# dumpster diving



## necromancer (Mar 23, 2014)

my wife will never let me jump in a dumpster :x 
over this weekend i just couldn't take it anymore, went to my old trash stomping grounds &.......


----------



## Pantherlikher (Mar 24, 2014)

Would be nice if that dumpster was near me.
Here in Amish country, there aint much in the way of electronics...

B.S.


----------



## artart47 (Mar 24, 2014)

Hey !
I think the Amish would have computers, but they convert them to run on gasoline instead of electricity. No, seriously. I talked with the Amish here in Wisconsin and was told that they use electricity, but they must generate it themselves. They won't hook up to the power grid or have a bill with WE Energies.
So, there may be more scrap then you would think.
artart47


----------



## necromancer (Mar 24, 2014)

Pantherlikher said:


> Would be nice if that dumpster was near me.
> Here in Amish country, there aint much in the way of electronics...
> 
> B.S.



electronics are not the only things in dumpsters, if i listed all the things i find all the time i would need to paint the letters back onto my keyboard.

2 weeks ago i found a 1/2 inch thick mirror from the early 1950's, 6 feet tall, 30 inches wide with a nice wooden frame.
as soon as i got in the door with it my wife made me put it up on the wall.


----------



## artart47 (Mar 24, 2014)

Yeah! you find the strangest things! I just found some kind of filter pack for home dialysis. Tubes and a small circuit board are visible. very heavy! I'm gonna find out if they use PM's in it. Gotta set up some kind of negative pressure containment box if I go to examine it. Rodent-bourne pathogens are causing alot of renal problems. never know.
You wonder how something like that ends up in with electronic stuff?
artart47


----------



## Pantherlikher (Mar 24, 2014)

O I find my share of electronics.
Just not like a "normal" town.
I live in a subburbinized area but there is not alot of big places to upgrade. I still have about 2 weeks straight work to get through my garage to get it all stripped down to recycles and boards. It's odds and ends though, except all the wireless phones and alot of cell phones I'll someday get to.

Just alot of work to get to the good stuff. But I do have a major collection again of gold trimmed glass. It's definately worth the effort for glass when it's all free. Just alot of work washing it off.

B.S.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Mar 24, 2014)

I'd be willing to bet those came from old Motorola radio equipment.


----------



## skippy (Mar 24, 2014)

I once found a half dozen gold sputter targets in a university dumpster. About 40 grams of pure gold 8)


----------



## gold4mike (Mar 24, 2014)

One of the guys I regularly buy boards from sold me a working pallet jack for $50 and a 12 foot wooden stepladder for $15. He gave me a new, in the box, parts washer yesterday.

All of these items were found on his weekly dumpster run. He told me that he has 48 places he checks each week. 

I buy good boards from him and then give him all my monitors and printers. I'll buy the printer boards from him on his next visit. Saves me a lot of labor!


----------



## necromancer (Mar 24, 2014)

gold4mike said:


> he has 48 places he checks each week.




i miss those days !!!


----------



## johnny309 (Mar 24, 2014)

In the third picture ,on the left is a tantalum capacitor....as for the platting from pins(expect bigger ...heavier plating),but less from the weight(they are very big)......and....they are brass(so avoid nitric)...


----------



## necromancer (Mar 24, 2014)

johnny309 said:


> In the third picture ,on the left is a tantalum capacitor....as for the platting from pins(expect bigger ...heavier plating),but less from the weight(they are very big)......and....they are brass(so avoid nitric)...




the "rainbow" ones, yes. there are many of those Ta caps on the boards. they will end up going to Etack.


----------



## skippy (Mar 24, 2014)

I think dumpster diving was better in the days before craigslist/kijiji. People had stuff they didn't need, and couldn't easily find a buyer for... and so they threw it out. There's more competition among the scavengers, and the economy is making a lot of people want to squeeze more out of their old possessions.


----------



## Findm-Keepm (Mar 24, 2014)

silversaddle1 said:


> I'd be willing to bet those came from old Motorola radio equipment.


