There's more to scrapping than pulling something apart and collecting a cheque. The most prevalent scrappers of ewaste often become some of the best hardware technicians. Not because they know what it is or what it does but because they know why it's there. The 70+ year old man who runs the local repair shop has never owned a computer. Didn't have a television of his own till the 90s. And can work magic on the most modern of digital equipment. Knowing what it is is not as important as what it does. If you know what everything does you can figure out why it as a whole, doesn't do what it should do.
Anything that plugs into a power source intrigues me. If it turns on I must know how. If it did, and doesn't, I must know why. The what's inside thread shows just a bit, a small sample, of my desperate drive to know. Be it restoring a 35mm camera or building the ultimate gaming rig; knowing what it's called is less important than learning what it does. What will shock me, ouch. What will kill me. x( What blows up and what crumbles into toxic dust. Watching the meter, following the path; where did it come from and where does it go. And ultimately: why.
The best technicians in the world, Apple, DEC, even, early on, IBM! They all started by teaching themselves! You don't need 200 grand in degrees to figure out where a charge is held and what makes a charge flow. It all starts and ends with yes or no. + or -. On or off. Approach it from there and you'll find it's possible to fix as much as you scrap. The pickers advice stands true. It's worth more working than in pieces. . And before you take it apart see if someone wants it whole. I've sold many parts and components doa, sol, fubar! Only to find a few weeks later my buyer was selling it working! When everything else fails head on down to the boardsort forum and find out what it is and what's it worth. And maybe I'll tell you what it once was. Every so often you'll have more than you think. Don't scrap that Z80n. It's worth $40! That's a 4040. Nice mouse; worth $20 dead. You'll never sell pacman for the 2600 and the board is telco; but ET on a 5200 board? Worth $500+ that DEC motherboard is 250-300! And original Apple// boards run over $500 dead!! Well north of a grand running. So if you don't know and it's different than you've see before always ask. Chances are it's peripheral or midgrade rate but the diamond is out there. Scrap enough and you'll find a few. To steal the commercial: 500lbs of junk boards for $300 is a good auction. $100 in freight sucks; but the Modus 5000 in the middle of the pile is priceless. Never give up, never stop learning, and always asks questions.
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