Old Ceramic CPUs

[localearner]

I’ve been collecting old Ceramic CPUs mainly because I love these old processors, but to also try to refine the gold and silver out of them, and I managed to collect about 130 of them (3kg) amounting to about 16-18g of gold or 1,500-1,700$ in gold.

I have experience refining gold and chemistry in general, but I would have to purchase or make a new fume hood which would be costly. I have the proper chemicals, instruments, glassware so the only addition I would need is the fume hood.

Last time I did recovery was about half a year ago, when I did sorta carelessly mishandle the fumes, inhaling some NOx gases which thankfully didn’t affect me that much. This occurred due to an unexpected issue with my respirator cartridges and lack of proper airflow, hence I’m trying to make/buy a proper fume hood this time.

Do I try to sell everything to Boardsort for 1,100$, attempt to sell on eBay without getting suspended or do I refine it myself?
I will still be keeping the better conditioned ones (30 pcs.) for collective purposes.

What would the non-scrap collective values of these processors be?
Any advice would be appreciated greatly. Thank you!

 

[adam mizer]

Check around this forum a bit I'm sure you will find some answers.
CPU World.
Check here

 

[eaglekeeper]

or do I refine it myself?

Do you have a good buyer for your refined gold and how much under spot do they pay.

 

[AuggieDog]

Why would you get suspended for selling those on eBay?

 

[nickvc]

Check the values as collectables before starting some may well be worth a lot more than any values they contain.
There are designs here on the forum for diy fume hoods failing that a fan at your back pushing the fumes away can be utilized.

 

[localearner]

Do you have a good buyer for your refined gold and how much under spot do they pay.

They pay about 95% spot price, which is very good in my opinion

 

[localearner]

Why would you get suspended for selling those on eBay?

I have gotten suspended once before, with the reasoning being “to protect the eBay community”

 

[localearner]

Check the values as collectables before starting some may well be worth a lot more than any values they contain.
There are designs here on the forum for diy fume hoods failing that a fan at your back pushing the fumes away can be utilized.

Most are in poor condition (many bent pins, burnt, discolored), but their gold value remains the same at 18$/i486. The same CPUs that are in good condition are worth 20$. I will save the better conditioned ones for my own personal collection, but seems like I should try to recover the gold from the worse conditioned ones.

I will have to do this in an enclosed space with a big enough vent opening right in front of the table where I can set up a fume hood.

Unfortunately this means that I will sort of rely on the fume hood, and my respirator.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Most are in poor condition (many bent pins, burnt, discolored), but their gold value remains the same at 18$/i486. The same CPUs that are in good condition are worth 20$. I will save the better conditioned ones for my own personal collection, but seems like I should try to recover the gold from the worse conditioned ones.

I will have to do this in an enclosed space with a big enough vent opening right in front of the table where I can set up a fume hood.

Unfortunately this means that I will sort of rely on the fume hood, and my respirator.

I hope it is not inside the house or garage.

If it is in a enclosed space all metal in that area will be destroyed.
Respirators are not a good idea.
They have a very limited lifespan from the moment you open them, and even shorter when you start using them.
You might need to reconsider and find some other space.

 

[localearner]

I hope it is not inside the house or garage.

If it is in a enclosed space all metal in that area will be destroyed.
Respirators are not a good idea.
They have a very limited lifespan from the moment you open them, and even shorter when you start using them.
You might need to reconsider and find some other space.

The spot is in a separate garage not near my house, and the last time I did refining I used a very small DIY fume hood that had the capacity of 2-3 1l beakers and some 250ml beakers, but the gasses did rust the fan out. The respirator cartridges lasted about a week against Cl2 and HCl gasses, which is enough to complete refining something start to finish.

I really want to find another place to do this, what places would you recommend me looking in to? I don’t have a yard far enough from other people

 

[Yggdrasil]

The spot is in a separate garage not near my house, and the last time I did refining I used a very small DIY fume hood that had the capacity of 2-3 1l beakers and some 250ml beakers, but the gasses did rust the fan out. The respirator cartridges lasted about a week against Cl2 and HCl gasses, which is enough to complete refining something start to finish.

