# I feel like an idiot...



## Anonymous (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi guys, I'm new at this... BRAND NEW. I'm sorry to start off like this but i have about 6 oz. (not Toz.) of computer pins and such things and scarp jewelry that i came across from years passed. All the pins came out of about 2.5 computer towers which i spent hours cracking, breaking, pulling and banging my knuckles and vacuuming up pieces and all sorts of terror. I have been looking and looking and looking on how to smelt or refine this so i can reap the benefits of my hard work. I have looked all over the forum and have NO IDEA where to start. Can someone help me please? Sorry for being so ignorant. My goal is if I can work back and gain enough gold then I can get my fathers gold medallion molded. I want the same one as him and we have the mold. But thats besides the point. Can anyone help me? A long time ago I found something online where you can use a coffee pot outside and like some stuff from hardware stores. Please help me out. thank you.


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## wildbill_hickup (Sep 25, 2008)

Welcome from another newbe. I will tell you this, this is not as easy as you would think. I started much the same way you are and it didn't take me long to figure out this wasn't going to happen in an afternoon. My advice newbe to newbe is take a deep breath and get ready to do some reading. :shock: Start with the section on safety. Look up all chemical listed and know what they can do to you. Most of the compounds here can at least give you a bad burn some can KILL you :!: :!: Also find any post by Lasersteve and in his signature line is a guided tour, take it and read everything. In the books section theis a PDF file of Hokes book download it to you computer and start reading. This is not something you just jump into the middle of. Now that being said, from what you discribe I would pay particular attention to sections on AP or CHI+H2O2, and CHI+CI. But read safty first thefew bucks you may wind up with isn't worth you flesh, eyes, nasel passages, or your life :!: :!: :!:

IMHO of course


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## wildbill_hickup (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi again, 

Told you I was a newbe symbols should read HCl(little L not I) and Cl. I looked it up. Now I feel like an IDIOT  I'll shutup now :wink:


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## OMG (Sep 25, 2008)

Don't feel like an idiot. You should read some of my newbie posts. lol
Not to dash your hopes, but you won't be getting very much gold out of the computer scrap. Definitely not enough for a solid gold medallion. (unless its the size of a match head).
H2O2 - peroxide (hydrogen peroxide)
HCl - hydrochloric acid(muriatic acid)
HNO3 - nitric acid
AP - Acid peroxide (a mix of HCl + H2O2)
AC (or HCl-Cl) - mix of HCl and Bleach(Chlorine source)
AR - aqua regia (mix of HCl + HNO3)
SMB - sodium metabisulfite
SC - stannous chloride

so..
to remove gold plating on electronic scrap, people on here generally soak the stuff in AP. It dissolves base metals and then the gold plating lifts off and floats so you can collect it. (a wee bit of gold might dissolve, but that's not important yet - just re use your AP over and over and get the wee bit back later if you want.)
then when you have a bunch of mostly gold (collection of finger foils etc), you can use AC to dissolve the gold (and all the residual metals alloyed with it)
Then after all the chlorine has been allowed to dissipate, you can precipitate just the gold that was dissolved (leaving behind the majority of the impurities) by adding SMB.
SC (stannous chloride) is used to check for the presence of dissolved gold. SC will precipitate the gold as superfine particles that come out looking purple. you can take a drop of suspected dissolved gold liquid and then put a drop of SC on it, if it turns purple then you know that there actually is dissolved gold in the liquid.
when you have all your gold precipitated, you can separate it from the rest of the liquid. Then if you want very pure gold, you should redissolve that gold again and precipitate it again. (when you dissolve and precipitate the gold, you are only making the gold more pure, you are not making it 100% pure, so depending on your goal, you may have to do it a couple times)
The powdered gold that is precipitated is generally brown. This can be melted to form gold metal.

I wrote this to just give you a background on what generally goes on. So now when you go read posts and tutorials, you kind of know what is generally going on.
Have fun.


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## Anonymous (Sep 28, 2008)

From a still newbee, the most inportant lesson I have learned so far in the process is "TAKE YOUR TIME". If you go fast to see the results, you will probley mess up...lOL 

Good Luck,,,Jack


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## Anonymous (Sep 28, 2008)

wow thanks for the info guys. I'm always a good reader and i research everything i do. i'm a short term hobbyist. I dont know how much i'll get back but i have alot of old broken jewelry too that will all be mixed together. but anyways i'll keep searching around. any more tips would be awesome.


