# CPU Modules Help



## nicknitro (Jul 8, 2009)

Hello All,

Quick question regarding some scraps I recently came into.

The Material I had a question about is the bridge connector/ cradle, that holds and connects CPU's with no pins to the board. Similar to slotted Intel processors. In most of these modules the connectors were gold colored, and relatively loose fitting, as I could scrape them out by rubbing my finger across them. Sorry no pictures, I will try to upload some, I just figured someone has probably dealt with these types of materials before. Incidently, in one of the modules, the connector legs are a white-ish color. Haven't touched it yet. Don't have much experience with it if it is what I think it is. Pd?

Anyways, I put some of the gold colored ones in a small test batch of 10 K test kit "nitric only". Nothing had really happened. So I kinda jumped the gun and skipped up to the 18K test solution. After a short while, I came back and the connectors had dissolved. Here's the weird part, they kinda turned a dark reddish-brown color. I don't want to say Kovar, cause wouldn't the nitric have dissolved it pretty quickly, unless the plateing were pretty thick, and locked the kovar in away from the HNO3.

I did not get a chance to test with stannous, again I guess I jumped the gun and just assumed gold to be a component in this type of material.

Steve, anyone, in your endeavors in E-Scrap have you run into materials like these? 

Much Appreciated,
Nick


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## g_axelsson (Jul 9, 2009)

My experience is that this type of contacts are thinly plated and only on a small area that is contacting the fingers of the CPU module. I treat them in the same way as PCI contacts, hot air gun to get them off the boards and then mechanically cut the plated area off with pliers to concentrate the scrap.

If you have an unknown silvery metal plating in a contact the most common material is tin plated brass. To easily check it, just take a piece of white paper and rub it against it, if the paper gets a grayish black streak then it is tin plated. Tin is soft enough to rub off on paper.

I have no experience with gold test kits you are describing. Can you explain how the connectors turned red when they were dissolved? Was there parts not dissolved or did the solution turn red?
If there were undissolved pieces the red color is probably from copper. I've seen this with brass when the acid is used up. The last stage is that zinc is dissolved while copper is cemented onto the surface, giving it a red sparkling surface.

/Göran


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## nicknitro (Jul 9, 2009)

Hey G ax,

Long time no hear.

I think I might be misleading you with the item in questions description. I don't mean the fingers that are used to plu the card into say an isa/agp port. 

Picture hypothetically an Intel 486 processor with no legs, just a plateing on the bottom of th chip. Now this chip is removable from a plastic cradle. The plastic cradle has numerous holes punched in it similar to an intel socket receiver. except all the holes are filled with gold colored pin like, however not quite as long as an intel pin materials. These are the materials I am wondering about. If the chip has plateing on it and the board underneath the cradle is plated, why would the cradle that connects them be any different. Cost is a viable answer, but I don't imagine they would defeat the purpose of using gold , then using an easily tarnished material like copper or brass. Tin, maybe, but this is deffinitely not Tin. 

Sorry as well for not being able to help out as much with answering your questions, I am currently away from these materials, and expect to be home this weekend, if not sooner. Then "To the stannous Cave, NitroMan!" LOL

G the other reasons I doubt copper is the test kits I was refering to are just little acid droppers with varying amounts of Nitric and Muriatic acids. The 10K is Nitric only, I assume like a weak blend 35% or so, then the stronger testers include Muriatic to make an AR like solution.

So copper would have fumed pretty much right away with the 10K tester. Zinc as well.

As for describing how they turned red. They were more like a powder from a precipitation than a liquid. I don't believe they went into solution though I'm gonna say the reaction was more like using nitric on inquarted gold/silver leaving the gold sponge behind. This was only a small test, so I don't think it was overly concentrated where super concentrated AuCl is reddish colored.

Thanks for The Help,I appreciate it,
NIck


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## glorycloud (Jul 9, 2009)

Nick,

Is the connection on the motherboard side like a mesh with a lot of holes in it?
I see that in older notebooks. I just use a flathead screwdriver to pry up the
whole area and the underlying gold "receivers".

Take a picture of the CPU for us or of the socket for us.

See ya!


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## nicknitro (Jul 9, 2009)

Glory, 

uhh it's not really a motherboard either, but yes the socket is similar to a mesh, it easily comes up off the module board. The mesh like I say is filled with some sort of conductive material. To me when I scraped the few out that I tested, they kinda looked like mini gold nuggets LOL. Seriously kinda rough shaped, but hard to tell cause they are kinda like a pin-head sized.

