Salvaging Electronic Components

I took apart an old electric pressure cooker because the coating inside the pot had started to flake off and the metal underneath was oxidized. It wasn't safe to to cook with anymore, so I decided to take it apart and see what components I could salvage. I have always liked taking things apart to see how they work, but it's only been within the past year that I've had the right tool to take it this far apart to save individual components without damaging them.
Even with the desoldering tool, sometimes the pcb gets damaged but the components are usually fine. The capacitors may have a shortened life span due to the heat. The desoldering tool has a soldering tip with a hole in it and a vacuum pump. It melts the solder and then sucks it into a chamber where it is stored until enough builds up that it comes out when resetting the plunger. I have a can to collect the used solder in so that it doesn't get on the workbench or in the fume extractor. 

In the pressure cooker, I found a 555 timer and an LM7805 voltage regulator. The 555 timer came out relatively easily, but the LM7805 didn't. I salvaged a passive piezo.

I was also able to desolder 2 LEDs and a capacitor. It was mostly solid state controls, there weren't any relays. There was a chip labelled BTA16 600B on a large heat sink, but it didn't need to be desoldered.  I looked up a datasheet for it, and it is a triac (a type of solid state switch for AC).  https://www.rcscomponents.kiev.ua/datasheets/haopinfsj489ydf945dt.pdf

Recycled Soap #2

For this batch of recycled soap, I used a base bar from the previous recycled soap with other chopped up soap scraps. I soaked it in water with green food coloring, and then squeezed it back together. This reminds me of a type of rock similar to granite.

LED and rectifier tester

This project is a tester for bridge rectifiers and LEDs. It contains a transformer that outputs 22 volts open circuit when powered by my isolation transformer. It contains an internal bridge rectifier which powers the LED tester. The bridge rectifier tester works by sending either half of the sine wave transformer output to the bridge rectifier to test each pair of diodes. If the bridge rectifier is good, the LED will light on both polarity switch settings.
The connectors are 4 pin .1 inch for the bridge rectifier tester and 6 pin .1 inch for the LED tester. 3 pins are positive and 3 pins are negative. I stick an LED into the connector with 1 pin into each side. If the LED is good and the polarity is correct, it will light.

Barbecue Thermometer Holder

My dad kept losing his meat thermometer and asked me to make a holder for it. So I made one out of a 7/8 to 3/4 copper reducer. I used my drill press to make a 5/32 hole in the ⅞ part. Then I used a screw to cut threads. Then I used the same screw to mount it to the cabinet of barbecue stuff by the back door. It only took 5 minutes to make, but most of that time was finding the chuck key for my drill press.