Where is the value of HDD logic boards?

[Goerg]

In the scrap industry, hdd logic boards are the best payed boards by far.
I have began to do some research in order to find where is the value, and so far, without any clue. I`ve been breaking the chips, but I didn`t found PMs. I dissolved some of the metal parts in them in AR and tested with stanneous chloride without any color as result.
May be the tantalum in capacitors?
May be they reuse the chips?

Any ideas will be welcome. Thanks.

 

[Ocean]

Great question.

 

[Claudie]

I don't know the answer to your question. I am thinking that since the boards on hard drives are thinner than other boards, and have more IC packages per square inch, that the weight ratio of what is good compared to that of a blank board might have something to do with it. That doesn't explain why some places pay $6.00 per pound for ICs and then pay close to $10.00 per pound for the logic boards. The boards also have Gold plated pins, but I wouldn't think that should have that great of an effect on the price.

 

[patnor1011]

Their thickness, population by SMD, gold in IC packages (you will not see that gold unless you use magnification)

 

[Harold_V]

In the scrap industry, hdd logic boards are the best payed boards by far.
I have began to do some research in order to find where is the value, and so far, without any clue. I`ve been breaking the chips, but I didn`t found PMs. I dissolved some of the metal parts in them in AR and tested with stanneous chloride without any color as result.

Not an indication of the lack of values. If you used too much acid, the response may be muted, or even non-existent. It also may flash and be re-dissolved almost instantly. I experienced that on many occasions.

Another possibility is that you used too little acid, so not all of the base components were dissolved. With that in mind, any values that may have been dissolved would have been cemented, leaving you a barren solution.

Harold

 

[glondor]

Now where could you find wisdom like that. Thanks Harold.

 

[Harold_V]

Now where could you find wisdom like that. Thanks Harold.

Welcome.
There's no substitute for experience, and reading Hoke.
Remember, that's where I learned almost everything I know about refining. That's why I always tell readers to read her book. It's much better than many imagine. It just requires a little effort on their part.

Harold

 

[Goerg]

In the scrap industry, hdd logic boards are the best payed boards by far.
I have began to do some research in order to find where is the value, and so far, without any clue. I`ve been breaking the chips, but I didn`t found PMs. I dissolved some of the metal parts in them in AR and tested with stanneous chloride without any color as result.

Not an indication of the lack of values. If you used too much acid, the response may be muted, or even non-existent. It also may flash and be re-dissolved almost instantly. I experienced that on many occasions.

Another possibility is that you used too little acid, so not all of the base components were dissolved. With that in mind, any values that may have been dissolved would have been cemented, leaving you a barren solution.

Harold

Thank you for the help, Harold. Being one of the guys with more experience here, have you tried the HDD logic boards?

 

[Harold_V]

Thank you for the help, Harold. Being one of the guys with more experience here, have you tried the HDD logic boards?

Unfortunately, no, I have not. I sold my refining operation back in '94 and have not refined since.

I am not a good source of information where escrap is concerned, but I am somewhat familiar with refining, in general. The basics don't change much---which is why Hoke's book is so valuable. What she teaches can be applied to virtually anything you encounter in the way of refining precious metals.

Harold

 

[machiavelli976]

May be they reuse the chips?

Any ideas will be welcome. Thanks.

Bingo !

Also cell-phones industry reuses a lot of scrap components .

 

[johnny309]

Any type of chips that was produced more than 5 years ago in today's electronics wouls be obsolete(it's usefull only for servicing and colectors).
They try to minimize the costs of everything.
What is the reason that microcontrolers (the PIC family) appears?
Simple :what a logic board (20 years ago) with 80 IC's can do.....now it is done by a simple IC.
Imagine the board and 80 black IC's....the cost of labor,copper,silver,gold.......all "punched" back in an small IC.


P.S.:
I like people who "dream"......but the gold fever has a nasty to it.
Now we have info....google,virtual library,forums.........DO NOT HEASIATE TO READ.
For your health I'm most worried about(people in rush,eventually they get injured).


