Fiber CPU's - That's how i do them

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samuel-a

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
2,190
Scrap Gold Recovery from Fiber CPU

In this guide we will give a step by step process for the Recovery of Gold from fiber CPU's.

Fiber CPU's does differ in their design and materials from the ceramic type and therefore needs to be treated separately (see CPU's overview).
Fiber CPU's are also different from each other, but they do have one thing in common; the leads (pins) are attached to the body of the CPU with regular solder.

Fiber CPU's contains recoverable gold mostly on the pins and sometimes on the inner side of the heat sink plate.
This article will discuss only on the gold recovery of the.

Two more components to consider when dealing with fiber CPU's are; (1) The heat sinks that are sometimes Gold Plated (2) And the Monolithic Ceramic Capacitors (MCC's) that contain Palladium. Those two components are to be kept separately for later individual recovery of Gold or Palladium.
Once the three components (pins, heat sink, MCC's) are removed from the CPU, discard it to your low grade e-scrap pile.

Abstract of the process:
A- Gold Plated Pins separation from the CPU body using a torch.
B- Gold and Base metals separation using a Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) leach.


A- Gold Plated Pins separation from the CPU body using a torch:

CPU's Pins are obviously Gold plated and usually gold plating thickness is 10-30 micro inches.
Most new fiber CPU's does utilize 'Kovar' as base metal for the gold plating. Kovar is a strong alloy that composed of mostly Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni) and Cobalt (Co).
Older fiber CPU's may utilize a high copper alloy as base metal underneath gold plating.

For this step you will need:
Torch (any kind will do).
Lock grip Pliers.
Metallic bowl or a pan.

1- Grab the corner of the CPU with the pliers and start heating the pins on the far corner from the pliers. Use the lowest flame possible on your torch, the idea is to heat the solder enough to melt it without burning the fiber body of the CPU.
You will know when the solder is molten once you hear and see it pops. At this point just swish the CPU's towards the bowl to create enough momentum for the pins to cut loose and land in the bowl. (See attached video)
In some types of CPU's the pins will not detach from the body that easily, so just mount the pliers above the bowl, heat and scoop down the pins to the bowl with a small metal rod.

COUTION: MOLTEN SOLDER, BURNING PLASTIC & EPOXY PRODUCE HIGHLY TOXIC FUMES!! PREFORME THIS STEP OUTDOORS OR UNDER FUMEHOOD.

Note: Some people will perform this step with acids, the writer think that the use of acids at this stage will do more harm then good, that's including a possible loss of gold.
With little practice and proper setup, using the torch method, you can easily do several dozens of CPU's in an hour.

pins.jpg


B- Gold and Base metals separation using a Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) leach.

Now that you have the gold plated pins all separated from the body, it is time to separate the gold from the base metals. As said before, the most common base metals that are present in the pins are 'Kovar' (Fe+Co+Ni) alloy, the solder (Sn+Pb/Sn+Ag) and Copper.
The separation is done chemically by boiling the pins in a solution of 32% Hydrochloric acid (HCL).

Basic Principle 1: It is not recommended to dissolve gold with base metals in the same solution (i.e. Aqua Regia).

Basic Principle 2: The combination of Tin (Sn) and nitric acid is an invitation for troubles. Stannous Nitrate (Sn(NO3)2) is a white gelatinous compound in solution and are to be avoided.

For this step you will need:
Hot plate
Erlenmeyer flask
Cork / condensation setup
Full strength Hydrochloric Acid 30-32%
Filter + funnel + receiving flask

1- Weight the pins and add them to the flask.
2- For each gram of pins calculate 12 ml of 32% HCL solution and add the amount to the pins, make sure the liquid level does not exceed half of the flask height. If needed, use a bigger flask (If bigger flask is unavailable, perform two or more consecutive leaches).
3- Place the flask on hotplate and slowly allow the solution to reach gentle boil. Careful not to add to much heat or it will boil over.
4- Place a cork of fit a condensation setup to keep evaporation to a minimum.
5- Let the solution boil for 3 hours.

