Components

[gorner5]

Can you take components off a used circuit board and reuse them.

Sorry if u sound like an idiot Im new to this

[airman00]

sure

the stuff that holds the components in place is called solder

You need to desolder it - search google for info

what components do you need to desolder and what circuit board - we can tell you if there is any danger or give advice for that specific thing

what project are you building?

[Private Reid]

well

i found that desoldering off a computer motherboard is hard!

it's manufactured so the bits don't come off
 

[Steve Joblin]

probably because they are surface mounted devices... do a google search for "desoldering SMD" (SMD = Surface Mounted Device)... there are bunch of tutorials and techniques, but it can be done.

[gorner5]

I hav e some old dvd players with lots of capacitors and other stuff on them.

[krich]

SMDs (and even through hole components) can be taken off with a heat gun.  You have to take care not to overheat the components, but it's worked well for me.  Just heat the area of the board and use tiny tweezers to test whether the component has come free or not.  Once the solder has started to melt, remove the component from the solder pads immediately so as to not overheat it.  Its pretty much the only way to get SMD ICs off a board without damaging the leads.