How to turn a VCR into a nostalgic toaster

How to build breathe new life into your VCR by turning it into a toaster.

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

Now with the advent of digital and new, more modern video technologies, the use of the old ones VCRs it has become more and more sporadic. But for those who just can't manage to get rid of their device that was the first to free themselves from the slavery of the television schedule and want to try their hand at an original project do-it-yourself, here's a nice idea borrowed from Instructables who was the first to put into practice what was suggested in a comedy broadcast by the BBC and which allows, with a single stroke, or rather 8 moves, to restore life not only to the VCR, but also to the old and sad toaster which is badly suited to the design of the new kitchen.

An ingenious way to make room in the cellar and reduce electronic waste which, remember, are the most difficult to dispose of. So here are the instructions to build yourself a toaster able to give your breakfast a nostalgic flavor of when the world was still running on VHS.

1) The first step is the most obvious one: find an old VCR. As we have written, it is now an almost completely disused device and, therefore, if you do not have one in some corner of the house, ask anyone: we are sure that something will turn up! Otherwise, you can always go to the third-party markets or take a look at the online e-commerce advertisements. The project foresees that from the slot where "in ancient times" the videotapes were placed, bread can be slipped and consequently toasted. For this reason what you need, further, is also a old toaster (the important thing is that it works) from which to take some elements.

Instructables

2) Now that we have somehow found our two devices we can begin the work that will lead us to assemble them into oneor. Initially, therefore, let's eliminate! As you can see from the image, the first thing that needs to be done is remove the superfluous. The screws in the foreground can be easily removed with normal pliers, while for the knobs it is recommended to use a screwdriver: by unscrewing the supports that support them it will be very easy to extract them:

Instructables

3) Once we have made our toaster leaner, removing all that was useless, we proceed to take its "heart". What must be clear to you is that they will be there internal metal parts to be the fulcrum of our creation. Paying maniacal attention not to tamper with the electrical filaments, we prepare to extrapolate everything, as can be easily deduced from the figure, perhaps helping us again with pliers. What must be borne in mind at this stage is that the toaster has a central slot, while the VCR has decentralized this part. For this reason the motherboard which is inside the toaster must be taken in its entirety in such a way as to allow a game in case the two parts do not match perfectly:

Instructables

4) At this point we move on to dismemberment of the VCR. Much simpler and more intuitive practice. In fact, just remove the screws that assemble it and that's it. In short, as shown in the figure below, you should find yourself like this:

Instructables

5) Well and now with both two “open” appliances, you move on to the interlocking phase. Remembering that the part where you once put the bread will match up with the part where you put your VHS tapes in the past, everything is much easier to do than to say. Also in this case the vision of the photo can be very useful, to better understand how to proceed in the most correct way:

Instructables

6) You will now wonder how it will be possible by pushing a button of the video to be able to operate the lever that initially turned on the toaster. Pay attention and you will find that it is not that difficult. You must first find a plastic support, a sort of straw but much more rigid than the one usually used for drinking. Once you have found the positioned at the "play" button of what was once your recorder trying to make it stand perpendicular to the toaster lever. By doing so, the pressure will allow the start to engage and your bread will begin to be toasted. Obviously the tube must be fixed with very powerful glue so that with wear it cannot deteriorate or detach:

Instructables

7) Well here we are, taking back all the lives that have been taken along our job, all that remains is close everything and give life to our creation, of course first remember to switch the socket and connect it to the power!

8) And if you still want to create, after all this work, you can make your new instrument even more creative and original. Before reassembling everything, in fact, you can take one part of the iron left over there from one of the two dismemberments and create in relief, a kind of stancil with the word "VHS".

Instructables

Once this is done you will go and place it atinside the mechanics of your old toaster. By doing this, when you reheat your bread, the original writing will be created… and maybe you will nostalgically remember those times gone by when children sitting on the sofa couldn't wait to see the “cassettes” with your much loved cartoons.

If you still have doubts, watch the video:

Source and images: Instructables