As for the pictures, I will as soon as I can. Thats the least I can do for everyone's help.

Man I would've thought with the amounts of e-scrap collectively the members of this forum have dealt with, someone would've already quoted me the part numbers and everything , LOL. 

Oh well, Patience, it's a virtue,

Nick


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## g_axelsson (Jul 10, 2009)

Okay, now I think I know what you are talking about. I think I have seen a similar connector on a hard disk drive between two cards. Both cards were gold plated and between them there were a piece of plastic with gold plated metal springs.

I would still guess on gold plated brass. As the full surface is plated you don't get the acid in contact to the brass at first so there is no large fumes going off. After a while the acid penetrates the gold plate and start to attack the brass underneath, dissolving both copper and zinc. In the end the acid is all consumed and the copper cements out like a fine red powder while some of the zinc of the connector goes into solution.

Brass is a really common base material for all connectors and IC holders. It is a lot harder than copper and can be made into all kinds of springy components for connectors. You use brass for the mechanical properties and adds a gold plated surface to get good electric connections. You also usually have a nickel barrier between the brass and gold to stop diffusion of gold.

The above I wrote before I saw the last two postings... now I'm not so sure that I have seen it before. Small nuggets of gold... are they hard or made from soft springy material? The objective of any connector is to create a good electrical contact between two components (boards, cables, ICs ...) and it is impossible to do that between two flat surfaces if you have more than three hard spots. It must have some springiness in it to make contact on all points.
From your latest description I would now guess that it is some kind of conductive rubber, eventually gold plated.
Try to dissolve one "nugget" and test it with tin chloride, then you will know if it contain gold.

Looking forward to see some pictures of it.

/Göran


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## nicknitro (Jul 10, 2009)

G Ax,

Thats sounds like very reasonable advice. I would have to agree about wanting springyness, however these are kinda hard. What i the plastic cradle though is soft enough to compress from the screw down connectors that mount the heat sink to cpu through the board? That would kinda do the same thing, only through compression.

Now if it were brass with gold plate, wouldn't the zinc also precip out the gold? I don't believe I have ever seen precipitated copper elemental. I usually see salts like chlorides, or sometimes nitrates, from saturated solutions.

I should have some pictures up Saturday night latest, as well as stannous results.

Thanks again all,

Nick


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## g_axelsson (Jul 10, 2009)

Of course, if you dissolved some gold it will cement together with the copper but in so small amounts that you can't see it among the copper.

As long as you don't have enough acid to completely dissolve the metal you will end up with the more noble metals cementing out while lesser noble metals goes into solution. At least as long as the less noble metals isn't covered by more noble metals.

I see this all the time whenever I leave some test tubes with too much metals compared to acids.
I'm in no hurry as all my refining is on a hobby basis and I'm doing a lot of different experiments. I keep the volumes low by replacing the acids a couple of times when digesting base metals. I've even had AP going perfectly clear and colorless when all of the copper had cemented out in the test tube. The metals in the bottom of the tube were a solid mesh of sparkling copper that had trapped all loose gold plate. The only thing I still had was some white precipitate from led and tin. I just poured off some of the liquid and added HCl and water and the digestion continued again.

/Göran


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## lazersteve (Jul 10, 2009)

Nick,

Is this what you are talking about?:







If so, they are socket 775 and are pretty much guaranteed to be plated with gold at best.

Steve


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## nicknitro (Jul 12, 2009)

Steve,

That looks pretty similar. Are the contacts male, or female for receiving pins? I can't tell from the picture. The ones on mine are male as the have no pins on the chips. Thanks for posting that beautiful pic.

Sorry I still haven't been able to upload any pics as of late. I got home, but am haveing trouble uploading them from my new cell phone. LOL
Technology, can't live without it.

I'll keep at it.

Thanks all,
Nick


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## lazersteve (Jul 12, 2009)

The pins are male, as the cpu has no legs.

Steve


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## nicknitro (Jul 13, 2009)

Steve, 

Then I imagine they are very similar. I will send you a PM.

G Ax,

Seems I owe you an apology for my previous description of the pin-like connectors. Upon further inspection, they are springlike connectors. Must be the few I experimented with to begin were crushed together makeing them appear to be solid.

So your expert advice is most likely dead on too as far as them being gold plated brass.

I will try to update as much as possible as to the results from these materials.

