Non-Chemical Depopulating boards

[Captobvious]

I've thought about using the Air Chisel method but tried another method and it seemed to work fine.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxUbwDZCaSY[/youtube]

Personally I would think the dust coming off of everything would be dangerous without using some kind of facemask / respirator.... dunno for sure

 

[butcher]

Captobvious,
Thanks for the demo, safety equipment would be a must, I have not tried it but I have the same tool and thought of trying it, I was wondering how long the blade would last, and actually I was concerned with the dust it may form and was not sure how to contain it safely.

lead dust from the solder, as well as fiberglass and other very toxic dust, would be all over the area were you have done this at, you also would not want to carry that back into the house on your cloths or un-gloved hands especially if you have small children, take extra precautions.

 

[Geo]

Be would be my most major concern. http://www.cubealloys.com/images/beryllium_copper.pdf

 

[rusty]

The only devices on the board I've been able to identify as having beryllium_copper are the dip switches and those gold plated pins from the telcomm connections.

Sawing or grinding action would create dust whereas shearing would not.

 

[nh6886]

This is my method for depopulating boards.
Equipment:
Sand blast cabinet $125 at Grizzly tools.


Fein tool Multimaster $200 you can get lots of other models down to $50 from Harbor Freight tools. The very high BPM of these type of tools reduce the kickback or jerking of the board to a minimum.

 

[nh6886]

The process is straight forward I ground a one sided bevel onto a metal cutting blade.
I put a piece of canvas in the bottom half of the cabinet, below the screen to catch all the components and dust. This also makes the components easy to recover.
I start in the middle and work to the far edge then flip the board around and repeat. It takes less than five minutes to do a motherboard. I am going to try using a large pair of vise-grips to hold the board and think this will improve that time.
The telecom board was less than a minute

 

[nh6886]

I load 5 or 6 boards into the cabinet knock all the components off then use a paint brush to clean the bulk of the dust off the walls. Before opening the door I hook my shop vac with a HEPA filter to the exhaust port to clear any airborne material.
This method eliminates most of the safety concerns and makes recovering your parts a snap.

I hope this is helpful and welcome your input.

All the Best,
John

 

[solar_plasma]

Not everything I do is quite intelligent, but making dust of boards isn't either. Even if the ceramics not should contain beryllium oxide, which I am doubting, there are plenty of other poisonous materials like fireprotecting organics and brome, some that even penetrate skin.

To do that safely in greater amount continiously, you would need some kind of inverse decontamination place and a working suit, you don't take into your living rooms and don't wash it together with your childrens clothes. Just my two Pfennig.

EDIT:

Re: Depopulating boards
I load 5 or 6 boards into the cabinet knock all the components off then use a paint brush to clean the bulk of the dust off the walls. Before opening the door I hook my shop vac with a HEPA filter to the exhaust port to clear any airborne material.
This method eliminates most of the safety concerns and makes recovering your parts a snap.

Oooops, I should have read the last posts deeper! Very nice,invention!

 

[butcher]

John,
I like the sand blast cabinet is a great Idea to contain dust, and to keep small part from flying all over the place, and you have to wear the gloves to use it :lol:
Thanks for the pictures,

 

[nh6886]

Thanks Butcher,

I like the way it works and you are right on about the gloves, I am a lot more likely to use them when I don't have a choice.
By the way I think all the air tools already shown in this thread would work great in the same application. I already had this tool so it was a no brainier.

Solar Plasma,

No harm at all, I was trying to figure out if you were replying to me. More to the point though if you thought I was promoting sand blasting the components off of PCB' s you would be right to say something.
Nice to meet you and welcome to the forum.

All the Best,
John

 

[solar_plasma]

Solar Plasma,

No harm at all, I was trying to figure out if you were replying to me. More to the point though if you thought I was promoting sand blasting the components off of PCB' s you would be right to say something.
Nice to meet you and welcome to the forum.

All the Best,
John

Thank you, John. No,didn't reply to you. I just did the most irritating thing on a forum this time by myself: Responding without having read deeply all posts. I know exactly how that feels. :lol: A good lesson to learn.

Best regards
Björn

 

[Auful]

I think it's a great idea. I only wish I had the equipment to do it. It would save tons of time!

 

[g_axelsson]

The only devices on the board I've been able to identify as having beryllium_copper are the dip switches and those gold plated pins from the telcomm connections.

You could also find beryllium copper in the holder for the CPU, especially in holders for modern pinless CPU:s. I've written about it before. Search my post for beryllium and you will find it.

Göran

 

[kjavanb123]

Genius concept there, once the slot pci sockets removed how do you plan to remove the pins from them to be processed?

 

[nh6886]

Sorry I didn't see your question. I plan to pyrolize them but for now I am just sorting and preparing material. I am working through a different project first.

All the Best,
John

 

[Smack]

PCI sockets? You should have already removed the white PCI housing off of the pins while it is still on the board. They pull off too easy to do it any other way. Even AGP comes off easily, it's the black ISA sockets that don't come off worth a darn.

 

[kane333]

This is my method for depopulating boards.
Equipment:
Sand blast cabinet $125 at Grizzly tools.


Fein tool Multimaster $200 you can get lots of other models down to $50 from Harbor Freight tools. The very high BPM of these type of tools reduce the kickback or jerking of the board to a minimum.

I made my video the day before Rusty posted this thread and uploaded it to Youtube for a demo over at Scrap Metal Forum. It was interesting seeing the different methods used but using the sand blasting cabinet to contain the parts and dust never even crossed my mind. Now I have another use for my blasting cabinet. Thanks for the great ideas.

 

[nh6886]

Smack
I'm far from 100 percent on the names of all the connectors however I agree that the ones that pull off the board leaving the pins should be approached that way. This small run was more a proof of concept than anything else but time saved on one end could cost you on the other so thanks for the reminder.

Kane333

Thanks I'm glad to share I've learned so many things here its an amazing site.


All the Best,
John