Can you dream up a use for.....

[Cozzer]

Maybe a new brush head and use it as a toothbrush

Sheared off, matey. The body, not just the brush head bit.

 

[Cozzer]

I’m happy to throw the units into the local small appliance recycling, they last a couple of years of daily use before the batteries die too fast. However each new one comes with its own charger, we use one brand and the chargers are all the same, so there is one in the bathroom cupboard we all use. I have 8 brand new chargers now sat in a cupboard which I just can’t throw out/recycle as they have never been used.

Yes... as you say, the Oral-B comes complete with a white, sealed charger every time. Interesting in itself, as there are no exposed metal parts on it or the brush body. So how's it charge? ("Answers on a plain postcard, please, to Horace Bachelor...." no! No! Showing my age now!)
The Wisdom one, however, is a battery job, with a single "Q-Lite" triple A up its ar5e. God knows how long it's been in my drawer, but it's the original battery and still goes like the clappers.

 

[Cozzer]

Not far off the original myth? Re broomsticks, I’ll let you look it up.

A good few years ago I signed up for a night-school class entitled "Of Trees and Woods", lectured by one Patrick Harding. Author of note, highly entertaining and certainly no numb-skull. A fantastic tutor, he was as interesting with the folk-lore aspects of witchcraft and country legends, and explained why the broomstick was ...er...connected to the supposed rider. Great fun, but it had the few women on the course squirming a bit!
(I think he eventually had a series of fungi identification programmes on Channel 4? 5 maybe...)
His other claim to fame was - at the time - he had longer hair than me...and that was saying something!

Whilst writing this, I've just looked him up to see what he was doing these days - sad to report that he's no longer with us, having died earlier this year.
RIP.

 

[Tuna808]

Could you post a photo so i can visualize what you now have of the existing toothbrush.
I use these brushes quite a lot on my carvings with altered heads but given that it’s sheared further down it would be nice to see what you have left as any solution or ideas might inspire me to shear one of them and use it as a mini power tool of some sort….thanks

 

[redhunter350]

Presume it’s the oscillating shaft that’s broken off ? Many years ago this happened to me so I dismantled the unit, made and fitted a new one ! They do have a rotary motor and a mechanical mechanism to convert the motion. The motor unit is extracted downwards from the outer shell —- so long ago now I’m not sure how J did this !!! Just hate throwing stuff away !

 

[baldkev]

Yes... as you say, the Oral-B comes complete with a white, sealed charger every time. Interesting in itself, as there are no exposed metal parts on it or the brush body. So how's it charge? ("Answers on a plain postcard, please, to Horace Bachelor...." no! No! Showing my age now!)
The Wisdom one, however, is a battery job, with a single "Q-Lite" triple A up its ar5e. God knows how long it's been in my drawer, but it's the original battery and still goes like the clappers.

Induction charging, it works off coils passing electricity to the battery ( i presumer through a bit of magnetics? )
Many years ago, m.i.t built a house that was wirelessly powered. Everything worked, but the loss of electricity was was something like 60%.

 

[pe2dave]

A lock pick.

 

[Cozzer]

Could you post a photo so i can visualize what you now have of the existing toothbrush.
I use these brushes quite a lot on my carvings with altered heads but given that it’s sheared further down it would be nice to see what you have left as any solution or ideas might inspire me to shear one of them and use it as a mini power tool of some sort….thanks

You know the one person in 10,000 without a mobile phone/camera?
It's me.
Suffice to say I can't even find the Oral-B job as I write - it'll be in a drawer somewhere - but am looking at the battery Wisdom job. Think I was wrong to describe it as one you could fit a replacement head - judging from the price, it's a 'disposable' one, so if you're a bit enthusiastic with it - as I obviously was - the top bit will snap off. (The white bit in the photo below)
https://i8.onbuy.com/product/5a02de7b77064567b9654668c9e5789d-m1676383.jpg

Looking in through the broken top I can only see a central spindle and a flat metal disc which 'revolves'. I say 'disc' - imagine a washer that has had a bite taken out of it, almost to the centre hole.
They boast 20,000 vibrations a minute, notice.... that's some pace for one AAA battery!

 

[Gavlar]

I kept one for ages wondering if I could make it stir paint (Humbrol tiny tins, not 5 litre Dulux!!). Then I thought it was easier to continue to use a screwdriver, and threw recycled the toothbrush away.

 

[Cozzer]

I kept one for ages wondering if I could make it stir paint (Humbrol tiny tins, not 5 litre Dulux!!). Then I thought it was easier to continue to use a screwdriver, and threw recycled the toothbrush away.

Well, what a waste!
Just think what else you could've done with it!
Erm..... uhm.... urm... hmmmm.



Ah.
No.
I can't either.

 

[Cozzer]

Could you post a photo so i can visualize what you now have of the existing toothbrush.
I use these brushes quite a lot on my carvings with altered heads but given that it’s sheared further down it would be nice to see what you have left as any solution or ideas might inspire me to shear one of them and use it as a mini power tool of some sort….thanks

Is that one of your carvings shown to the left of your post?
That looks astounding, Richard!

 

[Tuna808]

Yes it’s one of six back panels for six chairs I’m making

 

[clogs]

good for polishing in tight places....motorcycle bling.....
try polishing the ally casing around the hydraulic lifters on a Duo Glide without one.........

 

[DBC]

I have met loads of guys over the years who had tattooing done using an electric toothbrush driven tattoo gun when they were inside.

 

[John Brown]

Because they charge by induction, the base being little more than the primary winding of a transformer, they're one of the few devices that don't like 110V(talking about the UK/EU versions). Pretty much all other chargers and small PSUs tend to be 90 to 260 or some such range.

 

[HamsterJam]

Because they charge by induction, the base being little more than the primary winding of a transformer, they're one of the few devices that don't like 110V(talking about the UK/EU versions). Pretty much all other chargers and small PSUs tend to be 90 to 260 or some such range.

I have one that is happy with 230v or 110v, indeed I often charge it off 110v cos I can (we have a dual voltage shaver socket in the bathroom)
I assume the secondary voltage in the toothbrush is correspondingly lower but the charge controller is designed to cope with that.

 

[John Brown]

Mine doesn't charge at all from 110V. I tested it on a transformer before my wife and I went to the US and Canada for 3 months. Ended up buying a cheap electronic convertor. Probably would've been cheaper to buy another toothbrush in America...
Maybe new models will cope with 110V, although the new Oral B I bought a few months back indicates otherwise on its markings.

 

[Kittyhawk]

I''ve been thinking for a while that IF the metal prong thing could be adapted so that the oscilations would beat on one of those little bellows similar to the ones found in scroll saws, and IF the resultant gentle airflow could be directed through a camera lens brush affixed to the end of the toothbrush then it would be a darned handy tool to have in the aircraftery for giving the models a final bl0wjob before oiling.
The only problem is I dont have an old electric toothbrush to experiment with.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Is this for real ?
Try using it instead of toilet paper !
This has to be a joke !
If not, there is one serious problem here !

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have met loads of guys over the years who had tattooing done using an electric toothbrush driven tattoo gun when they were inside.

You choose your mates well, then?