# 70's era telecom boards



## CBentre (Jun 14, 2013)

Here's a few cool boards I've come across lately and I'm a little stumped because I have never encountered these types of boards. At first I automatically assumed the boards themselves were made from aluminium but I had a surprise when they started sticking to my magnet. I managed to find a pdf file on them but there is no mention of the makeup of the boards. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with these, keep in mind I don't refine so any refining suggestions would be useless to me at this time but could serve a purpose in the future. What I can tell you though is the fingers come off in flakes like paint chips. Butcher and Geo have gave me some advice already but unfortunately i'm shooting in the wind.I do appreciate the info from the both of you just not ready yet. Any ideas on pricing, or if you guys see some good components I should be removing or what the metallic board is are welcome.

http://bellsystempractices.org/500-/518-/518-215-402-i02_1977-01-01.pdf


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## rickbb (Jun 14, 2013)

Oh wow, Western Electric, haven't seen that name in ages. They closed the plant here in the mid 70's, changed their name a few times after that, if they still exist it's under the name of Bell Labs. The plant here made phone switching equip for AT&T and radar guidence systems for the Air Force.


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## MEANIE (Jun 14, 2013)

Here are some I have ,,Any one know any thing about them ?


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## CBentre (Jun 14, 2013)

rickbb said:


> Oh wow, Western Electric, haven't seen that name in ages. They closed the plant here in the mid 70's, changed their name a few times after that, if they still exist it's under the name of Bell Labs. The plant here made phone switching equip for AT&T and radar guidence systems for the Air Force.



Would be interesting to find some of that other equipment in these boxes. :lol: Thanks


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## rickbb (Jun 14, 2013)

CBentre said:


> rickbb said:
> 
> 
> > Oh wow, Western Electric, haven't seen that name in ages. They closed the plant here in the mid 70's, changed their name a few times after that, if they still exist it's under the name of Bell Labs. The plant here made phone switching equip for AT&T and radar guidence systems for the Air Force.
> ...



It was pretty weird driving by the plant and see a giant missile parked out front on a rail car. Bunch of MP's standing guard behind signs saying "NO PICTURES". :lol:


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## CBentre (Jun 14, 2013)

rickbb said:


> CBentre said:
> 
> 
> > rickbb said:
> ...



It was pretty weird driving by the plant and see a giant missile parked out front on a rail car. Bunch of MP's standing guard behind signs saying "NO PICTURES". :lol:[/quote

I bet it would be. Was that during the arms race? I wasn't born till a decade later and I only remember watching parts of dessert storm growing up. Sounds like that plant played a part in history.


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## CBentre (Jun 14, 2013)

MEANIE said:


> Here are some I have ,,Any one know any thing about them ?



Meanie I had some similar boards last year, search for 1979 computek post. I regret selling them, I was only offered $7.00 a lb and if I remember correctly I had about 50lbs. Gold was at around $1600.00 oz, at the time but I needed the money at that time so I gave them up. Mine however did not have those nice ceramics, those should yield well. I think they are around $140.00lb commercial value but don't quote me on it I haven't paid attention to pricing lately.


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## Geo (Jun 14, 2013)

did you ever determine the base metal of the board?

i believe theres a test for nickel. is it DMG?


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## CBentre (Jun 15, 2013)

Geo said:


> did you ever determine the base metal of the board?
> 
> i believe theres a test for nickel. is it DMG?



Thanks for the tip Geo, I'll see what I can do. Here's a few more close ups on these chips for you all to look at. I thought some of the solder points were gold solder but it scratched off like a powder with a knife.


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## ilikesilver (Jun 15, 2013)

very cool


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## CBentre (Jun 18, 2013)

Just wanted to show some of you the gold contacts I found in these switches that came in this box of older telecom equipment. The switch was date stamped 1968, I think these are probably one of my best finds in the past year or so.


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## CBentre (Jun 18, 2013)

Here's for size comparison.


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## maxwellsilverhammer (Apr 4, 2014)

i have a whole recycle bin full of brand new packaged Northern Telecom boards from the 80's 90's i think, where there are large double sided gold fingers along the one edge and there is a greenish coating of some sort covering gold strands from the fingers to all of the soldered components all over the entire board. I read the Hoke book, as per strong suggestions on this forum, but did it did not address how to melt the coating to expose all the gold underneath? I was hesitant to even ask on this forum because of what I read the "to do's and the to not do's" as a newbee here. I finally found this thread and thought i would ask here. i can lift the thick golden fingers with a rasor blade on the edges but i cannot scrape off the coating "protective dip" over all the gold lines underneath. I did scrape a small section and tested with 22k acid and am certain the entire board is gold circuitry. I thought of heating it with a torch, to melt off the fused coating, and also thought about the hot sand method to remove the components before just immersing the entire board 10" x 14" in an acid solution. any preliminary suggestions would be greatly appreciated. i am sure there is a lot of gold on these boards.


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## jimdoc (Apr 4, 2014)

Search for "solder mask"

Jim


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## maxwellsilverhammer (Apr 4, 2014)

Jim, thank you. So it seems HCL soak for a day or two then let it dry and rinse thoroughly and brush off with a fine brush. Thank you for clarifying what the coating actually is.


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