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Metalophile
Penny Collector Member
USA
320 Posts |
 Posted - 11/28/2006 : 00:11:22
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Anyone know if recycling scrap from old electronics would be a good business to start? A lot of municipalities are banning electronics from landfills. Might be a good source for recovering copper, lead, tin, silver? gold??
Metalophile
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Ardent Listener
Administrator
USA
4841 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 09:15:51
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Could be but I would be concerned about goverment red tape when you try to get rid of the rest after you pull-out the metals.
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If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it. -Napoleon Hill |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 16:24:39
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Perhaps you could do a part time business on the side, the same way some flea market sellers do, don't declare yourself as a business, just do it part time, for fun.
Granted, you can't take all of the tax deductions, but you also avoid all of the government's nose in your activities.
Question: If there are companies willing to buy scrap copper and nickel, are there any companies willing to buy scrap electronics?
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Edited by - pencilvanian on 11/28/2006 16:26:55 |
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n/a
deleted
479 Posts |
Posted - 12/02/2006 : 14:06:42
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Yesterday, I went to the biggest metal recycling center I've ever seen.
I was amazed!
There was copper, brass, stainless, pewter, nickle, and unknows of all kinds.
Customers are not generally allowed, "in the back" but because I went with a favored customer, I was allowed to paw through bin after bin of metal.
I asked the man at the window two qwestions;
1. How much of this stuff is going to China?
he answered, "I'm not sure, but certainly more than half."
2. Would you recycle pre-1982 pennies?
He asked are they pure copper?
I said, almost pure, me thinks.
He said, "Yeah, we have a metals analyzer anyway."
I said, well, would you scrap them?
He said, "yes"
A billiard ball dropped from 1,362 feet (height of the South Tower) in a
vacuum would require 9.22 seconds to hit the ground. How then did the
towers collapse in 10 seconds and 11.4 seconds, and why has not one
member of the mainstream media insisted on honest answers from the
government in this regard?
"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy
so monstrous [that] he cannot believe it exists."
- J. Edgar Hoover |
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Metalophile
Penny Collector Member
USA
320 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2006 : 14:03:13
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As a chemist I wonder what kind of metals analyzer they have. My guess would be either AA (atomic absorption) spectrometer or XRF (X-ray fluorescence). I don't know how much XRF costs, but if I had the money that's the way I would go. AA is cheap, but would be a headache to run calibration standards, digest samples in acids, etc. etc. ICP emission or ICP-MS would also work, but you still have the headache in sample preparation, etc., and costs a lot more than AA, and you probably want a degreed chemist to operate.
Metalophile |
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n/a
deleted
479 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2006 : 20:19:08
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I once ran and calibrated a gas chomotography analyzer. We calibrated it every single day.
It was good for aqueous solutions.
I did not see their set up, but I know that they are a Metal Recycling shop.
My GUESS is that they weigh the sample, attach an annode to one end and a cathode to the other end, check the impedence meter and look at a chart.
This imagined chart would have weight on the x axis and impedence on the y axis, with the answers in the field.
If this were on paper, there is a big problem, namely, several different alloys could produce the same answer. If this field were in a spreadsheet / database, the computer could be rigged to ask a simple qwestion set that would narrow the possibilities.
Lets say that the result from weight and impedence landed you in cell M26. The qwestion set of M26 might be,
1. Is it reddish or silverish?
2. Is it magnetic?
3. Does it react with a one molar solution of HCL?
Anyway, if one has a few answers, like
weight, magnetism, density, impedence, color, and the fact that it is a metal or metal alloy, the spreadsheet should be able to answer correctly a large percentage of the time.
Of course, I could just call and ASK them, but that's less fun than speculating, for me at least.
Peace to you and yours.
A billiard ball dropped from 1,362 feet (height of the South Tower) in a
vacuum would require 9.22 seconds to hit the ground. How then did the
towers collapse in 10 seconds and 11.4 seconds, and why has not one
member of the mainstream media insisted on honest answers from the
government in this regard?
"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy
so monstrous [that] he cannot believe it exists."
- J. Edgar Hoover |
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Metalophile
Penny Collector Member
USA
320 Posts |
Posted - 12/07/2006 : 16:44:27
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OK. Here's a link to an article about precious metals in cell phones:
You must be logged in to see this link.
