# PIN PILE



## oldgoldman (Jul 1, 2011)

Sampling of fully plated pin types. Ages range from 15 to 30 years.

IBM, AMP, Allen Bradley, Diablo Systems, JAE etc


----------



## Claudie (Jul 1, 2011)

That's quite a nice collection of pins.


----------



## Militoy (Jul 2, 2011)

oldgoldman said:


> Sampling of fully plated pin types. Ages range from 15 to 30 years.
> 
> IBM, AMP, Allen Bradley, Diablo Systems, JAE etc



Nice bunch of pins. I'm currently processing a few pounds of similar pins - including some Pogo test station pins that have (ferrous) springs inside the body. I'm processing them in kind of an unconventional manner - so I would be very interested in reading about your method and yield (grams/pound). Also - assuming you are processing them yourself - are you looking to recover other PMs - silver, etc. as well as gold?


----------



## silversaddle1 (Jul 2, 2011)

Funny, it looks like a cash drawer from a cash register! Money in the bank!!

Are those :lol: some old IBM jumpers up in the top right corner?


----------



## oldgoldman (Jul 5, 2011)

Here are the known IBM pin types. May be more in the bone pile .. and yes it is a NCR cash register drawer .. 

Was supposed to be for Monopoly Game money .. now it's the real money drawer


----------



## Sodbuster (Jul 5, 2011)

oldgoldman :

In your last picture, the pile of pins on the left. 
I have some of those same pins and always wondered what the little silver colored pegs consisted of. 

I haven't had a chance to test them yet, and not even sure what I did with them now.
The fact that they would go to all the effort to crimp that little peg into the connector like that told me they mite need a better look. 

Any idea as to what that peg consist of ? I don't even remember how it was utilized or I mite already know the answer to this. 

Any PM's ?

Thanks 

Ray


----------



## oldgoldman (Jul 7, 2011)

Sodbuster .. I apologize I can not answer your question for sure. I think they are from some IBM Tag pieces.

Below is today's addition to the Pin Pile.

Arbor press made quick work of some Mil Spec connectors I've been pursuing for six months and finally got my hands on. About 1/3 lb below.


----------



## Militoy (Jul 7, 2011)

Sodbuster said:


> oldgoldman :
> 
> In your last picture, the pile of pins on the left.
> I have some of those same pins and always wondered what the little silver colored pegs consisted of.
> ...



The silver-colored parts of the pins on selectively-plated or assembled gold pins are usually nickel or tin plated. The silver-colored part is left unplated (with gold) to save money, when that part of the pin is just going to be soldered anyway. I have found a very few older pins that had silver plating on them - but they were easily identifiable from the patina on the silver.


----------



## Sodbuster (Jul 8, 2011)

Thanks for your replies guys, but know that the pins in question are a two part construction and not a selective plating. 

I'm going to attempt to upload a picture.

That silver collered wire crimped into the other half of the connector pin is right at 1/2" in length and maybe 18-20 gage. Both ends look to be rounded over and not clipped.
The only testing for me at this point was to shave into it with a sharp blade and find that it was the same throughout and not plated. 
It kind of reminds me of that little wiper peg that you may have seen in an old wire wound ceramic rheostat.

Proper testing will tell. I was just hoping that someone had dealt with this type of connector pin before.

Ray


----------



## cwgreer (Jul 8, 2011)

I believe that these are Palladium plated just like the old IBM backplanes. But a test never hurts.


----------



## Findm-Keepm (Jul 9, 2011)

Most likely _*Kovar*_, a common connector/pin material. A review of some old Switchcraft, Amphenol, Abbatron, or other connector catalog might yield some answers. I'm at home, and my library of connector catalogs is not handy.

Cheers,
Brian


----------



## nivrnb (Jul 10, 2011)

oldgoldman :

I just have a question, do you separate all the pins that you get into certain piles to make it easier to process? For me I have been putting them all together into a glass jar.

Blacklung


----------



## oldgoldman (Jul 10, 2011)

Blacklung.

Pin collection is relatively new to me. If I can relatively easily get 1 lb or more of the exact same pin, I'll keep them separate... otherwise they go into the bone pile of mixed types. 

All the Mil Spec stuff I keep separate, regardless of quantity.

Clearly having homogenous lots helps all involved determine more precise yields. My goal is always to minimize variation out of the distinct lots to be refined.


----------



## nivrnb (Jul 10, 2011)

I have be separting my pins by if they have solder or them or not. So when it comes time refine them I can practice on the unclean ones first. I don't know if this will make a lot of difference in the yeilds.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Jul 10, 2011)

If you are planning on refining your pins yourself, there's really no reason to keep the different types seperate UNLESS you want to get yield data on the types. I just throw all mine together as some day I will have them refined as a lot.


----------



## oldgoldman (Jul 14, 2011)

Here are some funky pins from a 1976 Modicon Corp ( Andover, MA ) telecom board.


----------



## nivrnb (Jul 17, 2011)

Great photo. 8) 

nivrnb


----------



## oldgoldman (Jul 17, 2011)

Thank you NIVRNB. Another one for you.