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## docone31 (Sep 28, 2008)

Let me assure you, from personal experience, the advice given is sound.
The fastest way to acquire the gold, is to read and post on this forum. I have found a lot of sincere folks who really want to help.
I have found, the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
Another thing,
Small batches. Manageable, controlable. 
On LaserSteve's site, he shows how to do pins. Simple, organized, and efficient.
Lots of info here. At first, it makes your head swim. Nothing makes sense when you try to apply it.
No one has steered me wrong here yet.
Read, reread, reread, think about it, reread.
I rushed it.
I know.


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## Harold_V (Sep 28, 2008)

Celebrity Bob said:


> i have alot of old broken jewelry too that will all be mixed together.


Let me suggest to you that you do not mix together all your old broken jewelry. Some of that stuff is nothing short of junk, and will complicate refining beyond belief. Before you do anything with such material, be sure you are able to identify what is karat gold, what is gold filled, and what is nothing more than plated lead, or low temperature alloy junk. You may even find some plated stainless. It's a huge mistake to combine such material with high grade materials. 

My advice to anyone starting out is to not get creative. Follow known and prescribed processes that yield predictable results. When you have them down, and understand the chemistry involved, perhaps then you can experiment without risking the loss of your values, or creating explosive compounds. It's not all that hard to do with precious metals. 

Mean time, read Hoke. Then read again. 

Harold


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## SapunovDmitry (Sep 29, 2008)

First thing you should do, as Harold said, is to be sure you don't have stainless in your scrap. Take a strong magnet (one from old hard drive should be ok) and if some of your articles respond to the magnet use caution and think twice before you do anything with it.
If you don't want any commercial production (i.e. just for you and your family), and you are not much interested in the cost of refining you should try the most simple and "stoneage" method for your first refining. You won't end with 100% gold, but at least you are likely to get "dirty" (650-750+) gold from it and then refine it with any method described here on the forum, or on Steve's website.
Here is the document i have found on the forum (it ws posted long, long ago) and used it as a walkthrough in my first refining operation.
Have fun and read Hoke.


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## Anonymous (Oct 3, 2008)

OH MY GOD!!! WOW!!! Thank you SO much for that!!! This is what I have been looking for for over 2 years now. This is the one i came across but i was supposed to pay for this. I appreciate this VERY much. My father is a computer engineer and he replaces old computers almost daily! I have about 30 old pc's in the basement and this is what i have wanted to do for so long now. The gold i have saved up is from ripping computers apart and breaking them and destroying them. it takes me about 3 days to destroy a comp and pull out every connector i find on them with gold. my only difference is that i will be using a bucket full of just pins! i have alot of them. but once again thank you!!!


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## Shaul (Oct 4, 2008)

Bob;

"Three days to destroy a computer".

That's already 2 days & 22+ hours too much.

With an electric screwdriver you can disassemble a computer in 30 minutes or less, and with a heat gun you can strip the boards clean in the other hour or so.

Work Smart, Work Safe.


Shaul


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## viacin (Oct 4, 2008)

ha ha ha, i've got you both beat! This guy can do it in 4:45 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtLiMVi0TFU

or...an idea that I REALLY like, http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone3g

Just get one of these super blenders, throw all the parts in, and press the button! Might help to pull off some of the crap though so you don't have so many impurities.


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## Shaul (Oct 4, 2008)

The only thing more entertaining than watching those two idiots (with a sledgehammer) taking out their frustrations on a computer, would have been watching them with two sledgehammers going at each other; if for no other reason than to see whether their heads contained anything more than sand, gravel and wet cement.

As far as the super blender idea goes, it belongs in the same category with the sledgehammers.

Shaul


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## viacin (Oct 5, 2008)

lol, agreed


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## SapunovDmitry (Oct 6, 2008)

Had he worked with that heavy stuff all day, he wouldn't be so fat. :lol:


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## Anonymous (Oct 9, 2008)

Wow, thanks i'm an idoit with a sledge hammer. Thought this post was for help... Anyways. I kinda have fun doin it. Taking it slowly and pulling each and every pin out of the pci slots. Thats the longest part. I'm not super heavy into this so I'm not tryin to soak everything in a vat. I'm just pulling the pins out and thats it. But any constructive criticism would be nice. If u wanna bash, go somewhere else and do it. Thx


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## Oz (Oct 9, 2008)

At times it requires that one not take things too personally. There are people here that will make your refining far more enjoyable and productive. Being new and not knowing that there are people on here that can strip the basics out of an entire pickup full of computers in 3 hours, I see were you may have felt offended. Although I cannot speak for other people, I do not think it was anyone’s intent to insult you. As a rule (there are exceptions) the people on here are some of the kindest and most helpful one can find. 

