# New post- so I found scrap- a LOT of scrap



## Katcher (Feb 11, 2018)

First posting- Ive read the forum rules and agree- seems pretty common sense stuff.

Im posting here as I found some scrap- rather it found me...

So- I am the dude that changes your locks in a forclosure... and also get to clean out some houses too. Joined the GRF because I cleaned out a house and it was loaded with e-scrap. I was interested in gold refining before- but this was a kick in the pants to get busy...

Problem is- I cannot identify much of it as "high or "Low" quality for boards and much of it has already been removed from whatever it was in. Looks like a lot of motherboards and I have about 4 totes of Hard drives (all scrubbed) with one with a TON of music (2 tera-bite) and a bunch of kitty litter buckets of random things (all mixed) I have already sorted all the useable and re-sellable items- the mantra of re-sell anything useable is a good one!

So My question please- is cutting the fingers off the boards and starting there the first order of operations? This seems to be the easiest before de-populating and sorthing components and then gathering the pins from the plugs and connectors.

If this is in the wrong place apologies- still reading and learning Any help is much appreciated for where to start!


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## FrugalRefiner (Feb 11, 2018)

Katcher said:


> So My question please- is cutting the fingers off the boards and starting there the first order of operations? This seems to be the easiest before de-populating and sorthing components and then gathering the pins from the plugs and connectors.


Welcome to the forum!

As simple as your question is, it's difficult to answer.

Recovering and refining precious metals from ewaste is not for everyone. It takes a lot of time to learn the processes you'll need. For gold plated fingers most people start with a CuCl2 leach (aka "AP") to separate the gold foils from the boards. Gold plated pins are better processed in a sulfuric stripping cell or, for those with the appropriate knowledge and facilities, in cyanide. Ceramic processors can be run in aqua regia or poor man's AR. Epoxy ICs are usually pyrolized and incinerated before using gravity separation methods like panning, sluicing, etc.

All these processes produce hazardous waste that must be treated and properly disposed of. You'll need a variety of chemicals and equipment. It can all get quite complicated and expensive on a small scale. But it's also very interesting and rewarding to learn the skills needed.

Many members simply cherry pick the easiest items to process themselves and sell the rest. But the more you remove, the lower the value on what is left. It's a time and effort vs reward decision, and it's different for everyone.

Still other members never process anything. They sell everything they find, and if they want to put some gold in their safe, they buy it with the money they make from the sales.

My suggestion would be to study first. Put the scrap aside. It won't go anywhere. When you can answer the question yourself, you'll be ready to proceed. I know that's a little like saying when you can snatch the pebble from my hand you'll be ready, but you'll be better served to study before you devote a lot of time to clipping and cutting all the tiny bits.

Dave


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## bigpagoda (Feb 11, 2018)

Hello Katcher,
Don't go crazy. Post some pictures of what you have and you will get advice on what to keep or sell. What is your experience with refining. It was easy for me to "go crazy" and just start tearing into a bunch of e-scrap and I ended up tossing a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have and seriously reducing the value of some things I kept. I watched a bunch of youtube videos and said "I can do that" Most didn't work so well. Then I accidentally found this forum and I am so glad. Even if you do not end up processing everything (and you probably wont) careful sorting will help greatly. Take you time and let us see what you have.


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## kernels (Feb 11, 2018)

Hi Katcher, welcome to the forum, I think the posts above are spot on. I feel I should also add . . . what you think is a lot of scrap might be almost nothing for the purpose of Gold recovery. Post up some pictures and we will be able to give you some idea of what you are looking at before you even worry about how to do it.


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## silversaddle1 (Feb 11, 2018)

First off, step back and take a deep breath.

Now, let's talk about your boards. Any PCB for you to recycle yourself will be a money loser for you. On such a small scale, just the labor and chems will kill your profit. Sell the boards to a buyer and pocket the cash. You have zero in the material so anything you make on the boards is 100% profit. If you try to refine them, you will gain nothing but a loss. Now, say you want to cut all the fingers off the cards, you devalue the card by more than half. Never cut the fingers off cards, you loose money doing it. The fingers are worth way more on the card than off. Finger cards are high grade and pay well.


Now let's talk about sorting. I've been doing this for 27 years and I still sometimes don't know what goes as high grade and not anymore. It always seems to change. Most buyers have a photo guide to show you what is a high, mid, and low grade motherboard. As far as the rest, you don't need to know what they are out of, you can grade just by looking at them. If it has a bunch of chips on it, good. Less chips, more transformers, capacitors, etc, not so good. Again, referer to an online buyer's photo guide.

What to look for. Hard drive boards. Pull them off, keep them seperate from the rest. Same with gold edge memory, silver edge memory, and CPU's. These will bring the most cash. 

Of course the steel and other metals will have value. 

Sell it to a buyer, take the cash and buy some bullion.


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## Katcher (Feb 11, 2018)

Thanks Dave-
I appreciate the honesty. I will be continuing to read the Hoke and other books as well. Having the skills is part of the adventure- as is the potential to keep collecting and putting this to use.

Yes AP and the Sulfuric Acid cells are the initial thoughts. I have a healthy respect for both the chemicals and the waste products and definitely do not intend to destroy my dirt/waterway or house with stuff.

