DIY projects to recycle a CD/DVD reader

Today it is common to have old CD or DVD players at home that we no longer use and are a great source of hardware for our DIY projects.

Exploded view and useful parts of a DVD CD player

I will disassemble a CD player to see the pieces that we can take advantage of and leave a list of very interesting (Instructable) projects that can be done with each of the pieces. The links are projects in English, but little by little I will try to reproduce them and leave you all the documentation in Spanish.

This model is quite old. I think it still works, but since I have 6 or 7 more it has been sacrificed for the article 🙂

Take apart, recycle and reuse a CD / DVD reader

Before you go crazy, everything goes without forcing, so if any piece you can’t remove it is because you have not removed all the screws and / or tabs. Do not make the sheep tearing pieces.

How to recycle a CD or DVD player

We started to open it carefully. It does not make much sense to give you the indications of how to open it, since each model is made in a different way. This one came with 3 tabs, which once moved, allowed to move one of the aluminum covers.

We begin to disassemble the reader

And now remove pieces quietly until we reach the interior area that is interesting.

Reuse a reader, its exploded view

Do not throw the screws, do not throw anything. Save it, we can reuse everything 😉

How to disassemble a reader, the chassis

Here we already appreciate the laser and the brushless motor in charge of spinning the CD. We continue removing screws from the sides, to be able to access the parts well. As soon as we can, we will also separate it from the electronic board.

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Electronic motherboard CD player

Nothing to review. We are going to save the board for now, I have not left any link to reuse it. At the moment it only occurs to me to remove components to reuse them, although all those that are SMD then are very difficult to take advantage of. I like the fat legs of a lifetime.

We already take out the interesting part of the reader, I detail the image a little more.

Front and exploded view of a CD player
  1. Mechanism of extraction of the CD, look down to the right is a little motor that we will see on the back.
  2. Brushless motor
  3. CD laser
  4. Engine laser positioning system (here we have the tutorial, because I expected a step by step with the screw attached)

This is what we see from the backSi vemos esto mismo por la parte de atrás

Backside and exploded view of a CD player

We have a new part, the 5 that is the engine that operates the opening system of the CD player, 6,7 and 8 are the brushless, laser and the engine behind.

Well, if you want it clearer

Guide structure to move the laser

We can continue disassembling. Because this is a non-stop, even then we can wake up the laser, the brushless and the entire positioning structure, but I will not reach that much and I will leave the complete pieces, which is what we will need for the recommended projects

DIY projects with the parts of a recycled CD / DVD reader

And now what you were waiting for, those DIY projects to do with the reader’s pieces. Well, some projects need additional pieces, it is not only with those of the reader, for example it is easy that you need an Arduino board, or the mechanism of 3 CD / DVD and if you are going to make a 3D mini-printer then some extruder you will need clear.

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With the mechanism

Worm screw detail and guides to position the laser

Ok, I’ve been dismantling and we have the problem that there isn’t a step by step, but look what you can do with these pieces and structure.

With brushless motor

Brushless and stepper motors for DIY projects

To operate a brushless it is not enough to connect it to the voltage and as with a normal continuous motor, we will need some drivers to make it work properly.

It is also typical to make an anemometer. I want to gut the brushless and see a lot of interesting things about this type of engine.

With the stepper motor

Well, as I said I expected to find a stepper motor like the one you will see in the tutorials, with the endless screw attached, I hope you have more luck than me.

With the laser

Recycled laser from a reader for DIY projects

Be careful with the laser, eyes and skin, it can be very dangerous and cause irreparable damage. If you have any questions do not do these projects.

And with this we end up with the reader. “I promise” to do the recommended projects step by step as usual in Ikkaro. Do you know any more that is interesting?

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