Micro Innovations keyboard

The blog doesn't really reflect it, but I've taken a decent amount of computer keyboards in the past. And while I usually like to have multiples of types of parts, keyboard keys are something of an exception. Like I've mentioned before, I've gotten rid of large quantities of keys that I had collected. If I had unlimited space to keep stuff in, I might keep them, but space is very much at a premium right now.


I got this keyboard at the same time as I bought that optical mouse, and it was of a similar cheapness. It broke (or I broke it; I don't remember now), and I set it aside, halfway intending to try to fix it. And there it sat for well over a year, until this Fall when they had an electronic waste collection drive on campus. And so I decided I might as well just get rid of it (again, space is very much at a premium), but not before I grabbed a couple of trophy parts.


I'm not entirely sure why I took this picture, other than to show the little height adjuster thing there.


The exception to not bothering with keyboard keys are the non-square ones, which are less common, and for some reason I think of them as more useful.

Pfaff 1222 sewing machine

I found this Pfaff on the same night as the Hobbymatic I wrote about a few entries ago. Haven't seen any before or since, though.



This was a fairly solidly constructed machine. Other than the unusual placement of the controls, this is a fairly standard (and sort of boring) sewing machine.



Close-up of the control buttons. The mechanism takes up most of the length of the main body.



I was surprised that the control mechanism came out completely and so cleanly. In addition to the buttons, I pulled several metal parts that sort of look like heads of battle axes. No idea what I'll use them for, but I liked the shapes.



Not many things to salvage beyond the buttons and metal things.

Singer sewing machine

I wish I had much to say about this week's entry, but I really don't. It's not that interesting of a machine, and I didn't get very many parts off of it.



I didn't see any model name or number on this one, but if I run across it later, I may amend the blog. It looks to me like a relatively recent model though, but I could be wrong.



Once the plastic housing was removed, it was a lot less bulky.



The difference between the last picture and this one is basically the total of what I could pull from this sewing machine. See that wheel looking thing in the middle of the inner mechanism? I wanted that, but it didn't come off.



Very small parts pile this time.

Micro Innovations optical mouse

This is one of those rare devices that I take apart that was mine to begin with, rather than something I trash-picked. I bought this right after I moved here, and since I was light on cash at the time, I didn't buy a better one. This lasted about two years or so until it became unreliable.





It just sort of looks cheap, doesn't it?



The inside of an optical mouse has a lot less moving parts than the traditional ball mouse, which makes it less interesting for my purposes.



As a percentage of total parts, this is a decent parts pile, but beyond that, it's not very impressive.