Best way to prep cpu, motherboards, and memory for you guys

[Anonymous]

I'm already in a full time business which creates a lot of scrap e-waste. I'm not sure that I want to get as involved as you guys have in extracting the metals from the material. (maybe, maybe not)

Questions,

If I simply turn this stuff out onto somewhere like Ebay, what is the best way to prep the material for best use for folks like yourselves?

The PCI,AGP, and 16bit cards appear to be best to cut the slot connection off the bottom and dispose of the rest of the card. If that is the case, then an investment in a $50.00 saw should make light work of the boxes of materials I have and perhaps make the auction a little more palatable?

The motherboards appear to be the biggest pain, and it looks like they should be just boxed and shipped no?

Should memory be handled the way that the cards are? Or just dump it in it's complete form?

CPU's appear obvious.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Oldbitcollector

 

[leavemealone]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum.This is a great place with a plethora of information and people willing to share it with you.
Start by telling us where you are (what state).We have a lot of members that may be near you that would be interested in buying the motherboards whole,which consequently is the best way to sell them(not the best way to process them if you are only looking for gold).Most larger recyclers are going to extract as much valuable material as they can,including,but not limited to,copper,silver,gold,aluminum,brass....you get the idea.
As far as the other boards go,can you post some pics so we can get a better idea of what you are dealing with.There are thousands of differents kinds of boards,with a mass of different profits and pitfalls that you need to be aware of.
Give us some insight on what your background is stricly relating to recovering and refining metals.If you have no background then let us know and one of us will start you on the right path.
As far as preparing the material for resale,for precious metals,on a place such as ebay,simply make sure that any excess base metals(copper,brass,aluminum,tin,steel)is removed.There are many different ways to "prepare" the material,but this is probably the most common.If you go cutting this and that off of the boards,you will most likely devalue the boards.
I can help more,but lets start here,and we'll work from your answers.
Johnny

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Welcome to the board, a lot will depend on how much time seperating you are willing to devote to this endevour.

WE seem to be having a problem withthe board today. I tried to upload the scrap parts list and it will not finish uploading to the board and it brings me back to an empty message.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm in Orrville, OH (NE Ohio) and am dealing with cast-off computer systems.

For the longest time we simply pulled the memory to give away to customers with older computers (It's a nice way to keep it out of the landfills, while at the same time doing a little free goodwill for our customers.) We are also destroy hard drives in a manner which secures the data and ship them out. The computer cases themselves have been shipped out for "sheet metal" recycling sometimes with motherboards, cpus, and memory which was too old to consider giving away. (based on my education the the last couple weeks, this will no longer be the case.)

It's been brought to my attention recently that we have quite possibly been literally throwing out items which contain value long after the customer is done with it. On top of which I now have boxes of old memory sticks, cpus, and PCI cards which I simply could not bring myself to just dump.

It's time to evaluate the wasteful methods we have used in recycling as well as lost profits.

Again, I'm not sure if I have the time to devote to setting up the system for refining the materials myself. I've spent enough time researching this to understand that like anything else, it takes some dedication and knowledge to do it right. (As it appears some here are doing) I haven't decided if I have the time, or the care to invest in dealing with some of the chemicals required in the process. (I'm kind of up in the air on this at this point.)

Watching some of the Ebay auctions, it looks like I might do well to simply box, list, and ship.
There are some pretty crazy people out there buying up materials with thoughts of striking it rich in e-waste.
Apparently Gold Fever still exists.

Any input would be appreciated.

Oldbitcollector

 

[Barren Realms 007]

I'm in Orrville, OH (NE Ohio) and am dealing with cast-off computer systems.

For the longest time we simply pulled the memory to give away to customers with older computers (It's a nice way to keep it out of the landfills, while at the same time doing a little free goodwill for our customers.) We are also destroy hard drives in a manner which secures the data and ship them out. The computer cases themselves have been shipped out for "sheet metal" recycling sometimes with motherboards, cpus, and memory which was too old to consider giving away. (based on my education the the last couple weeks, this will no longer be the case.)

