# Ewaste /HD recievers



## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

Hey I was taking some hd receivers apart and stumbled upon this. I do not have a way to test for gold as of right now but will be ordering a kit in the near future. Just wondering if any of the pros here have seen this yet and can identify it as either gold or just plan old yellow brass? Thanks in advance for your help!


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## MMFJ (Jun 6, 2012)

Funny, I had a question on one of my videos about "How can you tell by just looking if it is GOLD or just BRASS?"

It is a great question and one that is fairly simple to answer - at least for the bulk of stuff...

One of the key ways to tell if it is gold you are looking at is to ask yourself the question - "Does it make sense to put gold here?"

In the case of the total cover (which from the picture looks like brass), I'd have to say it doesn't (which I have never seen one that was...)

On the small internal parts, where connections are critical to not oxidize, etc., then it is POSSIBLY gold (and quite often, is).

Another thing to ask yourself is "would it make sense to use THAT MUCH gold to do whatever it is?" - that is the one that disappoints because you always want everything you see to be solid, massive layers of gold - but, it NEVER is - at least, not in electronics anyway!


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## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

Point well taken but also leads to confusion.lol Thanks for the reply!


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## qst42know (Jun 6, 2012)

Nitric acid or 10k test acid will let you know. High frequency signal shielding is an application for gold or silver plate.


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## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

qst42know said:


> Nitric acid or 10k test acid will let you know. High frequency signal shielding is an application for gold or silver plate.


So then it may just be....I will be getting a test kit soon and in the mean time I will hold onto these and collect them. Thanks for the info


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## MMFJ (Jun 6, 2012)

CBentre said:


> Point well taken but also leads to confusion.lol Thanks for the reply!


Help me understand the confusion part - I'll try to clarify. I do want to come up with a simple yet easy to understand answer for this one!


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## goldsilverpro (Jun 6, 2012)

Lou once told me a way to distinguish gold plating from brass - lick it. If there is no taste, it's gold. If it tastes metallic, it's brass.


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## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

MMFJ said:


> CBentre said:
> 
> 
> > Point well taken but also leads to confusion.lol Thanks for the reply!
> ...




Well there is no easy to understand answer, to me as a noob in the field the gold content in electronics is misleading. While I have taken apart 30k servers there is minimum evidence of gold but in a single small $100.00 cell phone I have been able to identify. So the part where you say should there be in this is misleading. That's all.


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## MMFJ (Jun 6, 2012)

Ok, how about this for an answer......

I knew I had some receivers in the 'Peripherial' board box so I pulled one apart.


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## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

MMFJ said:


> Ok, how about this for an answer......
> 
> I knew I had some receivers in the 'Peripherial' board box so I pulled one apart.



Ok so the test was negative. Now that is a great way to answer a question.


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## MMFJ (Jun 6, 2012)

goldsilverpro said:


> Lou once told me a way to distinguish gold plating from brass - lick it. If there is no taste, it's gold. If it tastes metallic, it's brass.


Now, there's a tip! 

FYI, it LOOKS, SMELLS and TASTES just like the others (kinda metallic, but not as strong as I'd hoped..) - except the 'doberman' which is the real thing (certainly 'no taste' is correct)......


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## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

MMFJ said:


> goldsilverpro said:
> 
> 
> > Lou once told me a way to distinguish gold plating from brass - lick it. If there is no taste, it's gold. If it tastes metallic, it's brass.
> ...



Call me stubborn but my example is gold on both sides is yours because based on your photo's it looks like metal?


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## Geo (Jun 6, 2012)

it certainly looks good but without testing its anyones guess.test it with a drop of nitric acid, if it turns green immediately, its brass.


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## CBentre (Jun 6, 2012)

Geo said:


> it certainly looks good but without testing its anyones guess.test it with a drop of nitric acid, if it turns green immediately, its brass.


Thanks, when I get the test kit I will post the results.


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## tek4g63 (Jun 7, 2012)

I'm new to all of this too, so please take this as a question and not a suggestion.

If it were brass, couldn't you just stick it in a jar and put enough HCL in the jar to cover the bottom 10mm or so and let it sit over night? Brass has tin in it correct? If so it should react quickly to HCL. This of course would not tell you if it was gold it would just maybe rule out brass. I could be very wrong, please feel free to correct me because that's how I learn.

