Loose screws and other random things found on the inside of Electronic devices

[security16]

Silly me has lost the screws for my Famicom probably about 2 moves ago and i have no idea where they would be. Can i use screws that are the same size from the hardware or do i need a specific type of screw?

Yes thats right i've got a few screws loose!!


Edit: Changed the title of the thread since it changed direction pretty quickly

[Jedi Master Baiter]

That's what I did with my NES. But I don't have a regular FC.

[security16]

Strangley enough after about 8 years i found them today in a big glomp of bluetac probably to keep them together! I think i will do a raid on the local hardware soon just in case my screws get loose again.
On a side note i opened up my FDS and found some really weird "components"   

[Xious]

I have every screw ever used in a Nintendo product available if you want to order a few.

I'm guessing that the strange 'components' in your FDS are things like dead insects, bits o fluff, or loose retainers. 

[security16]

I have every screw ever used in a Nintendo product available if you want to order a few.

I'm guessing that the strange 'components' in your FDS are things like dead insects, bits o fluff, or loose retainers. 

I will remember that next time i take something apart and find i'm a few screws short.
The strange "components" weren't quite like i've ever seen before inside a console anyway

[manuel]

Do you have any stories about what you can find in video tape recorders or DVD players? I'd love to hear some. 
This makes me want to open up my Disk System, too... 

[Kiddo]

When I opened my NES a few weeks ago to disable the lock out chip I found a Standard Nintendo Maintenance Beetle, although mine was dead. 

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Do you have any stories about what you can find in video tape recorders

My brother once stuck Zelda II into our VCR.  It took weeks to get it out.

I also opened up the expansion port of the NES I bought from a friend & found out it had been repaired.

I think the receipt's still in there.

[security16]

I had a dead mouse in my computer tower at one stage. That was fun trying to clean up so i just got a new case and sold the old case with the mouse stains. 

[manuel]

How can a mouse get in there? 

[jpx72]

I had a hamster in my printer Luckily I managed to get him out, but the printer went right to garbage, I stressed so much that I destroyed the printer in the life-saving process... Meh that was long ago, the printer was a "dot matrix" type

My brother once stuck Zelda II into our VCR.  It took weeks to get it out.

HAHAHA

Also I found a dead in one of my Famicoms meh

[Hamburglar]

This should have it's own thread, I used to work at a TV repair shop and found some interesting things inside customer's units, probably more interesting were the times we were short handed so I had to go out on service calls...

Do you have any stories about what you can find in video tape recorders or DVD players? I'd love to hear some. 
This makes me want to open up my Disk System, too... 

[Xious]

In around 33-years of servicing electronic items, here are some of the things that I've found inside, in order of recollection:

• Bits of fluff.
  
• Loose springs, components (e.g. resistors), etc., including components not from that device.
  
• Dead insects and arachnids, including an adder with his web
  
• Board-game pieces.
  
• Bits of plastic and paper, including notes, and tiny toys.
  
• Costume jewelry (more's the pity--why can't people leave gold for me?).
  
• Coins of small worth.
  
• Insect chrysalis.
  
• Food and food debris.
  
• Wrongly-inserted objects (such as diskettes inserted backwards, or in the wrong drive type).
  
• Ladies underwear (in a VCR!). I did not ask how or why it got there. ...
  
• Drinking straws.
  
• Matches, cigarette tips, ashes.
  
• Bits of wire trimmings.
  
• Dirt...lots of dirt.
  
• Leaves from plants / botanical objects.
  
• Plastic container tops.
  
• Envelopes.
  
• Pieces and bits of Styrofoam.
  
• Screws and fasteners, including those not from the product.
  
• Shrapnel and glass fragments.
  
• Stray solder (flecks and whole wire).
  
• Tools, often small screwdrivers and such.
  
• Gravel.
  
• Wood chips.
  
• Slime, gunk, chewing gum, and other sticky substances.
  
• Food remains, and isotonic residue.
  
• hair...lots of hair (part of the fluff category, but on its own level of disgusting-ness).
  
• Photographs.
  
• Butter knives and other utensils.
  
• The unidentifiable and other assorted objects.
  
  It never ends... At the least, I can state that I have yet to find severed human body parts in anything that I've repaired. ... I'm sure that day will arrive. ...

[80sFREAK]

In around 33-years of servicing electronic items, here are some of the things that I've found inside, in order of recollection:

• Bits of fluff.
  
• Loose springs, components (e.g. resistors), etc., including components not from that device.
  
• Dead insects and arachnids, including an adder with his web
  
• Board-game pieces.
  
• Bits of plastic and paper, including notes, and tiny toys.
  
• Costume jewelry (more's the pity--why can't people leave gold for me?).
  
• Coins of small worth.
  
• Insect chrysalis.
  
• Food and food debris.
  
• Wrongly-inserted objects (such as diskettes inserted backwards, or in the wrong drive type).
  
• Ladies underwear (in a VCR!). I did not ask how or why it got there. ...
  
• Drinking straws.
  
• Matches, cigarette tips, ashes.
  
• Bits of wire trimmings.
  
• Dirt...lots of dirt.
  
• Leaves from plants / botanical objects.
  
• Plastic container tops.
  
• Envelopes.
  
• Pieces and bits of Styrofoam.
  
• Screws and fasteners, including those not from the product.
  
• Shrapnel and glass fragments.
  
• Stray solder (flecks and whole wire).
  
• Tools, often small screwdrivers and such.
  
• Gravel.
  
• Wood chips.
  
• Slime, gunk, chewing gum, and other sticky substances.
  
• Food remains, and isotonic residue.
  
• hair...lots of hair (part of the fluff category, but on its own level of disgusting-ness).
  
• Photographs.
  
• Butter knives and other utensils.
  
• The unidentifiable and other assorted objects.
  
  It never ends... At the least, I can state that I have yet to find severed human body parts in anything that I've repaired. ... I'm sure that day will arrive. ...
  

Almost the same list except underwear and photos 

[Hamburglar]

In around 33-years of servicing electronic items, here are some of the things that I've found inside, in order of recollection:

*SNIP*

It never ends... At the least, I can state that I have yet to find severed human body parts in anything that I've repaired. ... I'm sure that day will arrive. ...

It would be more interesting if you noted what you found in what unit IMO.

I once found a bunch of  quarters in a Karaoke machine, I don't know someone must have thought it needed them to function...

VHS porn stuck in broken machines, used to happen all the time, more shocking to me is the fact that people still had VHS and Beta decks repaired...
My co-worker would put whatever tape he found on top of the machine, one time a woman picked up the unit and demanded that my boss showed her the unit did in fact work...my boss took the tape and played it... my boss was freaked out and quickly took out the tape and apologized and asked the guy that worked on the unit why was that on top of the machine,  my co-worker replied " it was in the unit when it was dropped off" the woman just stood there for a second- I guess she thought about it and realized it was her husband's video- she paid and took the tape machine and the porn video and left.