Gold in Playstation 3 Boards? Silver Plated Gold pins?

[faramith29]

Hi guys! I'm new here! oh well I work in a video game repair shop here in Puerto Rico and we have lots of boards round here, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, you name it, well after reading so much about recycling we started to recycle dead consoles, still we have the boards around, I found this forum and started reading, wow you guys rock at what you do! so that got me thinking these boards could also contain gold. The only method I can try is AP, since I cant get hold of strong chemicals and I dont want to risk my family to those toxic fumes. ok now It's late here and I managed only to take some pics of one PS3 board, the areas I mainly focused had some gold plating or gold like finish.

There are several PS3 board versions, this is the first one I got my hands on later on I can add others to this post.

Here is the overview, we removed the RSX chip (Graphics chip) but I didn't saw any gold plating there, the graphics chip as well as the CPU have that heatsink attached, it is Copper and its quite heavy it has some kind of aluminum plating or other metal (dunno how to turn these in the scrapyard, or try removing the plating?),. The PS3 has HDMI port, RCA port for PS2 cables, Ethernet port, also HDD connector on the bottom of the board contains some golden pins inside, the Blu Ray drive (not pictured) contains some cables that have some gold fingers or gold foil plated ends.

Ok #1 this was a weird one and that's why I'm mentioning it first, normally As I have seen in this forum, there are gold plated pins or fingers, well this one seemed like it was gold plated from the top view since its a connector for the blu ray drive, fan and power supply (there are 3 on the board), but once you remove it you see silvery pins, but the top of each pin is golden, I tried to remove some of the silvery material and it revealed these pins have a golden core, can it be gold pins with aluminum plating???

Ok #2 there are several of these components throughout the board (the one that has a reversed 5 on the top center) , it has golden color., also in this picture, I tried to remove the HDMI connector, it contains very fragile golden fingers.

#3 this one is the battery holder, also golden connectors.

#4 this chip has some gold in there

#5 I read somewhere in this forum that these ceramic like components had palladium or such, well the board literally is filled with them.

well thats all I can post tonight, I will be posting more later. let me hear your thoughts!

 

[faramith29]

Here is another picture of one of the PS3 power supply connectors:

I removed some of the silvery plating

what could it be?

If I test these using AP would it dissolve the silver plating leaving the "Gold"?
but if its not gold it will dissolve completely?

 

[Barren Realms 007]

If there is silver plating on the item it is unlikely that there is gold under it. Possibly brass. But anything is possible.

 

[faramith29]

If there is silver plating on the item it is unlikely that there is gold under it. Possibly brass. But anything is possible.

Dunno if its silver or aluminum but ill try

 

[patnor1011]

Tin plated brass pin. Test with paper. If it leave gray streak its tin.

 

[dtectr]

If you have access to a heat gun, I would begin depopulating several pounds of boards, separating by type. Leave one intact, to use as a reference. Then begin sorting each type component into a separate clear container, so you can see whats inside without having to open the lid & look.

Be selective at this point - for example, in photo #3, there are several different size & color monolithic capacitors, the little, box-like ceramic thingys. Continue with the rest of the components. Remember, these are your reference samples.

Then begin googling each one, using name & part number. Use a magnifying loupe or visor, if need be. Try to find datasheets, for example at http://www.datasheetarchives.com or http://www.alldatasheets.com . Many times these list materials - if you see PM's listed, make a good note.

Crack some of each kind open carefully, try to split them along the plane, if possible, & check for visible Gold. Look especially near the chip, if it has one. Sometimes the braze holding it in place or maybe even the tips of the contacts may have some. Again, use magnification. If you wind up processing a bunch of these, you can save time & money by collecting only the part of the component that that has PMs. Then, you can bust them up the quickest & easiest way possible. Remember, in salvage, pretty doesn't count.

Look also for plated through holes, gold-plated inserts that go "through holes" drilled into the board. These can be worth processing if you can figure out how to recover & process them economically.

