Can CPU Gold Be Direct Smelted? Electronics Recycling & Urban Mining For Precious Metals!

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2024
  • Experimenting with direct smelting of CPU's for gold and precious metals recovery. Trying to find a fast, cheap, and easy way to recovery the gold and other precious metals from CPU's and electronics without using acids.
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ความคิดเห็น • 886

  • @catch22frubert
    @catch22frubert 4 ปีที่แล้ว +183

    Yeah, there's definitely silver in the CPU. If you want to separate just the gold, then crush everything to a powder, pour on some nitric acid to make silver nitrate, and the gold will be completely isolated at that point and you can smelt it out

    • @chrism4008
      @chrism4008 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Its not really that simple, and there are some real safety considerations using that method

    • @MyScreenNameIsTroubledOne
      @MyScreenNameIsTroubledOne 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@chrism4008I mean, that’s the basic gist of it tho. Burn, crush, separate the gold with nitric. What else is there?

    • @maximooze3196
      @maximooze3196 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@MyScreenNameIsTroubledOne😂

    • @Mrbfgray
      @Mrbfgray 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@MyScreenNameIsTroubledOne Just don't forget to hire the neighbor's child to carryout the hazardous duties, for your own safety.

    • @ROSS4422
      @ROSS4422 13 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      It's not easy. There is tin in the solder, the tin forms a gel when dissolved in nitric acid. This makes it very difficult to isolate and filter the gold. Also the fumes are horrible and you need a fume hood.
      I've processed gold and silver using acids. It's fun, but it's not easy.

  • @ctsax64
    @ctsax64 3 ปีที่แล้ว +81

    As an IT professional and a Silver and Gold stacker, I really enjoyed this video. Please do more. Awesome!

    • @drjones762
      @drjones762 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Have you given thought to somehow extracting PM’s from old client gear?
      Doesn’t seem there’s enough in computers, servers, etc. for it to be worth it, unless you have thousands & thousands of machines. Thoughts?

    • @David_Quinn_Photography
      @David_Quinn_Photography 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@drjones762 I only pull the pins/pads off dead CPUs/ram/mobo and get a small baggy full then I send the rest to a local ewaste guy who breaks it down even more then sends me a small bit of cash from whatever metal value he gets out of it. he's able to make a living off it somehow IDK what extra you can do other than soak it in chemicals.

  • @beebob1279
    @beebob1279 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    Interesting. The cone technique is similar to purifying beeswax. the wax floats to the tip while the heavy stuff sinks below.
    I am learning a lot from your channel. Thank you for doing these.

  • @seanfoltz7645
    @seanfoltz7645 3 ปีที่แล้ว +282

    Most people use chemicals to reclaim the gold - I think it would be interesting to have you hook up with, say Cody's Lab, and have you both start with the same amount and type of computer parts to see which method is more cost effective and efficient.

    • @FlyingSeaMan256
      @FlyingSeaMan256 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      The answer to both of those questions would have to be chemicals in my mind, due to that being the main method for reclaiming precious metals all over the periodic table from many major reclamation facilities

    • @dont.ripfuller6587
      @dont.ripfuller6587 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      It takes money to make money , since I want to make money , first , I hopeave to take money... Right?

    • @mikeprice4079
      @mikeprice4079 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Uuuuuuu

    • @fumertonb
      @fumertonb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      sreetips>Codylab

    • @Hoosierdaddyjones812
      @Hoosierdaddyjones812 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      The chemicals to do the process in most cases like this cost more then the gold or silver is worth

  • @alvinjastrzebski3270
    @alvinjastrzebski3270 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Nice video. Here's a tip that I use for my black sand magnet. I put a speaker magnet in a margarine tub and tape the lid tight. To use it, I put the bottom of the tub in the pan. Then I quickly lift it up so that the magnet hits the roof of the tub. This makes a temporary gap between the bottom of the tub and the magnet, which releases the black sand into a separate container. It's cheaper, bigger and faster than the small magnets with the plunger that you press to release the black sand.

  • @Darkmattersfrank
    @Darkmattersfrank 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thank you for sharing your journey of discovery with this metal smelting. Its very enjoyable to watch the process trial and error and success.

