# possible motherload



## leelandbullock (Oct 13, 2012)

i have this in my living room, and a true mountain of it in my garage. its taller than i am of this stuff. i found all this in one garbage container


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## acpeacemaker (Oct 13, 2012)

Is there a question(s) about it? Or showboating? Nice find

Andrew


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## leelandbullock (Oct 13, 2012)

yeah one question that wire. it dosent come back silver, plat, but i dont have a palladium tester and i cant tell..but i know its something. casue i have silver wire that is not as shiney. and its 99.999 wire.

but this stuff. i cant tell if its palldium or rhodium...all i know is its what came off patch pannels, and off certain kinds of system harness, oh BTW all this was thrown out of a bunker at a base. all i know is its also gotta be part of helecopter becasue i have a partial master control pannel that came with it all from helecopter.


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## resabed01 (Oct 13, 2012)

Nice find, I wish I could stumble upon something like this one day.

Just thought I'd mention... I generally wouldn't bring scrap into my house until after I've had a chance to break it down and go over it carefully first. You never know what creature(s) can crawl out from E-scrap.
Not saying you didn't do that already, just something everybody should be aware of.


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## acpeacemaker (Oct 13, 2012)

On top of creatures don't forget the contaminants that e scrap can hold. Also organic contaminants. A while back some d-divers got sick because the dumpster held Hepatitis. So with the statement above. Its agreeable to keep it out of your home. Especially if you have a family.


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## pimpneightez (Oct 13, 2012)

I believe that wire is tinned copper. just cut it and look for a copper color on the inside. scrap yards will take it as #2 or #3 copper. might also be aluminum(is it light?)


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 13, 2012)

Silver plated copper wire has been frequently used on electronic assemblies but what I've seen is usually of very small diameter. Solid silver wire would be quite rare and I would guess Pd plated wire would be rare also. Tin plated copper wire is the most common, but it's more of a gray color. Untarnished silver is the whitest metal there is. Dissolve a small piece in a small amount of nitric, diluted 50/50 with distilled water. If the solution is blue or blue-green, the wire is copper based. If a little gunky material shows, it is tin plated (another way to test for tin is that it will dissolve in HCl). Add a drop of weak HCl or salt water. If a white cloud appears, it is silver. You could also put a drop of Schwerter's solution on the wire to test for silver - turns red. You could dissolve another small piece and test for Pd with DMG solution, if you wanted to waste your time. After saying all of this, be aware that silver plated copper wire is usually not worth refining, unless it's quite thin (and then, only maybe).


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## leelandbullock (Oct 13, 2012)

thank you its sivler plated copper wire..i have the acid but doing a dilution, and then adding the slat..duh should have figured thats the chloric method of percipitating silver..i can be so duh. 


As for ceatures in this stuff. no it came from military bunker thats been sealed shut for 30 years. the only reason this stuff wasnt crawing with critters and whatever else is becasue it was that way. most of it was still in boxes or packages that were never opened. 

most of what i have collect is sold gold all the way threw like most of these connector pins. male and female types. but they come of the mega round connectors, that look like screw on 220 hook ups filled with sold pins.

my current weight for the scrap is 56.6 oz...for the gold and over 2 pounds of wire stripped. i still have over 200 pounds of the wire to strip and one patch pannel yelided 13oz of gold at 18k test. not plated peices either. i still have 15 more pannels.


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## qst42know (Oct 13, 2012)

> i still have over 200 pounds of the wire to strip and one patch pannel yelided 13oz of gold at 18k test. not plated peices either. i still have 15 more pannels.



You will find that is not the case. 24k plate on base metal pins will pass an 18k test easily.

There is no reason to waste solid gold for pins.


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## pimpneightez (Oct 13, 2012)

Just curious why they would plate copper wire with silver? Was it stripped of plastic or was it just connected to stuff like that? Im assuming it was just like that and didn't have to be stripped. what was it on?


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## qst42know (Oct 13, 2012)

If I understand it correctly, in high frequency applications electrons favor the surface of the conductor. And silver is a superior conductor.