After three hours of boiling the solution will turn very dark blue, almost black. The black solution indicates saturation of the solution. You will also notice Gold Flakes and foils floating on top.

pinshcl1.jpg


6- Decant the solution with all gold foils and powder to the filter, leaving any un-dissolved pins in the flask and allow complete draining. (Comment: Vacuum filtration shorten this step down to few minutes)

You might see some left over un-dissolved pins that can still trap a bit of gold, you can add fresh acid to dissolve them or just wash them thoroughly with plenty of water and decant to the filter.
Wash the foils and the filter well with water until its back to white color.

You now have the gold foils and powder in the filter. With the gold, there will be small amount of un-dissolved base metals and left over organic matter.

foilsfilter.jpg


This is the end of the Gold Recovery stage.
On the next article we will explain the Gold Refining Stage of the foils.

Source - Gold-N-Scrap
 
Barren Realms 007 said:
It's not incomplete. The link for the complete thing is at the end of the post.

I realize that, but to someone reading the forum the post is only a teaser and not complete, what if Sam's site goes away?

I can understand hosting documents, pictures, and videos off site to save space on the forum server, but to split the text of a post midstream seems kind of odd to me.

The purpose of the forum is to share information, not to harvest clicks.

Steve
 
lazersteve said:
Barren Realms 007 said:
It's not incomplete. The link for the complete thing is at the end of the post.

I realize that, but to someone reading the forum the post is only a teaser and not complete, what if Sam's site goes away?

I can understand hosting documents, pictures, and videos off site to save space on the forum server, but to split the text of a post midstream seems kind of odd to me.

The purpose of the forum is to share information, not to harvest clicks.

Steve

I think he will understand that and post the rest of the articale when he sees this.
 
Steve

I can understand your moderator point of view.
but...

lazersteve said:
The purpose of the forum is to share information, not to harvest clicks.

The whole purpose of my website is about information sharing for free, I'm sorry that you failed to understand that.
My intent is to sort and share what i have learned and create guides or tutorials based only on my experience. In some cases i post other people's articles with their consent and the proper credit.

Yes, i do have commercial ads/banners on my website to help reduce hosting costs, that's the price of free information handed out on sliver plate this days, you know that just as well as i do. I don't think that i should be ashamed of it, even if i could make a little profit out of my website.
You are doing the same and promote you products by handing out free information (and sometimes not for free) to the forum members, it's a simple deal.

With that being said, won't you say it's a bit hypocrite on your behalf to "blame" me with "clicks harvesting" while your main source of costumers is right here on the forum ? (which, by the way. seems to never have bothered anyone to date and that's including me)

On a side note, from the moment i published Gold-N-Scrap site, i placed a link to the GRF and other sources (including your website), sometimes with and sometimes without a back link without any jealousy.

I think that most members will agree, that with more then 600 posts, I'm far away from being a 'spammer'.
If posting just the beginning of the article with the rest of it on a link is non compliant with the forum rules i will remove it and leave only the link.

Sam
 
Sam,

You missed the point.

The article as posted on the forum is incomplete. It would be nice for our members not to have to go off site to finish reading the article. Feel free to place a link to the same article on your site article in the post as well.

I've never split any of the text of my posts across two sites for any purpose. I'm of the mindset that it's best to keep the information in one place. That's why you'll notice I don't host a forum of my own, post instructional text off of the forum, or blog on my web page. You may also notice that when answering questions I consistently link to previous forum topics as opposed to repeating the same information in multiple threads around the forum. The more sources of the same information, or slightly different versions of it, the more confusing it will be to the reader.

By splitting the text of your instructional you are not giving the forum as a whole the ability to accurately respond to your instructions. Splitting the text of your post breaks the continutiy of the forum and opens up gray areas which could result in errors for the readers using the process. It also disrupts the chronological order of the replies and suggestions that may arise from a healthly discussion on the open forum. For example if I make comments on the current version of the instructional you posted today and you edit your web page off site later, my reply may not mean the same thing after your web page is edited.

