# Magnet recovery



## pinwheel (Feb 10, 2011)

So lets talk about magnet metal types for sorting and recovery.

I am considering recovering speaker magnets for nickel since its upwards of $13/lb, Cobalt is running at $20/lb and Neodymium oxide is not over $40/lb, Alnico magnets are running $25/lb or more.

Does anyone have the numbers for eWaste magnet recovery and the types found in the market?

From e-how:

Neodymium
# To get good sound from a speaker, you need a strong magnet. Neodymium has the greatest field strength of any permanent magnet known. Speakers made with these magnets have good frequency response, and because the magnets are strong, you can use smaller magnets, reducing speaker size and weight.

Neodymium magnets made high-fidelity ear buds possible, as they can pack a strong magnetic field into a tiny package. However, these magnets shatter easily.

Ferrite
# Magnets made of ferrite, also known as ceramic magnets, cost less and crack more easily than metal magnets. But they maintain their magnetic strength well over time, provided you don't bring a stronger neodymium magnet close. Their greater weight makes speaker systems heavier--a drawback for portable speakers and guitar amplifiers. Speakers with ferrite magnets tend to sound better when played louder.

Alnico
# The original permanent speaker magnets were made of alnico, an alloy of aluminum, nickel, iron and cobalt. Alnico is tougher and less prone to cracking than other magnet materials, though they can lose their magnetism more readily. More expensive than ferrite or neodymium, alnico gives speakers a warm, classic tone.

Samarium Cobalt
# Because samarium cobalt costs more, speaker manufacturers use this material less often. It has most of the strength of neodymium while having better heat resistance. Samarium cobalt tends to be as brittle as neodymium, but it stands up better to moisture and corrosion.

Read more: Types of Speaker Magnets | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6874677_types-speaker-magnets.html#ixzz1DX0ZREoh


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## stihl88 (Feb 10, 2011)

Theres a large Samarium Cobalt magnet, say 2.5" x 1", inside of Microwave ovens.
It's the one that surrounds the Magnetron, be careful though as their is some other toxic components here also
some Magnetron have beryllium oxide ceramic insulators (The Pink ring insulator i believe). Just don't crush this and
wear a mask and gloves when handling the magnetron to get to the Cobalt magnet.


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## a_bab (Feb 10, 2011)

I always thought that the microwave magnet is of ferrite kind.


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## Ocean (Feb 10, 2011)

Pinwheel,

Got a source for selling magnets to you could share?

Or do you want to buy magnets?

Thanks


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## dtectr (Feb 10, 2011)

Hard drives have usually 2 neo-D magnets


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## pinwheel (Feb 10, 2011)

I do not have any sources as of yet. In fact, I do not think there are any sources as this market would be considered very new. It falls into the classification of rare earth metals so the only buyers will likely be Chinese. I just came across another article published in December talking about magnet recovery by Hitachi. Apparently the trade is zero now and they are making new machines to automate magnet recovery bringing their input from 12 per hour with manual labor to 100 per hour. The other research I did shows that China owns a near monopoly on rare earth metals at 97% of the market and they are limiting exports now. 

http://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/101206.html


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## m109a3 (Feb 28, 2011)

I was told to hoard them till china stops there export or slows down production. Then its going to be a great day if your in hand of them.


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## Drewbie (Feb 28, 2011)

China has already halted export of rare earths, IIRC.


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 1, 2011)

Molycorp, the only REE mining entity currently operational in North America kick started thier operations back up last year in response to China's bottlenecking exports to increase REE prices, and attempt to limit the west on materials critical for the manufacture of weapons sytems.

Molycorp's REE mining facility is located off of I-15, at the Koekoweef caverns turnoff near the California/ Nevada border town Stateline. (A.K.A. Mountain Pass Mine).

China banned all exports of REE to Japan, causing that nation serious demand issues and forcing them to look abroad for recycleable REE resources, and quadrupling thier existing recycling capacities.

I've not only been saving the magnets from hard drives, speakers, and microwave ovens but also the REE collars from crt tubes, REE cradles from rgb guns, wire harnesses, and pcb amplifers and rectifiers.

REE evidently is climbing in price and there's no local buyers - at least honest ones - willing to give you a fair price for it.