Thad.


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## Smack (Jun 7, 2012)

That piece is brass, only way it might be gold plate is if it were military hardware and from the looks of the inside of it, it is not military grade. Time spent looking at brass and gold plate will train the eye and cut the need to test considerably. Just recently I had a decorative piece and would have sworn that it was gold plated, I mean it had the nice rich color of gold but Nitric said different. I still don't understand how the color was so close. Oh well, that's why we test things.


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## MMFJ (Jun 7, 2012)

I agree with Smack that training the eye is key, though also just using some common sense pays off a lot as well.

The HARDEST thing is to train the BRAIN to get past the LIES the eye wants to tell you! One way I've tried to do is to look at something and say "You think that's gold? HA! PROVE IT!" Well, sometimes that works....... :roll: 

In this case (and in MANY), though, one of the things to consider is the military application of a similar thing MIGHT be gold, but OT2BINLA said it was an HD receiver (an off the shelf consumer product...) - and fairly new (look at that shine!). I took an older one (more likely to be gold, or more gold) and it was more obvious from the pictures that it was metal.

Learn to DIStrust your eyes, and believe in the facts. Very few consumer products nowadays have much gold in them at all (other than cell phones). It is best to collect and sell the boards and not waste time on searching for what is not there.

Of course, a drop of solution from a $20 test kit also does a world of good in convincing the brain that the eyes are crazy :shock: Collect the "oh, I think this is gold" stuff in a box until you get the kit, then you will have a lot of things you can look at to see the reaction on various items and substances and quickly learn the difference (boy, does that sound like Hoke or what?????? 8)


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## Geo (Jun 7, 2012)

tek4g63 said:


> I'm new to all of this too, so please take this as a question and not a suggestion.
> 
> If it were brass, couldn't you just stick it in a jar and put enough HCL in the jar to cover the bottom 10mm or so and let it sit over night? Brass has tin in it correct? If so it should react quickly to HCL. This of course would not tell you if it was gold it would just maybe rule out brass. I could be very wrong, please feel free to correct me because that's how I learn.
> 
> Thad.



Thad, this kind thing will come in handy to know when processing. brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. bronze on the other hand is an alloy of copper and tin. to the layman on the street, theres hardly no difference but when you are processing metals with acids it helps to know whats in the metals your processing.

as a side note. if the caps had spring loaded tabs to hold it on, it could have very well been bronze because brass does not spring back when bent. all this is assuming its non magnetic.


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## publius (Jun 7, 2012)

Geo said:


> tek4g63 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm new to all of this too, so please take this as a question and not a suggestion.
> ...


Springs that look brassy may be Beryllium/Copper. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium_poisoning


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## goldsilverpro (Jun 7, 2012)

My favorite way would be to cut off a small piece (say, 1/4" - 1/2'" square), cover with about 10 - 20ml of 50/50 nitric, and heat until the copper is dissolved. Use distilled water to dilute the nitric. If it stops dissolving, add a little more nitric. If it is gold plated, there will definitely be some gold flakes left over, usually floating on top. If there are no gold flakes, it was definitely not gold plated. Works every time on copper base.


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## CBentre (Jun 7, 2012)

Well all I can say at this point is that I am really going to injoy this forum. There has been a lot of input over one small item, most people would not waste there time to comment on this but it seems like this forum stands out from the rest. Thanks for the input! The more I learn the less questions I will have to ask, the less questions I ask means more time on helping others. Thanks again


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## CBentre (Jun 7, 2012)

MMFJ said:


> I agree with Smack that training the eye is key, though also just using some common sense pays off a lot as well.
> 
> The HARDEST thing is to train the BRAIN to get past the LIES the eye wants to tell you! One way I've tried to do is to look at something and say "You think that's gold? HA! PROVE IT!" Well, sometimes that works....... :roll:
> 
> ...


OK well this is out of the same system I am pretty confident that its the real thing,you seem to be a pro at this so how would you grade this in terms of pricing from a rifiner?


