Advice Needed Please Look

[Scott_Hawley]

Hello forum members,

My name is Scott, and after searching everywhere else on the web, I stumbled across this forum thanks to Samuel-a's website. First of all I wanted to thank everyone involved in running and maintaining this site, and also the members who post such valuable information for free. With that said here is my "problem" for lack of a better word.

I work for my grandfather who has been in business for himself for 30+ years. Over the past 30 years he has collected and acquired pallets and pallets of old circuit boards etc..in his shop in hopes someday one of his family members would take an interest in helping him learn to recover and refine the metals in them. Also we get at least 100 computers a month delivered to his shop where I rip the circuit boards out and scrap the steel tower. We are both beginners and I'm doing all the research so heres the problem...I am trying to explain to him the process with the Aqua Regia, but he is more interested in "reverse-electroplating." If anyone could explain the pros and cons of each method and/or link me to a complete guide for each methods, it would be greatly appreciated. I need to know what supplies are needed, how to prep the boards, what parts contain which metals. I will post pictures of the amount of circuit boards we are dealing with because we are both very excited to see if we can make some pure gold

thanks in advance to anyone who responds,
Scott

 

[Oz]

I am trying to explain to him the process with the Aqua Regia, but he is more interested in "reverse-electroplating."

Honestly I would do neither. If you have large quantities of computer boards I would sell them. Computer boards are of the hardest things to refine economically. There are companies out there that pay rather well in volume and will even pick-up your product. You will not be getting paid full value for your gold of course, but after counting in your labor, chemical, and disposal costs you will come out ahead just selling.

If you just wish to learn how to refine however and are not concerned about profit margins, that changes things.

 

[element47]

Steve, (search for lazersteve, one of our most celebrated members) has on his website a beautifully detailed 4-video process known as "AP" (acid peroxide) for stripping gold from circuit board fingers. Note that this method does NOT dissolve gold per se, it dissolves the foil underlying the gold plating, which allows the gold plating to float, or drift off the edge connectors. Search for his name, his website URL is in his signature. I also agree w/Scott that if you have no chemical involvement at this juncture and don't want any, you can sell the nipped-off edge connectors for close to what the gold yield might be.

 

[glondor]

There are pieces and parts that the home refiner can have fun with and make some good gold. do a search on fingers, cpu's, flat packs and memory. There is very little that can be done with your average home computer as far as a sulphuric stripping cell. Gold plated cpu heat spreaders come to mind and some people do a small amount of clean connector pins.

The best way really is to cherry pick your boards for things you can do at home or at your shop with acid/peroxide and aqua regia. Some people here are expanding the boundaries of home refining with incineration techniques and milling for prep for aqua ragia treatment.

Home recovery can be very profitable for some if you can get your material for free and learn to process the parts that are easy for you.
All the information you need is here on the site. Lasersteve has great videos available on his site for free as well as comprehensive process videos available for sale. I can recommend them for sure.

Look for key words in the search box up on the top right. Ask intelligent questions and you will find a whole world of information here.

As far as electroplating do a search on "gold cell" or "sulphuric cell" to see what it is about.

 

[jeneje]

Welcome to the board, Steve. As been stated above, everything you need is here! Good Luck and be Safe.

:mrgreen: