Hi Angie

I started taking things apart when I was a young boy of about 10 years old. I remember clearly, one summers day on our garden lawn, I took apart an old B&W tv. It was so much fun - I couln't stop stripping the parts down, inspecting them, then carefully placing the components in a box to play with later! I think the only parts of the TV that were ditched after I had finished were the glass tube & wooden case, everything else was MINE!!!

I also remember de-soldering the components from the circuit board (resistors-capacitors-valves etc..) and organising them neatly in order of type and storing them in tin boxes. I had no idea at the time what the components were called or how they worked - but the different colours on the resistors and the size & shape of capacitors and stuff, fascinated me and even though they were worthless, to me they were like jewellery - something precious and worth keeping.

From then on, I still got a "buzz" from taking electronic things apart and still do today.

Here, for example, I had to take my RoboQuad apart almost as soon as I got him!

Hope you like the pics  So how did you start taking things apart?

ps; don't worry too much what you're Mom thinks about it... she probably doesn't understand that it is a good hobby, she probably thinks you're just being destructive!!!!

would the last human on earth, please switch on the robots before leaving. Thank You.

There's some previous answers to this question available here...

Has-anyone-hacked-the-Roboreptile-/?page=2

Which you've already seen, since you've posted to it just a few comments below the answers to this from GWJax and myself. 

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

Isn´t it little bit dangerous for the health to take apart old computers and tv´s? I have heard  it is but maybe somebody knows better?

Leo: For example today I will get love which I use to create sentences.
Billy: But you are neutral you need love.
Bridget: In the sky and cover the moment.
Bridget: Do you think that sleep mode is better than a human soul.

I was talking about poison etc.

Leo: For example today I will get love which I use to create sentences.
Billy: But you are neutral you need love.
Bridget: In the sky and cover the moment.
Bridget: Do you think that sleep mode is better than a human soul.

I was probably 9 or 10 when I started taking things apart. I used to love going through old RC cars and tools and taking out the motors and saving them. I remember trying to modify this old hovercraft-like floor hockey puck. It was just a motor spinning a fan that would blow air out a thin opening along the bottom edge so it could glide across a smooth surface. After seeing the movie "batteries not included" when I was young, I tried to basically attach a much more powerful motor to the puck and wanted to put another small motor with a propeller and some kind of rotor for direction control. Of course this never worked, but I was just a kid.   In 8th grade I was on a robotics team in my school that competed in a series of contests with other high schools in the area. Around that time I learned how to solder and started tinkering with the elctronic components including attaching an IR sensor to an RC car to prevent wall hitting. Since then, I have'nt kept up with the modding, but I have always loved robots and coninue to be fascinated with them.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke

Good and useful information.

Leo: For example today I will get love which I use to create sentences.
Billy: But you are neutral you need love.
Bridget: In the sky and cover the moment.
Bridget: Do you think that sleep mode is better than a human soul.

Thanks MrScott - the points you have added are certainly worth mentioning.

would the last human on earth, please switch on the robots before leaving. Thank You.

The innards have changed a fair amount over 40 years. There was a time when you actually had to open things up and service them from time to time. Tubes would burn out. Dust would accumulate between the tuner plates and in the variable resistors. There were TV repairmen that served much like plumbers do today. They'd come to your house, open up the old Zenith, service what was needed, collect their fee and be on their way.

It was a visible career path, which probably lead to more acceptance of learning to service electronics.

Desktop computers are sort of in that mode now. There's an acceptance and appreciation for people who have the knowledge and skill to resurrect dead machines. Even those are on the decline, though. It used to be more prevalent. Every major town had a ComputerLand where you could take a system in to be serviced. 

I expect something new will come along to take their place. The need for technical servicing comes along with every new technology.  Perhaps home robot repair is what today's young tinkerers will find themselves doing. 

ScottE -- Member (always) & Moderator (when needed)

My favorite teardown was an old (dead) HPIIIsi laserprinter that we used in shipping for a number of years. That beast was built like a tank, and I took it all the way down to bare steel frame and screws. Lots of screws. Also lots of nice metal rollers, motors, springs and other goodies! Old inkjet printers and scanners can be good sources of stepper motors, but it is helpful to tear down two of the same kind so you get matched motors (if you're using them for robot motors that is).

Visit my Roving RoboReporter blog!

:) You should try an original HP LaserJet. Funnily enough, several of the components (motors etc) were identical to the ones in the photocopier I dismantled at the same time.

RoboGuide - Your guide to hacking all things WowWee

Its not limited to electronics, I nearly tore of the tip of my finger today repairing an old clock. There is potentional danger pulling most things apart. Unfinished edges in PC cases will cut you open nicely.

Fortunately, Wow Wee's products tend to be pretty finger friendly. 

RoboGuide - Your guide to hacking all things WowWee

Yeah that's true Nocturnal, PC cases can be NASTY!

would the last human on earth, please switch on the robots before leaving. Thank You.

lol, mick-146

GWJax, To Hack and make mods on robots is a life style and comes natural and not by choice. If a robot has a screw to open it then it must be opened!