Yea you drink coffee.. but ever seen inside your machine?

I saw a fancy coffee maker and thought yea why not, it's a lot of plastic, but it might be interesting... Once I got in, I thought this was a bit over board for a coffee maker. This is what 'under the hood' looks like in a fancy kuerieg coffee single cup brewer. All this mess, it's a wonder it doesnt make breakfast with coffee, too. I'll repost later with total weights of circuit boards, wires, and motors. Remember now, I am a small time scrapper on my bicycle (but I do pretty good for myself) and I dont have a fancy truck and trailer filled with old AC units! Lol. This is just fun for me!

Whew... I thought you were going to gross me out with some disgusting slime left behind after years of coffee making.

Does that thing have a pump in it? I thought the water was moved by like a percolator where the heats and steam moves the water through the system. Alot of wire, I had no idea. Just how fancy was that coffee maker?

Originally Posted by t00nces2

Whew... I thought you were going to gross me out with some disgusting slime left behind after years of coffee making.

Does that thing have a pump in it? I thought the water was moved by like a percolator where the heats and steam moves the water through the system. Alot of wire, I had no idea. Just how fancy was that coffee maker?

Saw the title and thought the exact same thing!

Hold up
easy 40-50 bucks in parts sitting there, if you ebay or know someone who does?
cup tray, brewing cup, pump motor, boards, water tank, heck the lid goes for $20+ easy
seems some people will fix a $100-$200 coffee machine that only works for a few months.
just letting ya know.

DARN! I am not sure I have the time to gingerly dismantle this thing. I am still taking it apart, and thus far all parts are mostly intact. I did, fully, disassemble that magnetic motor pump thing - so I lost out on that ebay dough for that. I started yesterday for 30 mins, worked on it this morning for another 40, and I am not too far off from how the photo is above. I just clipped most wires free, removed circuit boards, and am currently trying to figure out how to remove the - what looks like - high density plastic compression wrap away from the brewing pot and water reservoir. I know that brew pot is aluminum. I can tell you guys, this thing is put together to survive a fall off the Eiffel Tower. Disassembling this tank with in-tact parts is more than a puzzle. I'll try my best.

Well, on second thought, I'll see what I can do selling any spare parts that are still salvagable on eBay, thanks NHscrapman, and I'll re-post here letting you guys know of success or not. It might be a while though, as I am still pulling it apart and my real work has officially kicked in [blah]. Tomorrow is trash day, and I've still got this coffee maker, a kickin' pool pump, an aluminum beach chair, and a garage door opener along with its greasy arm to break down.

Saw the title and thought the exact same thing!

LOL .. I wouldn't do that now! Although, my neighbor did give me an old stove top Italian expresso maker that had a curly worm thing living in the water tank at the bottom. Totally gross. I didn't scrap back then, and the wife and I just quietly threw it out. That had to be some good aluminum.

Whew... I thought you were going to gross me out with some disgusting slime left behind after years of coffee making.

Does that thing have a pump in it? I thought the water was moved by like a percolator where the heats and steam moves the water through the system. Alot of wire, I had no idea. Just how fancy was that coffee maker?

LOL.. I will never disgust! Well, maybe.. It has, so far, I think 2 can motors. One motor was the magnetic thing that I disassembled - opps - that was worth money. It also has two water pump looking things.. not sure what they do. If you look just to the right of the top center of my photo, you'll see a grey cylinder with a ferrous metal strap around it. That's one of them. Also, deep inside, it has two in-line water filters. If I ever figure out how to get in there - this thing is assembled like a tank. I should try to take this thing apart with care, and try to sell spare parts.

Okay here's the count:

165.41 grams of low grade circuit boards
225.57 grams for one transformer
47.93 grams of a nice, odd, aluminum piece
51.08 grams can motor (resell this on your favorite website per NHscrapman's suggestions) I took mine fully apart (opps).
147.57 grams of copper wiring

.. and because I had to unscrew them all (by hand - which was my choice)..

98.54 grams of random 1/2" pain in the you know what screws.

In short:
1.) Who ever designed this machine loved screws, and didn't like to sleep much. (no pun intended, lol)
2.) The designer also liked Chinese lock puzzles, as this is very much similar.
3.) They had no revere for conservation of building materials - that cost was lovingly passed right onto the caffeine needing consumer!
4.) If you scrap one of these, be ready for a fight, and wear gloves - it will get messy on you [I mean blood]. I can happy say, no blood on this one, but a few close calls. Hammer & swing - all I can say.

All in all, I vote it's worth the scrap for the wires alone (not so much for the screws).

NOTE: Some parts were saved and set aside: such as the water tank heating/holding apparatus, water filters, and pump things, as I will try to sell what I can on ebay. I'll repost with the rundown, over some coffee of course!

I also thought of "slime" or something grosser. What actually came to me was "outflow valves" on commercial jets. Before the FFA banned smoking on US carriers, we used to have to change the outflow valve after so many hours. Simply because of the tar and nicotine buildup, could have caused them to fail. A failed outflow valve above 10,500 feet, makes for a bad day! Anyway if you ever saw one of these valves after so many hours, before the ban on in-flight smoking. Let's just say it would make you think about your lungs if you were a smoker. Thought about those valves and your inside a coffee maker title.

Oh ... sounds gross... I had a similar experience.. as a kid.. I always just knew my grandmothers carpets where brown. But when we moved her out, I realized the walls, and the rugs... were not actually the color I saw that day .. the carpet .. clown nose red under a rug that never moved. That was it for me. I do not smoke, never will man.. I own stock in Altria which is a pretty successful Phillip Morris spin off [symbol MO on the NASDAQ] (it offers a nearly 5% quarterly dividend and that was enough said for me ... sad to say, but cigarette sales do not follow the slopes of the tumultuous world economy, either does liquor). Rum.. well.. sorry my liver.. yea I do that. After all, it's Florida. Why's all the rum gone????? We all have our addictions, none of them, well the vast majority of them, are never good for us, but, brown carpet that should have been clown nose red is a great way to keep your kids from smoking! I also recomend Home Depot stock.. and Netflix. But I am not Warren Buffet - heck I am not even Jimmy Buffett, but saw him in concert once. Do not follow my advice. Do research first, scrap always.

I've taken apart a number of coffee and espresso machines. Brand name ones parts are worth selling on ebay but its hard to find, at least in my metro, super good deals on them. The thrift stores know the brand names and people at rummages generally know. Haven't found a Keurig sitting on the curb in the trash piles. Cheap coffee machines I break apart fairly fast, for fun if nothing else. A little wire, some Al breakage, sometimes clean Al, maybe a small piece of stainless or Al, maybe brass/Cu switch. Usually the cheaper the machine, the less sellable scrap stuff in it. My personal best was a larger Delonghi (sp?) dual coffee/espresso machine even after paying Good Will good coin. I've also lost a little money buying such units at thrift stores. So it goes...