# Dissecting computers for gold



## user 12009 (May 6, 2010)

I have read a lot of posts here. One may talk about video cards and another about CPUs.

I would like to start a thread that just dissects a computer into individual parts. Which parts contain PMs and which to toss. I hit a lot of yard sales every week. During my trips I always see a few old computers that no one wants to buy. I am thinking of just offering a few bucks or haul away for free. But I only want to salvage the obvious good pieces. I live in an apartment so I do not have storage space for all the big bulky parts, those will get trashed. (or is that against the law now?)

If I open a computer and see something that looks like gold will it be gold?

If I accumulate a lot of this where would I sell it? I do not want to attempt any refining on my own.


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## Oz (May 6, 2010)

Dan, 

Computers are hard to make money with if you count your labor in due to all the disassembly and disposal, even if you get them for free. A lot of your decision will be if this is a business for you or a hobby. If it is a hobby then labor costs lose their meaning and you can get some gold to play with from computers.

Since you seem to like yard sales and flea markets I would suggest you look for rolled gold and gold filled pieces that are in with junk, buying on the cheap. I have found karat gold in junk jewelry bins that are labeled “$1 for any piece”. 

Another thought would be learning to test karat gold jewelry with a touchstone and acid and visit all the yard sales. Yard sales do not often have gold items for sale but asking if they have any broken jewelry or old school rings can be very productive. After all they are already in a selling mood having their sale to get rid of “junk” they no longer want and raising cash from it.


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 6, 2010)

This might help you a little if you have not already found it.


View attachment 20327561-Scrap-Parts-Comp-Identification.pdf


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## user 12009 (May 6, 2010)

Oz said:


> If it is a hobby then labor costs lose their meaning and you can get some gold to play with from computers.


It is basically a hobby which is an extension of my part time business.



Oz said:


> I would suggest you look for rolled gold and gold filled pieces that are in with junk, buying on the cheap. I have found karat gold in junk jewelry bins that are labeled “$1 for any piece”.


As of this weekend I have 462gr of gold filled waiting to send to my refiner. This will be my first batch of GF. I will send exactly 500gr. This will be a test to see if GF manufacturers cheat on the quantity of gold like jewelry makers do. I trust my refiner and I know (on paper) what my GF is worth. 



Oz said:


> Another thought would be learning to test karat gold jewelry with a touchstone and acid and visit all the yard sales.
> 
> Yard sales do not often have gold items for sale but asking if they have any broken jewelry or old school rings can be very productive.


I have a Tri-Electronics GT3000 gold tester. I find a lot of gold and silver jewelry at yard sales. If I find something good in the junk pile (like a platinum ring for a quarter) I just buy it. But, if someone pulls out the good stuff for me to make an offer I always test and weigh before I make an offer.


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## qst42know (May 6, 2010)

The down side of gold filled is all the gold that was ever there was on the outside. Any wear is to the gold itself. Despite your calculations you don't know the value of the remaining gold.


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## user 12009 (May 10, 2010)

qst42know said:


> Despite your calculations you don't know the value of the remaining gold.


Very true, I am doing this as an experiment. I wrote a spreadsheet and enter the fraction of GF, the Karat value and the weight. So far (and during the 6 month test) 1gr of GF almost always is very close to $1 in value. So my 462 gr is almost worth $462 +/-

When I have 500 gr recycled I will see how close it came and then adjust my formula for wear and the frame manufacturers cheating on the gold content.


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## Harold_V (May 11, 2010)

I processed eyeglass frames by the thousands at one point in time. Be aware that screws are not gold, and that there are components that are plastic covered that aren't, either, although some of them are. You must handle them enough to become familiar with what has value. Hinges generally do not. 

Note, too, that the very infrequent pair will have a karat gold bridge. Those I found are rather ornate, and generally designed for women.

Harold


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## user 12009 (May 17, 2010)

This weekend I started to get e-waste. Nobody had any old computers. But I did get one video card and 6 CD/DVD drives.. Opened up all and everyone had something that looked gold paltes.

