# Looking for examples



## Scratch (Jan 26, 2011)

Forgive a noob here, but I'd like to know just how much gold someone can get from electronics. I'm new to this and can't seem to find any examples. I'm hoping that someone could post a picture of a circuit board, or a pile of fingers or something with rough dimensions, and then post an after picture of what they actually got with a weight of just the gold.

I'm wondering just how worth it, it'll be to start collecting old PCB's and stuff.

Also... what does PM mean? "plated material"?

For example, I have this small board, dated 1965 which is about 5" by 6" and am wondering about how much gold in weight, I could possibly get out of it. 





If nobody can answer that question, maybe you have an example you could show me. Maybe there's already a thread with this somewhere on the forum that I haven't seen yet, and someone could point me in that general direction...


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## lazersteve (Jan 26, 2011)

Use the search box and type in 'yield data' (no quotes) by author lazersteve.

Steve


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## nickvc (Jan 27, 2011)

I know nothing about e scrap as such but could that board be worth much more as a collectors item than it's precious metal content?
I might well be talking rubbish,not the first time, but I know old bits and pieces are avidly collected........ check it out!


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## Cali408 (Jan 27, 2011)

From what I gather, PM means Prescious Metal


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## patnor1011 (Jan 27, 2011)

You can get some gold out of that board. It will be very very small amount. Problem is, that board is heavily populated so you will need to take everything out first. Also there is considerable amount of tin present which may cause problems depend on what method you will choose. If you want to get gold out of electronic scrap you need to think about pounds or kilos of material. One board like this is not worth to mess with, as any chemicals and time involved exceed reclaimed PM many times over.

Check this out, it will not give you answer of what is in in weight of gold but it will show you what amount of materials for recovery you get from some items. 
How much gold? - well it depend on your skills mainly.
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=6169


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## patnor1011 (Jan 27, 2011)

Cali408 said:


> From what I gather, PM means Prescious Metal



Correct. 

PGM mean platinum group metals


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## Claudie (Jan 27, 2011)

Cali408 said:


> From what I gather, PM means Prescious Metal



I thought it meant Private Message....

PPM = Please Private Message 

JK, I think it depends on how an acronym is used.
A person needs to take that into account.

PPM Parts Per Million
JK Just Kidding 
PMs Precious Metals or Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, one is good, the other is, well, I'm just saying that the same letters can have totally different meanings.... :|


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## Scratch (Jan 27, 2011)

patnor1011 said:


> You can get some gold out of that board. It will be very very small amount. Problem is, that board is heavily populated so you will need to take everything out first. Also there is considerable amount of tin present which may cause problems depend on what method you will choose. If you want to get gold out of electronic scrap you need to think about pounds or kilos of material. One board like this is not worth to mess with, as any chemicals and time involved exceed reclaimed PM many times over.
> 
> Check this out, it will not give you answer of what is in in weight of gold but it will show you what amount of materials for recovery you get from some items.
> How much gold? - well it depend on your skills mainly.
> http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=6169



I have more of these boards. Probably 50-60 or so, with the bossibility of more coming. I was just trying to get an approximation of what could be on one board. Maybe I should have said how much from 100 of these boards.

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out!


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## Claudie (Jan 27, 2011)

Those look like some pretty good boards. Do you know what they are coming out of? Maybe the equipment being scraped is worth considerably more than the gold on the boards. I see it is labeled Tektronix 1965 Model 3. I think it would be worth the time to research the parts some before destroying them. 



nickvc said:


> I know nothing about e scrap as such but could that board be worth much more as a collectors item than it's precious metal content?
> I might well be talking rubbish,not the first time, but I know old bits and pieces are avidly collected........ check it out!



Like nickvc said, check it out!


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## Scratch (Jan 27, 2011)

No, I don't know what they're out of. I just get the boards only. I'll try to research it some more.


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 27, 2011)

I made many trips to the giant Tektronix plating facility in Beaverton, OR to troubleshoot their plating problems. The company I worked for manufactured most of the plating solutions they used in the 60s. Tek manufactured high end oscilloscopes and that is probably what these boards were used for. The gold plating on those boards should run higher than the norm, but I wouldn't expect it to be thicker than 40 microinches (about $.50/square inch). They only made high quality stuff.


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## Oz (Jan 27, 2011)

Is that great or what? You ask about a board from the 60’s and get a reply from the guy that did the troubleshooting for their plating operation at the time.

It never ceases to amaze me the knowledge we have on this forum.


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## Scratch (Jan 27, 2011)

Goldsilverpro... Thanks for the info. So you're saying that if that board was covered in gold with no holes or breaks, and the thickness was around 40 microinches, it would be about .50 per square inch right? 

So at todays price, if my math is right, it would tell me that about 84 square inches would equal 1 gram. I know you said "about" .50 per inch, but at least that answers my question of an example of "about" how much gold is in electronics.

Thanks!


