First, while I am a new member, I have very little interest in the PM content of Ewaste. My interest is more in the big picture. I like the recycling industry. While I am a "back yard guy"....I am also a prototype and design company. My point in this...please skip the "read Hoke" comments. I do recover and refine silver, largely as a secondary operation...and enjoy it. And while I am saving gold components, the chemistry side requires such high control and confidence in methods that I prefer to avoid. See my previous post in safety for a good example! :lol:
So herein is my "method". In the past, when I have entered a field, it has begun with "here's the current methodology". In some cases this involves reading a stack of journal articles. In others, it means working on the floor next to the guys that actually know what the hell their doing. The recycling industry is new to me, even though I've been involved with it for ages (I am a collector of anything, I have spent countless hours in scrap yards and recycling yards finding value in other peoples junk).
My point, I think this field is young in it's development of technology. The methods are brutal. (and sometimes brutal is best)
Wherein my confusion lies, is that there seems to be a gap between mechanically stripping boards via labor intensive processes and cherry picking the high yield components with heat gun and labor and sending the remainder through the wood chipper used in Fargo. (and yes, I'm very knowledgeable of modern grinding techniques, that was sarcasm).
The recycling industry is very owner operator centered. It's collected, it's categorized, and it's shipped. There is very little field based material upgrade in the bigger yards. It's just shipped. At the smaller yards, it's labor intensive. The good ole boy that could have the engine out of the chevrolet in ten minutes, while preserving all of the mechanical components....all before you can even find your 13 mm wrench.
So my question is the following...I have heard of industrial "desoldering" machines. I have seen chemical processes to strip the solder. What I have not seen is a time effective method of mechanically stripping components of a PCB to not only conserve integrity of the board, but also the original integrity of the components.
And while companies such as boardsort (which I love) would argue that the most efficient method of recovering values is to shred it, then pyrolize the whole damn pile of junk, I still question if that is the most cost effective method, let alone environmentally friendly method.
The capillary strength of solder is quite substantial, so I recognize that the necessity of breaking that force
So herein is my "method". In the past, when I have entered a field, it has begun with "here's the current methodology". In some cases this involves reading a stack of journal articles. In others, it means working on the floor next to the guys that actually know what the hell their doing. The recycling industry is new to me, even though I've been involved with it for ages (I am a collector of anything, I have spent countless hours in scrap yards and recycling yards finding value in other peoples junk).
My point, I think this field is young in it's development of technology. The methods are brutal. (and sometimes brutal is best)
Wherein my confusion lies, is that there seems to be a gap between mechanically stripping boards via labor intensive processes and cherry picking the high yield components with heat gun and labor and sending the remainder through the wood chipper used in Fargo. (and yes, I'm very knowledgeable of modern grinding techniques, that was sarcasm).
The recycling industry is very owner operator centered. It's collected, it's categorized, and it's shipped. There is very little field based material upgrade in the bigger yards. It's just shipped. At the smaller yards, it's labor intensive. The good ole boy that could have the engine out of the chevrolet in ten minutes, while preserving all of the mechanical components....all before you can even find your 13 mm wrench.
So my question is the following...I have heard of industrial "desoldering" machines. I have seen chemical processes to strip the solder. What I have not seen is a time effective method of mechanically stripping components of a PCB to not only conserve integrity of the board, but also the original integrity of the components.
And while companies such as boardsort (which I love) would argue that the most efficient method of recovering values is to shred it, then pyrolize the whole damn pile of junk, I still question if that is the most cost effective method, let alone environmentally friendly method.
The capillary strength of solder is quite substantial, so I recognize that the necessity of breaking that force