I am working on turning chips from old failed computer hardware into magnets. Rather than using these on a refrigerator I am making a bulletin board for these chips and would like to use actual computer board as the material. I plan on using a sheet metal backing and then putting the circuit boards over this.

So here is the question:

Where can I get "blank" circuit boards? It would be cool if it had the metal traces already in; perhaps "rejects" from a manufacturing process? I have seen companies make bookmarks out of discarded printed circuit boards so they must be around somewhere.

Thanks!

4/23/2008 9:38:59 PM

radioshack has kits, you use any of a few different methods to draw your circuits and etch the board, blah blah blah.. look it up

4/23/2008 9:42:26 PM

Way too small/costly I think. I need about 24 sq. ft of this material.

4/23/2008 9:44:29 PM

oh

fuck

yeah you're probably right then...nvm

[Edited on April 23, 2008 at 9:49 PM. Reason : ps wtf are you making]

4/23/2008 9:46:12 PM

Yeah; it used to be an old window before an addition. After the addition the window frame is still there but it is just a bare wall behind it. That is what I am trying to turn into this board. It used to be a large window (~4 ft x 6 ft) so I need a lot of material if I am going to cover it. I had tried to turn it into a whiteboard but that didn't work as well as I wanted and I decided a magnetic board would work much better.

4/23/2008 9:58:37 PM

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8477

4/23/2008 11:38:31 PM

you're thinking like that stuff in the clipboards?


search for "recycled circuit board"

[Edited on April 24, 2008 at 12:16 AM. Reason : /]

4/24/2008 12:15:30 AM

^I bought a clipboard like that almost 12 years ago.

I still have it.

4/24/2008 12:42:22 AM

Dunno if this is a viable option for you, but you could always go to the surplus sale or goodwill or even just post in classifieds looking for the stuff, but you could get old motherboards or something and pull all the components off of them. It would probably take a while, but might add a neat aspect to the project saying that you recovered the boards yourself. Could even give you some neat components to turn into the magnets.

That might give you some artistic freedom to find ones of different colors and stuff.

Just a thought.

4/24/2008 8:56:53 AM

Awesome! Thanks guys.

Quote :

"Dunno if this is a viable option for you, but you could always go to the surplus sale or goodwill or even just post in classifieds looking for the stuff, but you could get old motherboards or something and pull all the components off of them. It would probably take a while, but might add a neat aspect to the project saying that you recovered the boards yourself. Could even give you some neat components to turn into the magnets."

I considered this for a while and still might do it. One of my biggest concerns has become lead in the solder and proper disposal of all of the hardware. If I can do it and then send everything to an electronics recycling place then that would work; otherwise I will see what I can assemble from 'scraps'.

4/24/2008 11:59:58 AM