It says there's an average of 40 cents worth of gold, 13 cents of palladium, 6 cents of silver, and a few cents of Cu and Pt. That's the first hard information I've found on metals in electronics. Problem is how to recover? You'd have to know which components were likely to have the precious metals, and you'd need a quick and cheap way to remove what you want.
Metalophile |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 12/07/2006 : 17:40:40
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You must be logged in to see this link.
Gold Refining and Platinum Refining
A SIMPLICITY GOLD REFINING AND PLATINUM REFINING SYSTEM
Price: $624.75
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Sending gold and platinum out to be refined can be a very costly experience. Now you can refine gold and refine platinum (bench sweeps, ingots, polishing sweeps, gold filled, rings, etc.) in your own shop. The process is safe to operate and costs about one or two dollars per ounce (31 g) of gold.
Features: Safe and inexpensive to operate. No acids, cyanides or toxic chemicals are used and the process is odorless. Stones will even dismount from rings without damage. Compact system, about 1 cubic foot (28,000 cc) in size. Detailed written instructions. Includes Catalyst, Precipitant, GC salt and Precious metal detection liquid. Instructional VHS tape and interactive computer disks (for Windows 95 only). Free technical support is available. Lifetime Warranty.
Specifications: Capacity: 1000 grams; Purity 999.5+% (999.9% if refined twice). Speed: Approximately 1 hour for every ounce (31 g) of metal being refined. Minimum karat: No minimum and no maximum, karats can be mixed. DC Power: Requires 25 amp rectifier or a battery charger, 10 amp w/50 amp boost.
A cheaper alternative
You must be logged in to see this link.
A SUBZERO GOLD REFINING STARTER KIT
Price: $74.75
.............(This might be useful if you are willing to try to process gold yourself, though the price is a bit step. At least it is less dangerous than fooling with all those acids. It has been said that California 49'ers were less likely to die from shootouts and snakebite than from poisoning from processing their own gold.) |
Edited by - pencilvanian on 12/07/2006 17:42:49 |
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just carl
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2006 : 12:33:04
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I live in a major city. There are specific garbage pickup days here. Usually on the day prior or even two days prior trucks go down the street or through the alleys accomeulating just about anything that doesn't smell dead. Mostly these trucks are driven by Hispanics and since many of my neighbors are hispanic they talk to these accomeulators of stuff thrown out. From what most say they take all metalic items direct to a metal recyler in the area and are given one bulk rate price regardless of the material and no questions asked. If it is electronic it is taken to another location where no one is sure what happens in there, given bulk rate price based on weight, no questions asked, no information given. By the time the garbage pickup is made, most of what was there has vanished. One individual I used to know was an electrician and came home numerous times with large amounts of electrical wires. He to took it to that place where he was given a bulk rate price, no questions asked, no information given as to where it goes or how it is processed.
So as to the original post as to if this recycling scrap would be a good business to start, in most areas your way to late.
Carl |
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Cerulean
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
993 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2007 : 13:23:14
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ADVENTURES IN ELECTRONICS DISASSEMBLY:
My wife and I, bored last Sunday, went down to the dumpster looking for stuff to take apart. We brought back a Coby DVD player and an old-looking Epson flatbed scanner.
Six hours of manual labor later, we have:
- a few pounds of steel from the base and sides of the machines
- 1 ounce of copper wiring, mostly from the power cables
- less than an ounce of aluminum, mostly in the form of circuit board cooling fins
- the scanner's lens makes a great magnifying loupe
- some mirrors from inside the scanner
- an electric motor about the size of a 2-liter bottle cap
It was fun to take stuff apart and see all the components, but for metal scrounging it was hardly worth the effort. For those who want to try, I suggest just cutting the power cables off and saving them as bulk insulated wire. It may come in handy for electrical repairs or trading in a SHTF scenario.
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Penny Search Totals:
881 zincs (1982-2006) 77.1%
254 coppers (1959-1982) 22.2%
6 wheats (1940-1952) 0.5%
1 dime (2004)
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psi
Penny Collector Member
Canada
399 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2007 : 17:06:43
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| School boards throw out obsolete computers en masse, that might be something to check into. |
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Scrap from old electronics?
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