Getting the gold plate copper from between layers of fibergl

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Trustworthysole3

Active member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
34
I got some boards that have gold plating on both sides. I was trying to get under the solder mask by delaminating the fiberglass board with a hammer and a scraper only to find layer after layer of gold plated copper. How is one supposed to get the gold out of the middle of the board? Yes I did test the layers to see if there was gold with my gold tester and there is gold inside the fiberglass.
 
I have seen this,but it is extremely rare.The gold was not used for positive conductivity,or negative oxidation purposes,it is being used for blocking RF signals.I had several hundred pounds of these sticks that had heavy gold plated boards sandwiched between thick composite materials.I sent jack some and I'll see if he still has it when he calls today.
I sold the ones I had to a recycler for $10 a pound,the weight of the boards in the middle were less than 1% of the weight.....just to give you an idea of how much gold was there.
If jack doesn't have his,I will see if I can find a pic on my comp.
Johnny
 
Just a thought but have you tried to "shred" these boards that you are working with? If you can shred them fine enough.
Then a possible leach with Nitric then on to AR.
An option to try maybe.
Good luck with getting the goodies!
Keith.
 
I found the answer to my issue. I took a torch and heated the board and while the board is still warm bend it in several directions so the glass separates. When it is cool start pealing away the ply's of glass and sheets of gold plated metal.
 
Very nice.Can you give us a pic of the gold plated sheets in between?Also can you tell us what they came from(make,model...etc).
Johnny
 
I will try to get a pic with it sanded so you can see the layers. This is not as uncommon as people think. I am finding plenty of them you just have to pay attention when you have the top and bottom layers off of a gold plated board hold the board to the light so you can see if there is light coming through or not if you are not seeing the light through the board then you need to investigate. I am finding them in even and odd layer amounts in a variety of types of boards. I got a box of boards off eBay that is full of them for $.99 plus shipping so I guess you just have to keep on your toes about looking carefully before you throw the board away. Further note if you do not have an electronic gold tester and you are going to play with boards GET ONE. That is the only way I can say for sure that the board has gold plating on it or as I have found in it.
 
Trustworthysole3 said:
I will try to get a pic with it sanded so you can see the layers. This is not as uncommon as people think. I am finding plenty of them you just have to pay attention when you have the top and bottom layers off of a gold plated board hold the board to the light so you can see if there is light coming through or not if you are not seeing the light through the board then you need to investigate. I am finding them in even and odd layer amounts in a variety of types of boards. I got a box of boards off eBay that is full of them for $.99 plus shipping so I guess you just have to keep on your toes about looking carefully before you throw the board away. Further note if you do not have an electronic gold tester and you are going to play with boards GET ONE. That is the only way I can say for sure that the board has gold plating on it or as I have found in it.
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What kind of tester are you using and what was the cost of it if you remember?
 
Im still dying to see these sheets.I have processed thousands of pounds of boards and I have run across very few of them,those few I have come across only came from mil-spec or tel-com equipment.
Johnny
 
I may be wrong but none of the electronic gold testers I've ever seen are reliable, at all, when it comes to gold plated material. They are made for alloys. I would dissolve a little of it in a few ml of aqua regia and test the solution with stannous chloride. That would be the only way to know for sure. I would never rely on a tester. On the forum, I seem to remember people reporting false positives with these testers. Maybe the heating formed a yellow discoloration on the metal.

I have seen a lot of multi-layer boards, but I have never seen gold sandwiched between the layers and, offhand, I can think of no technical reason why it would be. Here again, I may be wrong. I can see small areas gold plated but not the entire area. I can guarantee that there has been a strong technical reason for every usage of gold, at least in the last 50 years. These people have never been stupid or wasteful, at least when it comes to gold.

Test some of this chemically. If it tests positive for gold, pass the crow.
 
goldsilverpro said:
These people have never been stupid or wasteful, at least when it comes to gold.
Click to expand...
That comment can be taken to the bank. Readers will be well advised to remember that when gold was $35/ounce, you could buy a new car for $2,0000, and a loaf of bread for 25¢. Gasoline was 22¢ gallon. The price of gold may have appeared to be cheap, but it was expensive considering circumstances.

Relatively speaking, gold has always been a valuable element, and has been better tracked and recovered than any other single element. Only the foolish used it when it was not required. To expect it to be placed where there is no benefit is unreasonable, and highly unlikely.

Harold
 
In response to some of the questions. I use a Golden touch tester and I think I paid $110. The boards would have appeared to have just been copper between the layers except I test every thing now days and that is how I found that the layers contained gold. i thought I had a board already sanded showing the layers I will have to sand another board so you can see the layers. The other batch of boards that I found are from cell phones and they have only five layers of the gold plated copper. I have thrown a lot of boards like this away and never suspected that they had anything more to offer. Now I test and find all gold that I have paid for.
 
Trustworthysole3,

I repeat. Have you ever tested this "gold" layer with aqua regia and stannous chloride to make sure it is actually gold? Better still, have you ever recovered any gold from these hidden layers?

When it comes to gold plating, I wouldn't trust an electronic tester as far as I could throw it. Please make me eat my words.

I'm not trying to be a jerk. I know that you are sincerity convinced of what you are saying. I just think that, before you convince other people to buy one of those things, you or somebody should prove beyond any doubt that gold is actually present in these mysterious hidden layers. The best way to do this is to actually recover the gold. There's an old saying, "Money talks and BS walks". Show us the gold bead.
 
Yes I have a batch of the layers in AR now and it test positive with the Stannous. The golden touch is very picky it will often not show gold if the quantity or quality is low. In this case it is showing a very clear positive result as is the Stannous.
 
In regards to the electronic testers , they can determine gold on heavy electroplate and gold fill items. I have a tri-electronics gxl-24 pro that I use on a consistant basis. This machine costs about four hundred bucks but is a pretty reliable device. It will give false readings on some chromium alloys, so you have to be aware of that.
The people at Republic refinery use this same model to prescreen jewelry prior to refining. Of course you can't go wrong with the old standby or to double check by using acid testing.
 
I guess I'm just an old refiner that is set in his ways.

The crow is in the oven. I would still like to see photos of these layers and a photo of a bead that was obtained from the gold from these layers, making sure that no gold crept in from any area that was not in these hidden layers.

Has anyone else done this?
 
I once did work for a refiner who coarsely granulated boards and stripped them in cyanide. That's where he got the cash to pay the customer. Then the boards were incinerated and milled into sweeps and metallics bars which were always payable both for gold and silver.
 
I can guarantee that there has been a strong technical reason for every usage of gold, at least in the last 50 years. These people have never been stupid or wasteful, at least when it comes to gold.
Click to expand...
That comment can be taken to the bank.
Click to expand...
Gold plated aluminum case for a connector
I have over a hundred,just finished processing 20 last night.
 

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