Love this. When I was a kid, my friend and I used to visit radio and TV stores to scrounge old radio chasses just like this. We take them home, not to repair them, but to scavenge them for the parts. We'd use these big ass soldering irons or guns to remove the components, pull the tubes, and remove all the pots and other mechanical parts. Once we had pulled everything we could, the rest would go into the trash. All the parts would go into separate storage boxes by type and by value.
Why did we do this? Well, we told ourselves we were going to build some ham radio equipment. Of course, we never did and all the parts eventually got scrapped but when you're 10 years old and summer days lasted forever, it was fun way to spend a few hours.
Sometimes the journey is better the destination. When i was 10ish I’d build stage zero gentoo installations with dialup downloads. It’d take weeks and when i was done i didn’t really have anything to do with the computer.
So did I. In my case I wanted to build a ham receiver from a ARRL handbook design. Also bought some new parts with my hard earned money when I could get my dad to take me to Reno Radio in Detroit. The guys at Reno Radio were hams themselves and were always so darned encouraging to me.
But when I finally did get my license at age 14 my first station ended up being Heathkit gear I built myself.
I am loving the responses to your comment. I want to add that as a grown man in my forties I have a couple of Rasberry Pis and a BBC micros along with some interesting components from Aliexpress which I have done absolutely nothing with but pack neatly away for a few years now. One day.
Why did we do this? Well, we told ourselves we were going to build some ham radio equipment. Of course, we never did and all the parts eventually got scrapped but when you're 10 years old and summer days lasted forever, it was fun way to spend a few hours.