I took 20 lbs of neodymium and yttrium to the scrapper and they're trying to give me 2 cents a pound for it. Needless to say I gave the mexican dude the middle finger on that one and took my REE back and left... :!:


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## markmopar (Mar 1, 2011)

DarkspARCS, when you say REE collars from CRTs, are you referring to the pieces that surround the copper wiring at the base of the tube? If so, I could kick myself-I just sent a bunch of that stuff to the scrapyard mixed in with junk steel.


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## rusty (Mar 1, 2011)

Some other sources for magnets,

Small DC motors, treadmills, newer automotive, marine and garden tractor starters, stepper motors, newer type refrigeration and air conditioner compressors.


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 4, 2011)

markmopar said:


> DarkspARCS, when you say REE collars from CRTs, are you referring to the pieces that surround the copper wiring at the base of the tube? If so, I could kick myself-I just sent a bunch of that stuff to the scrapyard mixed in with junk steel.



That's affirmative. they're non magnetized (yet magnetically attractive) REE collars that the coils are wound around. most folks mistake that dark metallic/ carbide looking material as some form of iron/ manganese alloy when its not. If my memoy serves me right I believe it's non magnetic neodymium, but most likely Dysprosium or Yttrium. Yttrium is used for surface mount pcb superconductors (donut shaped matrial with copper windings). Here's some additional info:

Cerium is the most abundant rare earth metal. It is used in catalytic converters and other pollution control equipment. It’s also added to diesel fuel to help it burn more efficiently.

Dysprosium is used in lasers, fuel injectors, compact discs, and increasingly in hybrid vehicles.

Europium is a part of the chemical process to screen for Down’s syndrome.

Erbium is used to produce photographic filters, sunglasses, jewelry, and fiber optical amplifiers.

*Holmium has the greatest magnetic strength of any element, and is used in medical/dental and nuclear control rods.*(may be also used for REE magnets in hard drives, outside of neodymium)

Neodymium is used in magnets to increase the magnetic field. It is used in cell phones, computers, speakers, hard drives, and miniature motors (disk drive/ hard drive motor brushes).

Yttrium is primarily utilized to make red phosphors for use in red LED’s and superconductors.

I know that yttrium may also be found inside red crt tubes, and in increasing occurance within HD broad spectrum crt tubes.


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## turtlesteve (Mar 4, 2011)

DarkspARCS,

I'm not convinced the collar you're talking about contains rare earths - I'm assuming you mean the black part of this:







Is this correct? If so, I'm certain this material is indeed ferrite (Fe oxide with Mn, Cu, Zn, oxides). If you're talking about another part, please clear this up for me.

You are correct that there are some rare earths in TV sets, in the phosphor coating on the inside of the screen, but seems these would be hazardous to try to recover.

Thanks,
Steve


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 4, 2011)

Ahh, I guess I stand corrected hah!

oh well.


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## copperkid_18 (Mar 5, 2011)

The piece the copper wire is wrapped around is ferrite


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 6, 2011)

sometimes, usually in larger tv's, you'll find RE magnets attached to the crt inductor.

Also, you may also find RE magnets in the laser reader componant of cd/ dvd rom optical drives.


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## Sodbuster (Mar 7, 2011)

If you are recovering these ("Also, you may also find RE magnets in the laser reader componant of cd/ dvd rom optical drives"), then you mite want to consider the often overlooked tiny little magnet found in a hard drive at the big end of the swing arm.

When you pop the lid off a HD the swing arm is usually in the parked position. Look close at the big end of the arm where it makes contact with what serves as a travel stop and it will have a very small but powerfull little magnet holding the arm in the park position.
I always pop these out and stick um to my steel cabnet door. 
Guess I mite be a hoarder. 
Ray


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## Drewbie (Mar 7, 2011)

Sodbuster said:


> I always pop these out and stick um to my steel cabnet door.
> Guess I mite be a hoarder.



Guilty as charged, your honour.


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## gold4mike (Mar 10, 2011)

Another thing worth looking for if you're taking the time to tear apart cd-rom drives is a gold plated three legged transistor-like part right behind the tiny magnifying glass part of the read/write head. I find them in most optical mice as well.