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## Smack (Jun 8, 2012)

First picture: gold plating over either kovar or copper pin material.
Second picture top piece: gold plating over stainless steel, save these to be processed with lids from processors.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Hey thanks for all the help thus far, I was just wondering if anyone would be offended if I were to post multiple items on this thread of different types of circuit boards to help me understand how to sort properly for a refiner. I totally lack the experience and knowledge at this point to even try and take on refining myself right now. Or should I post in a different section are possibly look for another forum. I know most of you are in here for more serious stuff and I don't want to offend anyone. Thanks again!


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## Geo (Jun 10, 2012)

absolutely this is the place and the topic. you started this thread so post all the pictures you want to, im sure some one will point you in the right direction.


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## NobleMetalWorks (Jun 10, 2012)

It also may be anodized Al, I see people all the time trying to sell Anodized Al as gold plate on eBay, it's a regular thing. In electronics, Al is used to dissipate heat among other things.

The Military used and may still use gold plate to harden electronics from EM Pulses or other interference. However, in applications like an HD receiver, gold is usually only used in the connectors, not as shielding. Capacitors are used as a passive way to filter signals and clean them up, they are sometimes still used today but more often software or ICs programed for specific signal filtering, over sampling, etc. So I don't think it would be used as a signal barrier.

GoldSilverPro and Lou are correct about the taste test, Au is a Nobel metal, and thus does not dissolve in the presence of human saliva or digestive acids (humans produce HCl to dissolve stomach contents). The saliva in your mouth can dissolve some metals, thus giving a "taste". But your saliva will not dissolve any metal that is Nobel, thus there is no taste. Your saliva must be able to dissolve the metal you are taste testing, for you to taste anything.

I have run across a lot of this type of shielding or heat sinks taking audio/video equipment apart. I have yet to find any that were gold plated. I have seen a lot of Al that was plated in gold, in military telecom equipment however.

I hope you find out it's gold, and if you do please post here. I am sure I'm not the only one that would like to know if it's gold plated.

Good thread

Scott


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

SBrown said:


> It also may be anodized Al, I see people all the time trying to sell Anodized Al as gold plate on eBay, it's a regular thing. In electronics, Al is used to dissipate heat among other things.
> 
> The Military used and may still use gold plate to harden electronics from EM Pulses or other interference. However, in applications like an HD receiver, gold is usually only used in the connectors, not as shielding. Capacitors are used as a passive way to filter signals and clean them up, they are sometimes still used today but more often software or ICs programed for specific signal filtering, over sampling, etc. So I don't think it would be used as a signal barrier.
> 
> ...



Hey Scott thanks for the positive comments, I will post the results as soon as I can get my hands on a test kit. Is ebay a good choice to purchase one?


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

As for board grading and sorting I guess I should start with my first picture of the hd receiver part, to be honest with you I normally leave this part intact on the board. But because of curiosity I took in off to explore. So now that it is off would anyone know what category the actual board inside would fall in if removed? As well as a typical price range for that category?


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## NobleMetalWorks (Jun 10, 2012)

CBentre said:


> Hey Scott thanks for the positive comments, I will post the results as soon as I can get my hands on a test kit. Is ebay a good choice to purchase one?



I purchased my first test kit off eBay, and it worked fine, for about 3 weeks. No big deal because now I have the little bottles already neatly labelled, and I make my own test solutions. If you do decide to purchase a test kit off eBay consider spending the extra money and getting one that comes with test pins, they are most of the time on a key ring. As the solutions degrade, comparing a pin standard to the scratch of what you are testing becomes more and more important. Not to mention the fact that you can a standard base to compare with.

I believe a few other members have purchased test kits off eBay. If possible, I would buy one that originates here in the US, if you can find one, or if you live in another country something close. My first one came from China, and took for-freaking-ever to get here.

Scott


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

SBrown said:


> CBentre said:
> 
> 
> > Hey Scott thanks for the positive comments, I will post the results as soon as I can get my hands on a test kit. Is ebay a good choice to purchase one?
> ...


Thanks I will do that


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Here is a network board, the tiles on the floor are 12"x12" for a size comparison.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Here is another type of HD receiver it has gold trim where screws were, some are gold trim while some of this same model have silver trim.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Ok this one I think I know, it's from a large power back supply. so I'm thinking it would be a power suppy board out of case?


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## trashmaster (Jun 10, 2012)

I would scrape some of the solder maskoff and take a look.
Many times if the soldermask is a lighter color there is gold plating under the solder mask ( not always ).


