None of the parts are ‘worth’ saving unless you’re also implementing an inventory system so you can find what you have when you need it.

If you just play a couple pins at home saving the parts will almost never help you.

If you’re an operator with a few dozen pins that have to be operational ASAP or you’re doing board repair work professionally there may be a few items worth scavenging if there is no modern replacement.

barakandl or KenLayton might have some insight on what pieces to watch for and where to find them.

If you have an electronics store nearby with resources like diodes, resistors, capacitors then you might not want to bother. For practicing your soldering iron skills then it's perfect. Go ahead and remove as many components as you can from that power supply (the bigger caps should have their pins shorted together before attempting to de-solder (just in case ). The big coils in your box rarely ever go bad, so you don't need to hold on to a lot of those. Transistors might be re-usable at times for pins , ICs would be really doubtful coming from power supplies. I suggest to only keeps parts that you can easily identify by looking at their part number on google and finding their datasheet. Transistors , diodes used to have easy to read markings to identify them. Nowadays there is less and less info on parts you see in appliances, and that's very true for power supplies. A lot of ICs are obscure asian parts that you won't find any info on. Also a power supply handles power, so it doesn't use logic gates or control ICs or transistors that would typically be used in pinballs, especially older ones. This means that components from a power supply would most often be found, in a power supply (transistors and ICs). I don't go through scrap boards to remove parts and make an inventory for repairs. Over time you end up buying more and more little parts, or extras when you fix something and end up with a stash of new parts. You keep those old boards stashed somewhere for a random resistance you don't find in your inventory, an old connector, transistor, etc.

But for pratice, and parts that *might* be needed on pinballs would be resistors , diodes, transistors, connectors, capacitors, could all have a use once in a while. Usually those parts cost a few cents each when they are readily available to you.

There's not really anything valuable in a power supply for reuse. Very few of those components are actually used in pins.

Personally, I wouldn't re-use the caps. They're already old. If I'm replacing caps, I'll use fresh ones.

Same goes for resistors--I'd rather use fresh ones than ones that have been stressed and heat damaged.

The only thing I'll do is save the copper, aluminum, and fan motors for recycling. When my pile is big enough, I'll take those metals to a scrap yard and get a few bucks out of that. I'll bring the remainders to staples for their free recycling bin (in my state, it's technically illegal to just put electronics in the trash, and staples is one of the few places that will take it).

Tyking

Capacitors can hold a charge and can discharge thru your soldering iron.

To discharge a capacitor , simply short its 2 pins with a metal piece (flathead screwdriver is good). As Billc479, the capacitors could discharge in your soldering iron or you could accidently touch them with your fingers, you could get a shock that could really hurt depending on the size of the capacitor. As for using capacitors from a dead PSU.. Like any other part , they could have been damaged by heat and stress, I think its better to have access to old parts immediately, at least to test repairs, then to go ahead and always buy new parts to test if the issue is fixed. For tests, old parts are more than good enough. For long lasting repairs , newer parts (often have better construction methods now) should work for a longer period of time. I'm pretty sure that PSU was constructed much more recently than most pins that require work, so technically those resistors , diodes have already been much less stressed than any part in your pinball.

But again, resistors, diodes, caps, etc , aren't usually what costs the most.

fan, inductor coils, heat sinks. may not be worth your time to remove tho.

The transformer is very tiny and specifically designed for the voltages and amperages for the power supply--a pin doesn't have the same requirements. And good luck trying to find schematics for the internals of a random PC power supply.

If I were to keep any parts from that old supply - it might be the fan. Maybe able to get another year or two before the Chinese bearings go out for good. But - best use for that one is to put it in the bottom of your trash can to keep it from blowing down the street.

I would probably keep the power cord. I have scavenged tons of these yet can never find one when I need one.