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## NobleMetalWorks (Oct 13, 2012)

Silver is the best metal for conducting electricity, no other metal conducts electricity better. It's because silver tarnishes that it isn't used, oxidation causes resistance. There are some new silver alloys that seem like they might have applications in the electronics industry, but it will be years I think before industry catches on and spends what they would be required to, to tool up for that type of technology.

For the purposes of this thread however, I can say and verify that I have come across many different applications where silver is plated onto other metals, like copper wire with silver plate. Almost any combination you can think of is used in making wire and solder.

I took apart a bunch of military terrain radar that came out of military air craft. I came across a lot of gold plated material, but what shocked me was the amount of silver wire, wire with silver braided wire sheathing, silver connecters. 

Too often I think we discount silver in electronics, and it's unique unequaled properties.

One last reason for using copper with silver is for use as a low temperature thermocouple, this is actually more common that you might suspect.

Scott


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## pimpneightez (Oct 13, 2012)

Ive seen some low temperature thermocouples inside photovoltaic cells but they were real small maybe an inch long. (I assume they used it as a kind of thermocouple) would that silver plated wire uaually be in insulation or would it just be connecting peices of equipment inside something with no insulation?


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## NobleMetalWorks (Oct 13, 2012)

pimpneightez said:


> Ive seen some low temperature thermocouples inside photovoltaic cells but they were real small maybe an inch long. (I assume they used it as a kind of thermocouple) would that silver plated wire uaually be in insulation or would it just be connecting peices of equipment inside something with no insulation?



I think it must depend on the application.

Scott


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## leelandbullock (Oct 13, 2012)

It is silver, it was not stripped actually the coating on the wire is so strong that it cannot be burned off with a lighter or even melted, doing so resulted in me getting a nasty burn on my fingers when trying to pull it off.

it withstood direct flame for 3 minutes, before it started to even bubble a bit. the only way i get the coating off is with a razor blade. and when it starts getting dull i have to swap blade the stuff is super freaking tuff..

but then again everything i have is military grade equipment. it all came from a bunker on a military base. only way i got it is i am the roll off driver of a contractor to a milatary base. so when i saw them throwing it out i started to drool....and they said they didnt care what i did with it...so i took it.

the harness with gold is just one of many i have, the wire bundle is the coated version of the bare wire i have wrapped up, and the pannel pins are almost picked all out but they are soild gold. not plated gold. and it is a FCC patch pannel. ment for high frequencies. 


THE BUNDLE- in the pic us just a drop in the bucket i have ruffly 200-300 pounds of it.


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## patnor1011 (Oct 14, 2012)

Torch is not testing tool. You should run few tests before you will be able to say that it is silver.


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## leelandbullock (Oct 14, 2012)

i have a acid test kit and a chem lab for this stuff. and after using a great suggestion from a person on these forums it came back positive for silver...so yes it is silver.

and how is a torch not a test. casue if the wire itself didnt melt under a torch it would have meant that it was platinum areospace wire over silver..casue they use platinum in aerospace equipment to withstand corrosion.

but its the wire coating that is extremely tuff and heat resistant.. the wire itself melts....


but also i am going to post pics as i come across stuff. so that other may keep and eye out for the same things and to not pass them up. casue they are right military stuff contains more gold and other precious metals than regular stuff. this load is pretty much proof positive of that.

i spend my whole day yesterday taking stuff apart.

i have at this very momment 2 lbs of justt gold scrap pins, and small plated pins, solid and plated connectors, and i have yet to break into the CD drives, hard drives, ram, cpus, taken a few boards apard. some look like were just dipped in a gold bath. 

though this also made me say....no wonder the goverment spends so much money some of this stuff is over kill for its use.


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## g_axelsson (Oct 14, 2012)

Wires for wirewrap is usually silver plated, for better long term stability of the connection. The wire actually cold welds itself with the wire wrap pin and forms a gas tight bond.
Normal wire wrap wire contains around 8mg silver per meter or almost 2% of the metal in the wire.
( 0.25 mm diameter, 0.001 mm plating in one brand of wire )

/Göran


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## qst42know (Oct 14, 2012)

Somewhere around here I have a roll of Teflon insulated silver plated wire.

