Non-rc Uses For Rc Parts

[markbt73 5316]

So twice in the past week, I have raided my boxes of random RC bits to fix things completely unrelated to RC.

First, there was the electrical outlet in my studio. The outlet had been loose since we moved in, but I never got around to doing anything with it. Finally, I got worried enough to pull the cover plate off and take a look. The screws holding the outlet to the electrical box in the wall were loose, but if I tightened them, the outlet went back into the wall too far for the cover to fit back on. I needed to space the outlet out from the wall a tiny bit... a few millimeters would do. Hmm... what did I have that's non-conductive, similar to a washer, but a few millimeters thick? Nylon wheel bushings! I stuck one white 1150 bushing behind each screw, reinstalled the outlet, and presto; snug and secure, just like it should be.

And this evening, I finally got around to fixing the broken door lock on my wife's Nissan. A little plastic keeper had broken off the actuator rod that went from the lock cylinder to the latch, so the key didn't do anything. Since I figured my chances of finding a replacement keeper were about zero, I just needed something else to hold the rod in place. I ended up using a pair of plastic collars from an old set of Duratrax body posts, one on either end of the broken keeper, and a zip-tie around the middle to hold it all together. Works like a charm.

[HereBeMonsters 9]

My bro had disassembled his PC, and of course lost all the screws putting it back together. Cue my little tub marked "Misc. screws etc." and it all fitted back together nicely.

[bugjammer 2]

Our roller blind in our upstairs toilet has a mardave wheel supporting each end lol

[TA-Mark 195]

Tamiya ceramic grease works great in PC fans when they start to get a bit noisy. Pop the sticker off the centre and repack it then stick some material tape back where the sticker was to keep the dust out of the bush. Good for another 6 months of hard gaming.

Love the roller blind idea.

[HereBeMonsters 9]

I'm currently using a 1980s 1200mAH Racing Pack as a paperweight!

[igbandy 34]

Not entirely a specific RC part, but I ran out of freezer bag tie wraps the other day.

So,

I went and grabbed a re-usable cable tie that I use for securing batteries in my CR-01 crawler!

[wolfdogstinkus 1893]

I have just donated a pair of old tyres to my dog and she loves playing with them!

[skip665 169]

Only yesterday I needed two small tapping screws to hold up the chimney section of our cooker hood - where can I get small silver tapping screws I thought to myself - ah ha! The RC box was raided and Mrs Skip is now happy!

[markbt73 5316]

I have just donated a pair of old tyres to my dog and she loves playing with them!

Heh - I'm very careful to keep RC tires away from our dog; I'm afraid she won't be able to differentiate between "her" tires and mine.

[wolfdogstinkus 1893]

Heh - I'm very careful to keep RC tires away from our dog; I'm afraid she won't be able to differentiate between "her" tires and mine.

Yes, thats true but all my cars are out of doggies reach(That lesson was learned the hard way), had a terrible time trying to fix a bicycle puncture once when she was a pup, thought I had fixed all the holes and then found the exact amount again from the top set of teeth on the other side of the tyre, gave up and bought a new tube.

[twisty 8]

I have 2 ecoline FG shocker bodys tied with a bit of string for my living room door handle,not very good looking but works well

[bugjammer 2]

And heres my latest non rc use for an rc part lol

Im off to Glastonbury festival in just over a month and as always phone charging is expected to be a bit of a mission - as im working there a phone is quite essential.

Last year I tried a 12v solar panel charging a 'car starter' portable power supply - but it couldnt quite hack it for a week.

Ive been experimenting over the last couple of weeks using a car cigerette lighter type charger and 7.2 volt racing packs, and I can get about a weeks charging from one 3000mah pack - my phone is a quite power hungry Samsung Omnia - normally lasts just over a day lol

So after establishing that it works I set about making it prettier and a bit more robust. It really was as simple as removing the springy bits for the car connection and soldering the new wires directly onto the pcb where the old wires were :-)

A Charger from my local market (cost 1.49), a deans connector from my bits box and a bit of knife and soldering action later we have this:

[GGtrialer 0]

thats one of the coolest things i have seen this year. i wonder if i can find my old 2500mAhs and use them to charge my archos.

[rc-martin 218]

I have done a similar thing with my in-car dvd player, used 2 stick packs in series to power the dvd player and twin screens whilst we where on the plane going to Canada. Kept the kids quiet for a few hours!!