Copier PCB Scrap Questions

[TsenSheng]

Hello all,
I'm new here. I've just come up with several tons of copier scrap populated PCBs. These are from old, outdated copier machines. I have Cpu, mainboards, memory, ICs, power boards with capacitors, etc. Is it worth my time to attempt salvage? Would I be better off trying to find a buyer? Would there be other metals worth trying to recover? If I remove most of the gold scrap, would it be at all possible to find a buyer for the remaining scrap? Most of the IC's do not have gold plated connectors, so I doubt they have gold in them, perhaps some other PM, no idea.Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[AlanInMo]

The brilliant minds here can make a better analysis if you'll upload some pictures of the scrap .. :idea:

 

[TsenSheng]

The brilliant minds here can make a better analysis if you'll upload some pictures of the scrap .. :idea:

Thank you, I'll see what I can do, They're from many, many different models and types, so it'll be hard to judge the whole lot by a few samples. The upside is that these boards are from are old, outdated models that were very expensive when new and may contain more PMs than newer equipment. I have access to entire machines as well, there may be other sources of PMs in there I haven't seen yet.

 

[patnor1011]

Hi,
here is what I would do with that. If you are talking about several tons and whole machines the best will be to set up small recovery operation. Just dismantle everything and separate stuff to the best of your judgement to PCBs, plastics, metals, junk... Then shop around and try to get the best price for your piles of materials. To process big amount of escreap PCBs require costly technology /only big boys have that/ or enormous amount of time if you will decide to pull every pin out of it. If you want to keep some gold and to try some refining you can keep fingers and process them with AP which is pretty straight forward operation.

 

[ay_mickey]

wel failing that il process it for you and give you a percentage of what i get, how does that sound :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[TsenSheng]

Thank you all for your responses. I haven't had time to take pictures or sort through my materials over the past few days. Unfortunately, shortly after parking my Ford Expedition a few days ago it caught fire. (the cruise control/fire danger recall had been performed) As a former Volunteer Firefighter, I've seen my share of vehicle fires and was able to supress this one rather quickly. Only the top end of the motor burned, however, as an older vehicle, out of warranty, it is a total loss. I plan on parting it out, but I am curious as to the PM content of the vehicle. Other than the cat, would the computer or wiring harness contain any PMs?

As for finding a buyer for my unpopulated and low value boards, I'm having a bit of trouble here in Southern California. Does anyone have any contacts, or perhaps a site where I might be able to find a buyer?

 

[TsenSheng]

Started disassembling damaged areas of the vehicle. Quite a few nicely gold plated contacts for sensors, etc. Mass Airflow sensors was damamged so I opened it, some interesting looking metals inside on a small PCB. Elsewhere, lots of copper connectors, overwhich is plated in what looks like aluminum?