So my question is: If it looks like gold plate is it really gold plate?


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## CARRJAM1981 (May 17, 2010)

I like to chime in and say there is plenty $ to be made from computer scrap. I just started last year and in my first year I maid little more than 4,000.00 and that when I was still green behind the ears. This year looks alot better. i take them apart and sell all the boards and drives to a facility who buys them and alot of stuff goes on ebay. So there are just some things you just need to try yourself and learn the rest from others.


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## qst42know (May 17, 2010)

cyberdan said:


> This weekend I started to get e-waste. Nobody had any old computers. But I did get one video card and 6 CD/DVD drives.. Opened up all and everyone had something that looked gold paltes.
> 
> So my question is: If it looks like gold plate is it really gold plate?



In general yes, CPU, and card edge fingers are the two most concentrated gold sources in a computer, and many scrappers stop there. Other pins and connectors are thinly plated and border on a waste of time but that's a personal choice. You will for the most part find gold on the important parts and critical connections.

You would know this if you did some reading. This has been discussed so many times on the forum it should be quite easy to find, shame on me for not making you find it yourself.


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## machiavelli976 (May 18, 2010)

not all looking golden is gold covered. alluminium can be anodized to a nice yellow or orange colour without using any gold. video processors heatsink on the main boards , for ex.


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## user 12009 (May 18, 2010)

qst42know said:


> You would know this if you did some reading. This has been discussed so many times on the forum it should be quite easy to find, shame on me for not making you find it yourself.


Oh, I have done a lot of reading on this forum, enough to have to use the eye drops I keep in my desk. :shock: 

I just wanted a frim "yes" or "no" or "maybe" 

I take your "In general yes" as pretty good answer to continue my scrounging and recycling, thanks.


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 18, 2010)

cyberdan said:


> qst42know said:
> 
> 
> > You would know this if you did some reading. This has been discussed so many times on the forum it should be quite easy to find, shame on me for not making you find it yourself.
> ...



Don't discount anything. You will run across something and pull it apart and not find anything. You will have a part that looks a lot like the other one and you will pull it apart and find your treasure. There is no firm yes, no or maybe. There is just your experience and judgement and what you are willing to go after.

I will add this. Once you tie into something that has good yield you will look at the lighter bearing stuff in a different light when you see what your yield versus time involved reward is.


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## Harold_V (May 18, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> I will add this. Once you tie into something that has good yield you will look at the lighter bearing stuff in a different light when you see what your yield versus time involved reward is.


The very reason I didn't refine e scrap when I ran my refining service. It made no sense to me to spend the time it took to break down low grade waste when I could process several ounces of karat gold in the same time, keeping a percentage for myself. 

That only works when you have a steady stream of customers, however. I was fortunate to have them. 

Harold


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## Richard TJ (May 22, 2010)

Hi,

Been reading this thread- new to the forum, and would like to add some very very experienced advice. I've come down a completely diferent route to all of you, having started out in e-waste scrap recycling. My company deals in waste computers/ IT and now processes about 5 tonnes a week (started 5 years ago). We manually break down and segregate the e-waste into various different whole metals, but have until now not considered precious/ rare metals extraction. However, about 8 weeks ago, I took the company down a new route and am now smelting hard drives and refining the aluminium in them. With my background, I'd suggest the gold is contained in computers as follows:

Memory chips (Gold connectors)
PCI cards, AGP cards (Gold connectors)
Processors (gold pins)
Hard Drive male pins (gold connectors?)- not too sure though!

That's it though, there's not much else in a PC that has gold on it worth removing. The plating has becomme so thin over the past 2 decades that you'll need loads of the waste. Pre pentium, you could expect 10oz gold per tonne e-waste, but I'd suggest this is now closer to 3 oz.

If you're going down the precious metals from e-waste route, I'd suggest considering extraction of more than just gold from e-waste. Copper windings & aluminium are probably a better place to start, but you would be seriously hampered by new legislation in the US/ worldwide that pretty much bans landfill of the stuff/ waste by-products. However, one thing to keep in mind is platinium, palladium, indium, lead/zinc solder and other metals that have high value. Hope that helps.


