# RCA Coaxial cable ends, worth doing?



## fiat128 (Sep 30, 2011)

I have a big box full of these connectors that I salvaged when getting some copper cable. Not a huge amount but a box full. They came from high end plasma TV installations.

After a fiddling with them I made a fixture where I can press them apart to get the gold center post out very quickly. It's about 1/8" X 3/4" long and weighs 1.0 gram but I am wondering if the amount of gold I am recovering here is even worth the effort. 

The pin is non-magnetic and I am probably getting 1/3 oz. of brass (48 for a pound) out of each one as well.

Any thought or advice is appreciated.


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## Geo (Sep 30, 2011)

the gold plating on that is very thin. the word for the process is "flashed" its been flash plated. the gold plating is so thin you can see through it. the actual yellow color you see is the brass underneath. with that being said the answer to your question is yes. gold is where you find it. but understand that looks can be deceiving and it will take a bulk load of these to get any appreciable amount of gold. too only if they are free or you can get them at the scrap price of the base metal.


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## TXWolfie (Sep 30, 2011)

I know I am new but to myself if you got them for free, and you can make say $200 after the processing expenses. Then to me it would be worth it, anything that gives you a profit is better then no profit at all. The best price in the world is free.


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## fiat128 (Sep 30, 2011)

They were free, which is pretty much my "top dollar" for electronics if you know what I mean. I am still in the "read and learn" phase of all this so all I'm really trying to do is accumulate enough pins, connectors and other gold stuff to have a big enough batch to refine. It takes a lot of any pin to make a pound and they aren't the easiest things to take apart.

I made some dies and can get these apart really easy so I'm dismantling them all. The brass that's in them will pay for my time and dies were pretty much free to make so any gold will just be gravy (the braided sheilding on the cable is plated copper and the center wire is too).

These seem really nice for coax connectors so I was thinking they might be something better than "flash plated" but I guess not.


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## tcfootball (Jan 20, 2012)

If they are unused, I would question the value of selling them as they are vs the gold content available.


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