# Depopulating RAM with HCL, but then ?



## Bluebloomer (Nov 15, 2016)

Hi all,

I would like to depopulate about 15 pounds of misc RAM sticks, and I was thinking that dillute HCL would be the best way to do so, as I don't have the time nor the strenght in my hands anymore to do so manually.
A chisel would be best, but it's so time consuming and puts too much strain on my hands. 
An oscilating multi-tool makes the components fly all over the place and doesn't work that well.
A heat gun uses way too much electricity as I just can find one that's below 2000 Watts.
So dillute HCL would work best in my situation, but I know it has it's own problems.

Anyway, once the fingers are cut off, and the boards are cut in half, I leave them to soak in dillute HCL for days or even weeks.
Components are easily filtered out with a plasic strainer, but then the grey goo that's left behind.

Am I correct that the grey goo is a mixture of tin, lead, perhaps even nickel and silver in some form ?
and how to deal with it ? Can it be filtered, should I just let it settle and if so, then what ?
Are there any metals that can or should be recovered or should I not even try it, and just discard it as waste ?

Also, what would be the best HCL strenght to do so, and would concentrated vinegar do the job aswell ?
Time is not relevant, I just want to recover the chips, and the monolithic capacitors, (and the resistors aswell that according to some, may or may not hold Pt. )

Thanks


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## patnor1011 (Nov 15, 2016)

I got one more fast way for you.
Hot sand. It is so fast you will be able to do 4-6 maximum at a time you lay 6 there and after about a minute remove one and place next, you will have hard time to keep up guaranteed. You will do whatever you have in no time. 
Put like 1cm of sand in flat steel container (pan or baking tray) and put it on gas burner or stove. Do it outside in case you will not be quick enough and some RAM started to cook.
I do use flat steel spatula to scrape IC and MLCC out to one container and toss stick in another. After all is done I sieve sand for MLCC which fell in there.

MLCC will disintegrate in HCl.


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## Bluebloomer (Nov 15, 2016)

Hi Patnor ! 

Thank you for the advice. I didn't realize the sand bath would apply to ram sticks too, it's a lot less messy and certainly much faster !
Could this be done indoors ? Seeing as it is winter here, and it has been freezing already, doing this outside is not an option anymore, I imagine there will be some smell, but no toxic or corrosive fumes ?

What about the single sided ram sticks as in the photo, will the gold plating remain or would it come off ? If so, I'd have to separate them from the rest.




What is the best sand to use or doesn't it matter much ?

Patnor, I also got around 300 - 400 Lbs of PC motherboards, with all the copper, aluminum and capacitors removed. Will the hot sand also work for these ? I've seen the youtube videos where they use it on cell phone boards, but motherboards are a lot larger and require much more surface area to heat,


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## clearsteam (Nov 16, 2016)

As newbie/novice sharing my experience of sandbath inside, it was very effective for removing the chips, mlccs lost in the sand for the moment. Unfortunately I overcooked a couple of ramsticks and three weeks later the smell has nearly gone from my kitchen.the green solder mask stays in place unless you overcook them.

Have you considered using sodium hydroxide /NaOH/Lye to depopulate the board? It is what I am planning on using. I will be doing it outside for acid safety at least until I am confident in the process, and that the only gas produced is hydrogen.

On Geo's youtube he has an excellent video about sandbaths, and from watching it looks like it would be very hard to depopulate large circuit boards without a heat source of the same size.


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## FrugalRefiner (Nov 16, 2016)

Bluebloomer said:


> Thank you for the advice. I didn't realize the sand bath would apply to ram sticks too, it's a lot less messy and certainly much faster !
> Could this be done indoors ? Seeing as it is winter here, and it has been freezing already, doing this outside is not an option anymore, I imagine there will be some smell, but no toxic or corrosive fumes ?





clearsteam said:


> As newbie/novice sharing my experience of sandbath inside, it was very effective for removing the chips, mlccs lost in the sand for the moment. Unfortunately I overcooked a couple of ramsticks and three weeks later the smell has nearly gone from my kitchen.the green solder mask stays in place unless you overcook them.



