# Getting the gold plate copper from between layers of fibergl



## Trustworthysole3 (Mar 17, 2010)

I got some boards that have gold plating on both sides. I was trying to get under the solder mask by delaminating the fiberglass board with a hammer and a scraper only to find layer after layer of gold plated copper. How is one supposed to get the gold out of the middle of the board? Yes I did test the layers to see if there was gold with my gold tester and there is gold inside the fiberglass.


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## silversaddle1 (Mar 17, 2010)

You are going to have to post photos of that! Very Interesting!!

Any idea what the board came out of?


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## leavemealone (Mar 17, 2010)

I have seen this,but it is extremely rare.The gold was not used for positive conductivity,or negative oxidation purposes,it is being used for blocking RF signals.I had several hundred pounds of these sticks that had heavy gold plated boards sandwiched between thick composite materials.I sent jack some and I'll see if he still has it when he calls today.
I sold the ones I had to a recycler for $10 a pound,the weight of the boards in the middle were less than 1% of the weight.....just to give you an idea of how much gold was there.
If jack doesn't have his,I will see if I can find a pic on my comp.
Johnny


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## hemicuda (Mar 17, 2010)

Just a thought but have you tried to "shred" these boards that you are working with? If you can shred them fine enough.
Then a possible leach with Nitric then on to AR.
An option to try maybe.
Good luck with getting the goodies!
Keith.


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## Trustworthysole3 (Apr 4, 2010)

I found the answer to my issue. I took a torch and heated the board and while the board is still warm bend it in several directions so the glass separates. When it is cool start pealing away the ply's of glass and sheets of gold plated metal.


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## leavemealone (Apr 4, 2010)

Very nice.Can you give us a pic of the gold plated sheets in between?Also can you tell us what they came from(make,model...etc).
Johnny


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## Trustworthysole3 (Apr 4, 2010)

I will try to get a pic with it sanded so you can see the layers. This is not as uncommon as people think. I am finding plenty of them you just have to pay attention when you have the top and bottom layers off of a gold plated board hold the board to the light so you can see if there is light coming through or not if you are not seeing the light through the board then you need to investigate. I am finding them in even and odd layer amounts in a variety of types of boards. I got a box of boards off eBay that is full of them for $.99 plus shipping so I guess you just have to keep on your toes about looking carefully before you throw the board away. Further note if you do not have an electronic gold tester and you are going to play with boards GET ONE. That is the only way I can say for sure that the board has gold plating on it or as I have found in it.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 4, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> I will try to get a pic with it sanded so you can see the layers. This is not as uncommon as people think. I am finding plenty of them you just have to pay attention when you have the top and bottom layers off of a gold plated board hold the board to the light so you can see if there is light coming through or not if you are not seeing the light through the board then you need to investigate. I am finding them in even and odd layer amounts in a variety of types of boards. I got a box of boards off eBay that is full of them for $.99 plus shipping so I guess you just have to keep on your toes about looking carefully before you throw the board away. Further note if you do not have an electronic gold tester and you are going to play with boards GET ONE. That is the only way I can say for sure that the board has gold plating on it or as I have found in it.



What kind of tester are you using and what was the cost of it if you remember?


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## leavemealone (Apr 4, 2010)

Im still dying to see these sheets.I have processed thousands of pounds of boards and I have run across very few of them,those few I have come across only came from mil-spec or tel-com equipment.
Johnny


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 4, 2010)

I may be wrong but none of the electronic gold testers I've ever seen are reliable, at all, when it comes to gold plated material. They are made for alloys. I would dissolve a little of it in a few ml of aqua regia and test the solution with stannous chloride. That would be the only way to know for sure. I would never rely on a tester. On the forum, I seem to remember people reporting false positives with these testers. Maybe the heating formed a yellow discoloration on the metal.

