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M

mmmiiikkkeee

Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2024
Messages
6
Location
florida
Hello,

New member here, obviously. I'm an artist working in scrap computer parts, primarily hard drive platters and motherboard., You can see some of my work on insta: @mikesilvermanart.

Basically, the things that you don't want I use and the things I don't want you all process for metal extraction.

I'd like to buy your 3.75 " hard drive platters as long as they are unblemished. I'm specifically looking for platters from Seagate, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and IBM drives. The platters need to be approximately .055" thick, which is more of less the standard for the brands I've listed. Maxtor are too thick.

I'm primarily interested in vintage motherboards, although I will buy newer boards as well. They can be stripped of components, but the back of the board must not have scratches, gouges, etc.

I'll pay a very fair price for the above.

I also have CPUs and memory cards that I don't need. Let me know if you're interested.

Happy refining,

Mike
 
Hi Mike,

I signed up on Instagram to try to send you a message. I have old computer scrap you may be able to use.

Please send a text to my cell phone ???-???-1097.

Regards, Steve

Edit to hide telephone number
 
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NobleMetalsRecovery said:
Hi Mike,

I signed up on Instagram to try to send you a message. I have old computer scrap you may be able to use.

Please send a text to my cell phone ???-???-1097.

Regards, Steve
Click to expand...
Please do not post telephone numbers or emails on open forum unless you love spam mails and calls, use the PM system for that.

Editvto remove telephone number.
 
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You came a couple weeks late, i perhaps have a kilo of platters left, had 210 ibm platters that i tossed into a drum and poured acid. And about 100 non-ibm but most from pre-2000 hdd's.
If you really want I could check and see how many actually left, not sure you'd complicate with such small amount tho.
 
andu said:
You came a couple weeks late, i perhaps have a kilo of platters left, had 210 ibm platters that i tossed into a drum and poured acid. And about 100 non-ibm but most from pre-2000 hdd's.
If you really want I could check and see how many actually left, not sure you'd complicate with such small amount tho.
Click to expand...
What results did you get from those platters if you dont mind sharing?
 
Tbh, ran out of acid and alu is still reacting slowly 😅 I can say from the one single platter i first completely dissolved is that while light it is incredibly strong. I will share the results as soon as i rid of the aluminium.
I actually haven't done any experiment and get an actual yield, everything is sorts of half way, even the gold i did dissolve and cement ended up mostly in the cucl bottle and whatever is in the filter with the foils from the telecom pcbs.

Edit: Maybe because no heat source but aluminium takes a lot more acid than I would of expected to dissolve, perhaps melting the platters as a whole then using a electrolitic cell might be a better option, I seen some dude on youtube melting a bunch of platters, again, pretty damn strong foils .:)
edit2: I added 1l hcl to the drum, and solution got a bit brown, why?
 
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A kilo is about 50 platters, I think. That's about the minimum I'd consider. Ideally I'm looking for around 500 at this time. I'll DM you.
 
Hey -- thanks to everyone who replied -- and a special thanks to Dreamer for shipping me some great material.

I'm still looking to take those scrap hard drive platters off your hands. I can send a prepaid shipping label and a USPS medium flat rate box. All you have to do is box them and schedule a free USPS pickup at your house using their website.

I do have some hard drive circuit boards and rare earth magnets i can offer in exchange, although I'm not sure I have enough volume to make extraction worthwhile.

Mike
 
andu said:
You came a couple weeks late, i perhaps have a kilo of platters left, had 210 ibm platters that i tossed into a drum and poured acid. And about 100 non-ibm but most from pre-2000 hdd's.
If you really want I could check and see how many actually left, not sure you'd complicate with such small amount tho.
Click to expand...

andu said:
Tbh, ran out of acid and alu is still reacting slowly 😅 I can say from the one single platter i first completely dissolved is that while light it is incredibly strong. I will share the results as soon as i rid of the aluminium.
I actually haven't done any experiment and get an actual yield, everything is sorts of half way, even the gold i did dissolve and cement ended up mostly in the cucl bottle and whatever is in the filter with the foils from the telecom pcbs.

Edit: Maybe because no heat source but aluminium takes a lot more acid than I would of expected to dissolve, perhaps melting the platters as a whole then using a electrolitic cell might be a better option, I seen some dude on youtube melting a bunch of platters, again, pretty damn strong foils .:)
edit2: I added 1l hcl to the drum, and solution got a bit brown, why?
Click to expand...

You are wasting both your time & chemicals (HCl) dissolving the aluminum of HD platers to recover the foils as there is little to NO real recoverable PMs in those foils

Granted there are "claims" that the foils contain PGMs but do not believe everything you hear

The VAST MAJORITY of those foils are made up of iron oxide, nickel, cobalt & chrome

There is a "nanometers" thin layer of ruthenium in the foils but it is so thin it takes MANY discs to get even a gram & there is NO market for ruthenium unless you have LOTS of it - like kilos of it

Trust me - you are doing nothing more then wasting time & chems creating toxic waste chasing after something that has little or NO value

You are better served selling them to a scrap yard as aluminum scrap

Kurt
 
kurtak said:
You are wasting both your time & chemicals (HCl) dissolving the aluminum of HD platers to recover the foils as there is little to NO real recoverable PMs in those foils

Granted there are "claims" that the foils contain PGMs but do not believe everything you hear

The VAST MAJORITY of those foils are made up of iron oxide, nickel, cobalt & chrome

There is a "nanometers" thin layer of ruthenium in the foils but it is so thin it takes MANY discs to get even a gram & there is NO market for ruthenium unless you have LOTS of it - like kilos of it

Trust me - you are doing nothing more then wasting time & chems creating toxic waste chasing after something that has little or NO value

You are better served selling them to a scrap yard as aluminum scrap

Kurt
Click to expand...
I sorts of agree with you, however, these are IBM SCSI platters which, compared to regular garbage where i tested and nearly everything dissolved there is a thick hard foil left.
Second, I would turn them into anthill art rather than sell like that.
Third, I do this as a hobby.
Fourth, you seen price of aluminium chloride?
Btw hcl be dirt cheap in spain, you can get 1000l for around 700eur

My golden rule is nothing goes to waste, you basically telling me to sell it to the yard so i eventually have to buy it back so i melt them, I want the exact yield on that model.
 
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The surface of the platters is definitely coated with precious metal. However, this is applied using the sputtering process. Layers are deposited in a vacuum, only a few atoms thick. Therefore, recovery is not worthwhile, but precious metal has certainly been applied. Just too little to make it profitable to recover.
 

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