With the text all posted on the forum in one thread we can all collaborate on the process and make it better for everyone reading.

Your website is yours to develop as you wish. If you want to direct traffic to your site post a link to you site in your post. For the sake of the integrity of the information and continuity of the conversation here please post complete topics or drafts of works in progress.

In closing let me pose this question to you:

Would you start an article on your website and half way through it stop and link to the forum for the remainder of the discussion?

Steve
 
I personally would not take out pins with torch. They fell out from CPU in your next stage when heated in HCl. You can save on cost of gas and time if you just heat whole CPU in HCl. Of course not applicable on fiber CPU with metalic heatspreader.
 
You may want to proof read your site a bit. It looks like it has good potential. Keep it friendly. The forum, and Steve's site, have provided me with tons of great info. It is only right to share the information with the people who want to really learn, and aren't looking for a quick buck. I agree with the comment of the half posts. It can be confusing enough for people to get the info they need, and incomplete posts add to that. Good luck with your site, and I look forward to seeing its progress.
 
I kind of thought the split article was inappropriate, but was going to let it slide. But since you've gone to the effort to defend it publicly, then take a jab at moderators publicly, i feel it proper to express my feelings on the matter - publicly.

Quote from referenced article: "Some people will perform this step with acids, the writer think that the use of acids at this stage will do more harm then good, that's including a possible loss of gold."
You then go on to describe use of HCl, an acid, which wouldn't lead to loss of gold, except in the most extreme circumstances.

You, like the rest of us here, have the right to follow your own steps for recovery. But linking it from here makes it appear that yours is the accepted or recommended process.

Almost no one I know of, who processes any quantity of these, has time to use "a torch and pliers." Try it with 25-30 lbs. of them. In fact, to make any serious money on them, you'd need to process pounds of them, anyway.

Though I'm sure it was not your intention to do so, it could appear to the casual observer that you are the fount of this knowledge, perhaps even preventing them from coming here, where they could benefit from close to a hundred years of combined experience, and that's just the moderators. It also, to me, smacks of the teaser excerpts from books that Amazon & other online sales outlets use to "hook" potential customers.

I do not presume to speak for anyone other than myself, and my inexperience is obvious to any who have to be patient with my questions, but I feel that my kind of inexperience may just be the kind that makes me & others like me vulnerable to "sniping", which, IMHO, could be the result, if not the purpose, of that self-promotion.

Please take this in the spirit it is intended - we all want & need your voice of experience here to round out the "orchestra".
 
Thank you all for your comment.

I've completed the post with the entire article.

dtectr

Please don't take it so personally... i did not took a jab on Steve, only respond to 'accusations' and pointing out what i think to be double standards.


Anyhow, my original intent was to make this thread the Q&A and comment's page for this article to the benefit of us all, specially newbies.

The use of torch is obviously intended for the home brew refiner and not for the industrial scale. don't rule it out, especially if you have few pounds to do.
see the video, it's only 30 seconds for that piece and can be reduced further, not to mention that one can develop it further and do them in a kiln.
 
A while back to subject came up on who and what people "share" and it seemed to end with all members share what they want and keep what they want. Sam you did a great job sharing and have done a great in the past. The spirit of ths forum is still intact and not harmed by your post, in fact it has made it better with useful information. As I tell my students "Take the knowledge". Kudos to all for if it not for the members I would not be in the position I am - which is a good one.
( Thumbs up smilies here if we had one)
 
We all have the same end goal in sight, make money!

Just post a link to your site and we will check it out.

If it's good, readers will return.

Good job on posting the whole guide on GRF.

One note: If you use a heat gun to melt the solder, the pins will still fall out, and you can do that indoors as the plastic will not burn like with a torch.

