Old Miltary Field Keyboards - Question

[powerbuy]

I came across a bunch of these keyboards in a large US military lot. I have dozens of them.... they appear to be waterproof and cased in either aluminum or some sort of metal alloy. I took apart one of the ones that was in bad shape to show the interior. The inside of the metal housing has a gold color, so I'm not sure if it's an aluminum or some other mixture of metals....

Each key has it's own little LED light and a gold contact. The keypad and mouse itself is a waterproof rubber. I searched for two hours trying to find somewhere online that detailed the components based on the NSN. Anyone have any experience with these? Would it be better to process these for gold or to try to sell them as they are?

 

[MMFJ]

Would it be better to process these for gold or to try to sell them as they are?

Not to overly overstate the obvious, but these are, afterall, keyboards (which are <$1......) - so if they are solid gold or just a pinch, well,......

(and at the risk of being labeled 'smart' - and not in a nice way.... :shock: .......

The first picture with the label tells you a lot - "no parts inside"....

Though it does look like there is a bit of shiny stuff in there and might be worth doing a test on one/few before deciding what to do with the lot.

Would really depend on if you are doing this for profit or a good time (I certainly have found the later to be the case on everything I've undertaken so far, but am having a blast tearing stuff up and everyone tells me my anger-management class must be working :evil:

 

[glorycloud]

Would it be better to process these for gold or to try to sell them as they are?

Not to overly overstate the obvious, but these are, afterall, keyboards (which are <$1......) - so if they are solid gold or just a pinch, well,......

(and at the risk of being labeled 'smart' - and not in a nice way.... :shock: .......

The first picture with the label tells you a lot - "no parts inside"....

Though it does look like there is a bit of shiny stuff in there and might be worth doing a test on one/few before deciding what to do with the lot.

Would really depend on if you are doing this for profit or a good time (I certainly have found the later to be the case on everything I've undertaken so far, but am having a blast tearing stuff up and everyone tells me my anger-management class must be working :evil:

It actually says "No user serviceable parts inside".
Which means - don't open it Mr. Customer. 8)

There are some gold touch pads. Search "touch pads" on the forum as
I believe you will find how people get the gold from them using the AP process.

Have fun!

 

[powerbuy]

I will try to do some tests on one this week, and will post the results. I know that these are keyboards, but they are definitely not your average keyboards. Old military stuff has on several occasions given me outstanding gold yields.

I was just hoping someone had actually seen or processed these before. I have sold several of these keyboards in the past for over $70 / each, so they are not your run-of-the-mill <$1 keyboards.... There is visible gold all over the boards, but of course the plating thickness is really what will determine whether these are worth my time or not.

I am including a photos that show the side with the gold key contacts a little better....

 

[glorycloud]

No doubt that they are a nice keyboard. Do a search under "touch pad"
as there is some good information about processing boards and things
like this with nice visible gold pads.