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

trashmaster said:


> I would scrape some of the solder maskoff and take a look.
> Many times if the soldermask is a lighter color there is gold plating under the solder mask ( not always ).



Interesting, I will take a look.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

This is what I believe you would call a telecoms board not sure what kind of value I am looking at for this?


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## Geo (Jun 10, 2012)

the first four pictures would be considered high grade boards. the power supply boards are low grade green boards and the last one is mid grade telecom.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Geo said:


> the first four pictures would be considered high grade boards. the power supply boards are low grade green boards and the last one is mid grade telecom.


So do the low grade green boards get put in with the psu's that are out of the cases? Probably not because some of those are green one side an off white on the other.
Also, the network board blue board 2nd picture. I thought that would be considered a telecoms board but wasn't 100% sure of it. Thanks for your help


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

OK these baby's came out of digital audio equipment.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

sorry couldn't fit


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## Geo (Jun 10, 2012)

the top and bottom picture looks like the same board top/bottom view. those will go with motherboards i believe. the boards with the slider switches looks like they have gold plated trace under the solder mask, if they do, remove the switches and they will be high grade.the blue boards would be the same but only if they have gold plated traces.


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## MMFJ (Jun 10, 2012)

You can get a hundred different boards and get dozens of different ideas as to what quality they are (to me, much of the stuff you are showing would go in the 'peripheral' board box and be sold to boardsort or others (about 70% of the non-pc parts seem to end up there for us).

The whole thing boils down to - who is the next person to touch them? i.e., if you are going to sell them, you should be talking to your BUYER to get ideas of what they say they are. If you are going to process them (which I don't recommend at this stage until you learn a LOT more), then you need to read on the forum how to remove the components and begin separating them for the various processing steps.

With millions of different boards, you just have to 'guesstimate' a lot of them and sometimes call it 'good' - to me, taking several minutes to determine if it is worth an extra $.10 is just not time best spent.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

CBentre said:


> Geo said:
> 
> 
> > the first four pictures would be considered high grade boards. the power supply boards are low grade green boards and the last one is mid grade telecom.
> ...



Another question regarding power supplies, while yes I know that there are different prices for them. Very low btw, but do sever psu's have a different price because of the plated ends?


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

MMFJ said:


> You can get a hundred different boards and get dozens of different ideas as to what quality they are (to me, much of the stuff you are showing would go in the 'peripheral' board box and be sold to boardsort or others (about 70% of the non-pc parts seem to end up there for us).
> 
> The whole thing boils down to - who is the next person to touch them? i.e., if you are going to sell them, you should be talking to your BUYER to get ideas of what they say they are. If you are going to process them (which I don't recommend at this stage until you learn a LOT more), then you need to read on the forum how to remove the components and begin separating them for the various processing steps.
> 
> With millions of different boards, you just have to 'guesstimate' a lot of them and sometimes call it 'good' - to me, taking several minutes to determine if it is worth an extra $.10 is just not time best spent.



Understandable but to me this would be considered time well spent for research and development to do this as a business, If you always just give the other guy your stuff not knowing what to expect from them then you are more likely going to be taken advantage of and lose out. I am looking at this as a long term profession,something that I can depend on to remove myself from my current position. I have a 5 year old boy, a wife, a mortgage as well as other bills and not willing to jeopardise everything I have to haveit ripped away from me in an instance. So yeah I don't mean to be rude but I personally have a lot at stake here so every bit of knowledge that I can obtain will help me to not lose what I have worked so hard for. Thanks for the comment.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Geo said:


> the top and bottom picture looks like the same board top/bottom view. those will go with motherboards i believe. the boards with the slider switches looks like they have gold plated trace under the solder mask, if they do, remove the switches and they will be high grade.the blue boards would be the same but only if they have gold plated traces.



OK Geo so I scratched the surface and it reveled a copper base on both green and blue boards, without a test kit I am going to be guessing that the gold trace is just that. One thing of interest is that when I pulled the slider off it reviled a silver colour connector. I tested it with a magnet and it sticks, would silver plating over steel be common practice?


