# Getting to the Gold



## JH123 (Jan 26, 2012)

I have a large supply of plug and socket connector heads in metal housing. I was wanting to know how you guys have handled the problem of the housing to be able to get to the connector pins?


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## Smack (Jan 26, 2012)

pictures


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## Claudie (Jan 26, 2012)

I think he may be referring to the pins like are inside of VGA cables, they have that metal case around them.... :|


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## JH123 (Jan 27, 2012)

Yes with the metal case around them, a couple tractor-trailer loads of these and circuit boards and others. Most look like the picture I am posting I found online. I just wondered how are these items and even circuit boards usally freed from the plastics and such on the board and the cases on the connectors, with a large amount like this. Any ideas? Thanks, Joe


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## macfixer01 (Jan 27, 2012)

JH123 said:


> Yes with the metal case around them, a couple tractor-trailer loads of these and circuit boards and others. Most look like the picture I am posting I found online. I just wondered how are these items and even circuit boards usally freed from the plastics and such on the board and the cases on the connectors, with a large amount like this. Any ideas? Thanks, Joe




It varies greatly with those military type connectors, and you need to look them over well. Even if they don't fully come apart you may be able to remove portions by unscrewing or prying that make the rest easier to deal with. Some have split rings that release the plastic inner plug from the housing then you can crack that apart and get the pins out (this is what I'm guessing you have in the photo since the turquoise material appears to be hard plastic not rubber). A lot have the pins embedded in a block of red or black rubber, and the rubber is usually stuck in the shell pretty firmly. If you're lucky once you get the shell off they're the type of pins that will separate from the rubber cleanly. Some pins have apparently been primed to bond to the rubber and there is no way to easily remove it all from them except incineration. Some have other mechanisms like a threaded ring which holds the plug in the housing. More often than not they're made so there is no easy way to get the plug out of the shell and on those I saw through one side of the shell with a hacksaw and bend and peel the metal shell off. Others here have said they crush the shells with a vice, a lot of them are I aluminum or pot metal and basically crumble when crushed, note though that some may contain cadmium. Some of the largest AMP connectors I've had appear to be steel and wouldn't likely crush without a hydraulic press or maybe a big arbor press, neither of which I have.

macfixer01


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## Geo (Jan 27, 2012)

if you can, incinerate them. very little effort will separate the components.incineration will not effect your ability to reclaim any PM's.


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## Claudie (Jan 27, 2012)

With a couple of tractor trailer loads and no experience, I would suggest selling them as they are. You will probably make more money that way. :|


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## jack_burton (Jan 27, 2012)

Claudie said:


> With a couple of tractor trailer loads and no experience, I would suggest selling them as they are. You will probably make more money that way. :|




I agree with Claudie, unless of course you are looking for a new all time consuming hobby. :shock:


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## Smack (Jan 27, 2012)

That's the ones I thought you would post a pic of. You need a band saw and lots of time, or sell them to me.


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## JH123 (Feb 19, 2012)

So far I have cut off 35oz of board fingers and going on 5lb of pins. Have ran into the rubber material holding pins and laid them aside until I learn more about incineration. 

With incinerating, Is there any concern of gold plating, alloying into the pins base metals? Is it possible for any values to burn away?


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## Geo (Feb 19, 2012)

no, the gold should be uneffected unless you melt the pin. you want the coupling to get hot enough to bake the oils from the plastic and rubber. you dont want it hot enough to melt the aluminum coupling. do batches that will fit inside a large pan at a time, and only a few deep. that much plastic and rubber is alot of fuel to oxidize, restrict oxygen to the material with a piece of metal over the pan until no smoke or flames come from the pan and then safely uncover the pan to allow oxygen in to finish the process.


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## Smack (Feb 20, 2012)

JH123 said:


> So far I have cut off 35oz of board fingers and going on 5lb of pins. Have ran into the rubber material holding pins and laid them aside until I learn more about incineration.
> 
> With incinerating, Is there any concern of gold plating, alloying into the pins base metals? Is it possible for any values to burn away?




Do a test on one with Acetone, put one with rubber in a container, cover with Acetone and let set over night. It may soften the rubber and the pins might just fall out. Try compressed air if they don't just fall out.


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 20, 2012)

Most of those (Cannon plugs; Amphenol plugs) I've seen have either silver or gold plated pins. I doubt if the silver ones are worth doing. A place I worked had about a couple of hundred drums of those with gold plated pins. That's connectors only. We tried many ways to break them apart without much luck. We ended up buying a small shear, called a Mini-Monster, from a company in Texas. It had a wedge-shaped blade and it was very controllable with the foot control. I'm thinking the manufacturer said you could crack an egg with it without completely breaking it. We used it to crack open the metal shell, with the part held vertically. Once the shell was cracked open and removed, the pins just fell out of the rubber insert, as macfixer suggested. The operation went very fast. A few seconds per plug. We then cyanide stripped the gold off the pins

This was many years ago and the construction of the plugs may have changed. Doesn't look like it, though.


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