PC/Electronics IC Chips how to remove? - Page 2

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Theres no places close to me that buys the chips or boards. There is a escrap place but thats too far away & their prices are rubbish anyway.
By removing the copper legs it makes it easyer to process.

Oh, & if posting that info saves a few people from cutting the end of their fingers off.... Safety first.

I will use a small belt sander to remove the legs.

I just found out that you can reclaim 10gms of gold from 7Kg of flatpacks.

Yeah, I am that guy who did that experiment.
A little clarification is due - I processed whole mix of IC chips in that experiment (s/n bridges, ram chips, eprom like chips, ...... practically whatever size black plastic IC from electronics)

Since then (august 2011) I did many another batches but this time I separated chips to different types and sizes.
Gold yield is then different. South/North bridge - the ones with black plastic cap and green fiber bottom yield 5g+ of gold from one kilogram. I consider them as the best from IC comonly found in modern electronics. There are certain Russian made IC chips which are like gold mine but it is increasingly hard to find them and soon they may have bigger value as collector items.
I try to separate or categorize IC chips in few types:
1. s/n bridge - high grade
2. ram chips - medium to high grade
3. all other thin IC - medium grade
4. thick two sided eprom like IC - low grade

I buy IC chips or I toll refine them but this is little bit out of question for most of members as I am located in Ireland and shipping, insuring and custom charges makes them more expensive in larger quantities. However we can talk about that and we may find some way.
Pat.

For better understanding of my classification of IC chips as in previous thread

s/n bridge

ram chips

mixed but thin chips

eprom like chips

The two methods I have used are to encourage the components to come off, or to force them with brute force to break off.

First method I like the most...

I found an iron wok at a salvation army store. I then purchased kiddy play sand.

I fill the wok with the same, then put the wok on heat. I do this outside because of the poisonous noxious fumes that solder and PC boards give off when heated.

If you place the PC board on the sand, solder side down, it will heat the solder to melting point and it will be drawn away by the sand. Then later you can simply pluck the components off the board without any issues.

The other method requires a press and two pieces of case hardened steel. You simply clamp off the steel blocks so that the space between barely allows for the PC board to fit in the slot, then you load the board so that it's up and down, end to end. You place something between the press and the board so it doesn't just break the PC board, and then lower your press so that the board goes through the gape, shearing the components off. This will fling components all over the place, what I did was use a drop cloth in a funnel shape all around the press that caught the components and let them fall into a bucket.

Heat guns work also, but you should use a respirator or some sort of breathing mask so you don't breathe in any of the fumes, again they are toxic and can cause neurological damage. In other words if your face starts twitching after a few times doing this, you are affecting yourself in a negative way.

Traditional desoldering works, but it's a pain...

You can dissolve the solder with acids, and then pluck out the components, but this generates NOx gases again, and can be harmful

You can cut them off, but that is time consuming

There are many other ways, each with their merits and issues. Hope this helps some.

Scott

Welcome Pat and I recognize you from The GRF forum, it's good to have some experts stopping by here. With over 11,000 members and hundreds of guests stopping by on a daily basis, we have quite a few members from all over across the pond.