What I Found in my Box (electronics edition)

After seeing the Ithacka box of junk challenge, I was intrigued. Not intrigued enough to order one, but I filed the idea away as Something I Should Do. Naturally, when I was at American Science and Surplus during a trip to the Midwest last week, I couldn't help picking up one of these babies.

And so, I present: the Crazy Inventor's Mystery Box. It's a bit like joining a CSA for old electronics junk. It turns out, flying with one of these in your checked luggage is the TSA equivalent of wearing a kick-me sign:

Once home, I meticulously photographed and documented the contents of my box. I'll post more with any projects made from it, but here are some spoilers:

The logic probe is an accessible place to start, though most of the components in the box are analog. Also included were about 6 small polarizing filters. They look like the kind that come inside small b/w LCD electronics.

60 Watt AC motor, and a bunch of speaker wire. There's at least one other motor in the box. Other items: lots of coax and TV bits, speaker plugs, touch sensors (in Mindstorms parlance, anyway; most of us would say buttons and pedals), a small PCB-mounted LCD, a "privacy" switchplate, a rechargable battery, pneumatic parts, small screwdrivers, angled scissors, and (this is sort of my favorite because of the instant death factor) some chopped off power cords with the plug end included. Time to make projects!