I have seen a lot of multi-layer boards, but I have never seen gold sandwiched between the layers and, offhand, I can think of no technical reason why it would be. Here again, I may be wrong. I can see small areas gold plated but not the entire area. I can guarantee that there has been a strong technical reason for every usage of gold, at least in the last 50 years. These people have never been stupid or wasteful, at least when it comes to gold.

Test some of this chemically. If it tests positive for gold, pass the crow.


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## Harold_V (Apr 5, 2010)

goldsilverpro said:


> These people have never been stupid or wasteful, at least when it comes to gold.


That comment can be taken to the bank. Readers will be well advised to remember that when gold was $35/ounce, you could buy a new car for $2,0000, and a loaf of bread for 25¢. Gasoline was 22¢ gallon. The price of gold may have appeared to be cheap, but it was expensive considering circumstances. 

Relatively speaking, gold has always been a valuable element, and has been better tracked and recovered than any other single element. Only the foolish used it when it was not required. To expect it to be placed where there is no benefit is unreasonable, and highly unlikely. 

Harold


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## Trustworthysole3 (Apr 5, 2010)

In response to some of the questions. I use a Golden touch tester and I think I paid $110. The boards would have appeared to have just been copper between the layers except I test every thing now days and that is how I found that the layers contained gold. i thought I had a board already sanded showing the layers I will have to sand another board so you can see the layers. The other batch of boards that I found are from cell phones and they have only five layers of the gold plated copper. I have thrown a lot of boards like this away and never suspected that they had anything more to offer. Now I test and find all gold that I have paid for.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 5, 2010)

Trustworthysole3,

I repeat. Have you ever tested this "gold" layer with aqua regia and stannous chloride to make sure it is actually gold? Better still, have you ever recovered any gold from these hidden layers?

When it comes to gold plating, I wouldn't trust an electronic tester as far as I could throw it. Please make me eat my words.

I'm not trying to be a jerk. I know that you are sincerity convinced of what you are saying. I just think that, before you convince other people to buy one of those things, you or somebody should prove beyond any doubt that gold is actually present in these mysterious hidden layers. The best way to do this is to actually recover the gold. There's an old saying, "Money talks and BS walks". Show us the gold bead.


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## Trustworthysole3 (Apr 5, 2010)

Yes I have a batch of the layers in AR now and it test positive with the Stannous. The golden touch is very picky it will often not show gold if the quantity or quality is low. In this case it is showing a very clear positive result as is the Stannous.


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## teabone (Apr 5, 2010)

In regards to the electronic testers , they can determine gold on heavy electroplate and gold fill items. I have a tri-electronics gxl-24 pro that I use on a consistant basis. This machine costs about four hundred bucks but is a pretty reliable device. It will give false readings on some chromium alloys, so you have to be aware of that.
The people at Republic refinery use this same model to prescreen jewelry prior to refining. Of course you can't go wrong with the old standby or to double check by using acid testing.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 6, 2010)

I guess I'm just an old refiner that is set in his ways.

The crow is in the oven. I would still like to see photos of these layers and a photo of a bead that was obtained from the gold from these layers, making sure that no gold crept in from any area that was not in these hidden layers.

Has anyone else done this?


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## 4metals (Apr 6, 2010)

I once did work for a refiner who coarsely granulated boards and stripped them in cyanide. That's where he got the cash to pay the customer. Then the boards were incinerated and milled into sweeps and metallics bars which were always payable both for gold and silver.


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## Anonymous (Apr 8, 2010)

> I can guarantee that there has been a strong technical reason for every usage of gold, at least in the last 50 years. These people have never been stupid or wasteful, at least when it comes to gold.





> That comment can be taken to the bank.


Gold plated aluminum case for a connector
I have over a hundred,just finished processing 20 last night.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 8, 2010)

> Gold plated aluminum case for a connector
> I have over a hundred,just finished processing 20 last night.


How did you process them?


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## Anonymous (Apr 8, 2010)

AP then AC then wash then melt


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 8, 2010)

Enigma said:


> AP then AC then wash then melt



If it was aluminum under them, did you get a wild rection from the solution during processing? You are sure that it was aluminum?