It's been brought to my attention recently that we have quite possibly been literally throwing out items which contain value long after the customer is done with it. On top of which I now have boxes of old memory sticks, cpus, and PCI cards which I simply could not bring myself to just dump.

It's time to evaluate the wasteful methods we have used in recycling as well as lost profits.

Again, I'm not sure if I have the time to devote to setting up the system for refining the materials myself. I've spent enough time researching this to understand that like anything else, it takes some dedication and knowledge to do it right. (As it appears some here are doing) I haven't decided if I have the time, or the care to invest in dealing with some of the chemicals required in the process. (I'm kind of up in the air on this at this point.)

Watching some of the Ebay auctions, it looks like I might do well to simply box, list, and ship.
There are some pretty crazy people out there buying up materials with thoughts of striking it rich in e-waste.
Apparently Gold Fever still exists.

Any input would be appreciated.

Oldbitcollector

If you decide to deal in some of this stuff PM or email me I might be interested.

 

[silversaddle1]

Old bit collector huh? Horse bits by chance? :?: :?:

 

[gold4mike]

Oldbitcollector,

I'm doing much the same thing you're looking to do. I recycle computers from (currently) six counties in South-Eastern Ohio and use the not-so-obsolete stuff to help support the charity I work for. We take donated computers, refurbish them and ship them to people with disabilities all over Ohio.

The material that is too old or is not repairable is scrapped. The way I break them down is this:

Case = scrap steel - roughly $0.095 per pound currently
Drives = disassemble, separate aluminum, stainless steel, copper, neodymium magnets, motors and circuit boards
Flat ribbon cables = Pull off connectors, give to my mother-in-law to pull the pins
Power cables = cut off connectors (many contain brass), sort as insulated copper
Small cables (to front panel connector on motherboard) - often contain gold plated connectors. I disassemble the pins, toss the plastic, keep the wire
Motherboard = remove heat sink (aluminum), CPU, cards with edge fingers, RAM
Large plastic parts - I currently take to the landfill for lack of a buyer. I would still like to find someone to take the plastic!

I'm currently processing the circuit boards from drives, removing pins, then heating to remove components to sort/process further. You might want to sell them on eBay since they'll probably sell for more than the gold content is worth.

CPU's - I'm just starting to sell on eBay because THOSE PEOPLE ARE NUTS! I was saving them to process but now believe that I can sell them for more than their gold value, take the money and buy more gold with it than I would have been able to recover.

RAM - I keep much of to use in the computers that get donated for the program I mentioned above. The oldest pieces I cut the edge fingers from and have been saving the leftovers to process at a later date.

Cards with edge fingers - Check eBay first for resale value of individual, newer cards. The rest will probably sell on eBay for more than the gold value. I estimate a card to be worth $0.33, although the actual value can vary wildly. I see large lots of them go on eBay regularly for $1.00 per card.

The copper, brass and aluminum I have boxed and am waiting for the coming shortage and price spike of those metals. I like to gamble!

Welcome to the forum

 

[samuel-a]

gold4mike

how much do you get for the flat cables, power cables and small cables ?

 

[gold4mike]

It's been quite a while since I actually sold any - I'm hoarding them currently. I've seen estimates as high as $10.00 per pound for copper by then end of 2011 so I'm hoping to cash in. If it doesn't work out that way I'm not out anything.

The last time I sold I got $0.95 per pound for the flat cables and the small front panel wires. "Multi-insulated" cables such as monitor cables, printer cables, mouse & keyboard cables brought $0.75 per pound at that time. The last time I went in to sell steel (from cases) copper was at $2.80 per pound for bare copper. I didn't ask about the various grades of insulated cable.

 

[gold4mike]

I failed to answer your question fully - Power cables - I haven't sold any yet. I have about 400 pounds of them saved up. I want to take some of the laser printer parts, gears & motors, and design a wire stripper that I can feed to get the bare copper out of those. Anything that has any size has been kept for some time now.