If you read, ask questions and listen you may find yourself with a set of skills that allows you to help others when you see them doing something the way you used to, before you found a better way.


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## wildbill_hickup (Oct 9, 2008)

Well said Oz :wink:


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## viacin (Oct 9, 2008)

Celebrity Bob said:


> Wow, thanks i'm an idoit with a sledge hammer. Thought this post was for help...



No no no, I meant no offence at all! I wasn't referring to you by no means, just happen to be on youtube and reading the forum at the same time. I was actually looking for a vid of a bunch of computer parts in a blender, but never found it.

I'm still new at this too, I'm about to run my first batch next weekend. When I first stepped into this world, I thought all you had to do was mix some borax and silica together, heat the gold, and pour it in your mold. About as much as you could learn from google. And despite my stupid questions, and constant "harrasment" for more information, I've recieved nothing but help from everyone on this forum, and in turn I hope I can help them one day. These are some great people, with even greater wisdom! Never take their words for granted, for they don't waste their time speaking on useless subjects. If you listen well to the advice you are given, you will go very far, very quickly.

I guess what I'm saying is, you're already off to a great start...you found this forum!


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## Anonymous (Oct 9, 2008)

Thanks I appreciate that! I havent even started yet. i Only have pins and such. I even pull off each individual finger off of the pci boards and memory. But all i thought u did was melt it all and let it settle out, everything else would burn off  anyways... I'm still listening!


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## LeftyTheBandit (Oct 10, 2008)

viacin said:


> I REALLY like, http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone3g
> 
> Just get one of these super blenders, throw all the parts in, and press the button! Might help to pull off some of the crap though so you don't have so many impurities.



Dont bother with the blender. I took some cpu's into a wholsaler at the companies request and tried grinding ceramic cpu's. The cpu's jammed the blade immediately. Reset the chps and tried again....Jammed.

The ceramic cpu's are the exact thickness to fit between the SS blade and the Polymer container wall. JaMMed. The sales-guy said it was the first item they had tried that they could not grind.


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## Shaul (Oct 11, 2008)

Bob;

You mentioned a while back, that your father is a computer engineer who replaces old computers almost daily.

Well that is a wonderful gift. Having a free, constant supply of quality material is a real blessing; but there's a downside in that it can quickly pile up and get out of hand.

I'm speaking here from my own experience. For years I had a constant, free source of quality material (computers and medical electronics). Not really having the time to deal with it, yet not wanting to pass on anything that might prove of value, I collected everything that came my way. It quickly outgrew my available storage space.

Eventually I came to realize a number of things: 1) That I was not physically able to store & process everything that came my way. 
2) That there is better quality and lesser quality material.
3) That there are better, faster and more efficient ways to accomplish the same thing.
(And yes, I can remember wasting endless hours, pulling individual pins with a soldering iron and a pair of pliers).

The first thing I did was to stop accepting monitors and dot-matrix printers. As for ink-jet printers, I learned where the PM's are. I now dis-assemble only those parts and toss the rest.
I also got rid of all the computer cases, saving only the boards, cards, drives, etc. etc.
Even so, i'm still swamped.

Recently, my source of supply dried up and even though it's depressing, it has given me the opportunity to start working on depopulating all those boards i've been saving up all those years.

A couple months back ( Mar. '08.), a member (from Alaska) related how he had 28 warehouse buildings filled with old computer equipment and more coming in every day. Now that might be a wet dream for some, but you dry out fast, once you awaken to reality and realize that it's a nightmare and it's real.

Reminds me of the joke about the guy who dreamed he was eating a turkey dinner. He was so stuffed that he couldn't eat another bite.
When he awoke in the morning, he found that his pillow was gone. :lol: 

Remember, most Big problems start out as small problems that aren't solved. 

Part of what this forum is all about is: more-experienced members trying to help the lesser-experienced ones not make the same mistakes they did.


Shaul


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## Harold_V (Oct 11, 2008)

Shaul said:


> Part of what this forum is all about is: more-experienced members trying to help the lesser-experienced ones not make the same mistakes they did.


Very good, Shaul!

Harold


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