gold in power supply boardy

**petehart** · 12-28-2014, 02:48 PM

i took apart an imac g5 power supply and i found what looks like gold traces...i already took off a lot of copper and aluminum..what grade would this board go for?green on both sides

**jimicrk** · 12-28-2014, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by petehart

i took apart an imac g5 power supply and i found what looks like gold traces...i already took off a lot of copper and aluminum..what grade would this board go for?

My yard would pay low grade for that @ 10 cents a pound. Other yards might pay more.

**mnrecycler** · 12-28-2014, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by jimicrk

My yard would pay low grade for that @ 10 cents a pound. Other yards might pay more.

I guess I'm lucky that my yard pays .26 a pound for low grade. But yes that looks like something they would buy as low grade but it depends on the yard.

**Mechanic688** · 12-28-2014, 05:25 PM

I think you'll find that is a yellow colored varnish so the traces are not bare for something else to touch.

No reason to have gold plating on a power board.

**armygreywolf** · 12-28-2014, 10:45 PM

Like you I had doubts, but I happen to have a few G4 and G5 workstation towers so I cracked them open and had a look...I think it's gold. I tried sandpaper, etching compound and a soldering iron to see if I could lift it or figure out what it was. It certainly looks like gold plating to me.

**sawmilleng** · 12-29-2014, 01:14 AM

Scrappin' is a funny game...an innocent question by a relatively new guy on here has our resident experts scratching their heads!!

An Steve Jobs is rolling over in his grave, seething mad that his engine-ears screwed up and spec'd gold on something that really didn't need it!!

Jon.

**jimicrk** · 12-29-2014, 03:01 AM

Originally Posted by sawmilleng

Scrappin' is a funny game...an innocent question by a relatively new guy on here has our resident experts scratching their heads!!

An Steve Jobs is rolling over in his grave, seething mad that his engine-ears screwed up and spec'd gold on something that really didn't need it!!

Jon.

I have seen the same gold plating on some power boards that came out of Marshall amps. There were 8 to 10 gold plated holes around the edge of the board. Not sure why they were there but it wasn't enough to change the value of the board. They still sold as low grade.

**petehart** · 12-29-2014, 07:40 AM

i've had a few tv boards that the back was covered with gold varnish...the first one i found i thought i hit the lottery...but only gold varnish

**Scrap Master J** · 12-29-2014, 11:20 AM

It looks like the g5 was released in 2003 when the price of gold remained below $400 for almost the entire year. So a high end new release computer with a fraction of a gram of gold to combat corrosion is not much of an investment at that time. Maybe a little over engineered?, but if it functions and looks as good as the day it was released then maybe it shows insight into the reliability and quality of the unit.? Scrap is not just metals, it's a visit to the historical price given to those metals when an item was produced.