Brass. Craploads of brass. Last machine I had that I actually broke down fully and weighed had about 180 lbs of brass. Seems x-ray machines use a lot of brass in fittings, as well the housing of the x-ray "head" itself is often brass. As well, sometimes there are these... things... that I'll call lenses. Not sure exactly what they are or do, or what they are called. They're like a 4-sided funnel with small (like 1-2") glass windows in the sides, and then a clear cover at one end. They've been solid brass on the 2 machines I did that had them. There's a tungsten bar/rod inside the head as well. No idea what to do with it so far or where to sell them, so for now I'm just hanging on to them. Some copper inside the head, but not too much actually. Most of the copper is in the power unit/transformers, and there can be quite a bit. Aluminum in the housing as well. Check every piece of metal you pull off, it's often aluminum or brass or stainless that's been painted/powder coated. I've always ended up with less steel than I thought there would be, and more of the more valuable metals. Gotta like it when that happens.
Biggest thing to watch for, is the cooling oil. Some of them circulate oil to cool the head, and if you're not prepared for it, it can make quite a mess. The ones I've done all used a mineral oil for the cooling, nothing toxic (luckily, coming from govt. surplus they all came with MSDS sheets). So I'm not sure if all xray machines are like that, or if I just got lucky. That's about all I can think of, to be honest. Good luck on yours, let us know how it goes for you.
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