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 Forum index » DIY Hardware and Software » Lunettas - circuits inspired by Stanley Lunetta
thrift store lunetta (or something?)
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CatchAce



Joined: May 11, 2011
Posts: 27
Location: Chesapeke, Virginia, USA

PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2011 3:00 pm    Post subject:  thrift store lunetta (or something?)
Subject description: Harvest the Junk, Fuel the lunet-tic
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i had a crazy idea; harvesting thriftshop stuff for parts.

for me anyway, it seems like a good idea; you go and get random stuff to take apart, and then frankenstien a noisemaker from it all, and best of all, no waiting for shipping and handling. Shocked !

so, my idea of a good spread is;

radio alarm clocks (4 to 6, or more if youre inclined to it) - Radio alarm clocks are a good foundation thing imo, because of the frequency chips inside (well, the AM/FM has to come from somewhere, right?), as well as the few pots it has for things like tuning and volume. The readouts may also be good to keep around for timing indicators.

maybe an actual radio / boom box or 2. - I would advise finding analog radios and boomboxes with a decent amount of knobs and switches. You may also find harvestble LED's and other interesting odds and ends in the mix too.

an older printer or videogame system - mostly for a power supply, but like the boom box, is apt to provide abit of a bonus in components that may or may not be found in other devices.

an older computer - i would go for atleast 1 older computer, because it is probably a smores-board-gasm of parts and components. Also, it wouldnt hurt if the casing was relativly unusual, like maybe being taller/bigger than relativly normal CPU's, so as to upgrade its insides for a new custom computer (most computers are 18 inches tall x 4 to 6 inches wide, with either a beige or black/silver casing.)

and last but hopefully not least, random kids toy gadgets. - more parts and components, like pots, buttons, and switches, and maybe even a mini-keyboard.

now, im not saying that this would eliminate the need for the occasional trip to radio shack, but i think its a good jumpstart for the beginner like me, as it would get one a nice spread of veriety of parts, and also help in de-soldering/re-soldering skills. Mr. Green (once you have a decent spread of tools, that is....)

so, do you agree? disagree? Maybe you see some improvements that can be made on this idea?
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Draal



Joined: May 18, 2010
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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2011 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hi CatchAce,
I got started in this lunetta thang when my old thermostat broke. Inside that bugger was a 40106, a 4040, a 4051, a 4081 and maybe a comparator chip. I tend to buy when I have no choice but I do enjoy opening up old/discarded electronics hoping for unusual parts too.

Got a couple of old imacs waiting to be assimilated Smile .

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Stream Operator


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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

This is totally not my thing. However, since it is your thing, I will make a comment. I like it. Old junk is a great source for all sorts of stuff like knobs and lights and special wheelie dealies and indicators etc. Plus you can find awesome project cases in old junk, a thing that I lack.

I will add the following, however, which is that actual electronic components will be somewat, um, limited. You will find pots and switches galore but do not try to reuse things like electrolytic caps or resistors. Some chips will be golden but most will not be worth the effort to unsolder them or will die a heat death in the process.

Overall, I'd recommend this for a good scrounger. Don't forget to check out that guy who makes a living off of this sort of thing, don't know him, um, is it Casper Electronics I think? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's him and his gig. Later Ace.

Les

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droffset



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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2011 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Yup, I still take stuff apart to try and identify the parts of the circuit. Old cheap music keyboards have layouts that are easy to understand, the stuff next to the headphone jack is for audio output, so you'll probably find an amplifier chip to hack into. Old handheld cassette players are great for finding amplifier chips, some of them even have built in low-voltage motor drivers.

I do a bit of scale modeling too and VCRs are a gold mine of bits and pieces.

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tjookum



Joined: May 25, 2010
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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2011 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I actually posted a message at school for old and used electronics and you won't believe what people came up with. In about a year I got 4 old stereo units, 4 radio's, a couple of routers, a very big laserprinter, a dancing santa, 8 perfectly fine 12V battery's, a wake up light, etc....

Next to the parts you can really learn a lot by analyzing all the different components and signal paths. Electronics always have this mystery surrounding them but once you opened up a few boxes it starts to make sense.

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tony void



Joined: Apr 26, 2011
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Yes yes yes we're doing it electronic peasants style! I've been obsessed with doing this for the past month. Opening up an old piece of equipment is like a birthday gift all over again. Not to mention the educational value of seeing how things are laid out her finding parts if you don't know what they're used for you looking them up and figuring it out.
I do have one question. Les mentioned not using old Electrolytic capacitors and resistors. The electronic peasant also said to be careful about using electrolytic capacitors but why not use the resistors?
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-minus-



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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

tony void wrote:
...but why not use the resistors?


Because after ages of friggin' around de-soldering them, the legs are too short to use for anything anyway. Besides, they are only a few cents per million.