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## Oz (May 22, 2010)

You are kidding right? With 5 years experience and 5 tons a week segregating e-scrap into “different whole metals” you have just now thought that you may have values above that of copper or aluminum?

I would be interested as to how you are refining the aluminum in hard drives at a profit.


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 22, 2010)

Oz said:


> You are kidding right? With 5 years experience and 5 tons a week segregating e-scrap into “different whole metals” you have just now thought that you may have values above that of copper or aluminum?
> 
> I would be interested as to how you are refining the aluminum in hard drives at a profit.



I agree he needs to look at what his cost's are. Melting the aluminum is not cost effective IMHO. 5 years to learn there might be more values. 8) :!: :?: :idea: :roll: I wonder how much money he has thrown away?


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 22, 2010)

Richard TJ said:


> Hi,
> 
> Been reading this thread- new to the forum, and would like to add some very very experienced advice. I've come down a completely diferent route to all of you, having started out in e-waste scrap recycling. My company deals in waste computers/ IT and now processes about 5 tonnes a week (started 5 years ago). We manually break down and segregate the e-waste into various different whole metals, but have until now not considered precious/ rare metals extraction. However, about 8 weeks ago, I took the company down a new route and am now smelting hard drives and refining the aluminium in them. With my background, I'd suggest the gold is contained in computers as follows:
> 
> ...



Don't forget your hard drive platters! And there are lots of other goodies you might be missing too.


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## goldsilverpro (May 22, 2010)

> Don't forget your hard drive platters!



I assume you're talking about the aluminum and not the alleged recovery of Pt or Ru. Has anyone on the forum successfully recovered Pt or Ru from these? If so, was this done profitably? What was the Pt yield per disk.


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 22, 2010)

goldsilverpro said:


> > Don't forget your hard drive platters!
> 
> 
> 
> I assume you're talking about the aluminum and not the alleged recovery of Pt or Ru. Has anyone on the forum successfully recovered Pt or Ru from these? If so, was this done profitably? What was the Pt yield per disk.



Actualy I was being sarcastic! :twisted: 

Personaly I don't think it is going to be profitable to recover the PM's from the platters, but I'm just acumilating them for later evaluation. Learn one process at a time.


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## cpt_squish (May 23, 2010)

I just pulled apart some old 3.5 inch floppy drives to get the male conector pins
I happened across what looked like a large gold plated worm screw for the drive head. Any ideas?
Also is the drive head - magnetic header/reader thing a silver based sheet on which the heads are placed.
I'm just doing this as a hobby really to get a bit of PM - not that easy and lots of time involved!
hopefully I can get some keyboards a bit later, can you get e scrap from the computer stores?


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## qst42know (May 23, 2010)

There is no reason what so ever to gold plate a worm gear screw. 

It's likely only brass.


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## lazersteve (May 23, 2010)

The worm gear is brass. The metal guard is tin, steel, or aluminum.

As a general rule, precious metals are not used in electronics without a specific reason for them to be used in the application. If a cheaper metal will perform the same function, it will be used instead of a precious metal.

Steve


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## cpt_squish (May 23, 2010)

Thanks for the quick reply, I thought it was a bit funny to use gold for a worm gear - I thought if it was brass it might have more corrosion on it though!


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## qst42know (May 23, 2010)

Worm gears are subjected to sliding wear. Gold plate would quickly wear away. Worm screws are always lubricated in some way even if the gear is plastic.


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## Anonymous (May 24, 2010)

Hi, my background was always in the telecommunications field. I have as you can imagine after 20 years many many contacts on how to get my hands on several thousands of lbs of telecom boards and pbx boards of a variety of manufacturers. Since I just got laid off and have some cash left to buy some of these lots, My question is this: 

Once I buy these boards cheap as I am reading here: $1-3 per pound/ A crazy calculation as this stuff is super heavy. I want to know where in the US or abroad do I send/sell this stuff to. Who is trustworthy, as it seems trust is huge in this field. Every time I call a refiner or a broker they say " well send it in and depends on the boards and what we pull off" well that doesn't help me in figuring out my buying costs. 

