# computer moniters



## cypher7194 (Apr 28, 2008)

So i have got this old 17/18 inch crt monitor siting around, so i was wondering if monitors have any scrap value or if its just better to try and sell them on craigslist or eBay for like 10-20 dollars. Thanks again!


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## JustinNH (Apr 28, 2008)

wish we could sell those around here for that much... most people have to pay people to take them away as they have too much haz mat in them according to the city and can;t go out with the garbage. They do have lots of lead and copper in them, but most people agree they arent worth the time to get any of the PM.


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## Gotrek (Apr 28, 2008)

Most recyclers charge YOU for diposing of them. I repair TV's/Monitors but if you don't have the knowledge to properly dissasemble one leave it alone it can kill you.

I'm sure the lead is worth recovering but If I recall you need to grind it off the back of the tube, It makes tons of dust and will probably end up killing you.

Apart from that the next best thing in them is probably the copper.


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## banjags (Apr 28, 2008)

I take all the copper from the monitors then I am taking to the e waste round up. 

GoTrek - Is it the tube you need to discharge or the high voltage coil... the one with the red wire leading to the tube?


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## Gotrek (Apr 28, 2008)

banjags said:


> I take all the copper from the monitors then I am taking to the e waste round up.
> 
> GoTrek - Is it the tube you need to discharge or the high voltage coil... the one with the red wire leading to the tube?



The flyback assmebly (the large coil that goes to the back of the tube yes) Did they announce the date yet I'm going to go dump a bunch of old stuff?

Any capacitor can hold a charge so watch the bigger capacitors on the power supply as well.


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## banjags (Apr 28, 2008)

Check PM... and yes it begins may 1st. drop off at the usual suspects... Syrotech, Computer Renassance, Computers for schools, miller environmental. Check greenmanitoba.ca


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## Gotrek (Apr 28, 2008)

banjags said:


> Check PM... and yes it begins may 1st. drop off at the usual suspects... Syrotech, Computer Renassance, Computers for schools, miller environmental. Check greenmanitoba.ca



They never have any drop offs on my side of the city


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## banjags (Apr 28, 2008)

east side? Syrotech isn t too far for me. But still would be nice to have something closer.


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## Gotrek (Apr 28, 2008)

It's too far if I have to cross a bridge


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## Scott2357 (Apr 28, 2008)

CRT anode discharge is not necessary as long as it's been powered off and unplugged for a few hours *AND* you don't remove/cut the big red anode wire. Discharging is far more dangerous than just leaving it alone. Even discharged, the CRT acts like a large capacitor and recharges itself somewhat over time. The anode wire provides a way for the voltage to bleed off (leak out) if left connected. I've not seen any PMs in the main boards and only a very small amount in the video amp and some connectors that carry the video signal. Even without the risk it's not worth the trouble in my opinion.


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## Gotrek (Apr 28, 2008)

Scott2357 said:


> CRT anode discharge is not necessary as long as it's been powered off and unplugged for a few hours *AND* you don't remove/cut the big red anode wire. Discharging is far more dangerous than just leaving it alone. Even discharged, the CRT acts like a large capacitor and recharges itself somewhat over time. The anode wire provides a way for the voltage to bleed off (leak out) if left connected. I've not seen any PMs in the main boards and only a very small amount in the video amp and some connectors that carry the video signal. Even without the risk it's not worth the trouble in my opinion.



I disagree, if you are removing anything that is on the board with the flyback capacitor you should discharge the tube.


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## Scott2357 (Apr 28, 2008)

In modern computer monitors (~1980 and beyond) the flyback capacitor is in the flyback module which also has a circuit to bleed off the voltage when not in use. The open frame flyback transformer circuit used in TVs until about 15 years ago was different.


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## cypher7194 (Apr 28, 2008)

Alright so ill just see if i can sell it, a couple bucks isn't worth dieing for. If i cant ill just donate it. Thanks everyone!


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## Anonymous (Jul 23, 2008)

We strip the monitors out that we take in and strip large quantities of Aluminum heat sinks from the boards avaerage about 5 lbs of Aluminum from each of them. We also pull the copper from the monitor cone and the degauzing cables. we get about 5 lb.s there also. Then strip out all the insulated wires and add those to another pile. The boards have some small flat packs so we also pull those. The CRT's go in the e recycle the plastics go back to the scrap source they have a buyer for those.

WIth the whole world going crazy for flat screen LCD's there are a lot of old crt monitors coming available.


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## skippy (Jul 23, 2008)

5lbs of aluminum and 5lbs of copper each? That seems way out of line with my experience. If there was that much in each monitors would be a sought after commodity instead of the ugly step child they are.



Sarge said:


> We strip the monitors out that we take in and strip large quantities of Aluminum heat sinks from the boards avaerage about 5 lbs of Aluminum from each of them. We also pull the copper from the monitor cone and the degauzing cables. we get about 5 lb.s there also.


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## skippy (Jul 23, 2008)

The lead is actually lead oxide disolved in the glass. The lead is recovered by lead smelters who use the glass for flux. 

As an idle thought I once wondered if it would be possible to do a thermite reaction on the lead oxide in the glass, so I googled it and found 
a research team who had tried just that. It reduced the lead, but it wouldn't aglomerate and it stayed trapped as tiny beads in the glass. 




Gotrek said:


> Most recyclers charge YOU for diposing of them. I repair TV's/Monitors but if you don't have the knowledge to properly dissasemble one leave it alone it can kill you.
> 
> I'm sure the lead is worth recovering but If I recall you need to grind it off the back of the tube, It makes tons of dust and will probably end up killing you.
> 
> Apart from that the next best thing in them is probably the copper.


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## Rag and Bone (Jul 23, 2008)

5 pounds of copper and aluminum average. How does that work? Are you scrapping Soviet chimp-rocket monitors or what?


