# CPU socket pins removal



## kjavanb123 (May 20, 2013)

All,

What is your choice for removing the CPU socket pins? I believe the plastic housing is LPDE type that will melt in a mill, could they be grinded then use the magnet to separate the pins?

Regards
Kevin


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## kalseo (Jul 14, 2013)

Hi Kevin,

This is also interesting for me. Most socket pins that I have extracted seems to be magnetic, if not all, but I think all are. I also haven't found an easy way. Some are falling straight away, if solder have stripped after using heatgun, but with some older sockets I do everything manually. 

I guess it can be melted and collected with magnet, but haven't tried yet, I will gather more in the next couple of days and give you an update. 

Cheers
Kal


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## Geo (Jul 15, 2013)

when i strip mother boards, i do it in stages. i use a air hammer and remove only the header pins and chips first as they produce the most gold from whats left. i still get a few components like MLCC' and can type capacitors while getting all the pins but its only a few compared to the whole board. next i remove all the ports with pins. these need to be dealt with a different way. next i remove the slot pins and the CPU pins as the yields are roughly the same (about 0.1g per pound). most members will not deal with material with such a low yield AND because the slot pins are bronze and the CPU pins are kovar, AP is not a good option. i collect these pins until i have roughly ten pounds and use old AP solution that has been evaporated to concentrate the acid and add sodium nitrate to make a very dirty AR to remove as much base metal as i can. this creates a lot of metastannic acid but i know how to deal with it. all in all, its a lot of work for very little return.


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## rickbb (Jul 15, 2013)

Which is why I sell the motherboards, last batch I sold was over $3 a lb. Way more than I could get in recovered gold with the small qty's that I deal with.


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## ovidiuanghel (Jul 17, 2013)

kjavanb123 said:


> All,
> 
> What is your choice for removing the CPU socket pins? I believe the plastic housing is LPDE type that will melt in a mill, could they be grinded then use the magnet to separate the pins?
> 
> ...


 

What kind of socket? I know that the plastic is PBT and is not melting in the mill. I always grind the sockets and drop it whit other stuff directly to AP


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