I have enough trouble with circuits not working. The last thing I want to lose sleep over is the thought that somewhere on my board, I may have a faulty resistor which I salvaged from some old dear's dialysis machine I bought in charity store for a dollar.
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Psyingo



Joined: Jun 11, 2009
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

yeah, salvaging is fun!

i remember one time i got a tr-808 at a thrift store and stripped it of its components. i found a lot of opamps and transistors in there! lots of fun stuff. and if i remember correctly there was some cmos as well!
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richardc64



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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Psyingo wrote:
yeah, salvaging is fun!


It is, but I got so caught up in getting pretty color wires from discarded printer cables, mouses and keyboards that I completely forgot that I had a stash of SCSI ribbon cables I could've been splitting and using.

Quote:
i remember one time i got a tr-808 at a thrift store and stripped it of its components. i found a lot of opamps and transistors in there! lots of fun stuff. and if i remember correctly there was some cmos as well!


If you didn't first try to get it working, you committed an unspeakable vandalism.

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Cynosure
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

A friend of mine checks pawn shops often, so I asked him to keep and eye out for old EQ's and full sized keyboards.

He found a 12 channel EQ for $9.99 that has 24 50k sliding pots, plus 4 rotary pots, a bunch of opamps and tons of capacitors and what I think are transformers. Most of the stuff has long leads too, so it should be easy to reuse.

He also found a Yamaha YK-10 keyboard from a CX5M computer. I plan on adding the CV control from MFOS and using it to control a modular synth.
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tony void



Joined: Apr 26, 2011
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Location: Parma, Ohio

PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

salvaged from some old dear's dialysis machine I bought in charity store for a dollar.
Laughing
That's awsome
Either way salvaging could lead to some gnarly looking mad max style lunetta.
"And this corner from straight out of the waste lands, he's bad, he's beautiful, he's ...the synth with no name!"

I recently tore apart an old fax machine from the dark ages and found the following
5 x jrc 4558d
2 x 4053
1 x 4066
A bunch 74 series
Some voice recorder ics
Eproms, ram chips, and other yet to be researced chips & thangs thst I have no idea what to do with.

My wife and family think I've finnaly lost it when I get all excited about these things. And if so I wish I had "lost it" sooner.
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tombola



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Psyingo wrote:
i remember one time i got a tr-808 at a thrift store and stripped it of its components.


*gasps*

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Draal



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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

tony void wrote:

My wife and family think I've finnaly lost it when I get all excited about these things. And if so I wish I had "lost it" sooner.


Laughing Same here bro, same here!

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Psyingo



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PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Psyingo wrote:
i remember one time i got a tr-808 at a thrift store and stripped it of its components.


dear me! blasphemy!
luckily i was joking.
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CatchAce



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PostPosted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

the way i understand electronics so far, most devices have methods of generating sound, so if you combine 2 or more toys into one apparatus, and by-pass, or intercept add/replace this or that component, then, theoretically, you could make a decent (whatever) circuit .... oscillators or amplifiers or controllers.

it might result in an oversized circuit with extranious components, but it sure beats nothing when ya cant get to radio shack. right ?

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stolenfat



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PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:47 am    Post subject: Re: thrift store lunetta (or something?)
Subject description: Harvest the Junk, Fuel the lunet-tic
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CatchAce wrote:
i had a crazy idea; harvesting thriftshop stuff for parts.

so, do you agree? disagree? Maybe you see some improvements that can be made on this idea?


i used to do this a lot. So much so i nearly filled up all my free space with extra junk to be dismantled. I just wanted to add it should be done in moderation, otherwise your girlfriend will break up with you heh heh. Rolling Eyes

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JingleJoe



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PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:36 am    Post subject: Re: thrift store lunetta (or something?)
Subject description: Harvest the Junk, Fuel the lunet-tic
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CatchAce wrote:
i had a crazy idea; harvesting thriftshop stuff for parts.

for me anyway, it seems like a good idea; you go and get random stuff to take apart, and then frankenstien a noisemaker from it all, and best of all, no waiting for shipping and handling. Shocked !

...

so, do you agree? disagree? Maybe you see some improvements that can be made on this idea?


That's what I've been doing all my life!
Almost everything I have ever made has parts in it salvaged from junk Laughing

I have a pile of circuit boards from which almost all my components come: mostly caps and resistors but sometimes the transistors, voltage regulators or IC's too if they aren't weird mystery ones!

I recommend radios for parts Wink
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-minus-



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PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Rolling Eyes


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JingleJoe



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PostPosted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Oh look, on the right! That's me when I was 7 years old!
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sizone



Joined: Jun 09, 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:39 am    Post subject: Third World
Subject description: garbage synth
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First sound sample of my garbage synth. One of the nice things about living in Hawaii (yeah, I hate the weather) is that there's curb side collection of pretty much everything. So the streets are pretty much perpetually littered with discarded t.v.s and other various electronic devices. My nighty strolls, equipped with a set of tools, therefore yielded, in about two or three weeks worth of harvesting a reasonably well stocked junk parts collection (and a Yamaha CLP 500, but that's a story for another time).