2) Are older business telephone sets with IC boards in them worth anything?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

K.C.


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## kssurplus (Jun 1, 2010)

2 CENTS WORTH

Besides gold there are many other goodies in an old computer.
If you are a dabbler in electronics then there are small torroids,capacitors,parts inside the power supply ,power transistors etc.

So I have also been looking at some of my motherbaords and see many,many gold connector pins on them.
Are we saying here there is not enough value to pursue removing them either buy cutting off or chemical removal.
I have not attemted any of these yet.

Also where can a guy buy a 3 gallon bucket?


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## lazersteve (Jun 1, 2010)

kssurplus said:


> Also where can a guy buy a 3 gallon bucket?



I get mine at Lowes on the Bucket (cleaning) isle. 

They are right next to the five gallon buckets.

Steve


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## glorycloud (Jun 1, 2010)

kssurplus said:


> So I have also been looking at some of my motherbaords and see many,many gold connector pins on them.
> Are we saying here there is not enough value to pursue removing them either buy cutting off or chemical removal.
> I have not attemted any of these yet.



I have a suggestion for you. See how long it takes you to collect
enough e-scrap items to be able to remove and come up with
a pound of gold plated pins. Try and quantify how many boards
were required to get that pound of pins and how much labor was involved 
in "harvesting" them before the first pin finds its way into an acid
of any sort to free the gold from the base metals that it is attached to.

Now calculate the cost of the materials required to build an electrolytic
cell or to make nitric acid or the cost of muriatic acid and the crockpot
to put it in should you choose that method for getting the gold free.
Again, be sure to keep track of the labor involved in this part as well.
Now see how much gold you are able to get from that one pound
of pins and report back to us in a month or so what you find.

You may find out what we all found out the hard way: I would rather
leave the gold pins on the boards and sell them at $2.50+ per
pound while you concentrate on collecting the escrap items that
have the most value per man hour like gold plated fingers, some
CPU's and the other stream of materials that can be sold like
aluminum, copper wire, steel, etc. as you scrap the PC's.

I look forward to your report, should you choose to accept
this assignment. 8)


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## Richard TJ (Jun 4, 2010)

Pt yield on platter is zip, nada, forget it. We melt the drives down into ingots (we're paid to destroy the data and use waste wood to fuel our furnace- so it's just my overheads). Recover 10 kilos per hour of Ally (40-50 HDD's per hour)- just a small scale test at the moment. As for the Gold side that I'm exploring, you can laugh, jest and think of me as a fool, but we already sell the boards and get £3000 per ton- 2200 lbs (1000 kilos to the rest of the world) and £50 per kilo CPUs. What I'm trying to do is get to grips with the real high yield stuff and see if I can make something on the side from this. Also looking to see whether the buyers are paying a decent price for the boards etc, by carrying out my own assesment. Again, you can laugh, but the business was built out of nothing, has expanded with no capital investment (7 full time staff, net profit year on year since inception) and basically, my job is to explore every new avenue possible. I get to get my hands dirty and then figure out whether it can be made into something financially viable. If you knew what really went on in this industry (exporting waste, child labour and of course selling out your own country for a quick profit), you'd probably be applauding me for trying to be different. This isn't some silly little game I'm playing here, I'm dealy serious about this business- You think SIMMS cares about the PMs it's binning each time it shreds a couple of tons of computers for ferrous scrap?


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## ridgerunner (Jun 13, 2010)

CARRJAM1981 said:


> I like to chime in and say there is plenty $ to be made from computer scrap. I just started last year and in my first year I maid little more than 4,000.00 and that when I was still green behind the ears. This year looks alot better. i take them apart and sell all the boards and drives to a facility who buys them and alot of stuff goes on ebay. So there are just some things you just need to try yourself and learn the rest from others.






Hi CARRJAM1981-Would you mind sharing your "Sell To Source" as I'm having trouble finding one that's reliable? Thanks


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