Anybody seen these before?

[golddigger2]

Hi all I have recently purchased some boards that look like they have a lot of gold on them but once deplated you almost need a microscope to see it,it seems to come off in grains like dust rather than flakes. The silver foils on the fingers are the ones i need help with they are white metal like silver, they were sold to me as gold and when advertised they must have had a yellow light shining on them because they don't even have a hint of gold colour on them. I did the old paper trick and there was no sign of any grey streaks on the paper.
see attached photo's. Any ideas?

 

[leavemealone]

I am not familiar with "Cyclone",however these are identical to some IBM boards that I have,even the diagonal cpu mount.Not many companies do that,IBM and supermicro are the only 2 that I am aware of,I am sure there are a few others but IBM is the only one that I know of that uses that much gold plating on the rest of the board also.

seems to come off in grains like dust rather than flakes.

Are you sure your stripping solution is correct?The slightest bit of AR will make the foils come off like you are describing.
Johnny

 

[Barren Realms 007]

The board could have gold under the solder mask. You might want to make up a solution of sodium hydroxide mixed with some water warm it up and put one of the boards in the solution for about 5-10 min and see if there is more plating to be removed after the mask comes off.

 

[golddigger2]

Ok thanks I will definately do that thanks for the tip

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Steve posted a video in this resently.

 

[lazersteve]

The gold on a lot of the newer 'plated' boards is applied in layers only a few atoms thick.

Use a little Acid Peroxide and a toothbrush, the plating will coming off in a few minutes time if they are the 'flash plated' ones.

Steve

 

[golddigger2]

Ok steve good tip ile try that