Cleaned out tv station. What to look for

Yes, TV stations that broadcast and Microwave stations should have a lot of equipment that has been hardened against RF frequencies. That should mean that there is some class 3 gold plated material.

Type 1 - 99.7% gold minimum
Type 2 - 99.0% gold minimum
Type 3 - 99.0% +

Thickness classes

Class 0 - 30 micro-inches (.762 microns)
Class 1 - 50 micro-inches (1.25 microns)
Class 2 - 100 micro-inches (2.54 microns)
Class 3 - 200 micro-inches (5.06 microns)

So if you take the class 3 RF shielding you should be finding, and figure out the value, per square inch, you should come up with something like .063 grams of Au per sq inch. Or in monetary terms that should be right around, at current spot prices for Au, $3.45 per sq inch of class 3 RF gold plating.

Scott

scott before reading that i thought my double sided solid gold plated boards were valuable. Then you have to and ruin it for me by saying theres plated stuff out there worth 3.45 per square inch of plating

Originally Posted by jghilino

scott before reading that i thought my double sided solid gold plated boards were valuable. Then you have to and ruin it for me by saying theres plated stuff out there worth 3.45 per square inch of plating

Well hold on a minute...

If you have exposed gold plating on boards, a lot of time it's class 3. There really is no reason to gold plate regular boards unless there is a very specific electrical requirement. When you see boards or Aluminum with gold plating, where there is not electrical reason for there to be gold plating, then it's probably there as RF wave shielding.

If you have a plate that is 12'' x 12'' and gold plated on both sides, that's 144'' on each side for a grand total of 288'' wonderful gold plated inches, multiply that by $3.45 per sq inch and you have $993.60 worth of gold. That is nothing to shake a stick at.

Scott

these are gold plated solid on one side partial plating on the other side, ive priced them at the high end of finger pricing at $90 pound, is that correct pricing for these?

Green Circuit Boards Solid Gold Plated 13 Pounds High Yield PCB Fingers Scrap | eBay

those are green pcbs as we call them, green means theyve never been populated, id say high grade server or telecom that was never used

Originally Posted by jghilino

these are gold plated solid on one side partial plating on the other side, ive priced them at the high end of finger pricing at $90 pound, is that correct pricing for these?

Green Circuit Boards Solid Gold Plated 13 Pounds High Yield PCB Fingers Scrap | eBay

If it's class 3, and RF shielding, it's usually on both sides. Still, just looking at that material, and the kind of dull look it has (dull buttery look means thicker gold plating usually) I would guess, if I had to, that it's probably class 2. It looks thick, or at least in the pictures because of the color, but it's only plated out on one side. If it was class one, plated on one side that would mean 50% total gold plating on both sides of the board. Finger boards are usually plated on both side, however they usually have equal space between the gold plated leads, thus making it still only 50% gold plating, but if they are not very close cut it's actually a little less.

I would guess your boards are worth more than fingers, it looks like class 2 plating, that's good!

Here is a picture of a piece of Aluminum that is Class 3 plating, both sides.



Here is a QA target for checking silicon chips, it's Class 2.



The lighting is a little different, as is the background, but both were taken with the same camera. You can see the difference in the color of the gold, the dull buttery look of the RF plating, on Al is totally different than the Class 2 of the chip target.

So in short, if you are selling that material as gold finger, you are selling it at a price someone will still be able to make a profit on, or at least they should. And if it's class 2, even better. But I wouldn't go any higher than what you have them for already. Actually, I have sold a lot of material on ebay, you might want to set it just under $1,000, with no reserve. You will probably get a lot more action on it.

Scott

thanks scott, and those are some beautiful items you have pictured there. Ive been getting alot better at grading boards by how they look. Im sending you a pm on some stuff i have i need gone.

Originally Posted by tedanderson

I would be interested buying some of those big video cameras off of you as I am in the process of building a studio for a non-profit organization. If they are still intact, I could probably give you more per unit than you would make from scrapping them.

I had to leave all the boxes at my shop. I won't be able to sort them until Monday....when I do I will let you know some quantity and types and you can make the call.. Thanks.

I will also post some pics of the oddball stuff I find.