1979 GE PROM board .. big pin, little pin, big pin, little pin .. oooh and 10 gold leg white ceramic proms as bonus.


----------



## macfixer01 (Jul 18, 2011)

oldgoldman said:


> Thank you NIVRNB. Another one for you.
> 
> 1979 GE PROM board .. big pin, little pin, big pin, little pin .. oooh and 10 gold leg white ceramic proms as bonus.





That looks like one of the Mark Century 550 boards I referred to in another thread recently talking about Nixie tubes. I originally had 300 or so similar boards and have been lucky enough to find a few other board lots for sale since then that use those same type of pronged plate contacts. The chips on my boards were all over-stamped with generic house numbers. So for example the SN7472N IC's are all stamped with a number "319.5" and the the SN74H00N IC's are all stamped with a number "318.4". A lot of those ordinary looking gray or black plastic chips of that vintage contain a bit of gold plating inside too, not just the ceramic chips. Usually the middle portion of the metal substrate strip under where the die is mounted, and also the inner tips of the leads where they are joined to the die. It's not a lot but should add up with enough chips. The Texas Instruments brand chips are the least likely to have any gold inside but some will. Some of the IC's have also developed jet black pins with black material flaking off of them, indicating silver content.

macfixer01


----------



## juanjuanrod (Jul 18, 2011)

i have 50 gm of pins of gold can i just melt them in a crucible just like that


----------



## jimdoc (Jul 18, 2011)

juanjuanrod said:


> i have 50 gm of pins of gold can i just melt them in a crucible just like that



No, you have gold plated copper pins. You should do some reading here on the forum while you save up a bunch more pins.

Jim


----------



## nivrnb (Jul 19, 2011)

juanjuanrod,

You can if you want a mess. But seriously I am new at this to, and from what I understand is that you have to separate the metals with acids, then you have to pull the gold or whatever metals from the acid, then you have to purify it. Than from that you can melt it. If you do it correctly it should be .999 fine. 

peace
nivrnb


----------



## MMFJ (Aug 11, 2011)

juanjuanrod said:


> i have 50 gm of pins of gold can i just melt them in a crucible just like that



You could, but all you will have is a melt of whatever metals were in the pins. Ie, a glob of various metals - perhaps including tin, iron, nickel, copper and/or other not-very-valuable metals - along with a tiny bit of gold.

If your pins are anything like those pictured (i.e., typically used in a computer connector, etc.), then they are not "pins of gold", but "gold plated pins", which contain very little gold per pin. The amount varies per each pin number/type and that is why others have stated they have to test each one and keep very close records, etc. Even then, each and every time they are processed, the yield varies - all due to many, many variants found in the individual processing run.

Read this forum - then read some more.... There are lots of posts about working with pins and the yields you can anticipate.

For 50 gm of gold plated pins, I would expect the yield would be less than the cost of the chemicals (which you will learn about by reading this forum...). You should continue to collect them (all while you are reading this forum - oh, did I say that already? It's OK, because I'll probably say it again...) until you have a few pounds of them at least.

See the pictures in the earlier post - the cash register drawer full is "almost enough" to start processing - that should give you an idea of what you should shoot for in your collecting efforts - and, give you some time to read more (and more) from this forum (where there happens to be vast and useful knowledge about refining gold pins and many other types of scrap/items, all for free...)

Do a search on this board for "gold pin refining" - I'm sure you will have plenty of reading available, and learn tons about your 50 gm of pins.

Good luck!


----------



## archeonist (Jan 5, 2019)

nivrnb said:


> juanjuanrod,
> 
> You can if you want a mess. But seriously I am new at this to, and from what I understand is that you have to separate the metals with acids, then you have to pull the gold or whatever metals from the acid, then you have to purify it. Than from that you can melt it. If you do it correctly it should be .999 fine.
> 
> ...



There are several ways. You could dissolve the base metals in nitric acid. All what is left behind is gold flakes wich you could melt or refine for a higher pureness. I don't recommend this as you will need a fair amount of acid. You'll end up with a lot of waste and nitric is relative expencive in most countrys. 
I'm currently refining around 25 pounds of pins using a sufuric cell. Less waste, less costs, but you have to feel comfortable with this method. Personally I think it's great, you find a lot of information about this subject on the forum.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Jan 5, 2019)

Sodbuster said:


> Thanks for your replies guys, but know that the pins in question are a two part construction and not a selective plating.
> 
> I'm going to attempt to upload a picture.
> 
> ...


 Those are buss & tag pins. Might be IBM, not sure.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Jan 5, 2019)

A few pins. Just sharing to inspire.


----------



## Dr.xyz (Jan 5, 2019)

Look at the dates, you are answering posts over 7 years old.


----------



## Shark (Jan 5, 2019)

Yes, but that picture of silversaddles were worth it, :G


----------



## UncleBenBen (Jan 5, 2019)

If you are still finding old IBM buss and tags then you will like the payout. 

I collected up a bunch of old IBM 8228's which I think were some of the first token ring units from a place I used to work. Along with thousands of the old 'ugly plug' cable connections. The pins out of those puppies were awesome.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Jan 6, 2019)

Just got in some buss & tag stuff last week. Not a lot, but we've had tons of it over the years so we know what it is and how good it can be.


----------

