?

Cheers.

-Trevor

 

[photonaholic]

Trevor, I would look, hell man a few phillips screws and a minute of your time, why the heck not???

Dig in there and look.

Don't forget there are a ton of steppers, solenoids, Solid State Relays (Awesome for interfacing high current AC devices to a CPU or other IC.) The most likely places to find them is the scan lamp circuit and fuser unit circuit.

Fuser units draw almost a thousand watt load, so the SSR is real beefy there, Man I have harvested dozens of those, awesome for hooking up TTL to big loads.

Take a big bucket or two, Hell take a cordless drill with a phillips bit in it.

Take some wire cutters, grab up some harness wire, take all the PC boards, I desolder LED indicators and IC chips all the time from those.

The power transformers are great too, pull 'em. they make mega amps at 24 and 12 volts, usually followed by massive rectifiers and caps, some interesting voltage regulators in there.

The power packs for the corona assemblies make some great HV tesla style coils.

Shafts, screws, bushings, motors, when you leave, there best be a raw frame sitting on the floor!

 

[billg519]

Yes, even if there are no good lasers inside, it is well worthwhile to scrap a copier. Besides useful electronics, you may also find lenses and first surface mirrors. Very good idea to go in with a cordless drill, spare battery, wirecutters, and a couple of 5 gallon buckets to throw all the parts in. Sounds like you have a great parts opportunity here !!!

 

[photonaholic]

I used to work at an office supply "dealer" that had the biggest copier "bone yard" I have ever seen.

Collected some of the coolest items ever over a two year period.

We sent frames out by the truck loads for scrap steel. Fuser rollers and drums for scrap aluminum, and I'm fairly sure I will never buy wire again for breadboarding projects.

You can make mini "battle bots" by harvesting out the rubber feed rollers and drive spindles, there are cable drives and chrome sliders in there, plus worm drive focus tables, Photo sensors, Metal stand off bushings,etc.....oh it's a treasure trove inside those machines.

There is a few models of older 1990-1995 vintage Xerox brand machines that have a "electroluminescent" strip next to the drum. These are normally used to erase the static charge from the drum, Properly extracted they make killer lights for the "den"

These strips glow really bright using the same technology as those paper thin night lights that sit close to the wall.

Fluorescent scan lamps are usually green when lit, the driver packs usually run on 12-24 volts. (they only draw about an amp, replace the bulb with a white one and it makes a great camping light)

Both of these are 10-12 inches long.

Heck, use a roto zip tool, and cut some plastic sheets for yourself from the body panels.

Have fun, be open minded, there are some great items available to you here.

 

[Cyparagon]

They have to be LARGE and they have to be OLD. If they have a large vent and/or a large power plug, they may have an argon laser inside.