My biggest issue is space- breaking down and organizing is the key here as well. It was kind of a messy situation when I collected it.

Hey BigPagoda- 
Thanks for your perspective too- Im already looking at the pics others have posted and reading through what others have done. I didnt want to just post 50+ pics and ask "Hey what is this" without doing a bit of due diligence (and besides- its annoying to other folks.) Plus I dont learn anything that way.



bigpagoda said:


> It was easy for me to "go crazy" and just start tearing into a bunch of e-scrap and I ended up tossing a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have and seriously reducing the value of some things I kept.



Thats part of the problem- some of these boards have been "worked on" and some havent- Most still have IC and other chips on them- but are broken or have large chiseled over (best way to describe it) areas.

You asked my experience with refining- really none on the chemical level with metals. Ive made sterling bars from yard-sale and reclaimed silver jewelry and silverware (please dont freak out- if it can be re-sold I do- I only melted the broken spoons/forks and things unslavageable) I have an account with Replacements Ltd out of NC and many of the older patterns I find pieces from I can re-sell for far more than weight value through those folks- well worth it!

Other than that I have several shoe-boxes of silver coins, a lot of scrap/broken jewelry, broken stuff and my re-melted silverware bars. Other computers I have come across I was selling to another fellow- who turned out to be not-so honest or fair. Live and learn.


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## niks neims (Feb 11, 2018)

Katcher said:


> So My question please- is cutting the fingers off the boards and starting there the first order of operations? This seems to be the easiest before de-populating and sorthing components and then gathering the pins from the plugs and connectors.



You already have gotten top help in this thread, but please allow me to chime in; I, myself, am fairly new to this scene so I still have in fresh memory the type of questions I had about all this last summer  So if it is of any help for a fellow newbie:

1. At begginers level most money and any kind of a business potential from e-scrap is in the trading part, buying low, selling high, getting the best deals, sourcing etc. Keep that in mind, you WON`T be able to make any money at this "gold recovery" without mastering the trading part; For example almost all the e-scrap deals on e-bay are a losing proposition financially....

Still this fact did not deter me from trying to recover & refine myself, so I doubt it will you ...

2. Fingers are by far the esiest, I would rank IC processing next (by quite a wide margin); haven`t tried the pins with sulphuric cell yet.

3. There really isn`t a lot of gold in there, so there is a minimum batch size that a begginer should run... Eaven few grams, when precipitated in beaker, looks just like a fine black/brown mud, to learn anything you need to be able to see your results clearly. 

4. Safety first and remember - this place here is your best source of information, you just need to be willing to learn...

I would suggest starting with no less than 2-3 KG of clean-cut fingers (RAM & Slot-cards, none of the ENIG/mobile stuff), that should yield about 10 g of gold, still not a lot but at least it is something that you could reasonably manage and not lose during processing... It would probably take at least 20-30 kg of RAM sticks for you to cut (most of the gold is in the IC)... Begin with AP (copper II chloride) - it is the best method for fingers, read up on it, it is quite easy to start it up, and most importantly, with AP there is a small chance you won`t kill yourself immediately...

Good luck!

-Artūrs


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## Katcher (Feb 12, 2018)

kernels said:


> Post up some pictures and we will be able to give you some idea of what you are looking at before you even worry about how to do it.



Sound advice- thanks. And youre right it may be nothing. That being said- it may be a fun journey!



silversaddle1 said:


> First off, step back and take a deep breath.



Ha! Ok- I have been reading and poking about for a while- and your advice is sound. Im not interested in charging in, guns blazing or catching my hair on fire... Im trying to be very methodical.



silversaddle1 said:


> ... you will gain nothing but a loss. Now, say you want to cut all the fingers off the cards, you devalue the card by more than half. Never cut the fingers off cards, you loose money doing it. The fingers are worth way more on the card than off. Finger cards are high grade and pay well.



Problem is- many already have fngers off. I found this stuff where the guys were processing it- some boards were completely stripped already and I have several buckets of components already pullled off. 



silversaddle1 said:


> Now let's talk about sorting. I've been doing this for 27 years and I still sometimes don't know what goes as high grade and not anymore. It always seems to change. Most buyers have a photo guide to show you what is a high, mid, and low grade motherboard. As far as the rest, you don't need to know what they are out of, you can grade just by looking at them. If it has a bunch of chips on it, good. Less chips, more transformers, capacitors, etc, not so good. Again, referer to an online buyer's photo guide.
> 
> Sell it to a buyer, take the cash and buy some bullion.



Iv been selling to a guy local- and for a long time. Im not looking to re-invent the wheel... but I am looking to learn a process I can do and expand my skillset. Sound advice and thats partly why Im here SilverSaddle- thank you- If my business model was straight cashflow- sell everything would be cool... and I may wind up there if the local laws are not friendly. We shall see

@ niks neims/ -Artūrs Thank you! looking forward to at least getting a few Kg's of stuff rounded up. Sage advice there as well to have enough to see what your results are. Thank you.


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## silversaddle1 (Feb 12, 2018)

It is very refreshing to have a new member who listens to the free advice given here. I hope you do well with your business. I'm a straight cash flow guy, refine nothing. Lord know I need no other hobbies.


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