Anyone know what these things are?

Heavy, over 1ft long, have a big magnet in them.... not sure what they are, but I am guessing something telcom/ phone switchboard related maybe?

They look like they have Silver contacts in there. That would add up to a good amount of Silver.
If theres magnets then the rests probably got a lot of Steel in it.

I guess, take one of them apart a bit to see. But I'm thinking 'Silver contacts' at the moment.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

They look like they have Silver contacts in there. That would add up to a good amount of Silver.
If theres magnets then the rests probably got a lot of Steel in it.

I guess, take one of them apart a bit to see. But I'm thinking 'Silver contacts' at the moment.

Hmm glad I checked in there then! I was just going to clip the wires and throw the rest in the shred pile! I will take one apart and see if I can grab the contacts out.

Any way you know of to determine if they are silver or not? I am assuming they will be non-magentic, but other than that not really sure how to differentiate between if its silver or alum/stainless steel.

But Ill get the contacts out and post some pics just of them.

Thanks! for the help!

Sometimes on older higher end telecom gear, those contacts may contain gold and/or palladium as well. Usually the gold/palladium contacts are very small, rectangular, 1/8" or less in length and very narrow. If you get this material in quantity, it is very good material. I'm sure most buyers on here would be interested. There was a good discussion about this type of material on the gold refining forum a while ago.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

They look like they have Silver contacts in there. That would add up to a good amount of Silver.
If theres magnets then the rests probably got a lot of Steel in it.

I guess, take one of them apart a bit to see. But I'm thinking 'Silver contacts' at the moment.

Originally Posted by aurum

Sometimes on older higher end telecom gear, those contacts may contain gold and/or palladium as well. Usually the gold/palladium contacts are very small, rectangular, 1/8" or less in length and very narrow. If you get this material in quantity, it is very good material. I'm sure most buyers on here would be interested. There was a good discussion about this type of material on the gold refining forum a while ago.

So, not sure If what I took off are what the contacts you guys are referring to..... They were metal, non-magnetic, little nubs that were.... soldered? or glued? not sure, to what looked like little copper transformer spools. I have many various pictures here that may provide more clues.

https://imgur.com/a/yCAan2t

Not sure how to tell if they are silver or not. They look kinda like they may be aluminum, but seem like they might be too heavy to be aluminum, but still not sure. I didnt see anything that looked like gold, but stopped after snapping off these little pieces. There is certainly more taking apart to do!

Hummm ... it's been a couple of days and i'm still trying to puzzle out what the heck they are. Any clues like a manufacturer's name or model number somewhere ?

It looks like they were meant to move back and forth because they were set on a spindle. Any pics of any magnets and how they were involved ?

Silver is said to be weakly magnetic in the presence of a neodymium magnet. A hard drive magnet would do.

Know anybody with an XRF gun ?

Any friends that you know of in chem lab ? They could do a weight to volume displacement to figure out it's density.

A drop of household bleach might give you a clue. One drop on the metal. It could be silver if it turns dark or black.

Put a file to the big silver colored piece of metal. Might be copper. I have come across similar pieces that were solid copper with some sort of metal plating.

Originally Posted by nutpie

Put a file to the big silver colored piece of metal. Might be copper. I have come across similar pieces that were solid copper with some sort of metal plating.

Great advise! will def try that

Originally Posted by hills

Hummm ... it's been a couple of days and i'm still trying to puzzle out what the heck they are. Any clues like a manufacturer's name or model number somewhere ?

It looks like they were meant to move back and forth because they were set on a spindle. Any pics of any magnets and how they were involved ?

Silver is said to be weakly magnetic in the presence of a neodymium magnet. A hard drive magnet would do.

Know anybody with an XRF gun ?

Any friends that you know of in chem lab ? They could do a weight to volume displacement to figure out it's density.

A drop of household bleach might give you a clue. One drop on the metal. It could be silver if it turns dark or black.

I do not know anyone with an XRF gun unfortunately....

No lab friends either lol.

A couple markings on them but nothing that yeilded any results after googling

Never heard of the bleach thing but worth a try! I will probably get time this weekend to disassemble these things a bit more completely.

I dont think those bits in the tray are the contacts.
On the free end of the thin metal strips with the rounded end on it, theres a tiny dot, on the underside there should be a contact, and there should be another contact under that & connected to something else, thats connected to those bits in the trsy.

Take some of those pieces off the unit & get a photo of all of the individual bits in one photo, and another photo of their other sides.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

I dont think those bits in the tray are the contacts.
On the free end of the thin metal strips with the rounded end on it, theres a tiny dot, on the underside there should be a contact, and there should be another contact under that & connected to something else, thats connected to those bits in the trsy.

Take some of those pieces off the unit & get a photo of all of the individual bits in one photo, and another photo of their other sides.

I think you are right. I think the things in the tray are actually alum heat sinks. I am going to try and remove some of the contacts today and grab a few pics

I am trying to get a pallet ready to be sent off currently.... but I am going to get to the bottom of these things from this post hopefully this weekend. There has got to be some value in these things, I can just feel it in my BONES!.... or maybe not and itll all go in the shred pile ....