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## FrugalEE (Jan 27, 2011)

Scratch,

Those transistors should provide some pretty good yields. Look up GSP's post in the thread "Golden Legs Transistors". $100 & up in gold per pound of transistors has been achieved. The biggest source of gold per GSP is inside when chip is soldered to header with Au alloy.

I started my engineering career in 63 using vacuum tube Tektronoix scopes and yes they were of very high quality. I seem to remember seeing capacitors and resistors soldered into v notches in ceramic terminal blocks and I think the solder had a high silver content. 

FrugalEE


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## Oz (Jan 27, 2011)

Scratch said:


> So at todays price, if my math is right, it would tell me that about 84 square inches would equal 1 gram. I know you said "about" .50 per inch, but at least that answers my question of an example of "about" how much gold is in electronics.


Do not apply that figure to other electronics. That is based on "this" board due to what GSP knows of the company at that time. Even that is just an estimate, but backed by solid knowledge.


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## samuel-a (Jan 27, 2011)

Scratch said:


> Goldsilverpro... Thanks for the info. So you're saying that if that board was covered in gold with no holes or breaks, and the thickness was around 40 microinches, it would be about .50 per square inch right?
> 
> So at todays price, if my math is right, it would tell me that about 84 square inches would equal 1 gram. I know you said "about" .50 per inch, but at least that answers my question of an example of "about" how much gold is in electronics.
> 
> Thanks!




Scratch, based on this information (84 sq.in , 40 microinch) there is about 0.4 g of gold in the plating.
1 square inch of 40 microinch thick gold plating equals to 0.0049 grams or 21 cents at today's spot.


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## Harold_V (Jan 27, 2011)

Claudie said:


> PMs Precious Metals or Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, one is good, the other is, well, I'm just saying that the same letters can have totally different meanings.... :|


The very reason why I harp on posting with clear, concise English. Abbreviated terms should be used only when they are commonly accepted and understood. Even then, spelling it out is always a good idea. 

Harold


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## goldsilverpro (Jan 28, 2011)

samuel-a said:


> Scratch said:
> 
> 
> > Goldsilverpro... Thanks for the info. So you're saying that if that board was covered in gold with no holes or breaks, and the thickness was around 40 microinches, it would be about .50 per square inch right?
> ...



I think the 84 sq.in. assumed the entire board is plated but, of course, it is not. I would guess the back is about 20% covered and the front about 30-40%. The components would have to be figured separately. In the components, the main gold value is in the 9, TO5 & TO18 top hat transistors. I think the 3 gray colored electrolytic capacitors are tantalum and have value as is.

BTW, Sam, I think your website is excellent.


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## samuel-a (Jan 28, 2011)

goldsilverpro said:


> I think the 84 sq.in. assumed the entire board is plated but, of course, it is not. I would guess the back is about 20% covered and the front about 30-40%. The components would have to be figured separately. In the components, the main gold value is in the 9, TO5 & TO18 top hat transistors. I think the 3 gray colored electrolytic capacitors are tantalum and have value as is.



I'm sure you are right Chris, just wanted to correct the math based on the numbers given. I'm unfamiliar with those boards so can't insinuate about possible yield.



goldsilverpro said:


> BTW, Sam, I think your website is excellent.



I greatly appreciate it, THANK you. 

I have ton's of subjects i wish to write about and tutorials to produce but can't find the time... seems that 24 hours in a day just isn't enough.... :idea:


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## Scratch (Jan 28, 2011)

Thanks for the responses all. Just wondering on approximaions.


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## macfixer01 (Jan 30, 2011)

Yes Tektronix makes some nice boards. Given those white ceramic spark arrestors on your board it definitely would appear to be from an oscilloscope. Tektronix was always touted as the best manufacturer of scopes although I always thought they had too many bells and whistles and were just too complicated to set up for simple bench work in my view. For computer repair work it was usually most important just to see if a signal existed, not to check the precise timing and waveform shape. If I was designing though then maybe.

Also HP and Agilent boards from various test instruments often have gold traces. I originally used to go through the hassle of peeling the traces off the boards before I learned better here. With the HP boards though there were definitely at least two levels of quality. On some HP boards the gold traces peeled off totally pristine while on other HP boards (apparently with thinner plating) the gold would crumble and turn to fine dust as the traces were peeled back.

macfixer01


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## Findm-Keepm (Jan 30, 2011)

Actually, the real value in your board is from Tektronix equipment restorers. Your board has 4 tunnel diodes (the little gold plated diodes like the one directly above the "PC" in the far right of the top photo. Those easily go for 10 bucks or more each if they are good (HINT: Don't go checking with an ohmeter, cuz they go poof inside and are no longer useable.) 

If you have a quantity of Tek boards, look to eBay to get your riches from them. There's a Yahoo! group (TekScopes2) where you can flush out any value as well. If you need more info, send me a PM (private message).

Cheers,
Brian


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