Do NOT do this in your home! 

Dave


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## kurtak (Nov 16, 2016)

FrugalRefiner said:


> Do NOT do this in your home!
> 
> Dave



& in case you didn't get the message --- DO NOT do this in your home :!: :!: :!: 

Kurt


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## Simon007 (Nov 16, 2016)

It really amazes me that people don't think about the consequences until after they have done it! I can't believe that some people have to question weather a unknown is going to be harmful, its like watching YouTube videos and the serious lack of safety and they are telling people how to do it! I suppose it helps the nature culling process.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk


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## patnor1011 (Nov 16, 2016)

I would never done it in the kitchen. The only time I did it kinda indoors was when I was doing it in a garage which had big door on both sides of it wide open. So I was inside but with such draft I had to put a hat on. 
Burned circuit board is very toxic, full of fire retardants and all kind of other nasty stuff. This method is good for ram sticks and small pcb like cell phone boards. It will not work on motherboard without burning it on several spots, guaranteed.
Cut out fingers before sand bath and rest of the plating on ram stick you are concerned about is worth probably less than a 1 cent. No need to lose sleep over it and in my opinion to use lye to go after plating under solder mask is not worth time and resources spent to recover it unless gold will go to tens of thousands of $/oz.


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## clearsteam (Nov 16, 2016)

Thanks Patnor, This was a good month before I found the forum, and a small scale experiment with a good extractor above the hob.

Unwise yes, but I learnt from it and no damage done, if the experience shared helps somebody else not to make the mistake, then its worth being on the recieving end of some tutting


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## Bluebloomer (Nov 17, 2016)

Thank you for all the advice and tips.

And no, I will not try this at home. I'll wait untill spring, and then do it outside, or I should fine a proper workspace with a fuminghood.

For me it's about the big picture, not the quick buck. So I won't refine any gold untill I have at least an ounce of gold foils to work with. Patience is a virtue 
Indoors I am not doin anything anymore. A year or so ago, I did try some stuff at home, and my entire kitchen looked rusty all over the place. Had to replace or clean all the stainless steel stuff so I learned my lesson wel haha. 

For the motherboards I will use the oscilating multi-tool I think, some snippets, a chisel and other more brutal tools to get to the parts I need, and discard the rest. And I rather ask a question here, before I act, then ask a question after I made a mess of things and need help sorting it out lol.

So ram sticks with a sandbath, and moterboards with more crude tools. And I have to wait untill spring, to do anything. But what about the concentrated vinegar, is it an option to depopulate anything, seeing as I have to wait at least 3 months before I can do any work outside ?


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## Simon007 (Nov 17, 2016)

If your going to use a sand bath to depopulate the boards, then outside is fine, thing is that there are all sorts of nasty stuff around and all invisible usually, you may get a whiff and and that your fine but in reality what are these little mishaps doing to your body? Think about your kitchen being all rusty, that is from fumes that are toxic and not very nice to you, if it's all in your kitchen then you are surly breathing it in, yes you may think your alright now, but what's it doing to you long term? 

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk


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## Bluebloomer (Nov 17, 2016)

I know Simon, I feel very very stupid looking back at it. 
Ah well, lesson learned I guess and I am working on a new "lab" idea, but there seem to be too little days in a week to do all the things I have to. Time flies, and meanwhile my stockpile is only adding up, to the point it becomes too much to handle lol.
At least I am building a fumehood cabinet, only the technique behind the ventilation is something I have to figure out. As I work with wood daily, building it should not be an issue.

Pretty soon there will be a female in the house, with 3 little doggies, so I can't continue anyway. I have to build a good cabinet for all the acids, a fuminghood, and a workspace, but again, too much to do, with too little time to do it...


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## nickvc (Nov 17, 2016)

Bluebloomer do not worry about having material build up just keep stripping it down and work towards building your work space and if you can sell off the dross it keeps the volume manageable, as many members have often pointed out your gold is going nowhere unless you throw it out.


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