This is pretty cool. For general purpose components, this would be nice for only a few of them. As parts get smaller, markings are less common, and if you have

This is pretty cool. For general purpose components, this would be nice for only a few of them. As parts get smaller, markings are less common, and if you have a few parts spill out and mix, testing them may be the only way to figure out what is what. Resistors >= 1206 have identifying resistance markers. Most resistors on boards are smaller, 0806, 0402, 0201, and do not have markings. You would have to manually test the resistors to see what their values are. They don't have power ratings anywhere, only resistance ratings. Capacitors don't have markings. Transistors don't have markings, and about the only thing you could do would be to test the pin configuration and check if it's an NPN or a PNP. ICs generally do have markings, unless they are smaller and have either an impossible to read laser inscription (even under a microscope, you have to have the light hit it just right to read what the part is) or no markings at all. ICs are also the big ticket items on a board, and it's almost impossible to get a 32 pin IC off with a soldering iron. If I could splash some water on and grab it, that would be cool. If you made all your own boards, knew the parts that went onto them, thought it was worth the ~80 cents of resistors, capacitors, transistors, and selectively removed components, you could be in for a treat. But, this is still awesome. As a hobbyist, I would rather just buy some new components so I have them all in a strip in a bag that has the part numbers, and the values. As a recycler though, this is amazing. Instead of having to reflow everything and liberate all the parts, I can grab all the ICs and transistors, melt them down and regain the metals used. It might not be worth it to do it yet, but saving hundreds of circuit boards would take up a bit of space. The board itself is likely >90% of the space. I want the 10% that has the parts on it. I can stash these for later when a more economical way of getting the metals out comes around.