Removing Pins

[Aqlor]

Hey,
this is my second post on the forum, I was getting ready to remove pins from my boards but I have a little question.

How are you supposed to get the pins? Should you desolder them?( witch seems a very long and energy consuming) or just cut the pins right off? I don't know if the lower part of the pins is also coated in gold but even if it is, would it be worth it?

 

[lazersteve]

An air chisel works really fast for clearing boards. Be sure you wear a dust mask, safety goggles, and gloves. You'll also need some sort of catch bin under the boards to trap all of the assorted components as the fly off of the board.

If you just want to target the header pins you can us a hand chisel and small hammer as shown on board my harvesting video on my website http://goldrecovery.us.

Steve

 

[butcher]

Depending on pin type some are plated even where they are soldered, but remember solder dissolves gold even at the soldering temperatures, and having solder to deal with when leaching gold is a lot more work, and for some type's of recovery lead and tin become major obstacles.
With cutting pins from the board you will not have the solder to fuss with, which will save you from having to eliminate it from the pins.
Here is a little to read on gold plating, notice the soldering issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_plating

 

[Aqlor]

lazersteve - I don't have an air chisel, I will probably do it with a hand one or using a pliers, thanks

butcher - do you think I should remove them above the solder then? So i don't get the solder mixed on the reactions? That would make it easier, I've read the wikipedia page you sent and I didn't knew solder could dissolve gold, thank you

 

[butcher]

removeing above solder at surface of board would be easiest with a chiesel, and for dealing with the solder on pins you can use warm HCL will remove solder as lead chloride (slightly insoluble), and soluble tin chloride. Steve suggestion of hand chiesel and hammer sounds easy check out his harvesting video, and his web site, bet you will learn a lot of neat tricks.

 

[Aqlor]

I see,
I have one more question, I was getting some pins and I found these:

They seem golden in real life but anyway, colour isn't anything so, do any of you guys have experience doing these? Maybe they have metal other than gold...

Oh and about the pins, I should cut them above the solder right? Not like I did before...


Here another thing I've found, this time on a motherboard:

If those are gold plated (I think they are) is there any easy way to get the plastic of it?

And just a final question, how can I test the PCB for gold underneath the solder mask?

Manuel Levi