Burning Teflon can be quite dangerous, I wouldn't strip it by burning.


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 14, 2012)

A lot of that silver plated thin solid copper wire was teflon coated. I remember seeing it on old backplanes.


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## leelandbullock (Oct 14, 2012)

qst42know said:


> Somewhere around here I have a roll of Teflon insulated silver plated wire.
> 
> Burning Teflon can be quite dangerous, I wouldn't strip it by burning.



yeah i am stripping with a razor blade now but even getting it started then pulling the coating off is BLAH long work. it took two hours to strip just half of what i was holding in my hand. but as another poster said.

2% per meter is still 2%, and i didnt pay a dime for any of it. so its all profit to me...well after chemical expense to process the whole lot..


QUESTION!!!!!!

how do you reverse electroplate...what is the bath i place it in for gold and silver (casuse for all the wire i rather try that then process it for purity, than to waste alot of nitric to burn up the copper in it), what kind of back yard power souce could i rig up, and what do i use as anode to hold the plated materials, and what made the best node to collect the gold onto. 

i cant find anyone willing to break the process down for me.


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 14, 2012)

Unless you just want to waste your time, there are better things to do than mess with silver plated anything. There is just no profitable way to process it. None!


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## g_axelsson (Oct 14, 2012)

leelandbullock said:


> 2% per meter is still 2%, and i didnt pay a dime for any of it. so its all profit to me...well after chemical expense to process the whole lot..


2% is for 0.25 mm wire wrap cable. What you have looks a lot thicker and so the percentage will drop. Search the forum for silver plate and you will see that there isn't any secret process for silver plate as it isn't economically to refine it. You will only lose time and money. I sell all silver plated cables as copper cables and I'm happy with that.

/Göran


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## patnor1011 (Oct 14, 2012)

leelandbullock said:


> QUESTION!!!!!!
> 
> how do you reverse electroplate...what is the bath i place it in for gold and silver (casuse for all the wire i rather try that then process it for purity, than to waste alot of nitric to burn up the copper in it), what kind of back yard power souce could i rig up, and what do i use as anode to hold the plated materials, and what made the best node to collect the gold onto.
> 
> i cant find anyone willing to break the process down for me.



Read C.M.Hoke book. She will break all processes down for you.


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## leelandbullock (Oct 14, 2012)

patnor1011 said:


> leelandbullock said:
> 
> 
> > QUESTION!!!!!!
> ...



i dont have the book yet


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## goldsilverpro (Oct 14, 2012)

Download a copy of Hoke for free. You can read it while you're waiting for your hard copy. Other than a brief mention of the sulfuric stripper (reverse electroplating), you won't find any details in her book. The patent came out the same year she wrote the book (1940). 
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/download/file.php?id=2480

If you really want to find out how to use this stripper, find a post by lazersteve, go down to his signature, click on the link for his website, read the instructions and sign in, and go to his free videos. You'll find lots there. Also, here's a bunch of threads you can wade through.
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/search.php?keywords=sulfuric+stripper&terms=all&author=&sv=0&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/search.php?keywords=reverse+electroplating&terms=all&author=&sv=0&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

I might also mention that the concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4) stripper is the only way of stripping gold without eating the base metals that I know of, unless you want to use cyanide (a frightening thought). It will also strip silver and palladium, but recovering these from the solution is a problem. Gold is much easier since it falls to the bottom as a powder.


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## leelandbullock (Oct 14, 2012)

check this out forgot i have like 20 of these rolls of ceramic capacitors.


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## butcher (Oct 14, 2012)

Those may have ruthenium oxide (RuO2) film on an alumina substrate as well as silver and palladium.
http://www.megastar.com/products/megastar-ohm/pdf/RMC%20Series.pdf


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## Woodworker1997 (Oct 14, 2012)

The pins in the first pic look like they were made by Amphenol. I did some digging and found they are gold plated over cu alloy. I'm interested in these pins because i have ~10 pounds of them.

