Compaq IJ700 printer

I generally don't like things that are asymmetrical just for the sake of being so. And in the context of this blog, appliances that are designed with asymmetry as part of the aesthetic. Obviously, there are some things that have to be asymmetrical, like a sewing machine, and you can only put the control panel one one side of something, but I'm talking about non-functional stuff. Part of it is just personal preference, and part of it is because symmetric pieces are easier for me to find uses for.

This Compaq (incidentally, I had forgotten they even made printers) is very subtle about not being symmetrical, until you examine individual parts. The tray at the top has a guide on just one side, the green button is a really wonky shape, and there are several other examples not evident in this picture.

This is another issue I had with this printer: all the extraneous plastic that was on top of the 'core' case.

Look at that little thing, compared to how big it was with the plastic still on.

I got a decent amount of parts. Not many gears, though; most of them didn't want to come out.

New Home Memory Craft 8000 sewing machine

It's back to sewing machines again for this week. This machine is interesting both in how high-tech it is, as well as the fact that it still sort of worked. See, when I sat down to take it apart, I noticed that the outlet for the cord was the same size as one I already had, so I decided to plug it in just to see if anything would happen. Well, it actually turned on. I was kind of surprised. I don't think it 'worked' exactly, but the settings appeared to change when I pressed the buttons. I thought twice about taking it apart, but decided to since obviously whatever was wrong with it was either not repairable or would cost more to fix than the unit's worth.

I have previously taken the 6000 and 7000 series Memory Crafts apart; the 8000 is much sleeker, mainly due to the lack of separate buttons for all the settings. Instead, it has a touchscreen, which is pretty snazzy for a home sewing machine.

This little compartment slides right off. I decided to keep it because one can never have too many little containers.

Sewing machine with the body panels removed, exposing a lot of tightly packed components.

The back side of the control panel.

Strictly speaking, there wasn't a large number of parts I could pull from this, but some of them were pretty big. That's not much of a consolation, though.

Audiovox VCR

VCRs are one of those devices that you would think has a lot more removable parts than it does. And simple tear-downs often make for boring entries, but here we go anyway...

As I picked this up on the side of the road, the top fell off, and I didn't bother to pick it back up, so that's why there's exposed circuitry. The cassette flap thing came off in transit and fell into the inside of the VCR. I'm wondering if these aren't symptoms of why it got thrown out in the first place. I'll also note that this VCR seems to be somewhat unusual in that the circuit board is at the top rather than at the bottom.

Another unusual feature is the fuse access thing on the back. I've never seen one on a VCR before, and certainly not on a relatively new one. User serviceable parts are something I associate with older electronics.

The VCR with the circuit board and top of the cassette carriage removed.

And the chassis totally removed.

Not a bad trophy pile, but not a great one. Then again, I'm running out of room to put all this crap, so maybe small parts piles aren't such a bad thing.

Electrolux Marquis vacuum cleaner

Since I added the tag feature on the blog a couple of weeks ago, I noticed it had been a while since I had posted a vacuum cleaner. As it happens, I have a vacuum cleaner in the backlog, so I might as well write an entry about it now. Besides, it breaks up the recent glut of printers and sewing machines.

I think this is a Marquis, but I'm not 100% sure. There aren't very many good pictures on the Internet of Electroluxes from its era (late 1980s), but the couple I did find that claim to be Marquis look pretty much just like this one. This particular specimen has plenty of scuff marks and scratches, so I'm guessing it had a long and storied career of cleaning up messes before finally giving up the ghost. Also, this is apparently one of the last models that had a metal body, before the switched over to plastic.

The front of the vacuum, with the housing removed. The control system looks fairly similar in principle to the older Silverado Deluxe I took apart last year.

Here you can see the see-saw-like on/off switch mechanism.

Not much to show for my efforts, but I do like the roller/knob parts on Electroluxes. I think they remind me of the wheels off some toy I used to have.

Janome Model 802 sewing machine

I'm going to the movies in a few minutes, so I'm just going to bang out a relatively short post about a relatively short tear-down.

Last year, I saw and grabbed at least two of these, or similar models, but that was before I started doing this blog. This is the first one I've seen in quite a long time.

I'm not sure of the vintage on this, but the metal construction and 'Made in Japan' sticker (as opposed to being made in China by a Japanese company) lead me to believe it's at least 25 years old. But I could be completely wrong, since I didn't do any research to verify this.

Those are metal knobs. I didn't bother to keep them, but they were unusual enough that I felt I should mention them.

This picture of the sewing machine after I got done with looks a lot like the first picture up there. That is, of course, because most of the parts wouldn't come off. You know the drill.

A blurry picture of a lousy trophy pile. Oh well.