The cannibals guide to scavenging what you need.

[Cryptonic26]

In the spirit of furthering knowledge and education on this forum. I present this- The cannibals guide to scavenging what you need: A living resource.


Some of us don't have the money to buy large quantities of material, some of us just don't have access to the 'pure' stuff. others just simply don't know where to look. That's not really an excuse for not experimenting though, because there are TONS of pre-refined, pure, stock material for the taking out there in commercial product land. I propose that we all post a little bit about what we know, and what we find through experimentation/observation. Perhaps we can all benifit from this collective experience?

AlaskaStar reminded me that everything that we can touch should be treated as a potential resource. A used product is a new product, after all.

The idea is that we can all work together to develop A database of these common products, how to Identify what products hold valuable resources, and how to isolate those useful resources for our own devices.

I'll go first.


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Many of you probably already know this one, but for the sake of those who don't...

Most Alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, D, C, etc..) contain a carbon rod, wrapped in a pasty electrolyte.

The basic construction is a metal alloy tube, filled with a carbon rod surrounded by an Alkaline electrolyte. on the positive (+) end of this cylinder, you find a shiny cap. Sometimes you'll have to remove an outer layer of plastic wrap to see that it actually is a cap, but it's there.

You can remove the carbon rod by grabbing the end cap with a pair of plyers, and GENTLY pulling the rod out (the rod is glued to the cap). I stress gently, because these carbon rods are pretty fragile, they can be easily broken if you're too forceful. There is also a vacuum when you do this, so it may seem like it's stuck in there, just keep applying a gentle pull and it'll come out with a 'pop'. Be careful as this pop can be sudden, you don't want to get any Alkaline electrolyte anywhere near your eyes!!!

You should wash the electrolyte off the rod as best as possible before use. Since we know it's alkaline, vinegar may be used to neutralize it's basic properties. If someone could measure the PH of this stuff, we could find a better way to do this.

I have successfully used these carbon rods as electrodes in electrolysis. Though, some of them seem to be made with compressed carbon powder, bound with a glue. these are poor in quality, and will fall apart if your electrolyte is too strong. They are still usable, but be warned that they may contaminate your solution.

They may work well crushed as a semi-concentrated carbon powder.

Further research should be put into the electrolyte used inside these batteries. This may contain some valuable information and/or become a useful resource as you scavenge for cheap chemicals.

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Further research:

Platinum is a very useful material in electrochemistry, so be on the look out for new ways to get your hands on it.

Platinum can be obtained from some spark plugs!
Platinum is also present in catalytic converters found on your car, in the form of a plated screen mesh!

Perhaps we can isolate and smelt this stuff into larger ingots? just a thaught.

[golden_guppy]

OK, batteries I can help out with.

Both Duracell and Energizer alkaline batteries are Alkaline Manganese Dioxide cells.

They have a zinc anode and a manganese dioxide cathode. The electrolyte is our long time friend KOH, pottasium hydroxide

So yes, its nasty corrosive stuff, but i'm sure we can find a good use for it

btw - its fair to say that all modern alkaline batteries bear more than a glancing similarity to an edison cell. Hence, assuming you have the right circuit in place, thay are fully rechargable too. In fact, alkaline battery chargers were available here in the UK on the high street a few years back, but they didn't seem to take off. Really have no idea why. Would you mind being able to reuse alkaline batteries about 20 times? I sure wouldn't.

[golden_guppy]

...and there's more.

A quick sniff over at will give you plenty of info, but here's a quick summary.

The chemically active components are:

Anode: High purity zinc powder

The anode material of the alkaline cell is a powdered zinc metal. Manufacturing of the zinc powder is carefully controlled to ensure chemical purity and correct particle size, resulting in good surface area available during the cell reaction. This increased surface area provides greater particle to particle contact within the anode, thereby lowering the cell’s internal resistance, generating higher power density.

Cathode: Electrolytically produced manganese dioxide

The cathode material of the cell is a powdered manganese dioxide (MnO2), produced synthetically through an electrolytic process. Its purity and oxygen availability are far superior to the natural material. This contributes to the cell’s increased energy density and performance.

Additives are used in the major cathode components to enhance performance capability. For example, graphite is mixed with the manganese dioxide to improve conductivity. When mixed with the other ingredients, the electrolytic manganese dioxide provides a cathode of excellent conductivity to assure good cell performance over a wide range of temperatures and discharge rates.

Electrolyte: Concentrated potassium hydroxide solution

The electrolyte consists of a concentrated aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH) to which zinc oxide is added to retard corrosion of the zinc. This inhibits the dissolution of the zinc anode and extends the shelf life. In some cell designs, a gel-type electrolyte is formed by the addition of a gelling agent.

This electrolyte is alkaline (basic) in contrast to the electrolyte of regular zinc-carbon cells, which is acidic. The concentrated potassium hydroxide solution offers high ionic mobility with a low freezing point.