Thanks all,
Nick


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## nicknitro (Jul 13, 2009)

Hello All,

Oh yeah update I forgot, the stannous test with fresh stannous turns deep black, leaving some purpleish stain on white objects.
Gonna say some gold, the amount tested was small so turning so dark is promising.

Thoughts on processing? Incinerate first. Nitric, though I didn't get much reaction from 10 K tester. AP Steve?

I have approx. 3.5 grams of these mini-spring contacts. I will be adding the gold recovered together after record keeping to post a general recovery expectation for these types of materials, as I feel these materials are kinda rare.


Have Fun Guys,

Nick


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## lazersteve (Jul 13, 2009)

Nick,

35% nitric should dissolve brass.

Steve


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## nicknitro (Jul 14, 2009)

Steve,

I would try nitric, however, I am kinda concerned about loseing any gold in the solution. Mostly because these materials are so small already. I'm not that old yet, and I have to squint to see any good detail. I know this is not recommended with most dirty materials, but should I try melting it together , similar to inquarting, or will this only make it harder to dissolve the materials.

Ideally I would think sulphuric cell, but I think they may be too small for that too. Even in your copper mesh basket.

Kinda lost right now,

Nick


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## glorycloud (Jul 14, 2009)

Nick,

I think Steve is right. Nitric doesn't dissolve the gold, just the base metals.
I had some mesh sockets like yours and after I scraped them off the mother
board, I dropped them in nitric acid with some other gold bearing escrap 
and it works just fine.

Have fun! 8)


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## Harold_V (Jul 15, 2009)

nicknitro said:


> should I try melting it together , similar to inquarting, or will this only make it harder to dissolve the materials.


Melting low grade (plated) material isn't a good idea, especially if you have copper alloys present that may contain tin. You can find yourself with solutions that won't filter, and often won't settle well, either. You can even end up with colloidal gold mixed in with the mess. 

When you use nitric on plated objects, the gold will generally break down, but remain in somewhat identifiable bits. If the solution won't filter (which is often the case), allow the solids to settle, then decant, using a small hose. Rinse (tap water is fine) and settle again, decanting once again. Generally, by now, the remaining solution will filter adequately. Get all of the solids in a filter, then, when dry, incinerate. Screen the incinerated material, then give the screened solids a boil in dilute HCl. Take up the solution with tap water, allow to settle, decant, rinse once again with tap water, then process with the solvent of choice, dissolving the values. 

If you follow this routine, you won't be plagued by filtration problems, and the quality of the recovered gold will be excellent. You also don't have to worry about losing any of the values, regardless of how finely they are divided. 

Harold


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## glorycloud (Jul 15, 2009)

I am such a visual learner Harold. I would love to see a video or a link
to an actual incineration like this one you are recommending. 8) 

Is it similar by chance to how Steve heats up the karat gold in his karat gold DVD
to get rid of the nitric? I really appreciate how you continue to encourage the forum 
members and lurkers to incinerate when appropriate. I am sure you're all shaking 
your heads and wondering what kind of dufus I am. :lol:

Well, I am the kind that tried to blow myself up with a gas oven 
(with some help from my sister - it's a long story.) so be gentle as me and
fire we have some "history". 8)


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## Harold_V (Jul 16, 2009)

glorycloud said:


> I am such a visual learner Harold. I would love to see a video or a link
> to an actual incineration like this one you are recommending. 8)


My incineration process was simple. I used second hand stainless frying pans, purchased for a buck or so, at second hand stores. I used a gas fired hot plate, with one valve set for maximum gas and air, for incineration. I placed the material in the pan, heated it until there was combustion, then after all of the material had burned, I raised the temperature in the pan to a high heat by running my Hoke torch (much like a rosebud) under the pan. That insured that carbon was ignited and eliminated. It takes a few minutes, but the results make the effort well worthwhile. 



> Is it similar by chance to how Steve heats up the karat gold in his karat gold DVD
> to get rid of the nitric?


Sadly, I have not viewed any of Steve's fine work. My purpose here is to try to help others. I have no interest in refining, and have not done so since 1994. I have no interest in learning new processes, for there is no refining in my future. 

My schedule is so busy that I rarely have idle time, and many of my projects are on hold, or on the slow track because of the time I spend here. That's one of the reasons I'm so damned crotchety. If I find I'm wasting my time, I'll be gone in a heartbeat. I get real cranky when certain individuals run their mouths, dispensing less than satisfactory responses and generally being rude to others. 

