Hello all! New guy that just started job in circuit board plant.

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clsc7777

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
11
New guy here, don't really know where to post this but just started a job soldering all day here in colorado and have always been interested in getting gold out of this stuff. I always heard it is not profitable unless you get it for free and I can get a lot for free. I trim pins and break boards ends too that have little gold buttons on them and are underlain in copper. I have a lot of pins that are completely coated in lead solder and a lot that are only coated on the ends. I am very new to this but here are some pics of what I got today if that helps and I would love some advice on if this stuff is worth it to process? And maybe direction to the sub forums where I can learn more about this stuff. Thanks! Here is an imgur link https://imgur.com/a/ckufJ6V
 
and just a little background about me, I have prospected a ton with my uncle for gold and gems here in CO until his passing this January, I am semi up to speed about naturally occurring minerals but this electronic stuff has me half baffled.
 
Unfortunately the Gold you see on those PCB trimmings is practically worthless, it is called ENIG, an incredibly thin gold plating. Generally the majority of hobby refiners don't bother with ENIG. The only plating on most modern PCBs worth going after is thicker "hard Gold" plating like on RAM fingers for example.

Pins can vary quite a lot, if you can find a datasheet for the exact connector that the pins are from, you can sometimes figure out the plating thickness. Overall you can probably expect somewhere between 0.5g and 2g of Gold from a kilogram of modern plated pins.

If I were working in that kind of place, I would forget about boards and pins and focus on any ICs they may be throwing out / removing for rework. Most non-flip chip BGAs have good Gold yields.
 
Well shit, thanks for the reply though. I am still interested in just messing around with what I have for now and will learn with what I got. I did get a little over 2 pounds of trimmings this week just collecting off of me and my friend, not counting the depanelled trimmings, which I can get thousands of a day but it takes a long time to clip the ears off with tin snips. if I had everyone (12) saving the trimmings there is still money to be made it seems. And I promised to throw a sweet party for everyone with the earnings lol.
 
I plan on making a jig where I can just put the bundles of depanelled ends in and rip the ends off with a sawzall or something. Maybe a hacksaw actually, don't want silicon everywhere it already isn't.
 
clsc7777 said:
I plan on making a jig where I can just put the bundles of depanelled ends in and rip the ends off with a sawzall or something. Maybe a hacksaw actually, don't want silicon everywhere it already isn't.
Be careful! Sawing through circuit boards creates some nasty dust. You'll need to deal with that. Even snapping the boards creates particles.

Before you gear up too much, I'd recommend some testing just to be sure the return is worth the effort and risk.

Dave
 
Heard that sir, I have several n95 particle filter respirators and a couple m40's, I will certainly use the good one! I used to be a hazmat specialist with homeland security. I've learned how nasty that stuff is just from scrapping the edges when depanelling; itchier than carbon fiber if you ask me. I go to airplane mechanic school at the moment and have a pretty unlimited access to certain chemicals so we will see what crosses over.
 
My plan in as much as what I have learned is to get the lead off of the pins first, I have a 2000ml beaker with ventilation, I wish I had a stir plate but...I will use lead acetate to dissolve the solder on the header pins. Then as far as I understand a hydrochloric acid and, idk I've heard bleach and h202, idk what way to go yet honestly. I've ordered a cheap vacuum flask, already have a pump, and also ordered a nice (glass not porcelain) funnel and qualitative filters. I have an acetylene torch as well. Anything I am missing?
 
Just curious what part of Colorado? I worked and did some demo at the Apple plant in Fountain. Also board overlays in the Springs.
 
clsc7777 said:
My plan in as much as what I have learned is to get the lead off of the pins first
Is this material that is currently being produced, or very old stock? Anything in production now probably doesn't have lead.


I will use lead acetate to dissolve the solder on the header pins.
:?: I'm not familiar with that method. Please explain it a little more. Where do you get your lead acetate and how does it dissolve solder?


Then as far as I understand a hydrochloric acid and, idk I've heard bleach and h202, idk what way to go yet honestly.
Please do not use text lingo here. We have members from all over the world, and many have to use translators to read the forum. Text lingo does not translate well, and could cause dangerous situations.

Dave
 
Sorry for the confusion, everything is fresh off the wave soldering machine that day and we do the rework, like bridges, pins not deep enough, removing excess solder, stuff like that. And lots of trimming certain days. The lead acetate solution I found actually from one of the threads here I cannot find it at the moment but it linked the wiki for lead acetate and it read that it is used to remove lead from firearm suppressors but corrodes iron and steel. It is half vinegar and half h202. Sorry for the initialisms, IDK means I Don't Know, sorry it is widely understood where I am at and I won't use it here again. We have like 6 different types of solder and this one that is covering the pins is definitely leaded so I know that is the 1st step, removing the lead solder from the pins, at least from what I have researched.
 
The stuff we do is either, non leaded aqueous or no clean, or non-leaded flux core, or leaded flux core or leaded no flux, it is about half and half depends on the work order. Most require flux to be added from a dropper. I hate working with the no lead stuff. It flows like shi*, I mean really bad and oxidizes tips very fast compared to leaded.
 
Well I guess it is not 6 different types but 3 different types and .20 and .32 in each so 6 total.
 
They just tell us white green, or white red, or green green, or green white. Shit so I guess there is 4, I don't even know for sure yet I will find out working overtime in the morning. The ones with green as the 1st color are leaded and white is non leaded I know that.
 
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