[AlaskaStar]

as for some other stuff to scavenge for:

METALS OF EVERY TYPE (INCLUDING LARGE CHUNKS OF STAINLESS)

go to the local construction yards. more specifically the ones who specialize in road building (new roads) and they usually have a person there all the time who welds, fabricates, and fixes things for the company. that means that there is a SCRAP BIN that needs emptied all the time! this bin is FULL of useful METAL.

Gold:

depending on your PHYSICAL LOCATION, sweeping out the insides of colverts (including those with small creeks running through them) is a good way to get GOLD. put something like a LARGE gunnysack on the downstream end, and use an aluminum head PUSHBROOM that has been bent to match the inside of the colvert. Arizona, New Mexico, California, Texas, Nevada, Oregon Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and who know where else...If there is GOLD in your state, then there's gold in some of them creeks. NOT ALL OF THEM, but some of them.

Gypsum boards:
Go to the NEW HOME construction sites. the sheetrock guys are so wasteful it's sickening! they are paid by the board feet, and they will literally slice up a WHOLE sheet of sheet rock, and bust it up, and throw outside JUST TO BE PAID FOR IT! and haul it off? you betcha they'll let you take it for free! the home-owner is so GULLIBLE!

PVC PIPE:

Construction yards that install SEPTIC systems have scraps of this around, and even "damaged" connectors to have too. it's various lengths and chunks, but it's great if you don't have to pay for it!

FREE GASOLINE!!!!

200 OCTANE! go to the AIRLINE REFUELING COMPANIES! these are completely separate entities from the airlines! these guy have to abide by SPECIAL RULES! when a plane comes in, all remaining fuel MUST be drained from the plane. we wouldn't want a bunch of condensated moisture jamming up a jet engine with 400 people on board would we?
that fuel now must be stored up until disposed of properly. if they sell it, then they have to pay all sorts of taxes, too much paperwork! so they GIVE IT AWAY! Motorcycles, ATVs and gensets...whatever all OFF ROAD stuff! even heating oil! what about diesel? yup! it's there too!

well it's now 8:00 AM, and got stuff to do today!

AlaskaStar

[Cryptonic26]

wow, good stuff, both of you.

Looks like I had some misconceptions about those little guys :D I'm glad that's cleared up.



I'm going to look at an ultrasonic humidifier soon. I wonder how hard it is to strip out and use the emulsification unit..

If nothing else, theres a working high frequency oscillator in there to be had, typically those oscillators are set to run as high as 30,000Hz. most have a good frequency control slider/knob though, could make this into some test equipment.

[Jebus]

a great search engine for free stuff depening on where you live is www.craiglist.com. There is actually a "free stuff" section under the sales/wanted section. Thats where I get a lot of free salvagable electronic parts (from old tv's, microwaves, etc etc); its definitely worth a look.

[Jebus]

sorry about that, its craigslist.com (with an *s*)

[kevinsatterfield]

If any has information on where to find a small pump like a wndshield washer pump or any slavaged pump from anything that will work to run KOH through it ......man that would be gr8!!!! It's the next piece of puzzle i need before i can start testing........

[GarbageMan]

As my name implies- find good stuff in what people throw out. Now I'm not talking about dumpster diving (unless I really have to have it!), but most Landfills have an area for collecting Hazardous waste. You just bring in something you need to dispose of properly and "shop around" while your there. Acids, bases, batteries, weird stuff from high school labs, ancient stuff from Grand Paw's shed, etc... Expensive to get rid of so many operators may let you take a few things with you. Re-use is even better than recycling.
Call whomever picks up your trash and ask about a HHW program. Find out when/where and take all those nasties you got laying around and simply trade them for a bunch of new nasties!

Lithium- Emergency defibrillator batteries. There BIG and must be replaced often.
Ni/Cd- sh*t loads of cell phone/cordless drill bat's.
Acids/Bases- pool chemicals, metal treatment, drain cleaners
Carbon Rods - 6vt. Lantern Batteries
Hg- thermometers, thermostats (if your into that)
Fertililizers up the wazoo- name your poison.

ALL IN ONE SPOT BABY!!

[thrival]

I get free propane tanks that are half-full of liquid propane.
A local scrap yard forbids them but junksters manage to
sneak them in under as part of their weight load. Anyway
the scrap-yard separates them in their own bin and has to
actually pay someone to pick them up, so they're eager
to give them away. Scrap yards are treasure trove of
just about everything.

[GarbageMan]

[kevinsatterfield]

[GarbageMan]

[kevinsatterfield]

Any one know of a place to scavage a 13 or 14 " O.D. PVC pipe from?

[mrgalleria]

In Hawaii, having a hard time finding anything bigger than 6". Maybe check with the local utility company or find a construction company that specializes in underground work (shopping centers, roads, bridges, storm drains, etc.)