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## Geo (Jun 10, 2012)

not unheard of, but not very likely. i dont think the piece of metal in the picture is the contact, it looks like the base of the switch. the contacts will be small, perhaps little more than a film on the plastic body with a carbon underlay. maybe even a small rod wrapped in tiny copper wire like a kind of rheostat. if you scratched some solder mask off and it looks like copper, then its most likely copper. you can actually mistake copper for gold but you will never mistake gold for copper.

and of coarse i do agree with MMFJ, you should be sure to get your actual prices from the buyer before you commit to a sale. value of any material is relevant to the seller and the buyer.what you are willing to sell it for and what they are willing to pay for it. prices can differ from one material to the next and believe it or not, from one seller to another seller. loyalty is rewarded to an extent that buyers will pay the highest prices to sellers that constantly sell them all the material they get and not pick through to remove the easily processed material and sell them whats left.

getting an education about the ins and outs of the markets and material is always a plus. feel free to post and ask as many questions as you feel you need, to get a handle on things.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

Geo said:


> not unheard of, but not very likely. i dont think the piece of metal in the picture is the contact, it looks like the base of the switch. the contacts will be small, perhaps little more than a film on the plastic body with a carbon underlay. maybe even a small rod wrapped in tiny copper wire like a kind of rheostat. if you scratched some solder mask off and it looks like copper, then its most likely copper. you can actually mistake copper for gold but you will never mistake gold for copper.
> 
> and of coarse i do agree with MMFJ, you should be sure to get your actual prices from the buyer before you commit to a sale. value of any material is relevant to the seller and the buyer.what you are willing to sell it for and what they are willing to pay for it. prices can differ from one material to the next and believe it or not, from one seller to another seller. loyalty is rewarded to an extent that buyers will pay the highest prices to sellers that constantly sell them all the material they get and not pick through to remove the easily processed material and sell them whats left.
> 
> getting an education about the ins and outs of the markets and material is always a plus. feel free to post and ask as many questions as you feel you need, to get a handle on things.



I couldn't agree with you more on this topic, this is one of the reasons why I am so persistent on having a handle on the sorting of things. To most people that I have encountered in life this far they don't or do not want to be bothered with the small things. But I have seen first hand on how businesses rise and fall because they didn't pay attention. There has also been kingdoms and emperors through out history who have fallen because of this as well. Another sign of this could be the economy around the world today. Thank you for the boost of confidence in what I am doing.


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## MMFJ (Jun 10, 2012)

CBentre said:


> this is one of the reasons why I am so persistent on having a handle on the sorting of things


The point is - all this "sorting" is fine, but without knowing WHERE it is going or WHY you are "sorting" this or that for any particular purpose is an exercise in futility at best.

You seem to be wanting help from those with more experience, but that experience comes from what we have spent endless hours in going through the same thing that you must go through yourself - and one of the hardest lessons in life to face (which is why most people fail...) - you must understand where the 'end' is (in this case, determining if you will sell this stuff or process it is step 1)..... If selling (any particular piece), then you need to know (step 2) who you are selling it to and what THEY will call it - has almost nothing to do with what you think or what others think or do with the pieces they get that are similar (other than if you don't like their answer, then you are back at step 1 again, or at least step 2, where you are looking for a different buyer....)

A wise man once stated "Start with the end in mind" - perhaps you know that, but nothing has been communicated in your messages of your direction/intent (other than your 'rant' about "I am looking at this as a long term profession,something that I can depend on to remove myself from my current position... and not willing to jeopardise everything I have to haveit ripped away from me in an instance...help me to not lose what I have worked so hard for" - loads of strong words when the total dollar amount of all the pictures you have shown is only about $20 - if that is "everything I have" for you, then there is a much more serious problem). We all make at least a good portion of our income from this and I have seen nothing from anyone that can/would "rip away in an instant" anything from a person that approaches any of this sanely - and with little/no emotion (which ALWAYS causes the problems in financial matters)........

You have asked for some quality grades on these boards/material, but by whose standards are you quoting/asking (oh, that would be your potential buyers, huh....)? I quoted where/how I find my terms/names for the board quality (we use boardsort.com as a 'standard', as do many on this board - even other buyers) and it is simple enough to learn from there directly, just like I did (and many others). There are some that I do business with that prefer to have just three levels of boards ('low population', 'medium populated' and 'highly populated' - all referring to the ratio of chips to board size).

