Computer metals

[Auseeker]

Anyone know what the metal is on Hard Drive frames?

 

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[GeorgiaPossum]

Most that I have encountered are aluminum. If it is lightweight, and a magnet does not stick to it, call it aluminum. Be sure to remove all screws to get the highest price.

So long as you're taking apart hard drives, be sure to keep those magnets!

GeorgiaPossum

 

[Auseeker]

Thanks! other than personal usage, do rare earth magnets sell as well?

 

[Peg Leg]

I melted a good number of computer boards just to remove the silver solder. The silver content was 40% and the rest was lead.
It does not take much to make some very good money.
I have not gotten to the gold yet.
Peg leg

 

[goldsilverpro]

Please forgive me, Peg Leg, but nothing in your post makes any sense and I feel compelled to jump in here because the readers shouldn't get false hopes.

Circuit boards don't melt, but they will burn. I assume you mean that you sweated the solder off, which, incidentally, contains zero silver. The only silver solder I have seen on boards are on the ends of the tiny monolithic capacitors and it would take lots and lots of boards to get an ounce of silver. That is, if you knew how to separate the silver from the other metals. And I also doubt that any of this silver got into the metal you sweated. Are you sure you're not mistaking tin for silver - it's in all of the lead-tin solder? Where did you pull the 40% silver figure out of?

And gold? You probably should have removed it before melting everything together. Now you have a mess. If it didn't come off with the solder, it has surely migrated into the copper, considering the heat you applied. Can you explain the process you will use to get the gold? There probably isn't much gold on there, anyway. At today's market, figure about 20 cents for a square inch of gold plating.

I pray that you don't get sick from breathing all of those lead fumes.

If you really want to learn how to do all this stuff, safely and correctly, go here:

http://goldrefiningforum.com/

 

[fiatboy]

If you really want to learn how to do all this stuff, safely and correctly, go here:

http://goldrefiningforum.com/

That's a great forum.

 

[FISHEYE]

goldsilverpro,

Pegleg is right about boards haveing pure silver solder on them.some boards do some dont.I have been in the computer and electronics board recycle biz for over 30 years.some boards have pure silver solder on them as well as pure 24 karet gold.im not going to educate anyone here as i have done in the past only to just have more people getting at my sources.the preferred method of getting gold off boards is liquid cyanide.burning boards,well you just lose.any of the home process you see on the net.you are just wasting your time and money.if you want gold out of boards.then send them to a refinery.99% of them in the USA will rip you off.best is to find someone to just buy the boards for the best price.gold is high now so its paying off for me to just sell boards.i buy them too but only in florida.you have to have over 100lbs for me to travel 50 miles.200lbs for 100 miles and if you have over 300 ill travel 100 to 300 miles.