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## Anonymous (Apr 8, 2010)

i am sure.each plug weigh 3.6 grams gross


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 8, 2010)

Enigma said:


> i am sure.each plug weigh 3.6 grams gross



They were nice looking. Hope your return was good on them.


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## Anonymous (Apr 8, 2010)

2.5 ounces (gross) of connectors yielded 3.3 grams of pure au
the highest yield of any material i have processed
but goes to show that companies do in fact waste gold and money many times with no reason 
just look at the u.s. government and what they waste money on and you will realize that 
gold is where you find it reguardless of where it should or should not be


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## lazersteve (Apr 8, 2010)

Enigma said:


> 2.5 ounces (gross) of connectors yielded 3.3 grams of pure au
> the highest yield of any material i have processed



The yield is 0.165 g per unit for 20 units. Since they are Al your starting weight was very low, while the surface area is high, that explains the disproportionate yields. By comparison a single Pentium Pro contains twice the gold per unit of scrap, but weighs many times more per single unit (around 90 grams each).

If they were copper based they would have weighed: 

8.94 / 2.7 = 3.31 (Density of Cu / Density of Al)

3.31 x 70.94 = ~ 235 g (Density ratio x gross weight in grams)

Still a very high yield to weight ratio!

What type of connectors did these jewels come off of?

Steve


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 8, 2010)

lazersteve said:


> Enigma said:
> 
> 
> > 2.5 ounces (gross) of connectors yielded 3.3 grams of pure au
> ...



It is for military, aerospace industry.

List price 178.15 ea.

Called an ITT connon connector

There ITT Brand connectore with a 4 didgit code 8513, possibly 1985 1st week of April going by the date code. Yield of 20.8g/lb of material.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 25, 2010)

Ok if someone would be kind enough to tell me how to UPload a picture I have some interesting news on the topic of metal in side of boards


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 25, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> Ok if someone would be kind enough to tell me how to UPload a picture I have some interesting news on the topic of metal in side of boards



When you reply to a message at the bottom of the reply screen the is an area to upload a file. 

Click on browse
high light the file
Click return
Click upload file on next screen
on the next screen there is a button to place the file on line, put your cursuor in the message where you want the file and click place file online.
the file name will appear in the message and it is set, hit the submit button and you are done.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 25, 2010)

Trash or not


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## Anonymous (May 25, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> Trash or not


 
Your neighbors must love having you live next door, this type of incineration should not be condoned or promoted on this site. Shame on you.

I suppose that your children will have a weenie roast in that fire pit next weekend. Be sure to eat your fill.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 25, 2010)

I am working on a different approach for exactly the reasons you stated. The fire pit is for trash only and I am in rural area, so the neighbors are ok with it. I do agree another way must be found and I am working on it. Thanks


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 26, 2010)

How to Dissolve Fiberglass
ds_larrypa2123 Contributor
By Larry Parr, eHow Contributing Writer
Article Rating: (0 Ratings)



Fiberglass is used in a wide range of products, from shower stalls to gas tanks and car bodies. Knowing how to dissolve fiberglass is important as well as knowing how to prevent a fiberglass product from being destroyed. Fiberglass is made from actual fibers of glass mixed with a resin binding agent. Dissolving fiberglass involves dissolving the resins and binding agents and not the glass particles themselves. Once the resin and other binding agents are dissolved the fiberglass itself fails.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need:

* Sander
* Denatured alcohol (99%)
* Metal tank
* Gloves
* Eye protection
* Breathing mask

1.
Step 1

Sand the surface of your fiberglass to remove any protective gel coating. A quick sanding with 100-grit paper will be sufficient. Wear a breathing mask, eye protection, gloves and long sleeves when sanding fiberglass.
2.
Step 2

Place the sanded fiberglass in a metal tank.
3.
Step 3

Cover the fiberglass with denatured alcohol. Buy the highest percentage of ethanol you can. The highest grade sold is 99% ethanol.
4.
Step 4

Cover the metal tank and allow the fiberglass to soak in the ethanol for 24 hours. If the fiberglass has not disintegrated after 24 hours empty the tank and fill it with fresh denatured alcohol. Allow the fiberglass to soak for an additional 24 hours.

