Non-Chemical Gold cell for CPU pins

[oldtimmer]

Gold cell is working like advertised.

I made a very interesting discovery in the process. Tired of stripping CPU pins with acid? Try using the cell.... I have a few nice CPUs with gold plated lids that I had not got to processing. These CPUs are still intact and the lids had not been removed. I wanted to see the cell stripping the gold from the lid. Did a great job and very fast. When I removed the CPU and rinsed it, I noticed that the gold plating had been removed from almost all of the pins. The alligator clip was attached to several of the pins while holding the CPU. Apparently there is enough electrical contact internal in the CPU, plus the high current may have helped. I moved the clip to the pins that were not stripped to strip them. I have tried four different CPUs and will try more later. One that I tried was the AMD K6 with the Al lid removed and it also stripped the gold from most of the pins.

I am thinking of clipping a small stainless steel plate so that it contacts all of the pins at the same time to see how it works. I will post results over the weekend if it works.

Photoshop is not working to crop the pictures so I will try to get it working and post pictures later.

 

[oef62nd]

Just be careful using the cell electricity is a bitch....

Can't wait for the pics I want to get started with my own cell too...Got the AP/AR systems down...

 

[oldtimmer]

Was finally able to borrow my son's camera and take some pictures.

CPU1 is an AMD 486
CPU2 is a Cyrix
CUU3 is an AMD K6

CPUs 1 and 2 were attached and plating removed only once.

CPU 3, I moved the alligator clip around to make contact to the pins that were not removed by the first attempt.

 

[qst42know]

There should be some braze alloy under the heads of each of those legs. Dissolving them would be a more complete method to get all of it. And then perhaps some under the silicon chip itself, and the brazed on lids. There is more to these than is on the legs.

 

[Despotic]

There is more to these than is on the legs

agreed!
I have several amd K5's were the brazing is so thick
that I cannot remove the lids with mapp gas.
(some advice would be great with that btw)

Also, by using acid all gold from pins and
visible bond wires are recovered in one process.

-Craig

 

[goldsilverpro]

The braze that holds the legs is quite possibly a silver/copper alloy. At least, that's what was used on the older ceramic packages.

Thicker lid braze shouldn't make it any more difficult to remove. The specific braze used will melt at the same temperature, whether thick or thin.

 

[GrailSeeker]

It should work by shortening all the pins, because that is what you essentially attempt to do, but try to regulate the heat coming out. Their operational ratings are much lower than the voltage you are applying to them. !