Dose Beryllium have any value… X-Ray tubes

[jweldridge]

A friend of mine gave me 3 OLD x-ray tubes. 1 is burnt out, and the other 2 are still functional. I know there is beryllium around the around the x-ray emitting hole (as seen in the 2nd picture). He said if I return the beryllium in a small sealed container he can dispose of it. He wasn't sure if it has any value, but believes there is over 1 ounce of gold in each of these things. I have searches Siemens medical website but nothing except info on rebuilding these. Anybody have any thoughts or input?

 

[Irons]

Beryllium is extremely toxic. Breathing in even minute amounts of the metal particles can cause long-term health issues. Nuclear workers who didn't even handle it, but were in areas where it was being processed are suffering the same symptoms as the people in direct contact.

My advice is to consider your health before a few dollars in Gold.

 

[samuel-a]

Over an ounce of gold? each?

I'm sticking with Iron on that one...
and add, that the risks are not just beryllium dust, most Be compunds are extremely toxic, as well as tuching the bare metal...

Let a professional refiner have a look at it.

 

[a_bab]

Those tubes contain some Be in the form of foil so I wouldn't worry. Be metal in solid form is not THAT dangerous to play with; it's really a tough metal.

 

[turtlesteve]

I've taken apart a copper target x-ray tube before, just as a curiosity, and did not find anything of value. I have heard of gold target x-ray tubes (as your photo seems to indicate) but I have no idea how much gold they would contain. I did not try to remove the Beryllium from my tube as I could not see a way of doing so safely. In the one I looked at, the discs were strongly & permanently bonded (welded?) to the tube, such that they would be very difficult to remove without making dust. It might be possible to use a hole saw on a drill press to cut out a disc of metal around the Beryllium, but it would have to be done very carefully.

Please post your results as I would like to know how much gold these contain.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[Goldfinger4]

Are you still alive?
You should not eat beryllium, despite I read that Be salts taste sweet

Did you find any gold? I did not find anything about gold containing x ray tubes.
Some very old ones had platinum plated elekctrodes but that was before 1940.