Also of interest on the subject matter:
http://www.kbklawyers.com/news/latimes_boater.pdf
http://newboatbuilders.com/docs/Ethanol.pdf


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 26, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> How to Dissolve Fiberglass
> ds_larrypa2123 Contributor
> By Larry Parr, eHow Contributing Writer
> Article Rating: (0 Ratings)
> ...




Have you checked the cost of this to see if it is cost effective?


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 26, 2010)

Testing this theory and others. The stuff it calls for is $7 at ace for a quart I will keep updating as I progress.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 27, 2010)

The above theory does not work on boards don't waist you time.


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 27, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> The above theory does not work on boards don't waist you time.



I am not trying to bust your baloon but I have worked with fiberglass off and on for a few years and I don't know of anything that is going to be cost effective to disolve the fiberlass bonding agent.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 28, 2010)

I as well have worked composites in the aircraft industry for many years when I was not doing Avionics. I have found several ways to do this task but I am not sure if it is worth while. Burning is the only thing that seemed to be cost effective but due to prior responses I am not even going to suggest it. I have now got options that I think are as effective but I am not done testing yet.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 28, 2010)

Trash or not

These boards have not been burnt in any way!


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## shyknee (May 28, 2010)

the word is "cost" as in cost effective .good try thow. and very informative for the newbees on what not to do.


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 28, 2010)

$6.72 at Ace for all I need to do several pounds of this stuff that I am averaging from 1-3 grams per pound of metal processed so if the COST is too high then leave me all of these boards please.


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## qst42know (May 28, 2010)

What metals are you recovering?


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 28, 2010)

qst42know said:


> What metals are you recovering?



If I remember right he is trying to seperate the fiberglass layers to show that there is gold on the sheets between the layers....... 8) :roll: :lol: :shock:


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## shyknee (May 28, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> $6.72 at Ace for all I need to do several pounds of this stuff that I am averaging from 1-3 grams per pound of metal processed so if the COST is too high then leave me all of these boards please.


I'm sorry i do not see what you see 8) I must have blinds on.I'm out


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 28, 2010)

The metal in the pics test positive for gold 22k. When put in AR the stanious test positive for gold. I get 1-3grams of gold per pound of metal out of the boards


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 28, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> The metal in the pics test positive for gold 22k. When put in AR the stanious test positive for gold. I get 1-3grams of gold per pound of metal out of the boards



Are you talking about all of the cards or just the larger piece of metal in the center of the picture. 

Looks like ram cards in the upper right hand and a CPU on the left top what are the other cards or what were they I should ask. 8) 

If your return is correct I would try and seperate to learn which one have whatever PM count. It would be nice of you posted those returns with pictures of the boards.


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## qst42know (May 29, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> The metal in the pics test positive for gold 22k. When put in AR the stanious test positive for gold. I get 1-3grams of gold per pound of metal out of the boards



Positive for 22k by what test method?

Have you refined any of this or just weighed the foils to determine a 1-3g yield?


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## Trustworthysole3 (May 31, 2010)

I have a golden touch gold tester and an acid testing kit both show 22k. As far as the process that I have found to be extremely cost effective and very easy to do. I am not going to post this method until two of the other members on this board have gone through the instructions I have prepared and have approved it and then one or both of them will present it to the board.


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## jimdoc (May 31, 2010)

Trustworthysole3 said:


> I have a golden touch gold tester and an acid testing kit both show 22k. As far as the process that I have found to be extremely cost effective and very easy to do. I am not going to post this method until two of the other members on this board have gone through the instructions I have prepared and have approved it and then one or both of them will present it to the board.



It sounds to me like what your testing is the gold plating, so the weights you give will be mostly base metals.

Jim


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