PRICE: why is so high?
1) labor involved...separating board from HDD
2) by weight it doesn't contain a lot of iron and plastic (like the mother boards)
3)uppgrading a computer ,ussually you do not change the hard drive.......in short older electronic parts.

 

[Claudie]

Any type of chips that was produced more than 5 years ago in today's electronics wouls be obsolete(it's usefull only for servicing and colectors).
They try to minimize the costs of everything.
What is the reason that microcontrolers (the PIC family) appears?
Simple :what a logic board (20 years ago) with 80 IC's can do.....now it is done by a simple IC.
Imagine the board and 80 black IC's....the cost of labor,copper,silver,gold.......all "punched" back in an small IC.


P.S.:
I like people who "dream"......but the gold fever has a nasty to it.
Now we have info....google,virtual library,forums.........DO NOT HEASIATE TO READ.
For your health I'm most worried about(people in rush,eventually they get injured).


PRICE: why is so high?
1) labor involved...separating board from HDD
2) by weight it doesn't contain a lot of iron and plastic (like the mother boards)
3)uppgrading a computer ,ussually you do not change the hard drive.......in short older electronic parts.

That doesn't explain why the boards bring close to $10.00 USD and the IC packages/chips only bring around $6.00USD.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Any type of chips that was produced more than 5 years ago in today's electronics wouls be obsolete(it's usefull only for servicing and colectors).
They try to minimize the costs of everything.
What is the reason that microcontrolers (the PIC family) appears?
Simple :what a logic board (20 years ago) with 80 IC's can do.....now it is done by a simple IC.
Imagine the board and 80 black IC's....the cost of labor,copper,silver,gold.......all "punched" back in an small IC.


P.S.:
I like people who "dream"......but the gold fever has a nasty to it.
Now we have info....google,virtual library,forums.........DO NOT HEASIATE TO READ.
For your health I'm most worried about(people in rush,eventually they get injured).


PRICE: why is so high?
1) labor involved...separating board from HDD
2) by weight it doesn't contain a lot of iron and plastic (like the mother boards)
3)uppgrading a computer ,ussually you do not change the hard drive.......in short older electronic parts.

That doesn't explain why the boards bring close to $10.00 USD and the IC packages/chips only bring around $6.00USD.

Take the idea of buying parts for a car, you can buy a whole car for less than you can buy the parts and put them together. Similar with a HD board sold as whole they recognize what the board is but if you take the parts off the buyer is not positive what the parts come from and what loss in solder and other parts so they discount the purchase to cover themselves.

 

[patnor1011]

I would say that recyclers recover nearly everything they get in. Plastic IC chips contain only small amount of metals inside compare to mass yet hdd board can get you iron, aluminum, copper, tin, nickel, gold, silver, palladium.... And it is much lighter and smaller (more populated) comparing to motherboard.

 

[glondor]

I still do not think there is a satisfactory answer to this question here. One of my contacts gets 17 a pound for old memory. He says the chips get removed in China and come back in toys. I am not sure I believe this but it does help to explain the price he gets. There are other markets most of us have not discovered yet I think.

 

[Claudie]

Maybe we should be recycling those toys.... :|

 

[glondor]

You know all those toys you get your kids at Christmas that only work for an hour.....

 

[patnor1011]

Well, I don't believe that this is being done. Like desoldering chips from old ram modules or hdd boards. Not on industrial size. Never heard of such a thing. Price of anything depend on where in that material chain you stand. Every middleman want his cut.

 

[Claudie]

Well, I don't believe that this is being done. Like desoldering chips from old ram modules or hdd boards. Not on industrial size. Never heard of such a thing. Price of anything depend on where in that material chain you stand. Every middleman want his cut.

I doubt that they reuse the chips too. The time involved in sorting and testing would out weigh the cost of new packages.

 

[patnor1011]

We (or most of people) tend to see that gold there. To big electronic refiner gold makes small portion of profit. Bulk of his money comes from other metals. No wonder that they are called copper smelters and not gold smelters. Copper value is many times higher than gold on 99% of boards they refine.