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## DarkspARCS (Mar 11, 2011)

gold4mike said:


> Another thing worth looking for if you're taking the time to tear apart cd-rom drives is a gold plated three legged transistor-like part right behind the tiny magnifying glass part of the read/write head. I find them in most optical mice as well.



They have a little glass window revealing a flash rom chip inset - aren't these the apparati used for disc recording? If so then these will only be found in optical drives that burn cd/ dvd/ blueray discs.


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## gold4mike (Mar 11, 2011)

I'll see if I can take some pictures this weekend of what I'm talking about and where I'm finding it. I'm pretty sure we're talking about two different items. I've also found a similar looking part in fiber optic transceivers. It looks like a three legged transistor with a little glass window. It's cylindrical, gold plated, with three gold legs coming from the opposite end of the cylinder.

I bought a USB microscope some time ago. I'll try to make time to get some close-up pics this weekend.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Mar 11, 2011)

gold4mike said:


> I'll see if I can take some pictures this weekend of what I'm talking about and where I'm finding it. I'm pretty sure we're talking about two different items. I've also found a similar looking part in fiber optic transceivers. It looks like a three legged transistor with a little glass window. It's cylindrical, gold plated, with three gold legs coming from the opposite end of the cylinder.
> 
> I bought a USB microscope some time ago. I'll try to make time to get some close-up pics this weekend.



The item you are discussing has a very very thin layer of gold. You can put one in a cell and poof it is deplated before you can spit.


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## gold4mike (Mar 11, 2011)

I'm sure you're correct about the thin plating. I plan to make a rotating basket cell this summer and use it for the low value scrap I've been accumulating. I have about 30 pounds of pins pulled from ribbon cable ends that I expect will yield 1/4 to 1/2 gram per pound and I sure don't want to waste the acid to remove base metals from those! 

As the price of gold continues to rise I'm finding it harder and harder to part with ANYTHING that contains gold. I'll still sell the newer motherboards and fiber processors to keep some cash coming in, but all the rest is part of my retirement investment diversification plan.

Once I retire from my full time job I'll start processing all the low value stuff and transformers I've been saving. I suspect I'm like most people on the forum that won't take retirement sitting on my butt!


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## Drewbie (Apr 14, 2011)

Speaking of magnets, I was wandering through an electronics market on Apliu Street in Hong Kong a couple of weeks back - check this guy out...


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## Militoy (Apr 16, 2011)

I guess I'm not following the direction of this thread too clearly. Magnets are most valuable as magnets for their utility - not based on their weight or chemical constituants. They are typically sold by size, shape, and magnetic material type. Sure - a strong rare-earth magnet pulled from a hard drive is going to sell quicker than an old alnico pot magnet pulled out of a speaker - but both will have a market. A rare-earth ball magnet is more sexy than an arc-shaped flat magnet of the same material pulled from a stepper motor - but the market on either will depend on what other items of a similar nature are available at the time of sale. The point of focus is to try to maximise the value of recovery of all materials recovered during the recycling process. Magnets are typically just a tertiary issue - an extra way to recover some value - when recycling electronics for more targeted values.


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## stihl88 (Apr 17, 2011)

I say start collecting and hoarding these magnets, their will be a market for them one day. They are just as essential in the manufacture of electrical components as what lead, gold, silver and copper are. If China have nearly total control over the Rare Earth Metals market then these once cheap Neodymium magnets that used to cost $0.20 a piece but could easily go for $1.00 a piece show that then all of a sudden they have full control of the market and they can begin to name their price.


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## DarkspARCS (Apr 19, 2011)

stihl88 said:


> I say start collecting and hoarding these magnets, their will be a market for them one day. They are just as essential in the manufacture of electrical components as what lead, gold, silver and copper are. If China have nearly total control over the Rare Earth Metals market then these once cheap Neodymium magnets that used to cost $0.20 a piece but could easily go for $1.00 a piece show that then all of a sudden they have full control of the market and they can begin to name their price.



As with everything else in the world that threatens the national security of the United States, I'm quite certain that China's brief capture of the REE market won't affect prices overly much as the U.S. has a real need for REE to use in alot of thier military hardware, and thus Molycorp is pressured (probably with glee) to reopen it's REE mine in Cali, with prospects in Montana, Colorado, and Nevada looking to open soon.


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