Please understand that the concept of incineration is not something that is received well by many readers. They have fallen victim to information provided by others, who appear to have little sense in the way of refining. Because it is not a part of their routine, it is not mentioned. By ignoring the process, they are providing a serious disservice to those that desire to learn. Incineration plays a huge role in the success one seeks. 

Harold


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## nicknitro (Jul 16, 2009)

GloryCloud,

Now we see where that name comes from. LOL. A glorious cloud of flames. I hope not seriously, but.
I believe Steve has an inquartation video up now on his site, which is pretty cool. If you buy his DVD on Gold filled/ Rolled Gold, there are many videos on incineration, and even some silver processing video topics. I love all his videos. The Fundamentals Of Platinum should get an Indie Award. LOL

Thank you Harold I kinda figured that would be the consensus on the melting of possibly mixed metals. I only asked cause like I said, my staright nitric test had little to no effect on the mini-spring contacts. I am however still haveing mixed results from incinerations I have tried, like on the mixed filters I posted to you previously. I value your experience, and wish I had a tenth of the combined knowledge of this forums senior members.

Talk to ya later Guys,

Nick


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## lazersteve (Jul 16, 2009)

For the record, in my Gold Filled Scrap DVD I demonstrate incinerating gold filled scrap to a dull red heat in order to burn the debris and oils from the scrap before processing. I followed Harold's masterful instructions and consulted him before I filmed the video. If my memory serves me correctly I gave thanks and credit to Harold in the closing segment of the video.

This type of incineration is slightly different than what Harold has spelled out above. I followed his instructions on this second type of incineration while filming a yet unreleased video of me processing bench sweeps and buffings. I used a MAPP torch instead of a gas burner for my heating from below the pan, but otherwise followed his instruction as given.

Harold fell free to correct me if I'm wrong, but there are actually a few ways to approach incineration depending on the material being incinerated. Large metallic scrap like gold filled jewelry can be heated directly to a dull red heat to accomplish incineration, while filters, sweeps, buffings, and the like should be incinerated from below as Harold has already described.

Steve


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## glorycloud (Jul 16, 2009)

Seeing what you did the Gold Filled Scrap DVD really helped me. 
I look forward to "seeing" your yet to be released video on another
type of inceineration. 

Thanks again to one and all!! 8)


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## Harold_V (Jul 17, 2009)

lazersteve said:


> Harold fell free to correct me if I'm wrong, but there are actually a few ways to approach incineration depending on the material being incinerated. Large metallic scrap like gold filled jewelry can be heated directly to a dull red heat to accomplish incineration, while filters, sweeps, buffings, and the like should be incinerated from below as Harold has already described.


No need for correction. You've done a masterful job of providing useful information. 

The purpose of incineration is to eliminate unwanted substances, including oils. Larger solid objects that may be subjected directly to acid are best heated as described. You can usually see the benefit of doing so by witnessing the combustion of oils that are not necessarily otherwise noticeable. You are best served if you can keep them out of your solutions. 

The methods I promote require a minimum of equipment, plus they're simple. That's the only reason I promote them as I do. There are likely far better methods, assuming one doesn't mind investing in equipment. That was never my goal. 

Harold


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## nicknitro (Jul 18, 2009)

Yay, I got Pics Finally,

They suck though cause they came of a phone. Boy, what a let down, Mwop Mwop.

Here They are,


Golden Cpu Cradles


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## nicknitro (Jul 18, 2009)

CPU CRADLE COMPARISON


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## nicknitro (Jul 18, 2009)

DIFFERENT ONE WHITE METAL PINS?????


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## nicknitro (Jul 18, 2009)

gold spring connectors


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## nicknitro (Jul 18, 2009)

Good Luck All,

Need any other Pic's Hope I have them still.

Nick


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## nicknitro (Jul 23, 2009)

Hey All,

Update.

For the golden spring-like connectors from the cpu cradles. I kinda went against advisory. Sorry, I do value everyone's experience. 

Well, to skip to the chase. I tried melting the connectors into a nugget. The materials involved were more than my mapp torch could melt even in my mini-furnace. So I took them to work and used the propylene-oxy torch to heat it. I heated it to white-hot, with out much luck of makeing a liquid pool, only more of a mix of borax and partially melted materials. The cool part of it was that the gold from the plateing formed many small BB's forming out of the borax. I took the melting dish home and let some nitric dissolve the borax, and other base metals. Leaving behind many clean looking BB's and some golden powder. I will have to re-process these items, but I feel that if I had just run the materials with 35% nitric, that I would have most likely had a hard time finding my gold mixed with probably zinc powder, and possibly some copper nitrate or copper.