I doubt it. Those epoxy TO-105 and TO-106 case transistors were uniquely Fairchild (later licensed to Sprague and others). Motorola had their own TO-92 and Uniwatt processes - it's highly unlikely that Motorola would have purchased Fairchild transistors for their own equipment when they were the number 1 transistor maker in the 70s. Also, I see nothing "RF" about those cards - they look more like old Allen-Bradley controller cards from pre-PLC machinery. I had a bunch very similar to those, albeit wider and shallower, that were from a Westinghouse controller used at a water treatment plant. Same green fiberglass boards, with the same friction fit pins. 

Check those pins - I had a mixed bunch in my Westinghouse haul. Some were magnetic (plated gold) and some had no gold, just brass bodies with no plating. The boards at the bottom of the box gave it away - moisture had corroded the brass pins. I removed mine with a heat gun, but had a solder mess to deal with. Your process is cleaner!

Nice haul!!

Cheers,

Brian


----------



## necromancer (Mar 25, 2014)

thank you, i will take the numbers off the boards and post them, i Googled with nothing found, it's late & need sleep


----------



## Platdigger (Mar 25, 2014)

I had boards like those. Seems they came from a specialty maker like they were hand made for a certain purpose. Like for running some industrial process. They were new, still packaged when I got them. Wish I still had the packages, could have offered some clues. Seems also they were made in the Seattle area.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Mar 25, 2014)

Well I had just scrapped a bunch of old heavy Motorola police radios and they had the exact same connector pins in them. Maybe both companies used the same ones.


----------



## necromancer (Mar 25, 2014)

the name on these cards is :

RHL model AOA - 11

most cards have different model numbers


----------



## macfixer01 (Mar 27, 2014)

Several companies have used those blade type forked pins. I've gotten them off old GE and Honeywell computer boards also. I'd be curious what your recovery is on them?


----------



## necromancer (Mar 27, 2014)

macfixer01 said:


> Several companies have used those blade type forked pins. I've gotten them off old GE and Honeywell computer boards also. I'd be curious what your recovery is on them?



whats your guess ? its still very cold outdoors.


----------



## johnny309 (Mar 27, 2014)

guess in the range of 2....maybe 2.5% by weight....depends on the wear...


----------



## necromancer (Mar 27, 2014)

:?: 18 grams of gold from 2 pounds :?:


----------



## Capteo (Mar 27, 2014)

Awesome find Necro!

I feel like I would have to shoot my pride in order to make a find that good!
Something about putting my body in a garbage can feels wrong, haha.

Mind over matter... One day perhaps, one day~

Keep up the good work!


----------



## pgms4me (Mar 27, 2014)

The guess sounds a bit high. I have come across those blade connector pins on several types of 70's-80's boards. The motorola ones I did were gold plating on nickel,with a brass base. they seemed to be in the vicinity of 30-40 microinches in gold thickness. the best type of those i did were exactly the same looking except it was gold on copper from mil spec boards. they were up near 80 microinches. these are pretty thick in the base metal and there is not a lot of surface area per pound. I think you would do well to get 5 grams per pound.


----------



## necromancer (Mar 27, 2014)

Capteo said:


> Awesome find Necro!
> 
> I feel like I would have to shoot my pride in order to make a find that good!
> Something about putting my body in a garbage can feels wrong, haha.
> ...



rule #1
never jump in if there is any chance of kitchen scraps or animal intestines being in there !!

over the years you get to know who has the better stuff, lots of places have 3 trash bins
1 = cardboard only
2 = most recyclables (anything from screws to stainless steel pots to brand new 15 inch woofers & $1,600 chandeliers)
3 = landfill (this you do not go near)


----------



## necromancer (Mar 27, 2014)

pgms4me said:


> The guess sounds a bit high. I have come across those blade connector pins on several types of 70's-80's boards. The motorola ones I did were gold plating on nickel,with a brass base. they seemed to be in the vicinity of 30-40 microinches in gold thickness. the best type of those i did were exactly the same looking except it was gold on copper from mil spec boards. they were up near 80 microinches. these are pretty thick in the base metal and there is not a lot of surface area per pound. I think you would do well to get 5 grams per pound.



i am happy with that 8) 

i spent $10 in gas, had fun & found some gold, who could ask for more


----------



## necromancer (Mar 27, 2014)

part of my old trash route is burning

http://www.cp24.com/news/firefighters-battle-six-alarm-inferno-at-toronto-factory-1.1748383

2 parts to the video


----------