Scott
 
Hi Scott

That's right, heat gun will not burn the plastic. but i must admit that it took me quiet a while to loosen the solder when i tried it, of course, each person and his way to skin a cat.

That is great !! and those suggestions and comments are exactly what i intended this thread to be. Thanks.


Another note made by a member at another forum (james - micron gold group) and i thought might worth mentioning, was, to separate the copper based pins from the kovar based ones. He notices (and so did i) that the copper in solution actually cementing on the kovar based pins and slowing down the reaction and causing it consumes more acid.
He suggested AP process for the copper based pins and HCL boil (as per the guide) for the kovar based pins. His suggestion to identify the is to scrape one pin and see if it's copper or not. Since they both magnetic, i don't see any other fast way to tell which CPU contains which type of pins.

I never tried to scrape and look, and i don't know if i will embrace this test or not, but i sure will try it. it's nice to hear how others do things.

I will promptly add a link to this page in the article as the Q&A + comments page.
 
I was wondering if anyone has completed this process? I have removed the pins and run them through 5 or so HCL washes and still have color change when I add more HCL. I have the gold plus what looks like a black powder, but I don't think the black power is gold. Has anybody gotten a gold button from this process? If so, did you check the purity? I'm trying to figure out if I should keep washing with HCL until there is no change in the color of it? Any suggestions/opinions would be appreciated!

JD
 
joedirt

joedirt said:
, but I don't think the black power is gold.

Don't be so sure, dissolved and re-cemented gold can look just like that.

The next part of that tutorial is in editing as we speak and hopfully next week I'll finish it.

joedirt said:
I'm trying to figure out if I should keep washing with HCL until there is no change in the color of it?

There isn't actually a dire need for a complete dissolution of the pins, as stated in the artcle, you can wash left over pins with planty of water to remove most of the gold (powder and foils) and catch them on the filter.

the next steps are very srtight forward actually:
1. grab the filter with foils and remove it from the funnel.
2. place the filter paper in a chemical cup and add HCl, just enough to cover it.
3. Now start to add slowly the oxidizer of choice (i.e. - hypochlorite, nitric).
go slow with the oxidizer, small incriments at a time, let it react and if needed add more until the powder/foils are completly dissolved and the paper is white again.
4. dilute the gold solution with water, 2-3 times it's volume OR add cuple of ice cubes.
5. let it sit for the night.
6. filter the solution.
7. add SMB to drop the gold.
8. wash gold powder as per usual (H2O 3x, HCl 3x, Distilled H2O 3x)
9. Dry and melt

Steps 4-9 are well descibed here on the forum as well as in my KARAT jewelry refining tutorial.

Good luck
Sam
 
Sam,

Thanks a lot for the detailed response. I'm looking forward to the next part of the tutorial. This discussion leads me to another thing that has been bothering me, which is the benefit of purifying the gold to over 99%. I live in the Houston, TX area and have not found anybody who can test to this purity. As a matter of fact I had to go out of the Houston city limits to sell the melted gold because an ordinance was passed to stop jewelers from buying it; I think for the same reason that scrap metal buyers have to have ID and fingerprints from sellers. I sell to a jeweler, and as far as I can tell, he can only test to 22 carat. My thoughts are to not dissolve the gold and drop with SMB. Again does anyone have any thought on the purity of the gold before the dissolving and dropping with SMB?

JD
 
From what I have read there are several places to sell refined gold, shipping and insurance required? If you strip and melt to a bar the results can be tested with some accuracy with a test kit. Either way if you are selling to a refiner you are at the mercy of the refiner.
If you are refining toward a retirement and doing small bars for the bunker I would want as pure as I could make.
Mark
 
Hello everyone,

i'm new to the forum and this is my first post :)

i was wondering how do you get the gold that's inside the ceramic cpu-package?..

brake open,.. dissolve in... (what?) etc...

thanks for the info!

kind regards,
Dutcherkan
 
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