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## Exibar (Jul 26, 2008)

Rag and Bone said:


> 5 pounds of copper and aluminum average. How does that work? Are you scrapping Soviet chimp-rocket monitors or what?



Yah, I've NEVER seen that much AL in a monitor. 2 pounds of Copper tops is what I've found. And that includes pulling the transformers apart to separate the copper wire from them.
If you're getting HALF a pound of Al from a monitor you're doing great.

There's about a pound of steel (light iron to the yards) in a monitor if it has a complete shielding cage.

Next Monitor I pull apart, maybe I'll do a weight analysis of what I pull out. I'm getting some this Monday, and I'll grab an average looking one....

Mike B


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## Anonymous (Jul 26, 2008)

That is a lot of copper, I removed the copper from 10 1 hp to 3 hp motors and only had 33 lbs.

Jim


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## evolx10 (Jul 29, 2008)

17 inch trinitron--
all the copper from the tube cone, board transformers, basically any un-insulated-wound copper wire cleaned and weighed.

Came in at just over 20 oz.. now that doesn't include the power/vga cable, and any small insulated wires. And that Flyback Tfmr , or whatever it is looks too tough and time consuming to tackle. 

im new to all this but 5lb's seemed a little high, what about those old cabinet tv's ?


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## pinwheel (Oct 18, 2008)

I think that 2 lbs at best is more accurate. If you get 5lbs of each, I would love to see a tutorial on that. I would pay for that assuming the labor rate works in your favor.


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## Rag and Bone (Oct 18, 2008)

What about those Monolithic capacitors on monitor circuit boards? 

Has anyone found Pd in CRT PCB's???


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## Exibar (Oct 18, 2008)

Rag and Bone said:


> What about those Monolithic capacitors on monitor circuit boards?
> 
> Has anyone found Pd in CRT PCB's???



Pd has always kinda been a mystery for me. I'm saving any boards that have mono's on them, but the berylium is a bit scary to work with.... 

Wodl be good to know if the monos from crt pcbs contain Pd though...

Mike B


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## Oz (Oct 18, 2008)

Exibar,

Maybe you know something I do not. Why the concern about beryllium with monolithic capacitors?


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## butcher (Oct 18, 2008)

not worth trouble processing but I do, the tubes from tv'S and monitors, can be dangerous, I always discharge them at high voltage lead with insulated screw driver them break of the tit (sharp glass point) to let air in relieving vacuum, if not they can implode to me the value in the parts for repairs are worth more than the little bit of scrap metal that I work so hard to clean, they are more trash than treasure. sell em if you can, also they are a liability to our water supplys.


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## Exibar (Oct 23, 2008)

I dropped a tube the other day and figured I'd finish destroying it... yah, just because 

But I did find some steel shielding(I think), a small bit of copper, and a bit hanging from the rear "vacuume tube" looking end of the tube.

Is there anything of value in there? What's that little bit hanging off the vacuume tube made of?

I'll probably never smash another tube, But I'm curious about the bits of metal inside the tube.
This one hit my toe before smashing on the garage floor, so I was angry at it.... LOL
thanks !
Mike B


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## Chumbawamba (Feb 7, 2009)

In my experience you sort of have to go out of your way to break a TV tube. Unless they fall flat on their face then 9 times out of 10 they will survive a fall from several feet. This is based on hard won experience of stacking many pallets of monitors and TVs over the years. I've even had some fall flat on their face and survive. They are designed to withstand huge forces because you as a TV maker wouldn't want one of those suckers breaking in some family's living room. The liability claim would be huge.

If you're in California then its worth dismantling TVs as the state subsidizes you for $.39/lbs (used to be $.48). You are mandated to pay out a minimum $.20/lbs to your supplier (if they are a registered collector) but if you get them directly from the post-consumer then that's all profit on top of the metals and plastics you get out of the dismantling. The plastic has actually started to have decent value. I'm currently getting $.03/lbs but back before the boom died I was getting upwards of $.10/lbs for it.

The downside is that, unless you have your own smelting process for the CRTs, you have to pay to get rid of them (I'm not sure how much...probably a few cents a pound).


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## GeeDub (Feb 13, 2009)

JustinNH said:


> they have too much haz mat in them according to the city and can;t go out with the garbage.



The city is giving you a bunch of bull. The Feds have reclassified the glass as a commodity and circuit boards as scrap metal.


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## Pilgrim2850 (Feb 13, 2009)

GeeDub, Where did you get that information from? thanks, larry


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## GeeDub (Feb 22, 2009)

I can't find it in my notes. I have so much information I can no longer think of simple classes to categorize the subjects. 

On the one year anniversary of the law I saw an article about the changes, so I looked it up on the EPA site.
Just did a quick search right now to give you this summary link, but the pages I read were later versions after all modifications; what is actually now coded into law:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/68b5f2d54f3eefd28525701500517fbf/373c5b81f7dd8111852571b00062cd2d!OpenDocument

But generally just going to the EPA site and searching for CRT monitors will put you on the right track. 
-Gee

(edit) The above might confuse some of you who say your boards are not from monitors. In my mind I didn't separate the laws. The salient facts were the same. Here's another link that summarizes it for you:
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/rules.htm


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## Platdigger (Feb 22, 2009)

Skippy, what about just crushing it up and using it for the silica part of a flux mix in a furnace melt?

Well, that is if you wanted lead in the mix right....
Randy


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## skippy (Feb 22, 2009)

Yes Platdigger that's how a lot of it is recycled. Some used to be made into CRTs again but I bet that use is way down. My thermite reaction idea was a little whimsical idea I had when lead was worth more. When I found out others had actually studied the same idea and had poor luck I promptly forgot about monitor glass.


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