What would you use to process them?


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## texan (Oct 15, 2012)

leelandbullock said:


> check this out forgot i have like 20 of these rolls of ceramic capacitors.



Actually those are resistors....not capacitors.

Just sayin....

Texan


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## patnor1011 (Oct 15, 2012)

He was banned.


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## madscientist (Oct 15, 2012)

Ill have more pics later. Im trying to figure out what they r for sure. As for processing if its palladium i have to try frist then get back to u. Havent processed pladium..


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## jimdoc (Oct 15, 2012)

madscientist said:


> Ill have more pics later. Im trying to figure out what they r for sure. As for processing if its palladium i have to try frist then get back to u. Havent processed pladium..



That you Leeland?


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## acpeacemaker (Oct 15, 2012)

Wow...


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## madscientist (Oct 15, 2012)

jimdoc said:


> madscientist said:
> 
> 
> > Ill have more pics later. Im trying to figure out what they r for sure. As for processing if its palladium i have to try frist then get back to u. Havent processed pladium..
> ...


 Yes it is, hopefully the mods will let me back with my name. As i am sorry for any transgressions to anyone. For reasons unknown to me. But im not any less sorry. 

I have come upon a plethra i think thats how its spelled. Of knowledge and met some very nice people. So id like to stay with my old name and not proxy my ip anymore.


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## jimdoc (Oct 15, 2012)

madscientist said:


> jimdoc said:
> 
> 
> > madscientist said:
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That is up to the moderators. If you use any language like you used over on Goldenchild's Youtube page you will be gone permanently. As well as any attitude or disrespect for any member.
There are a few rules around here, and Rule Number One is - Respect. 


Jim


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## jimdoc (Oct 15, 2012)

jimdoc said:


> madscientist said:
> 
> 
> > Ill have more pics later. Im trying to figure out what they r for sure. As for processing if its palladium i have to try frist then get back to u. Havent processed pladium..
> ...



Also use of spell check would show some respect also. 
As well as no texting lingo, that is one of the rules here also.

Jim


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## madscientist (Oct 15, 2012)

jimdoc said:


> jimdoc said:
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> 
> > madscientist said:
> ...


My apologies i am on my mobil phone not at compiter right now..force of habbit on text lingo an small buttons to press. With big fingers.


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## jmelson (Oct 17, 2012)

leelandbullock said:


> check this out forgot i have like 20 of these rolls of ceramic capacitors.


I think you'd get MUCH more return selling these on eBay that trying some process to get the
TINY amount of precious metals out of them. Realize that I pay as little as $5.00 for a reel of
4000 similar resistors, and maybe $15 for a reel of capacitors. There obviously is a LOT less
PM in them that the sale price, considering they are mostly ceramic, and there's testing,
putting them on reels, etc.

These are NEW prices from major distributors, not resale prices on the surplus market.

Jon


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## BJL1984 (Oct 17, 2012)

my spelling migt me off but its the capezo effect of electricity that in reality electricity tavels onthe surface area of a wire not the inner core, thus would be the cause of copper being plated with silver, I pulled some buss bars out of a 80 year old 3 phase delta configuration panel a couple of months ago they were about a quarter of an inch thick and 6 inches wide solid copper inside but plated silver I may one day strip them but for now they hang on the wall of my workshop as a prize lol


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## nickvc (Oct 18, 2012)

With your silver plated buzz bars you would be better off using them to cement silver with them than try to strip them, you get the silver back for free and you recover the silver from your nitrate solution at the same time,it's a win win situation.


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## kurt (Oct 18, 2012)

nickvc said:


> With your silver plated buzz bars you would be better off using them to cement silver with them than try to strip them, you get the silver back for free and you recover the silver from your nitrate solution at the same time,it's a win win situation.



Thats what I do :mrgreen: 

Kurt


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## Bernie Foley (Jan 3, 2013)

This is a different way of looking at the problem of silver plated copper. Add the missing silver and make sterling silver out of it!!
That would be one way to fix the problem! Sorry it's a backwards way of looking at it! Bernie


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