Telecomunication boards - to buy or not?

[perman666]

Please look pictures, it is telecomunication boards.
Seller has 100kg of this boards, offering me all for 200$.

Is it worth to buy ? I am not refining boards, only collecting
for future...

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[perman666]

Here is 3 pics more.

 

[canedane]

Hi Perman, please look at this link.
http://www.altmetallhandel-heimberger.de/preislisten-1/computerschrott-leiterplatten-platinen/
I belive 200 dollers is over priced.
If you or other members wanna bye escrap to the price the compagny pay, i will sell for the same price.
Henrik

 

[joubjonn]

If you do buy them make sure you smash those blue things on the boards (I can't remember what they are called). They usually have some gold plate material. Usually.

I would try and get them for much less. You gotta figure your time and acid material costs. Unless your just trying to learn off them. 2 sided IC's usually contain little if any PM's.

 

[Smack]

Don't matter what they come from, they are just mid grade boards.

 

[silversaddle1]

So, 100Kg = 220 pounds. So all for $200.00, that means about 90 cents a pound. I don't know what your market is like over there, or how you grade your boards, but my buyer would be close to the $4.00 per pound range on boards like that. I sure would not call them mid grade.

 

[necromancer]

i would say you should double your money. make sure you remove all the aluminium.

 

[macfixer01]

If you do buy them make sure you smash those blue things on the boards (I can't remember what they are called). They usually have some gold plate material. Usually.

I would try and get them for much less. You gotta figure your time and acid material costs. Unless your just trying to learn off them. 2 sided IC's usually contain little if any PM's.

The photos aren't the best and are rather small. I'd have to guess the blue things you referred to are relays? For Perman666's benefit - Low voltage DIP style relays like those often have gold-plated silver contacts. They're usually fairly small contact pads that are welded onto thin copper strips. I just took apart a couple hundred Omron relays of that general type along with a couple dozen NEC relays which were maybe 3X as large physically but still had very small contacts. I cut off all the contacts fairly closely so they're still attached to a minimal amount of copper, and they barely fill a (approx. 1-1/4 inch diameter by 3 inches long) pill bottle up 1/4 full!

macfixer01

 

[goldsilverpro]

This is how I would approach this.

It's hard to determine the date codes on the photos. I'm guessing early to mid '90's. I see no yellow. No fingers. Lots of extra metal weight on the sides. Probably gold only on the tips of the pins in those edge connectors. For any other gold, I would think it would have to be in those black plastic IC's. Were I you, I would get the guy to first give you samples of about 20, or more, of those IC's (always get samples before you buy). Also, weigh some boards individually and count the IC's. Cut some IC's off of several boards with a chisel or a dremel. Take them home and carefully split them open. You can do this edgewise in a vise or by tapping them on edge, on a steel plate, with a hammer. They should split open so you can see the insides. If you see any yellow, even if it is just around the silicon chip, I would guess they are worth $.05 to $.20 each.

On that link that canedane gave, after using Google Translator, I think they're closest to the LP2A boards, of which they're paying $2.04/pound (3.25 euros/kg). That's probably about 50% of their actual value, or less.

These IC's are not that easy to process. They first require incineration or pyrolysis. If you just want to turn them, my rule is to find a buyer, at a profit, before you buy them. I once knew a guy that had 2 telephone lines. He would get the buyer and seller on separate lines at the same time, go back and forth, and lock in both sides.

 

[justme2]

My buyer pays $3.50 and up.

 

[Smack]

Mid grade all day long on those. You can call them mid grade telecom but they're not even close to high grade. But definitely get as much as you can from them if all your going to do is sell them.

 

[nickvc]

GSP those prices you looked at we're in Euros not Stirling so the boards are worth $2 a pound according to their offer price.

 

[joubjonn]

GSP gave some good advice. I have yet to split a 2 sided IC and find anything but silver or copper color. I know they exist with gold I have yet to find it. I do think the tips of the legs and the metal inside May be coated with Pd. I'm doing a test now to prove that with 2 sided ram Magnetic pieces I placed in AP. Whatever is left should be Pd/Silver/little gold.

 

[goldsilverpro]

GSP those prices you looked at we're in Euros not Stirling so the boards are worth $2 a pound according to their offer price.

Thanks, Nick,

I changed it in my post.

In the mid to late 80's, a lot of those plastic IC's contained gold. I don't know when they stopped.

 

[necromancer]

early 90's i think. just follow the gold prices through the years.

http://www.kitco.com/charts/historicalgold.html



edit, link added

 

[kurtak]

The company I broker my boards to is paying $5.05 a pound for boards like these (telcom) 100kg = 220lb @ $200 = 90 cents a lb = $4.15 per lb profit just to broker them

I would buy them for that in a heart beat

Kurt

 

[silversaddle1]

The company I broker my boards to is paying $5.05 a pound for boards like these (telcom) 100kg = 220lb @ $200 = 90 cents a lb = $4.15 per lb profit just to broker them

I would buy them for that in a heart beat

Kurt

Care to PM me your buyer's name and company? Always looking for outlets to sell to.

 

[kurtak]

Dynamic Recycling in La Crosse Wi. or Nashville Tn. $5.05 is there current price on Server/Network/Telecom boards

Kurt