Scavenging Components from Discarted Electronics

I took apart an old (about 10 years old :P) CD burner, I had in my closet, and found a wealth of components. 

I found 3(!) motors, about 15 transistors, one Green LED, surprisingly no resistors, at least no typical ones, one button switch which will work great for those digital input tutorials at arduino.

I also found one laser diode, that the CD burner used, which I broke trying to remove it.. It's too bad because they can make great laser pointers, or even work as lighters. 

Here are some images of the things I found:

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Update -- A reader named Ross from Australia, brought it to my attention that the components marked transistors on the photo are actually electrolytic capacitors. I took one out and it only had 2 pins (transistors have 3 pins) so he was right. That you for that Ross!

It's quite easy to remove those soldered parts. All you need is a soldering iron. Hold the board upside down, so you can see the pins, grab the component you want to remove with a set of pliers and pull it while you heat the pins and it should come right out.

(click for bigger image)

So don't just throw away old electronic devices, scavenge them! :D

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Happy Tinkering!