Everyone once had old televisions, those big ones, tube ones, with a convex screen and in most cases black and white. Many of them have long been thrown into the trash or disassembled for spare parts, and some still have them stored somewhere in a barn. It would be nice if such a TV brought at least some benefit, and did not take up space and collect dust. In today's article, we will talk about several cool ideas on what you can make from an old TV. It will be interesting!
Aquarium
So, the first craft we will talk about is an aquarium from a TV. You shouldn’t be surprised or think that this is some kind of joke, no, everything is serious here. In addition, the aquarium is very popular among TV crafts. One has only to write in a search engine “what can be made from an old TV”, and immediately the first proposed option will be an aquarium.
What will need to be done to make everything work? Yes, in general, there is nothing particularly complicated here.
First you need to very carefully remove all the insides of the TV; they will no longer be needed. Ideally, only the body should remain. The back wall (lid) also needs to be removed.
The next step is to select a ready-made aquarium from the store that is suitable in size and will fit inside the TV. For greater beauty, the aquarium can be covered with a film with a marine theme. This will make it look more interesting.
Now you need to unfasten the upper part of the body and make it either completely removable so that the fish can be fed, or attach hinges to it to create a folding structure. You also need to screw a lamp on the bottom of the lid, which will serve as a light source for the fish.
Actually, almost everything is ready. We place the aquarium inside the case, insert the frame in front that covered the screen, fill it with water, add the fish, lower the lid and connect the lamp. Voila!
Mini bar
The next thing you can make from an old TV is a minibar. Not everyone has their own little bar in their house or apartment for one simple reason - there is no space. However, if you have an old TV at hand, then this problem will quickly become solvable.
The procedure here is as follows:
- All the “internals” are pulled out and removed.
- If installed at the rear plastic cover, then it is recommended to remove it, and instead screw a piece of panel plywood or fiberboard to the body.
- For beauty, it is recommended to paste over the inside of the wall of the future minibar with some self-adhesive film. Also, some users prefer to make a small backlight from LED lamps inside the case.
- In general, the main work has been completed and at this stage, the mini-bar can begin to be filled. If you wish, you can improve this household item and make a front hinged lid that would cover containers with booze from prying eyes. In addition, some users devote a lot of time to the external decoration of the TV case in order to get something very original and beautiful. But here a lot depends on desire and imagination.
House for a cat
What else can you make from an old TV? How about a house for your beloved pet? The tailed friend will be very happy with such a gift.
The house is quite simple to make. To begin with, all the “stuffing” and the TV picture tube are removed. Only the body should remain. The back wall, if made of plastic, is replaced with a fiberboard sheet.
Locker
A small and neat cabinet is what you can do with an old TV. This craft will not take up much space in the interior and will look very harmonious, giving some zest.
The cabinet is made according to a principle similar to previous crafts. First, the “insides” are removed, then, if necessary, the back wall is changed. The next stage is to install shelves inside the cabinet so that small items, books or anything else can be placed on them. You can, of course, do without shelves, anyone has any suggestions.
Once the body is ready, you can start decorating. Here, too, a lot depends on imagination and wishes. Some people simply paint everything the same color, some make the cabinet multi-colored, some even cover the walls with film and wallpaper.
The final stage is to place the cabinet where it will stand and fill it.
Flower bed
Continuing the topic of “what can be done with an old tube TV,” one cannot help but note such a useful feature as a flower bed. Yes, an old TV may well become a decoration for a garden or flower bed.
You can make a flowerbed different ways. The simplest one is to take out all the “stuffing” from the TV, put the case on back wall, pour soil inside the box and sow flower seeds there. You can also immediately transplant the flower there and not wait for the seeds to germinate.
Another way to make a flower bed, which is slightly different from the previous one. The TV is also cleaned of all “internals”, the back wall is removed, and it is painted in some bright color, after which soil is poured inside and flowers are planted there. This flowerbed will look especially beautiful with plants that grow strongly and branch profusely. Also, such a flowerbed can be hung and get an even more interesting result.
Nightstand
The next thing you can make from an old TV with your own hands is a bedside table. This one is simple, but at the same time useful item interior design is done simply and without much effort.
The principle here is somewhat similar to a locker. First, the body is prepared, the partitions are set up, you can even try to make a small drawer. After this, the bedside table is painted in the desired color and, in principle, you can use it.
However, if you go to hardware store and buy several different foam moldings there, then from an ordinary simple bedside table you can completely make an interior item in classic style.
