If you remove the touch pad on a laptop you may find it has gold plating under the surface of the touchpad. Some have very rich gold plating, others have a silvery-gold plating. I have tried to process these in AP with limited success. It seems that an adhesive substance blocks the acid from working it's magic. Does anyone have any clever approaches to removing this adhesive chemically? I have had good luck selling these on ebay as they are very photogenic.
How do I remove the adhesive on gold plated touch pads?
- Thread starter skyline27
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aflacglobal
Well-known member
Give us a pic.
I have not been able to post pictures on the forum. I'm better at ripping apart computers than operating them. I have never heard anyone mention touchpads on the forum or otherwise. Some of them look really good with lots of surface area and rich gold color. Sorry.
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- Feb 25, 2007
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The typical plastic product does not burn readily. What plastics tend to do is liquefy when heated, then when the critical temperature is achieved, the resulting liquid (oil) burns with a vengeance. I processed jeweler's wastes this way, for years, with outstanding results. Many of the jewelers used plastic bags for their filters and polishing wastes, so processing the plastic was very much a part of what was required.
What I'd suggest is to incinerate the pads in a shallow pan (an old stainless fry pan comes to mind, readily available at second hand stores) in a fume hood that is built for such a purpose, and is filtered to capture particles that are carried in the smoke. While traces may be lost, this method works quite well. Be very careful that the hood is not combustible. I set fire to my garage with my first hood, which was made of fiber glass. My last two generations of fume hoods were made entirely of asbestos.
Harold
What I'd suggest is to incinerate the pads in a shallow pan (an old stainless fry pan comes to mind, readily available at second hand stores) in a fume hood that is built for such a purpose, and is filtered to capture particles that are carried in the smoke. While traces may be lost, this method works quite well. Be very careful that the hood is not combustible. I set fire to my garage with my first hood, which was made of fiber glass. My last two generations of fume hoods were made entirely of asbestos.
Harold
chefjosh77
Well-known member
Lazer steve posted a video on solder mask removal. The green layer has a silicone-like layer, then solder mask. I let them soak in hot 20% lye just like steve showed us and that seems to attack the adhesive enough to roll it off with your thumbs(after a thorough rinse of course). Then back in the lye bath to attack the green solder mask. Its tedious, but seems to work for me. I refine on a very small scale. (100-300) computers at a time and incineration isn't really available to me. Good Luck!
glorycloud
Well-known member
I believe Steve used some mouse pads (touch pads) in a video on his
website that dealt with the topic. The touch pads looked like these
that came out of a POS keyboards.
website that dealt with the topic. The touch pads looked like these
that came out of a POS keyboards.
chefjosh77
Well-known member
I just did about 10 and It seemed better this way.
First I peeled off the top part that is the outside plastic of the touchpad to expose the adhesive.
Then I brushed on some aircraft adhesive remover
waited about 10 minuits
rinsed
and this peeled the adhesive of pretty easily. The gooier parts i used a toothbrush on. then proceeded to solder mask removal like lazer steve. Hope this helps.
First I peeled off the top part that is the outside plastic of the touchpad to expose the adhesive.
Then I brushed on some aircraft adhesive remover
waited about 10 minuits
rinsed
and this peeled the adhesive of pretty easily. The gooier parts i used a toothbrush on. then proceeded to solder mask removal like lazer steve. Hope this helps.
Chumbawamba
Well-known member
Try a citrus-based cleaner like Goof-Off or similar. Use it sparingly, as a lot goes a long way, and it will dissolve the plastic if you apply too much, making a bigger mess. Soaking in a small amount of said cleaner would do the trick, then just wipe off the muck.
chefjosh77
Well-known member
Chumbawamba said:
It does work, but the aircraft brand seems to go a lot further for the money. Plus its a gel consistency and you don't have to use as much to brush on to the backings. Plus it can smell the lab up pretty bad. like bad oranges for hours. The plus side is it wont hurt your skin as bad if you get it on. The aircraft stuff burns like crazy, and there is a strong ammonia smell when you rinse, but it dissipates quickly.
More options the better I guess.
I used acetone to remove the glue from mine, worked fast and the adhesive came right off by wiping the board with a cloth.
Steve
Steve
