In response to a CL add, I picked-up some broken/dust-collecting electronics from the basement of a woman in San Francisco.
One item was a relatively old Amana Microwave (just learned Amana is Maytag's flagship brand).
A few days ago I tested the Amana Microwave. The touchpad worked for programming time, and the interior light illuminated, and it made an appropriate "whirring" sound after hitting start; but the glass of water I placed inside was still cold after 1.5 minutes. It seemed like something was wrong somewhere, thereby explaining basement storage and the pickup request....
so I srapped it (my first scrapping experiment).
I dissected the parts that looked interesting and then reassembled the empty shell. I have an end-user who has agreed to take my empty appliance shells.
For pics see the following:
Pic #1 = Pre-Op
Pic #2 = Post-Op scrapping products with empty shell
Pic #3 = Post-Op scrapping products closeup (note circuit board)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4886509...7629061706306/
I removed the circuit board from the touchpad (see pic #3, post-op closeup, bottom right corner), but I reassembled the touchpad surface to my empty shell and gave it to my end user.
After doing some research on the website repairclinic.com, I think I might have made a mistake by removing the circuit board from the touchpad.
Under the Amana microwave section of repairclinic website, I found an entry for a very similar touchpad and circuit board -- selling for $90! (touchpad is picture #1, and it's exactly the same as the one I removed; click on picture#2 to see the back side of the touchpad with a circuit board that is very similar to the one I removed).
http://www.repairclinic.com/PartDeta...0163209/223582
Based on this appliance repair website, I don't think I should have removed the circuit board from the touchpad. Given that the combo sells for $90 on repairclinic.com, I probably shot myself in the foot (assuming I could somehow get some, even small, fraction of that price).
Question: Who is supplying www.repairclinic.com with spare parts? Can we somehow sell to them or to whomever is supplying them with spare parts?
Clearly, all of us could be suppliers of spare parts, so how can we get some small piece of that $90 spare parts action in the future? That $90 price, for a single low grade circuit board and touchpad is much better than scrap. But then again, considering a new Amana microwave goes for >$200, perhaps the repair market makes sense. I was just very surprised by the results of this research and I'm wishing I hadn't given away that touchpad surface plate with the rest of the "shell." Live and learn I guess.
I'd be curious if anyone here has figured out a way to be a supplier to this spare parts market. It seems like another route for electronic component liquidation (apart from the regulars: CL and Ebay).
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