From Computer geek to scrap freak?

Hi guys.
Personal intro: I spent a long time in the military, jumped outta airplanes, blew some stuff up, then had to switch to
a different "job" when the government decided that everybody in the world was nice and we didn't need to worry
about protecting America. I ended up in the computer area, and I've been acquiring servers, arrays, etc. for quite
a while as I tried to get GOOD at my new job, and then tried to stay current with new technology.
My first journey into the scrap world is "driven" by a combination of my wife, our car, black ice in APRIL in Pittsburgh,
and the end result of Newton's first law, An object in motion, etc.. Last week my wife was driving to work, hit some
ice, wrecked our car. It wasn't a pretty car, but it ran great. Since it's older than the norm, even though it should be
good for another 100k, the ins co is going to total it. The good news is, the woman who is perfect for me wasn't seriously
injured. The bad news is, we can't afford a car payment right now. Medical bills (from things other than the vehicle
accident), house repairs, etc. have drained my reserve and I've heard Uncle Sam gets kinda irate if we make our own
money, even if we use GOOD crayons. I decided it was time to get rid of some of my hardware and since some of the
servers are 200-300 lbs, which is a lot of metal, I thought I might get a little cash to help out if I could get scrap money.
I have several large servers, quite a few small workstations, hard disk arrays, probably 150 to 200 ac adapters,
a hundred or so hard drives, a 2' by 4' drawer of power cords, boxes of circuit boards for PC and server, aluminum, brass,
and steel mounting brackets/frames etc. I spent a couple hours asking Professor Google and making phone calls in my
area with no success, then I came across a link to an article in this forum. The tiny, weakly flickering light bulb came on
over my head, and I thought it would make sense to actually ask some experts on recycling instead of relying upon
Steve from the internet who (if I could find the link I'd include it) thought AC adapters were air conditioner plugs, and
that a circuit board was a round piece of wood. I'm not trying to make a living at this, just want to see if I can help
defray expenses with my hardware or if I should just try to sell it on e-bay (which is a long term solution I'd prefer
to avoid).

Thanks for the advice Mike. I met a few Gunnery Sergeants when I was in a unique, joint unit. Every one of them impressed the hell out of me.

I would just add that you may want to start disassembling, as you read the old threads. Unless you know there is a market on ebay for a certain server. Because you an always make more from reusable parts.

But when scrapping, everything usually gets separated. There is a price for motherboards, a price for RAM, a price for CPU's, etc. You ship the valuable circuit boards and haul the steel, copper and aluminum to your local yard. Good luck to you.

Pretty much everything that's already been said. Read as much as you can. It's a steep learning curve and it takes awhile to come up to speed in the recycling end of it. If you're pressed for time and just need some quick cash there are some good buyers here.

One that's highly regarded is roughly a two hour drive from where you are.

There are a couple of other very good buyers who also have prior military service. They might be able to give you some guidance on what items to scrap out and what things might be sold for better than scrap.

It seems like the market is changing every few months. When the new tech debuts it renders an entire class of the older computer technology obsolete.



Point being: Do spend a bit of time doing your research but don't sit on your stuff for too long. The " Better than Scrap " market for what you have on hand today could dry up in a month or two.

wait I though wood was the base for all circuit boards and made it valuable, cause mice use it for warmth and decoration all the time I though we were selling it to the 1% mice

I am in the Pittsburgh area and I can help. My late father was a WWII veteran.

OK, that made me literally lol.