  • @richardarmstrong3rd53
    @richardarmstrong3rd53 4 ปีที่แล้ว +120

    @mbmmllc The silver you got came from Silver solder, silver/lead, silver/tin or silver/gold is usually used in these types of components. I hope that this helps answer your question.

    • @digger105337
      @digger105337 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Gotta send it to sreetips, he l sort it out!

    • @surebrec5113
      @surebrec5113 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@digger105337 sreetips is the man, he must have a ton of money tied up in gold/silver right now.

    • @maga_q_anon8384
      @maga_q_anon8384 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Id say silver solder

    • @racecar2933
      @racecar2933 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I know that the plate he thought was aluminum was/should have been a silver plated copper plate.

    • @sarahlarick8720
      @sarahlarick8720 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@surebrec5113 have you seen what he charges for an ounce of that crystalized silver hes got the dow to do what EVER he waNTS lol i looked yesterday for a little over an ounce of double refined silver was 1250 U.S.$$

  • @cockpill
    @cockpill 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Nice job! There’s a lot of silver inside of ceramics, which is why nitric acid is used to leech the silver first when doing it chemically. I’d say crush them finer, acid can get into the big pieces, but I don’t know if the molten metal will flow out as easy.

  • @williammiller7362
    @williammiller7362 4 ปีที่แล้ว +132

    That was a cool experiment. I'd like to see you do more smelting of ewaste, for example BGA chips, ICU chips, RAM sticks. Good Job!

    • @sailingsolar
      @sailingsolar 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      He just did CPU's but need way more than 4. That plating is about 20 atoms or less thick

    • @redbaronrefining5322
      @redbaronrefining5322 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I’m processing almost 100 pounds of icy chips right now and I’m really wishing that instead of having to pan out all of the powder slowly, I could throw it all into a huge crucible with flux and get it down to a button. It would make life so much easier. I would love to send you guys a sample to run and see what you guys to come up with if you want to make another video!

    • @Sir.RickParker949
      @Sir.RickParker949 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      He is very good at smelting which is a artwork of it's own "an acquired skill" through trial and error he has developed his skill to
      Near perfection. I was Entriqued by my brother Tony retired U.S.S. furnaces area manager.Computers control every aspect of the chemistry, unlike the operators of the past.

    • @TheManormen
      @TheManormen 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@redbaronrefining5322 try a blue bowel

    • @overlybroadcast3952
      @overlybroadcast3952 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@redbaronrefining5322 would nitric acid not dissolve the silicon powder?

  • @adventuresinmetals7636
    @adventuresinmetals7636 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    It's really cool to see all these different kind of recovery methods than most of the other ewaste channels.

  • @jeffpelkey8528
    @jeffpelkey8528 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Jason thanks so much for providing the informative and step-by-step videos that you have shared with us as a community! I struggled to understand why I wasn’t capturing the amount of precious metals that were listed in the assays. Your “Smelting 101” series allowed me to understand how to deal with sulfides and recover the almost 100% of the PM’s. Your sharing of your knowledge has been a huge blessing! Thank You Jeff.

    • @mbmmllc
      @mbmmllc  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Thank you so much Jeff! I'm glad you are finding the info useful and applicable. More vids to come

  • @johnh8615
    @johnh8615 4 ปีที่แล้ว +47

    Your like the Sreetips of elemental furnace. He does it chemistry style (real good and pure) . Please more of this with your assaying style. There’s not anyone out there doing this like you. More thanks.😍

  • @ronaldpalma8469
    @ronaldpalma8469 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I've worked in the semiconductor analysis industry and the largest source of silver in these CPUs is the silver glass die attach that is used to connect the CPU chip to the ceramic package.

    • @beebob1279
      @beebob1279 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Is there any way to separate the silver from the gold and end up with both?

    • @chrism4008
      @chrism4008 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ​@@beebob1279yes, but its time consuming and you need dangerous acids and probably an electrolysis cell

  • @ericrhetta8412
    @ericrhetta8412 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    I wanted to say that you have an amazing way of teaching that speaks to me. Disabled USMC Vet here that is looking into urban mining and your videos have helped so much in my planning. I hope to maybe get some equipment from you in the future. