Anyone scrapped these old telex?

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Probably - the real question is how much ?

take one apart & show us what is inside

Then we can figure out if it's worth tearing apart more then one

Kurt
 
I don't have them yet, I can buy them for a bit more as iron scrap price, there are 20 and have to buy them at once.. If there is only iron in them its not worth the time...
 
Tell them the only way you will buy them is if you can tear ONE down to see if they are worth paying for

Tell them - like them - you are in business to make money - not loose money

Kurt
 
I do not know about scrap.
But you did bring on a rather vivid flash back to being locked in a very long Nissen hut full of those for days on end at HMS Raleigh.
You have no idea about hell until you have been up for days on Naval tea and that god awful ratings slop they serve there and the twenty or thirty of those clackering bastards start to sound like they are laughing at you.
 
justinhcase said:
I do not know about scrap.
But you did bring on a rather vivid flash back to being locked in a very long Nissen hut full of those for days on end at HMS Raleigh.
You have no idea about hell until you have been up for days on Naval tea and that god awful ratings slop they serve there and the twenty or thirty of those clackering bastards start to sound like they are laughing at you.
Click to expand...
Vivid imagery . . . thanks for the trip!

Your "clackering bastards" "laughing at you" is priceless.

James
 
Repaired similar equipment back when the world was young. Couple of boards. Lots of tiny servos and relays. A few small motors. Had no interest in precious metals then. Of course, that was 40-45 years ago. Time for more coffee.
 
I would say, offer the guy whatever valuation you get for clean steel there. As it is not clean steel, he would get less otherwise. You say 20 of them, I say your cost to purchase the lot is probably $20-$40 USD (17.47 - 34.94 Euro) to buy. Sometimes they have pin boards/wire wrap boards in them. You could resell internal motors and components to electronic hobbyist. The clean steel will get you back a good chunk of your initial cost, break the plastics down and recycle them. since there is only 20, It's an inexpensive lot to potentially do well, and if it doesn't, well you're not really out any serious money, just a little bit of time, and you gain knowledge for future purchases.

Edit* Knowledge cost money, but taking the time to make this type of stuff work and be profitable gets you the contacts you need to be successful in the future. The contacts you gain become your trade secrets and allow you to progress where others cannot. A proper business isn't built in a day, it's built over time. As the saying goes- "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.".
 
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Very old machines tend to have "PCB" like mounted keybords, which have very nice and heavy gold plated traces, serving as buttons/switches. Similar to mobile phones.
Yes, it could be array of fixed switches which contain no values, but if you have the chance to break one or two out with screwdriver or pliers, you can clearly see if it is the stuff I am talking about.

For the price of only steel, I will certainly purchase the lot. If you have time to scrap them, of course. It could be losing game, but fairly cheap :) still, if you can make like few USD out of one piece, you very nicely covered the investment cost.
Few relays, servo motors, scrap iron. I will expect some transformer - as this is old stuff, and switching power supply weren´t prevalent back in the day. This could get you your money back fairly quickly. If no values will be inside.
 
Here I found some pictures of opened up machine on Google. Personally, I will go for it, just for opportunity these boards have sockets with gold pins and also goldfingers on the cards. I can see some transistors (not gold leg tho), switches, EPROMs with sockets, some DIP ICs...
Motors, possibility of good keybord, printerheads could contain some plated things. Aluminium heatsinks... Vintage electric components could be reselled sometimes...
I will get this straight as it is. For the value of scrap iron, anytime :D

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That is a lot more boards than in the stuff I worked on back in the early ‘80s. Lots of different models across the decades.

The best advice has been given. Obtain a few. Tear them down. Determine the values. If worthwhile, obtain the rest.

Time for more coffee.
 
OK thanks for the advice, they are on an auction and I cannot open them. Looking at the pictures with the pcb it will be wurth buying them.. Will post some pictures from the inside when I have them..
 
Yes buy (as scrap iron) there are more cards in it then I thought - the plating on the fingers (should be) heaver them modern stuff & can run as high as 2.5 - 3 grams (pound of fingers) also the pins in the sockets the cards plug into should be larger - fully plated with heaver plating then modern stuff

then there are some (a few) epoxy IC chips (though the low grade PROM type) with bond wires

Also I see (what looks like) a few small "yellow" PROM chips --- those should have a little ceramic plate in them with silver/palladium

Also maybe some silver/tantalum capacitors

Kurt
 
Slochteren,
I'd buy them.
These machines are looking very interesting.
I'm a little bit too far from the Netherlands (Stuttgart). Otherwise, I'd ask you to share the lot.
I'm sure, if you show photos of the PCBs inside, you can sell them on eBay for twice you payed. (If you find out, to scrap them isn't worth the time you spent.)
 
Slochteren said:
OK thanks for the advice, they are on an auction and I cannot open them. Looking at the pictures with the pcb it will be wurth buying them.. Will post some pictures from the inside when I have them..
Click to expand...
It is also worth type the few variations of the machine/apparatus name in Google and search photos. Or add word "opened" or "teardown".
Second option is to add word "PCB" or "board".
Third option is to search these exact things on eBay :) many times you can find this on eBay, where is the possibility of more photos or photos of boards.

Most of the times, it is not exactly the same thing as you have, but it can give you better perspective of what to approximately expect.

And often, you find completely nothing :D but still worth trying.
 
I bought some, don't know yet exactly how much, between 20 and 25, will make some pictures from inside later, I took 1 keyboard apart and found these "switches" in each key, look like Reed relay, anyone know what's inside, looks like silver or palladium. The glastube is 1,5 cm long
 

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Slochteren said:
I bought some, don't know yet exactly how much, between 20 and 25, will make some pictures from inside later, I took 1 keyboard apart and found these "switches" in each key, look like Reed relay, anyone know what's inside, looks like silver or palladium. The glastube is 1,5 cm long
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Ferrous material such as a nickel-iron alloy, ferrous reeds. They work by using magnets.
 
OK, also the coating on the tips? Never saw Iron nickel as contact surface, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exists... Just wishful thinking 🤔
 
Slochteren said:
I bought some, don't know yet exactly how much, between 20 and 25, will make some pictures from inside later, I took 1 keyboard apart and found these "switches" in each key, look like Reed relay, anyone know what's inside, looks like silver or palladium. The glastube is 1,5 cm long
Click to expand...
Base metal is some feromagnetic alloy, but contacts are often plated. If it is silver/palladium or rhodium, I cannot tell from the picture.

Easiest way is to pick like 5 pieces, smash them carefully (wrapped in some rag, beat it with hammer), remove the contacts and place them in some nitric acid. If it is some nickel/iron "stainless" type of alloy, they should be quite resistant to nitric attack, but sometimes they just dissolve... :)
Important is the "plating". Silver and also palladium will go to the solution. Platinum not. And obviously, rhodium will also stay intact.
Filtered solution could be then tested with AgCl to see if there is silver.
If base metal won´t dissolve in nitric, you can also observe the colouration of the solution. Tones of yellowish-reddish-brownish could indicate palladium. This is better tested with DMG tho - if you add DMG and see yellow precipitate, it is Pd.

Rhodium and platinum won´t do anything.
 

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