I'll do some photoshop on the images you have, pointing out some DEFINITE sources of PMs. You'll likely find others. Keep a piece of DEFINITE gold plate & DEFINITE copper plate at hand at all times to verify the plating material. Light sources & quality vary so don't trust your initial assessment.

If you have discipline enough to proceed logically & analytically at this phase, it will pay off in a large way later. MAKE GOOD NOTES> you'll thank yourself later.

good luck!
dtectr

 

[faramith29]

Tin plated brass pin. Test with paper. If it leave gray streak its tin.

I tried it but it didn't leave anything, ill try again later.

thanks for replying

 

[faramith29]

ok dtectr Ill try depopulating and sorting them out, there are several types of PS3 motherboards, also I have access to XBOX 360, Nintendo DS and Wii Boards, will be posting pics soon, please check the next pic, it is from a dismantled PS3 Dual Lens, the diodes seem to have a gold plating, and the pins too.

Gold Plated items, also 2 magnets.

 

[dtectr]

"A" - The tips are gold plated - search the forum for "mylar ribbon"
"B" - cut or break the circled tabs, then cut the pins off flush with the board with a sharp wood chisel. Then smash the plastic away from the pins & trim any ends that aren't gold plated, if its a considerable amount. if not, just leave them.
"C" - There is definite gold plate here, but I'm not sure where or how much. I have some to process & my research hasn't turned up any details.

Any help, anyone familiar with Diodes?

EDIT: I forgot to upload the image!

 

[faramith29]

"A" - The tips are gold plated - search the forum for "mylar ribbon"
"B" - cut or break the circled tabs, then cut the pins off flush with the board with a sharp wood chisel. Then smash the plastic away from the pins & trim any ends that aren't gold plated, if its a considerable amount. if not, just leave them.
"C" - There is definite gold plate here, but I'm not sure where or how much. I have some to process & my research hasn't turned up any details.

Any help, anyone familiar with Diodes?

EDIT: I forgot to upload the image!

Nice! the image has a blue B so I gather that is "C", XBOX drives don't have golden diodes, but Playstation 3 Do have and I do have hundreds of those lens here,as for mylar ribbons I am gathering lots of them, coming from different systems, Nintendo DS, Wii, PSP, Playstation 3, I still have to check XBox 360 ones, I think I can process them in AP the same as If I was processing computer fingerboards. I also got here some small Cameras from the nintendo DSi, the camera is composed of 3 parts with gold plating: #1 Mylar ribbon, #2 2x Camera chambers with lots of golden pins, #3 2x Camera eye with some gold contacts. Also got some batteries from DS systems, they have a small board inside with gold plating in the contacts I will be uploading some pics soon, as soon as I can, been very busy at work.

Also for those interested, some Play N Trade stores that repair video games or other small repair shops Dump the damaged boards, lens and LCDs, so if you can search the dump before the truck picks em up you will find these boards. or if you make friends with the techs they can give em out for you, unless they start recycling like me that is.

Peace!

 

[dtectr]

Yeah - I'm a moron! The Blue "B" should be ... well, "C".
By the way - a buddy of mine gave me a new XB 360, that is defective - said it would take "about $50 to repair." A kid computer guru said that it was probably the graphics processor - a problem with the solder ball connection on the Ball Grid Array (BGA)? Does that sound right? Any suggestions on making as much as I can on this?

 

[faramith29]

Yeah - I'm a moron! The Blue "B" should be ... well, "C".
By the way - a buddy of mine gave me a new XB 360, that is defective - said it would take "about $50 to repair." A kid computer guru said that it was probably the graphics processor - a problem with the solder ball connection on the Ball Grid Array (BGA)? Does that sound right? Any suggestions on making as much as I can on this?

The BGA has 1 or more solder points broken, we fix em using an Infrared station making a reflow of the GPU. Its quite complicated as you need to watch the temps and don't go overboard. So if you find a place to repair it you must verify their method of repair.

I uploaded this photo of the insides of the DSi Camera, each DSi contain 2 camera units, i see gold there