If you are using someone else's standard of grading material and that is what you are asking opinions on, then you need to quote it so everyone can help you grade your items against the standard you are expecting to use. But, then, if you are going from any sort of set standard (like one you get from a BUYER.....), you already know what they would be called, wouldn't you..... :?: 

It boils down to a simple thing - you will continue to be frustrated and lose not only money, but the help you so desperately appear to feel you need if you continue down the path of entitlement (which is certainly where it seems to be going, from what I've seen - both here and in the many questions you've sent me via YouTube). 

Learn from this - until you know where you are going, it really matters little what road you take - right now, or ever. Once you figure that out, you will have answers come to you in droves, simply because you already know where you are going with things (for instance, on that power supply with the nice gold fingers - we snap those fingers and put the rest of it in a 'breakage' box - the tiny bit of copper, etc. in there takes more time than we can afford to put toward it as there are other things that will pay a lot more during that time {yes, I have mouths to feed as well and I prefer to feed them well, which takes money and focusing on doing what pays the most for the time spent). 

For each and every card, there will always be a question of "wouldn't that better fit in that box", but the reality is, the per pound rates (at least from boardsort and everyone else I know of) are so minimal on any one board that any MISTAKE you make on any given board is about a $.05 one. Oh, yes, I'm sure you want to argue that those nickels stack up, but until/unless you are prepared to discuss the value of TIME LOST in worrying about it (which even for a $10 worker is only a few seconds - add it up!.....), I really don't want to hear about it.

This will be my last post on this topic (or you sending me more messages via YouTube) as it appears the type of help I'm trying to give isn't welcomed. I know there is something else I can do with my time that will be more productive and appreciated.


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

.removed


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## vyper (Jun 10, 2012)

From what I've read both of you have legitimate points. But "cant we all just get along" :lol: 
As far as the psu's go I would go with snapping off the fingers cutting wires etc. and putting the psu's whole in the "motor's" bin to go to the scrapyard. Check with the scrapyard though to make sure they accept them as motors. Mine does.

Happy Hunting!


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## CBentre (Jun 10, 2012)

vyper said:


> From what I've read both of you have legitimate points. But "cant we all just get along" :lol:
> As far as the psu's go I would go with snapping off the fingers cutting wires etc. and putting the psu's whole in the "motor's" bin to go to the scrapyard. Check with the scrapyard though to make sure they accept them as motors. Mine does.
> 
> Happy Hunting!



Now was that hard,thanks one less thing I need to worrie about.lol


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## Geo (Jun 11, 2012)

breakage is very low grade scrap in whatever category its in. if you deal with many thousands of pounds in a month, of coarse you cant spend the amount of time needed to strip all the components. if you do this in lots and want to get every bit of profit from your material that you can. 

psu's can be broken down. my wife does it to make extra money for herself from the scrap i get. she will take the case off and use a chisel and hammer to remove the heat sinks and transformers. the cases and the heat sinks are old sheet aluminum and the transformers are the carbon ferrite type, these she breaks with a hammer and the copper coil falls right off. people will argue that at $0.25 a pound for the transformer as is gets better money than the $3.00+ she gets for number 2 copper, because your selling the ferrite for $0.25 a pound. this i can tell you without a doubt in my mind on the subject, transformers of any size from an inch to several feet across, the copper to steel ratio will be 25% copper and 75% iron. if you have 100 pounds of transformers and sell them for $0.25 per pound, you get $25.00. if you get the copper from 100 pounds of transformers at 25% is 25 pounds at $3.00 per pound, thats $75.00. tripled your money by cleaning them, that my argument.


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## CBentre (Jun 17, 2012)

Geo said:


> breakage is very low grade scrap in whatever category its in. if you deal with many thousands of pounds in a month, of coarse you cant spend the amount of time needed to strip all the components. if you do this in lots and want to get every bit of profit from your material that you can.
> 
> psu's can be broken down. my wife does it to make extra money for herself from the scrap i get. she will take the case off and use a chisel and hammer to remove the heat sinks and transformers. the cases and the heat sinks are old sheet aluminum and the transformers are the carbon ferrite type, these she breaks with a hammer and the copper coil falls right off. people will argue that at $0.25 a pound for the transformer as is gets better money than the $3.00+ she gets for number 2 copper, because your selling the ferrite for $0.25 a pound. this i can tell you without a doubt in my mind on the subject, transformers of any size from an inch to several feet across, the copper to steel ratio will be 25% copper and 75% iron. if you have 100 pounds of transformers and sell them for $0.25 per pound, you get $25.00. if you get the copper from 100 pounds of transformers at 25% is 25 pounds at $3.00 per pound, thats $75.00. tripled your money by cleaning them, that my argument.



