butcher said:
No it is not a total loss, as if you did not do whole circuit boards, as I had thought from pictures, but you do have the base metals and solder in your solution with Iron and so on,
(Sorry from pictures I thought they were the whole memory circuits, it looks like circuit boards in there)
Remove plastic, and remaining cpu's rinse well, save cpu's these if they are ceramic, fiber type save separately after rinsed, rinse powders and incinerate them save them in a jar, now back to the HOKE's book, and reading on the forum,
Collect material to process while you are learning, read guided tour, and the forum handbook, study processes for the different types of materials, learn to make of your own chemicals needed like nitric acid unless you have a good source, check out Steves web site and study his video's, start with processing one type of material after you learn how, maybe something easy like fingers, following a proven process, following step by step procedures.
We all make some mistakes at the beginning (heck we all make mistakes even after we learn), you have plenty of time to get the gold but spending time learning first you will get more gold.
This is my advice, another member may have advice to help you clean up this mess but you will need the studying to get anywhere in this field of refining, and homework will get you there faster than cleaning up messes will.
forget Shore, you found the forum.
I see header pins still in plastic connectors. I've come across a super easy way to remove the plastic connectors with them still on the board (supplies leverage, you'll see why in a sec). the friction of the tight fit of plastic on many pins doesn't allow them to lift off easily - if you try, you'll end up mangling your pins.
Please remember, before processing, you are going to heat all your reclaimed feed stock to cherry red (incinerate) on an outdoor burner to eliminate carbon-based contaminants, including oils. So, spray your pins with a quick shot of aerosol pan coating, like PAM. You could use industrial spray lubes like WD40, but you end up with lubricant residue designed to withstand heat & moisture, whereas pan coatings are just a vegetable oil & propellant, usually isobutane. Then using a wood chisel (mine is a 1" cheapo) simply begin to pry first at one end, then the other& you'll see & feel the plastic gliding off of the pins, leaving them intact,erect, & undamaged for your removal method of choice.
Lately, on newer boards, I'm just cutting them off flush with the board with some nippers or flush cutters. On older boards, I believe the original gold plating extended through the board, and though now alloyed with the solder mix, there are still some gold values present which should be released when the base metals are dissolved. These boards i place on a steel plate atop a hot plate which i turn on high. When you seecomponents start to wiggle, grad the board with pliers & flip it over a container & bang on the bottom with whatever you have at hand & everything will drop cleanly off.
I seperate the individual components, & high-grade the most desirable first, for me, in this case, the pins. When you have a sufficient batch, spread evenly on a metal sheet or better yet, an old steel skillet. Heat to cherry red, approx. 700 degrees, officially & ideally for 1 hour. Make sure you leave the lid off - you want an oxidizing atmoshere ( rich in oxygen)as this hastens the combustion of carbon-based contaminants. Putting the lid on, though drawing less attention from your neighbors, creates a reducing atmoshere (one depleted of oxygen) and you wind up with beautiful electronic charcoal (this I learned the hard way).
The pins should now be ready to process. Muriatic acid (HCl) in a crockpot on low heat for a few days will begin to dissolve your base metals, including some of the solder, and will let the very thin leaves of gold plating to float free.
everything I've written here, with the exception of removal of header pins, I've learned from this forum & the knowledgeable folks who frequent it & support it, & with their help, I downloaded "Refining Precious Metal Wastes", by C.M. Hoke (she's a gal), which explains in simple terms some seemingly complicated processes. it's worth your time to download it & print all 300+ pages so you can read it in the bathroom, before you go to bed at night, ... :lol:
Good luck & hang in there. I'm a beginner, but thanks to these folks here, I have my first visible gold as washed gold foils, as well as a considerable amount in solution, waiting to be harvested when the solution is pregnant (where do we get these terms?)
Jordan
