What do you guys do with circuits that you didn't like?

[jimmybjj]

I know that I should breadboard more but I don't so I have alot of circuits that I built just sitting in a box. do you guys throw them away, give them away, etc... I don't really like the idea of tryin to recycle much because parts are so inexpensive.

maybe we could start a thread were we trade unwanted circuits.

[arma61]

keep'em sooner or later you'll run out of that particular, inexpensive component and cannot wait for a new order! (like 510k, in my case!)

[R.G.]

Widlarize them.

Look it up. 

[mth5044]

From a book called 'Circuit Design'

'Now, when I have finished my inspection, and I am still mad as hell because I have wasted a lot of time being fooled by a bad component -- what do I do? I usually Widlarize it, and it makes me feel a lot better. How do you Widlarize something? You take it over to the anvil part of the vice, and you beat on it with a hammer, until it is all crunched down to tiny little pieces, so small that you don't even have to sweep it off the floor. It sure makes you feel better. And you know that that component will never vex you again.'

Sounds like a good book.

You could also consider selling the circuit on here, or boxing it up and selling it on here or on ebay or something.

[Paul Marossy]

Mine just go into a pile that I call the "circuit graveyard". Sometimes I'll exhume the circuit boards and rob them of parts.

[fatfoohy]

we should definitely start a thread like that, i know i've got a circuit that's in perfect condition that i just dont like,  it's a yellow humper (bass specific purple peaker) all it needs done is to be stuffed in an enclosure, all i need to do is fix a solder bridge on it, i think someone definitely needs to start a trade thread for just circuits

[rousejeremy]

Like this?

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=84844.0

[daverdave]

I have a bag of random circuits, some of them I don't like and some I'm just too lazy to box up. I am a lazy lazy man!!

[petemoore]

  Anything from a simple fix, which comprises about 2% of the enourmous boxloads of salvaged CRT/__ boards, to complete destruction about 2% of total [''not known to work circuits, from the 'boardpile box'].
  Complicated circuits recieve only attention fostered by vulturous intent, the rest of the count is just 96% rediculous, capacitors missing, unknown origins.
  Todays heavy duty [round hole] old switch install and the power supply coupling workpieces came from such a pile, very handy for the amplifier tested to be further readied for continued use.
  I re-use wires and all, generally new resistors if <220k is needed.

[DougH]

What do you guys do with circuits that you didn't like?

I don't build it.

[B Tremblay]

What do you guys do with circuits that you didn't like?

I don't build it.

Correct answer.  The end.

[fatfoohy]

haha, i wish i could've just not built that yellow humper, it was a pain to debug, and then once i got it fixed, it colored my bass really badly, i didnt think it was going to color it as much as it did

[earthtonesaudio]

...I remove the components from the breadboard and put them back in their storage bins.

[Paul Marossy]

What do you guys do with circuits that you didn't like?

I don't build it.

Correct answer.  The end.

Dummies like me sometimes can't tell if they are going to like it until they have built it, and only then do they find out that it doesn't suit their style.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

...I remove the components from the breadboard and put them back in their storage bins.

I do this with ones I like, too. Switches and enclosures are expensive!

[Mark Hammer]

I generally perf things rather than make PCB-builds, unless it is something I know I am going to like, or that someone else is going to like (i.e., if I don't like it, at least I can sell it).

In anticipation of that I make a point of observing some policies with respect to perf construction.  One of these is that when I have to choose which component lead becomes the tie-point and which gets wrapped around the tie point (and how many times), the cheaper component is the tie-point.  So, say we have a bipolar transistor, with a resistor from collector to V+ and another from emitter to ground.  The leads from those resistors become the tie points, and the leads from the transistor is bent to reach those tie points and wrapped around them a couple of times.

Why do this?  Because if I really don't like it, or have thought of a better way to make it, I can desolder the components, and the pricier ones stand a decent chance of being re-usable.  Resistors are pennies at most, and transistors can range up to 50 cents a pop or more.  The exception would be when the resistor is a particularly hard to get or otherwise nonstandard value (I'm not making an order or making a special trip for two 200k resistors), and the transistor is something easily replaceable.

Caps can also be pricey, and sometimes scoring caps that perfectly fit the space available can be tricky, to I am mindful not to damage their leads too much either.

I have a couple of bins of boards that are either awaiting a few final components to fully populate, or a suitable chassis, or another order of pots/switches, or debugging, or some reason to find them more sonically appealing than I did initially (I still don't see the appeal to the Marshall Bluesbreaker).  Given that the "meh"-evoking boards have plenty of company, I am content to just let them sit there, unless there is something particularly precious onboard.

[liquids]

Breadboard was my first though, of course, but that's been covered.

If you never bread boarded it, and still don't want to, you can still mod the crap out of it until you (may) like it far more. Or, you can still  grab a breadboard to re-build it and figure out what you'd want to mod, and then mod the board.

Lastly, along Paul's (edit: I mean Mark's) lines - I started realizing that at all points, I'm going to 'up the ante' and find another circuit or a mod I like more at some point.  Or maybe I will just go OCD about my layout and want to do it over so it looks more aesthetically pleasing inside.  

So it takes some advanced planning but I'm designing and soldering my builds so that most components can be removed easily, and have long enough leads remaining to be used after snipping / desoldering.  Oftentimes they go into the stash for breadboarding rather than another build, but it's still going to get used.   You'd build a collection for breadboarding quite quickly you started snipping and desoldering your graveyard of circuits.

[Paul Marossy]

Yeah, breadboarding stuff seems more sensible. I'm learning to use mine more these days. But I haven't been motivated to do anything DIY lately, it all seems pointless when I have much more important things to be concerned with at the moment.

[teemuk]

Parts are inexpensive but I don't care, I still recycle. Not that I would deliberately take apart everything but basically the stuff makes up great spares when I run out of something or happen to look for that particular part (or a decent substitute) that just happens to be located on one of the old, scrapped builds.

Heck, it's a lot easier to desolder a part in a matter of minutes than to take a 45 min trip to the store.

I still usually steer away from using the "cheapies" (smallest resistors, caps and transistors) if they don't have long enough legs left to reused easily.

[TimWaldvogel]

I leave them in a pile on my work bench... That way I can show my wife how much money I have wasted cause I don't have a large enough breadboard or a multimeter yet lol. August is my birthday... Crossing my fingers