# finger prep process



## glondor (Dec 24, 2010)

Took some very good advise and decided to concentrate on fingers for my first crack at recovery. I had 139 lbs of memory and needed a method for removing the fingers. Remembered a post here about an open throat shear at a retailer here in Canada, (Princess auto) Found it on sale for 99 bucks. Took it home, mounted it on a box I made years ago. Me and my 14 year old got at it and in 6 hours of work we had a whack of nicely trimmed fingers from 13 boxes of memory. I would feed from the side and he would pull the shear. This method let us clean well over 20 lbs an hour. It was a real pain as my seat was too low in my tool room.Killed my back, but we got it done in good time. I could make it a one man operation with a couple of pulleys and a foot treadle. If I had to do this every day I think I would opt for a band saw with a push thru feed system. Any how here is the set up and the result.

tool room






Sons position, He pulls the handle I am feeding from the side.





The pay off









We cut 4177 grams of nice close cut fingers. 9.2 lbs. Hopeing for an oz troy. Is it doable? What you think?


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Dec 25, 2010)

Pretty cool there. Just make sure your son dosen't get too anxious on pulling that handle 8) . Santa has delivered your present and the leprechans are waiting for thier pot to be filled with gold. Good job.

Be patient when you process those and you will be rewarded kindly.


----------



## jimdoc (Dec 25, 2010)

I get at least half price for memory with the fingers cut off,just to let you know not to toss them or throw them in with the motherboards and cards.Last time I got $4. lb for the trimmed memory.

Jim


----------



## nickvc (Dec 25, 2010)

Well I'm looking forward to seeing the button, and getting your son involved is a smart move hopefully he will get the bug and learn with you,just make sure you don't let him put himself in danger with the chemicals.


----------



## goldenchild (Dec 25, 2010)

glondor said:


> We cut 4177 grams of nice close cut fingers. 9.2 lbs. Hopeing for an oz troy. Is it doable? What you think?



I'd say 20 to 25 grams.


----------



## gold4mike (Dec 29, 2010)

I agree with Goldenchild's estimate. I got just shy of 1 ozT from roughly 10 pounds of fingers from various sources. 

As for your though of using a bandsaw - I started with that method and switched shortly to a shear that looks exactly like yours. I found that I was going through bandsaw blades fairly quickly. I spend more on blades in a month than I paid for the shear and it's still cutting like it was new.

FWIW! (or, as Harold says: YMMV)


----------



## glondor (Dec 29, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback guys. Processing got put on hold as life got in the way. soon tho!


----------



## resabed01 (Dec 29, 2010)

I've bought the shear too and it's awesome for seperating fingers from the board. I was using tin snips before and found they were a pain. The shear is so fast and easy. I use my shear for other things too like cracking open things that I suspect have PMs inside. Be very careful with it though, it would show no mercy to flesh or bone.


----------



## oldgeek (Dec 29, 2010)

I use a cheap, 4" wet tile saw to trim gold fingers off. You can stack 8 or more memory sticks of the same dimensions, set the rip fence, and send them through at the same time.The diamond blade is pretty quick, and the water eliminates the dust. I wear disposable gloves to protect my hands from the water. The trimmed fingers pile up and go into a bucket of water for a rinse. IMHO it is very fast, and cheap to go this route.


----------



## glorycloud (Dec 29, 2010)

I'm going to guess 20 - 22 grams of gold on your first try at refining
on your 9 pounds of fingers.

However, some memory that works (even 256M) has more value
than scrap value if tested. If it was all bad or in unknown condition
you might consider selling it on ebay with the gold fingers. They
seem to go at a premium there and it saves the hours of labor
and lower back pain. Just a thought. 8)


----------

