Best $2 I spent this year

happydad Sat Dec 05, 2015 3:12 am

How many of you have one of these sitting in a drawer somewhere? An old electric toothbrush.

Best $2 I spent this year Tooth-11

This one is a Phillips Sonic care.

The batteries were dead soon after purchasing it and Phillips sent us a replacement so this set in a drawer for more than 4 years. Until I saw an ad for replacement batteries for the toothbrush on ebay AND a video on how to open the case and replace the batteries. There are several models and several types of batteries used, but I am only showing this one model. There are video available for most types of toothbrushes and types of batteries, AA, sub C, etc.

Best $2 I spent this year Tooth-12

This is the PCB after separating the 2 halves of the case,

The next part is a little tricky because the batteries were RTV'd into the case and wouldn't come out easy, so I had to remove the PCB from the batteries, 2 - AA NiCd and the 2 coils for induction pickup to charge the toothbrush and for the coil to vibrate the brush head.

Best $2 I spent this year Tooth-13

CAREFULLY unsolder the shown 8 connections, Make solder is completely remover from the hole and the top and bottom of the PCB or the PCB will not separate from the components, (batteries, left coil, right coil).

After the PCB is separated from the components you will need to remove the batteries from the toothbrush case. Mine were held in with RTV and were fairly easy to remove. Be sure to save the little pins on the ends on the batteries, (+), and (-), and the strap connecting the 2 batteries together, (-) end of one battery to (+) end of other battery.
Prepare your new batteries, 2 AA either NiCd or NiMh by using the jumper and pins litke the batteries that were removed. NiMh batteries charge will last longer, but will also take a little longer to charge. The charge circuit is built into the PCB and shuts off the charge voltage when the voltage peaks at the optimum voltage determined by Phillips and the battery manufacturer. After preparing the batteries with the pins and jumper install them into the case and reinstall the PCB over the batteries and 2 coils contacts and carefully re-solder the 8 connections. I used a PCB contact cleaner to remove any excess flux residue.

Best $2 I spent this year Tooth-14

Side view of the PCB and battery connections of the toothbrush.

put the 2 halves back together, charge the toothbrush and use as needed. I now have an electric brush to clean small engines.

happydad RC Plane

getback Sat Dec 05, 2015 8:00 am

Funny you brought up the cleaning engines with a electric tooth brush I have been pondering on that , be nice if you could mount a brass brush into it also . Nice repair , Thanks for showing in detail how to do this . getback Cold

happydad Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:46 pm

getback wrote:Funny you brought up the cleaning engines with a electric tooth brush I have been pondering on that , be nice if you could mount a brass brush into it also . Nice repair , Thanks for showing in detail how to do this . getback

Why not? Just cut off the bristles on the used brush smooth, then mount your small brass brush to the brush head with screws, or whatever is needed. My brass brush is about 1 inch wide X 2 inches long with a handle 1/2 inch thick. It would be easy to rout a slot in the brass brush handle for the toothbrush head to fit into, then screw it down with a couple of #2 metal or wood screws.
I don't know about you, but we have lots of old toothbrush heads sitting around waiting to be used for cleaning some tiny little engine part.
Go to it man.

Happydad RC Plane

modelbuilder49 Sat Dec 05, 2015 2:04 pm

Won't that hurt your gums!! Affraid or WOW!

(rotfl jus' kiddin' jus kiddin'! Laughing

)

happydad Sat Dec 05, 2015 3:10 pm

modelbuilder49 wrote: Won't that hurt your gums!! (rotfl jus' kiddin' jus kiddin'! )

I guess it depends on what is left. Mostly teeth or mostly gums. lol!

I have 3 or more toothbrush heads. 1 for deep cleaning, 1 for soft areas like gums and now an old 1 for dirty Cox engine parts. And it works great for most things. It doesn't get down inside the Venturi area well. Especially if there is a screen over the intake. If there is no screen I use a paper towel soaked in old fuel shrunk down to the size of the Venturi and squeeze it thru then run it back and forth a few times. If there is a screen over one end I try to clean from one side then spray fuel from the s reenact side into my cleaning bowel-tray to reuse the fuel.

Happydad RC Plane

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Best $2 I spent this year

Best $2 I spent this year

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Vent not?

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Depends

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