This box is made entirely of garbage. The only non-salvaged stuff in it is the glue, tape, solder, perf board and ic sockets.

Sound generation is a 7414 set up as 6 simple oscillators, 2 lfos, 2 audio range and 2 clockish ones (I busted of one of the trim pots while mounting, so the following sample is actually a clock oscillator short).

Those are being fed into a 7473 dual jk flip flop and a 7408 quad 2 input and gate.

I made a magnetic patch panel by slicing up some "tin" shielding, soldering leads to it and magnetizing it by attaching chunks of harddrive magnets.

The whole hideous thing is housed in a vcr case.

The flip flops and the and gate came out of a stereo, which also provided a number of components for the mixer I'm making next. The 7414, trim pots, capacitors and resistors came out of a couple of t.v.s and a vcr or two.

I'll post some photos tomorrowish when the light is better. I'll draw up a schematic too, but only if someone -really- wants one. The only real trick to the circuitry was that the craptastic TTL schmitt trigger required really low value trimpots (like, measured in ohms, not ks) and some surpisingly high value caps (like 2200 uf for the lfos) to get hysteresizing good. Ohh... and that you definitely need pull down resistors for TTL and gates to work.

Welcome to the third world.


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JingleJoe



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Third World
Subject description: garbage synth
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sizone wrote:

I'll post some photos tomorrowish when the light is better.

I cannot wait to see it! Very Happy

sizone wrote:

I'll draw up a schematic too, but only if someone -really- wants one.

Yes please! But no hurry, I'm not desperate to see them or anything Laughing

sizone wrote:

The only real trick to the circuitry was that the craptastic TTL schmitt trigger required really low value trimpots (like, measured in ohms, not ks) and some surpisingly high value caps (like 2200 uf for the lfos) to get hysteresizing good. Ohh... and that you definitely need pull down resistors for TTL and gates to work.

Welcome to the third world.

I came accros the same "features" (read: problems) when I used a 7414 to make oscillators. Frequency out is approximately 1/RC, so if R is low C must be high to make an LFO.

Today I finished a lunetta circuit which looks like it belongs in this thread but it's made of more than 50% bought stuff so I don't think it's "thrift" enough :Smile

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JingleJoe



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

P.S. overlooked your sound sample, some very nice noise there Very Happy really reminded me of the sounds the computers make in the film Alien, subsequently it gave me some really spooky retro space-weirdness vibes Smile
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sizone



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Gonna redo the layout some before I call it quits on this thing. Decided it would be easier to glue the magnety patch points down rather than being able to rearrange them. As you may be able to see, I still need to replace the broken trimpot.


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sizone



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

3rd world garbage synth construction notes:

In the diagram, the purple rectangles represent the larger magnetized pads, the yellow ones are the smaller non-magnetized tinny pads (they "stick" to the larger pads).
Not shown, but the outputs from the oscillators and the non-audio and section are doubled up.

The values I used for the oscillators, take these as a rough reference only, not an absolute guide (the NTE 7414 I had sitting in my junk drawer which I was messing with earlier required a substantially different set of values, for example):
LFOs: 500 ohm and 300 ohm, 2200 uf caps
Audio: 150 ohm, 10 uf caps
Clock: 3k, .1uf and 1k, .47uf

While the rest of the device is pretty well and ignorable, you may find yourself wanting to fashion one of those nifty magnetic patchbays. Find some RF shielding tin (if you take apart a t.v. or cable box, you'll notice that the bit where the coax cable goes to is shrouded by a metal box, that's what I mean). The trick is to find some that can take a flux and is...what's the word? ferromagnetic? Umm... find a bit of metal that both solder and magnets stick to. Cut it to size, you should probably use tin snips, I used a mototool and made a mess of it. Don't do it the way I did it here, where the outputs are soldered to leads and only the inputs are soldered to magnetic pads, do a magnetic pad for every connection and then craft patch cords to go between them. It'll be cleaner and work better.
Now that you have your bits of tin, scuff them up some with some sandpaper and solder your wires to them. Take apart a harddrive (harddrives have the best magnets!). To "cut" the harddrive magnet first knock it free from its mounting. I found the best way (all of them are different, some are glued into place, ect.) is to give a couple of hard taps with a hammer to the side of the metal the magnet isn't on, then tap a screwdriver to push the magnet off of its mounting. Once the magnet is free, put the screw driver blade roughly where you would want your cut to be and give the handle a good tap. The magnet should split there. It won't be a particularly clean break and it may fragment more than expected. Don't worry, a pretty small chunk 'o' magnet will still be more than enough to make the whole tin pad magnetic enough to hold your patch pads securely. Now glue your magnet chunk to your tin pad.
For the patch cables, just cut up some smaller pieces of tin and solder one to each end of a wire.


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JingleJoe



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Haha! Very Happy wonderful!
Thankyou very much, carry on the good work old sport Smile The magnetic patch bay is excellent and I believe the word you were looking for was just magnetic, most tin cans should do too.

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