I really want to find another place to do this, what places would you recommend me looking in to? I don’t have a yard far enough from other people

Find one of these plastic boxes with a lid.
Make a gasket and close it.
Then you have two holes, one with a hose to the outside and one with a blower pushing air into it.
This is fine for long term unattended reactions like AP and such.
For Nitric and AR you need a bigger box and maybe make a lid in the front.
Of course then you need a fan creating suction in stead.

Or as some have done, make a small hood out of a IBC or 50 gallon plastic drum.

 

[localearner]

Find one of these plastic boxes with a lid.
Make a gasket and close it.
Then you have two holes, one with a hose to the outside and one with a blower pushing air into it.
This is fine for long term unattended reactions like AP and such.
For Nitric and AR you need a bigger box and maybe make a lid in the front.
Of course then you need a fan creating suction in stead.

Or as some have done, make a small hood out of a IBC or 50 gallon plastic drum.

Exactly what I did last time, got a big plastic box with a lid, made a circular airpoof hole, attached a fan and a vent system. Only issue was, though the box was big it wasn’t big enough, and the fan + duct immediately started to rust upon contact with NOx gasses.

Would you have any other recommendations when making a fume hood?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Exactly what I did last time, got a big plastic box with a lid, made a circular airpoof hole, attached a fan and a vent system. Only issue was, though the box was big it wasn’t big enough, and the fan + duct immediately started to rust upon contact with NOx gasses.

Would you have any other recommendations when making a fume hood?

An IBC or 50 gallon plastic drum is big enough for almost anything.
For some reactions one can pressurize a box and passively vent out the fumes to the outside.
This will keep the fan safe.
Alternative is to construct a venturi system for the suction.

 

[Alondro]

The spot is in a separate garage not near my house, and the last time I did refining I used a very small DIY fume hood that had the capacity of 2-3 1l beakers and some 250ml beakers, but the gasses did rust the fan out. The respirator cartridges lasted about a week against Cl2 and HCl gasses, which is enough to complete refining something start to finish.

I really want to find another place to do this, what places would you recommend me looking in to? I don’t have a yard far enough from other people

Open the garage door and have a big fan running to blow the fumes outside. Put your table close to the open door so the fumes are immediately expelled from the space. If it has any windows, open all of them.

I do my chemical work in my little greenhouse once it's warm enough to move the plants out, and I do the same thing to vent the gasses. It does the trick.

I also sometimes put the reaction vessel out in the yard on some ceramic tiles and just invert a cat litter pan over it to keep anything from falling into it. I just raise up the corners of the litter pan to the needed height with bricks at the corners, and put a brick on top to weight it down in case of wind.

 

[Mech]

I get my electronics from free sources - a school that was going to teach the recovery process [ guessing the teacher got told NO ? ] , surplus places that moved or went out business , and manufactures that have moved & boxes of 70s , 80s lab test gear --- with gold plated traces .
I no longer have any space to work [ except outside ] .
Now almost all of those are no longer - seems like since covid , any sources of enough multiples to pickup [ I will not drive anywhere to pickup ones & twos ] so it seems I will not be doing much ?
I do electronic repair & get little from that , and free stuff from neighbors & friends .
The only processing I do [ because of a good place to work with chemicals ] , is Hydrochloric acid for delaminated gold and burning chips , so far the local refiner , agreed that my buttons were 18 K , but not selling / stacking , for now .
Bought a electric furnace [ copy of TableTop ] from Vevor almost half as much as the TableTop .
I assumed , that TableTop was an import , after buying the Vevor unit - I heard that TableTop was made in US ?
I would have saved up for the TableTop , if knew for sure .
But the Vevor does have some better build points the coils are partially cemented in --- horizontal position , and they offer new guts [ as an assembly ] when coils burn out .

A long way to get to where I started - You statement / quote of getting 95% for your refined gold ?
When the local refiner tested my buttons , they offered to buy [ but again stacking for now ] - did not get / or remember the details on the offer , so as best as I can figure with the lack of inquiring about the details --- their offer was around 20% ?
That was a few yrs. back when gold was around $1200 - 1400 oz .
Not as low as when I was under water suction dredging in northern CA in 80s - 90s about $250 - 350 oz [ did not keep that gold - largest nugget was over 3/4 oz ] , now I call it urban mining