Hey Geo, that is an excellent point and kind of what I was getting at. All I'm trying to do is maximize profits, my time means nothing at this point. When the time comes that I feel a need to push things out the door because I need the money then I will. But if I have stuff that can be further processed and I can gain from it then I will. Thanks for the support.


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## bswartzwelder (Jun 19, 2012)

I have taken apart quite a few cell phones and in a very small percentage of them, I have found screws which I believe to be gold plated. My reasoning is this: the screws go through the circuit board and the area around the screw holes is not only plated on both sides, but also plated through the hole. In these areas, usually there are several pieces of metal being clamped together with gold plating on one board touching gold plating on the other board. Seems logical to use gold plated screws to keep the connection points from corroding or oxidizing. Just my .02 worth.


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## CBentre (Jun 19, 2012)

bswartzwelder said:


> I have taken apart quite a few cell phones and in a very small percentage of them, I have found screws which I believe to be gold plated. My reasoning is this: the screws go through the circuit board and the area around the screw holes is not only plated on both sides, but also plated through the hole. In these areas, usually there are several pieces of metal being clamped together with gold plating on one board touching gold plating on the other board. Seems logical to use gold plated screws to keep the connection points from corroding or oxidizing. Just my .02 worth.



You know I had thought the same as you, a lot of times I would come accross screws that were gold/brass in color in computers so I just held onto them just in case. with out a test kit you will really never know. Thanks for the comment.


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## bswartzwelder (Jun 20, 2012)

What's really crazy, is that tonight as I was disassembling a batch of phones, I came across an area on one phone. It was where the flip phone flips open and closed (essentially the hinge area). There was a small contact connecting to the circuit board on one side of the flip. The other end of this contact rubbed up against one end of a pin on the hinge area. The other side of the hinge area pin was resting against another gold plated connector. Two gold plated connectors very bright and shiny. Then I took the hinge thingy apart and the pin which runs through it is also a pretty bright gold color. It is held in place by a "C" clip. I could not believe my eyes. The "C" clip is bright and shiny and gold in color. First "C" clip I've ever seen that appear to be gold plated. I may just have to hang onto that one.


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## Smack (Jun 21, 2012)

As you get more and more scrap to process, you will find your methods and the extent you can dismantle the scrap will change according to how much time you have to process it and still keep up.


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## bswartzwelder (Jun 21, 2012)

I know what you mean. Right now, I'm taking all the phones down to the last piece of plastic or hardware. In almost all the flip phones, there is at least 1 tiny magnet which I've been keeping. Don't know what for, but some day they have a use and I will be ready to give them a whole new life. Since I'm doing this as a hobby and any money I can recover is secondary, the time spent is not an issue. If I decide the money is lucrative enough, I may end up in more of a hurry and pass over the things which aren't on the monmey making agenda. I just enjoy the whole operation and will be using it to occupy time once I'm retired in a week or two.


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## CBentre (Jun 22, 2012)

OK so I was reading up on another forum today and someone quoted that the heat sinks on the CPU were actually 70% nickel and 30% copper that got me wondering. If that statement holds true then the p4 chips would work out like this. 19g as a whole at $7.50lb today's boardsort prices 
= 0.044092x7.50 
=$0.33069

The actual weight of metal is 14g and 5g for the gold/fiber 
today nickel was at $7.51lb
copper was at $3.32
70% of 14g is 9.8g which =0.021605lbs x $7.51 = $0.16225355
30% of 14 is 4.2g which =0.009259 x $3.32 = $0.03073988
Total metal =$ 0.19299343
So theoretically we are only getting $0.13769657 for the 5g of gold fiber?
Yeah you can tell I'm bored


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## CBentre (Jun 25, 2012)

OK so I have two chips that I can't seem to find pricing on anywhere and was wondering if anyone here has incountered them in there travels? Also what type of value should I be looking at for these. Thanks for the help in advance.


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## CBentre (Jun 25, 2012)

sorry missed this pic


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