 

[leavemealone]

Large plastic parts - I currently take to the landfill for lack of a buyer. I would still like to find someone to take the plastic!

Hey mike.A couple of months ago I found a buyer for a gentleman in orlando,I just called some of the local companies that have buyers set up and asked them If I could get the buyers info.We met with the gentleman over there and he said if the quantity was high enough he would provide a hydraulic baler for free.Hopefully that could work for you as well.

I want to take some of the laser printer parts, gears & motors, and design a wire stripper that I can feed to get the bare copper out of those.

I knew a guy some years ago,that made something smilar to what it sounds like you want to build.He took 2 rollers that had surface rust(not smooth,so it would "grab" the wire),one had a sprocket like form a bicycle,with a slow motor,and they had a spring connecting the 2 together.So they were able to spread apart when the wire was fed into them with constant pressure on the wire no matter what size it was.The wire was fed through another 2 wheel with resistance on them,then about a 2 foot gap,then through the 2 rollers that were motorized.As the wire was fed through,it was taught,due to the resistance on the first 2 rollers it passed through,then he simply ran a blade over the wire and it stripped a tiny sliver off,and he was able to seperate it after that.Of course it had its drawbacks,it was a lot of work for short pieces of wires,and if the wire had any tangles in it,then everything was shut down.But thought Id pass that idea along.
Johnny

 

[Barren Realms 007]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1KnleloGeQ&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfaHTMgJlVc

This looks to be a neat machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf-rDH044Jc&feature=related

 

[gold4mike]

Johnny,

That's pretty much what I had in mind. I saved a bunch of the soft rubber covered rollers from laser printers with the thought of using two of them to grab and pull the wire the same way you described. I'll use several small grooved rollers with a "v" shape to them to funnel the wire across a spring loaded box cutter to simplify blade replacement. I have built the thing in my head many times over - just haven't made the time to actually put it together. I have several boxes of miscellaneous parts I've save over the last few years.

I want to make a shaker for my HCl bucket to agitate it while I dissolve low value pins.

I'd like to combine Lazer Steve's finger bucket idea with Firewalker's (I think) rotating deplating cell basket to quickly take care of fingers.

So many ideas, so little time!

 

[gold4mike]

Barren,

I bid on a slightly used DRM machine like the one in that third video. I stopped at $250.00, it went for over $600.00. They sell new for $1295.00. It works for anything down to (I believe) 16 gauge. It might have been 18 gauge - not sure.

Too much for my wallet!

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Barren,

I bid on a slightly used DRM machine like the one in that third video. I stopped at $250.00, it went for over $600.00. They sell new for $1295.00. It works for anything down to (I believe) 16 gauge. It might have been 18 gauge - not sure.

Too much for my wallet!

That was a compact machine, I wonder how it would hold up under a big drill? I liked it.

 

[patnor1011]

This is what I call neat machine... enjoy video...
http://www.jmcrecycling.com/products/cable/the-matrix-150t-compact-cable-granulation-plant

 

[Lou]

I was just in Orville the other day on a drive out in the country!

Perhaps I could offer you some advice?

 

[silversaddle1]

We just sold two gaylords of internal computer wires, cables and power cords. All mixed together. All gold ends cut off but brass ends left on. $1.40 a pound.

$10.00 a pound copper? I'd love to see it, but it will not happen.

We are sitting on 14,000 pounds of clean aluminium right now, so I would LOVE to see a spike in that market!

All's well in Iowa!

 

[glorycloud]

Aside from heat sinks, where do you find aluminum in PC's?
I have seen some cases that were aluminum and I guess the hard drives
are aluminum.

Just curious. 8)

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Aside from heat sinks, where do you find aluminum in PC's?
I have seen some cases that were aluminum and I guess the hard drives
are aluminum.

Just curious. 8)

Through out the drives, and lots of other areas best way to tell is with a magnet. Just depends on how much you want to go digging.