I will post some pics, but again they are from a cell phone, so I don't know about the detail.

Thoughts, Criticisms???,

Thanks Guys and Gals,
Nick


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## qst42know (Jul 23, 2009)

Beryllium has a high melt point and is one of the metals used for spring contacts.

I wouldn't continue melting spring contacts for no good reason.

"The disease can be caused by virtually any form of beryllium dust or fumes, ranging from beryllium alloys (for example, aluminum-, copper-, nickel-, and magnesium-beryllium) and beryllia ceramics to pure metal. Once inhaled, beryllium is like a time bomb in the body. In some people, disease develops within a few months, or it can take 40 years. Workers who breathed beryllium dust even for a few days carry a lifelong risk of developing sensitization to the metal and disease. In our clinics at National Jewish, we now care for hundreds of patients who have developed this serious, chronic allergic reaction to beryllium."

Read the full article. 

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/beryllium.html


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## Harold_V (Jul 24, 2009)

The percentage of beryllium used in copper alloy springs is very low --in the vicinity of 3% or even less, so the melting temperature of the material shouldn't be adversely affected. Furthermore, pure beryllium melts @ 1290°C (2354°F), which is well under a white heat. Were the items in question beryllium copper, they should have easily melted into a homogeneous mass (although that's still not a good idea). 

I am of the opinion that the springs in question were not beryllium copper, but carbon steel, or even stainless steel. Each of them would melt at a white heat.

Not everything is making sense here. If you have a few samples of the material, might be a good idea to file into one and see what color it is inside----plus check it with a magnet. Being magnetic does not exclude it from being stainless, which I expect it might be. Heat treatable stainless is usually magnetic, but not always. 

Harold


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## nicknitro (Jul 24, 2009)

Harold,

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure if I could even file something so small though. They are like pin-heads at best but coiled windings. If I were to guess a guage, I have dealt with some small wires before. They would probably be 1/4 the thinkness of 28 gauge wire.if that.

Any takers on a non-metallic substance? No? I can't think of any off hand , that would stand up to that heat, and still be springy.

I would have to say a pretty good yield though I am estimateing. I had approx 3.5 grams of these springs, and they look like they will yield 0.5 grams or close to it.

More to come,
Nick


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## Harold_V (Jul 24, 2009)

nicknitro said:


> I would have to say a pretty good yield though I am estimateing. I had approx 3.5 grams of these springs, and they look like they will yield 0.5 grams or close to it.


That probably makes sense due to the tiny size of the springs. Even though the gold layer may be thin, it still comprises a big percentage of the overall size. 

I'm still betting on a ferrous alloy. The color of the flux in the dish is really suspect. I would have expected a blue color, not the reddish brown I see.

Are they all gone? A magnet test would be fast and easy. I understand about your reluctance to try filing something so small. You can't even rely on snipping them when they are plated with soft metals. It smears across the cut and disguises the parent material pretty well. That's the reason one always tests with nitric, assuming it's proper for the item in question.

By the way-----this could well have been one of those cases where you'd have been well advised to process directly in AR (I rarely advise that procedure). The yield would have been dirty, but assuming they are not copper based, it would be a good solution to the problem of eliminating the base metal, and it's not all that hard to re-refine the gold, as you know. 

Harold


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## nicknitro (Jul 25, 2009)

Harold,


Hmm,

You are scareing me a little. Are you really Harold, or is someone else using his screen name??? LOL

The thought never crossed my mind about processing the batch with AR. Too used to hearing everyone giving advice against it.


I did originally test with nitric as stated, and not much happened to the few connectors I tried so I used a few drops of AR and it quickly dissolved the mass into a red/brown sediment. That is why I didn't want to mix up the gold with this reddish brown sediment, being so tiny, I figured I would have a mess on my hands, when it came time for incineration. Still panning out the rest of the bb's and gold powder, filtered first run of nitric, and added a second. I will try to post a better pic of the bb's when I get home. With a real camera as well. 

Oh yeah , I believe they are all gone. I will double check.

I stil have the ones from the white CPU cradles, though. They are deffinitely different. Almost like the manufacturer went with something cheaper, over the years. These feel more of a plastic to me. Any educated guesses Harold, as to the materials?

Thanks all,
Nick


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