U-229/U

[zuberb]

Anyone ever messed with these?

I work for the military and have seen these thrown away from time to time. I had an old one at home and cut into it the other night. The five pins look like gold.

Here's what the material data sheet from cooper says they are:

Copper alloy, .000030 gold per MIL-G-45204, Type I, Class 0 over
.001 nickel.

Would that even be worth the effort? I'm guessing no.

 

[Geo]

mill spec 30 microns is pretty standard for military scrap. it is an excellent source of gold from Escrap. is it worth recovering? in my opinion, its alot better than computer scrap.

 

[zuberb]

Those are plated right? Not alloyed?

If they are plated, I'll just throw them in with the pins and run them through my cell.

 

[Claudie]

I don't think you will find Gold alloys in any electronics, but I have been wrong before. Gold is used to protect the surface from corrosion, if it were alloyed, it wouldn't be as affective.

 

[zuberb]

That makes perfect sense.

The only reason I asked is that I tried a test with my test kit (keep in mind I have no experience in testing gold) and it did not test like it was plated.

I made four different lines on the stone and drug the 10k solution over all four. All four lines reacted the same. If it were plated, shouldn't the subsequent lines fade under the acid more than the first line?

 

[goldsilverpro]

mill spec 30 microns is pretty standard for military scrap. it is an excellent source of gold from Escrap. is it worth recovering? in my opinion, its alot better than computer scrap.

Are you sure you mean 30 MICRONS and not 30 microinches (.75 microns)? The difference is HUGE. A micron is 40 times larger than a microinch. One square inch of gold plated 30 microns thick would be worth about $21. Does that sound right to you? Don't we all wish that were true? If it were 30 microinches, it would be $.53/in² - much more in line with reality.

I'm asking everyone to be more careful when using these terms. An error in their usage can create much confusion and money can be lost with the wrong information.

The most irritating error is common on eBay when they use mill or mil as an abbreviation for millionths. A mil, in the U.S., is 0.001" = 1000 millionths of an inch (1000 microinches) = 1000/40 = 25 microns. These people do this because they are used to texting and this is another reason to keep the dreaded texting lingo off of the forum.

 

[Geo]

im quoting a friend on this one, so im not 100%. the man is 72 and still works as an electrical engineer building and repairing test equipment for the military, but that still does not mean hes right either.

from the OP, the spec says its a copper alloy pin and the gold is 0.000030, so the gold is 0.00030 inches thick. i think that means 30 millionths of an inch?

 

[Geo]

mill spec 30 microns is pretty standard for military scrap. it is an excellent source of gold from Escrap. is it worth recovering? in my opinion, its alot better than computer scrap.

Are you sure you mean 30 MICRONS and not 30 microinches (.75 microns)? The difference is HUGE. A micron is 40 times larger than a microinch. One square inch of gold plated 30 microns thick would be worth about $21. Does that sound right to you? Don't we all wish that were true? If it were 30 microinches, it would be $.53/in² - much more in line with reality.

I'm asking everyone to be more careful when using these terms. An error in their usage can create much confusion and money can be lost with the wrong information.

The most irritating error is common on eBay when they use mill or mil as an abbreviation for millionths. A mil, in the U.S., is 0.001" = 1000 millionths of an inch (1000 microinches) = 25 microns. These people do this because they are used to texting and this is another reason to keep the dreaded texting lingo off of the forum.

i agree and all i can do is plead ignorance on this one. i recited what i had been told without checking for myself. i do apologize.

 

[goldsilverpro]

im quoting a friend on this one, so im not 100%. the man is 72 and still works as an electrical engineer building and repairing test equipment for the military, but that still does not mean hes right either.

from the OP, the spec says its a copper alloy pin and the gold is 0.000030, so the gold is 0.00030 inches thick. i think that means 30 millionths of an inch?

If it's .000030, that means the gold is .000030" (30 millionths of an inch) thick, not .00030" (300 millionths of an inch).

 

[zuberb]

Good info GSP.

I guess, now that I think of it, asking if it was plated was a dumb question. .000030 is a measurement in length, not volume, so I should have figured out that they were talking about plating thickness.

I'll chalk this one up to learning.