Photography lamp
Well, and the last craft. Here we are not talking about a simple tube TV, but about an old device with a flat but broken screen. Surely someone has these at home too. Many people think that if a screen breaks, they should just throw it away, but in vain. Now we will tell you what can be done from an old Samsung, Sony, LG and other brands with a broken flat screen.
We'll talk about a photography lamp. Probably everyone has seen such lamps in a photo studio.
Here's what to do:
- We disassemble the TV.
- Disconnect broken screen.
- We put the TV back together, plug it into a power outlet and enjoy the finished craft. If desired, it will be possible to construct some kind of mount so that the “lamp” can be installed as needed.
Watch a helpful video that shows how this lamp is made.
Recently, while going through a bunch of rubbish at home, I discovered in parts a tube TV, two half-disassembled imported receivers and one Soviet radio, as well as meter and decimeter modules from a transistor TV receiver. I didn’t want to throw it away, but on the other hand, I understood that I definitely didn’t need it in this form, so what should I do with this radio-electronic trash? - that's right, throw it away... but not everything! Before throwing away these boards, you can extract useful radio-electronic components for yourself, which will be convenient to store and may come in handy later, if not for me, then as a gift for someone else.
Introduction
Let me make a reservation right away: we will not solder all the parts, since most of them are already morally and physically outdated, but we will extract only what can really be useful in the construction of radio receivers, radio transmitters, transceivers and other homemade radio equipment.
When starting to desolder electronic junk, you need to understand that there are components that can lose their properties over time, such parts include electrolytic capacitors.
Therefore, you shouldn’t solder electrolytes from old TVs and Soviet radios - this will save your nerves when constructing devices and protect you from failures, otherwise who knows what condition they are in - you can’t determine it with a simple continuity tester.
Soldering a tube-transistor TV
Here is a photo of the main boards of the TV:
You can remove chocolate capacitors, low capacitance capacitors, high voltage capacitors and MegaOhm resistors from the boards.
We also solder the diodes and you can remove the connectors - the sockets from them are suitable for old lamps of the 2K2M type and similar ones with 8 pins. Low frequency transformers can be useful when designing lamp equipment - we keep them for ourselves. Hidden under the aluminum screens are inductors with capacitors, as well as printed circuit boards- radio frequency blocks.
As you can see, here you can profit from small capacitors, usually from 1 to 1000 picofarads, there are also diodes and chokes.
But in other modules there are inductors - of which we can use frames with ferrite cores for tuning. We also solder capacitors and diodes from here.
The following radio modules are also interesting - in principle, everything can be removed from them: transistor, thermistor (green ring), coils and chokes (blue), diodes.
This is what I decided to keep from the TV boards.
There are only three radios and there is plenty to profit from here:
The photo shows printed circuit boards from a Chinese-made music center-radio receiver.
But this printed circuit board is from some German radio, very high quality parts.
There are a lot of capacitors here variable capacity 5-20 pF, loop coils, as well as a 4-section KPE (variable capacitor) with a mechanism for dividing the number of handle turns.
Above are printed circuit boards from a Soviet-made Speedol radio receiver, and traces of modernization are visible on it - someone soldered it into input circuits GT322 transistors.
The most interesting thing to me from the Speedola receiver is the VCA (variable capacitor) with a vernier mechanism. Here it is two-section, each section is from 20 to 450 picoFarads.
From imported radios, I removed almost all electrolytic capacitors, low-capacity capacitors, diodes and some resistors, all variable resistors, loop coils, a ferrite rod, variable capacitors (VCA), a microphone, chokes and transistors.
TV modules SKD and SKM
As I wrote at the beginning, there is also a reception module from a transistor-integrated TV - SKD-24-M.
This is what is inside such a block - a whole radio-electronic city made of different components.
Guess what these are, pins on which pieces of copper wire are wound? - from the signature below (C26) it is not difficult to understand that this is a capacitor, and it is a capacitor of several picofarads, its capacitance can be changed by either rewinding or unwinding the turns, in this way you can adjust the desired circuit to the desired frequency or parameters. I have already come across a similar solution and wrote about it in the article Tube radio receiver "Strela" half a century later, I did not think that it was still used somewhere in more modern equipment.
Conclusion
So from non-working radio-electronic equipment you can get a lot of useful electronic components. Will they be useful to me in the future? - time will tell, some parts have already come in handy for my single-tube regenerative radio receiver.
These parts do not take up much space; it is convenient to store them after sorting them by type, or even better, by denomination. For sorting, you can glue together a cassette box from empty matchboxes - cheap and convenient.
