Depopulate V Intact.

I am sure this has been discussed before but a quick search didn't throw up a lot. Plus things must change year on year.

Is it really worth depopulating boards? especially if you are a low volume type person? All these lush Youtube videos talk about gold fingers, connectors, BGAs etc. But actually it is impossible to find any refiners who would do low volume stuff (UK). Ebay is an option but the balance of a few fingers on ebay V getting some money from intact boards seems marginal. And don't get me started on depopulating MLCs

I have only just started scrapping PCBS. I can see the relevance of getting the obvious copper and the extruded aluminium head sinks, but other stuff?

Would like a few thoughts especially from the UK angle which seems very hostile to hobbyisy/ low volume people.

Originally Posted by Pingu

Is it really worth depopulating boards?

no*


*most of the time... your situation and results may vary

I think the best thing you could do is to stop watching youtube videos and spend your time reading and learning from this forum. There is so much info here.

Welcome to the forum.

No, it's not worthwhile to depopulate boards. It can also be a hazard to your health. You don't want to risk heavy metals poisoning.

What about those of us that just remove Heat Sinks, copper, steel, and IC’s and BGA’s? Is this also discouraged for health reasons? Are there items in those that are dangerous? Or is it the actual handling of the board that is dangerous?

Anything soldered on will release lead upon removal including ic chips and bgas. Lead causes brain damage in children and will mess up sperm too. Do with that what you will.

It's fairly safe to handle an intact board.

It raises dust anytime you are doing cutting, chiseling, and grinding work. It's a fine dust that you can't really see ... but it's there. There are all kinds of exotic metals used in the manufacture of the electronic components that are soldered on to the board. One of the worst is chromium. Also ... the solder is sometimes lead or a mix of silver, antimony, and other metals. Lead in particular is one you want to stay away from.

So anyway .... this fine metallic dust gets up in the air and you breathe it in. The microscopic metal particles either get lodged in your lungs or absorbed into the bloodstream.

It's all tiny doses but they add up after awhile and affect your health. We had one guy here awhile back, a really good fulla, that was really into breaking down the boards. He wasn't feeling well so he went to the doctor. The doctor ran his tests and they showed the fulla had lead poisoning. We haven't heard from him in awhile.

It probably doesn't hurt to break down a board once in awhile but i wouldn't recommend making a regular habit of it.

When you think of just how many IC's & BGA's it takes to make a pound ... it hardly seems worth doing anyway. Most of the aluminum heat sinks don't have to be cut off do they ? The little bit of copper you might get off a ferrite weighs hardly anything. The metal tops usually pry off without having to be cut. Maybe leave the rest ?

All around though ... it's just different jobs. One fulla does the dismantling and removes the whole boards. He sends the boards off to a professional refiner who processes them by the ton. It's the refiner's economy of scale that makes it worthwhile to break down the boards for all of their different parts & pieces.

Anyhow .... i'm running on here. It's just random stuff that i've picked up here and there.