"Everything is temporary. Love, art, planet Earth, you, me. Especially me." (99 Francs)
Nothing in this world lasts forever, and the life of gadgets is sometimes very fleeting. But if you love retro style and are frugal and resourceful by nature, then you can give them a second chance by transforming them into something useful and retro looking.
5. Turn an old mouse into a wireless one
Old mice aren't as comfortable or ergonomic as newer models, but they give you that comfortable feeling, like an old shirt that's so old that you sneak it around the house on the weekends when no one is looking, simply because you've had it for a long time and you like it. You're used to it :) If you are still using an old wired mouse, or have kept it as an old battle friend, then now is the time to convert it into a wireless Bluetooth mouse by simply replacing the insides of the old mouse with the insides of a new one.
Let’s say right away that this is a decision dictated solely by a feeling of nostalgia rather than by practical considerations. If your old mouse is too awkward to use on a weekly basis, you can use it to make a camera shutter.
4. Turn an analog TV into an information terminal
Most likely, you have already updated your entire fleet of televisions a long time ago, and the old CRT monitors are gathering dust in best case scenario, somewhere in the country. You can give the old TV new life, turning it into a YBOX (a homemade information screen showing, for example, the weather).
An alternative use is a retro photo frame, which can be placed in the living room. To turn a TV into a photo frame, you need to remove the insides of the TV and replace them with the old sockets and power cord from the lamp, screw in a low power CFL lamp, insert a printed image on the screen, close it and turn on the “TV”.
Now you have a fun retro frame.
If you don't want to waste electricity, recycle your old monitor into a trash bin.
3. Make an aquarium out of an old TV or computer
A project from the “incredible but true” series marked “dangerous.” Do it at your own peril and risk. If you have an old TV, computer or other unnecessary equipment with big amount space inside, you can turn it into an aquarium.
If you want to use Floppy drives for their intended purpose, you can put USB in them.
1. Making a VoIP phone from a rotary phone
If you're having a hard time saying goodbye to your old rotary phone, you can turn it into a fun computer headset for use with Google Voice, Skype, or any other VoIP solution.
If you have a few unwanted cordless phones (not really old ones), then you can make good walkie-talkie radios out of them.
I hope this collection of ideas for transforming old gadgets has inspired you. Following the links you will see visual guides how to do this or that thing, on English language. All guides have good visualizations of each of the conversion stages.
"Everything is temporary. Love, art, planet Earth, you, me. Especially me." (99 Francs)
Nothing in this world lasts forever, and the life of gadgets is sometimes very fleeting. But if you love retro style and are frugal and resourceful by nature, then you can give them a second chance by transforming them into something useful and retro looking.
5. Turn an old mouse into a wireless one
Old mice aren't as comfortable or ergonomic as newer models, but they give you that comfortable feeling, like an old shirt that's so old that you sneak it around the house on the weekends when no one is looking, simply because you've had it for a long time and you like it. You're used to it :) If you are still using an old wired mouse, or have kept it as an old battle friend, then now is the time to convert it into a wireless Bluetooth mouse by simply replacing the insides of the old mouse with the insides of a new one.
Let’s say right away that this is a decision dictated solely by a feeling of nostalgia rather than by practical considerations. If your old mouse is too awkward to use on a weekly basis, you can use it to make a camera shutter.
4. Turn an analog TV into an information terminal
Most likely, you have already updated your entire fleet of televisions a long time ago, and the old CRT monitors are gathering dust, at best, somewhere in the country. You can give an old TV a new life by turning it into a YBOX (a homemade information screen that shows the weather, for example).
An alternative use is a retro photo frame, which can be placed in the living room. To turn a TV into a photo frame, you need to remove the insides of the TV and replace them with the old sockets and power cord from the lamp, screw in a low power CFL lamp, insert a printed image on the screen, close it and turn on the “TV”.
Now you have a fun retro frame.
If you don't want to waste electricity, recycle your old monitor into a trash bin.
3. Make an aquarium out of an old TV or computer
A project from the “incredible but true” series marked “dangerous.” Do it at your own peril and risk. If you have an old TV, computer or other unnecessary equipment with a lot of space inside, you can turn it into an aquarium.
If you want to use Floppy drives for their intended purpose, you can put USB in them.
1. Making a VoIP phone from a rotary phone
If you're having a hard time saying goodbye to your old rotary phone, you can turn it into a fun computer headset for use with Google Voice, Skype, or any other VoIP solution.
If you have a few unwanted cordless phones (not really old ones), then you can make good walkie-talkie radios out of them.
I hope this collection of ideas for transforming old gadgets has inspired you. Following the links you will see visual guides on how to do this or that thing, in English. All guides have good visualizations of each of the conversion stages.
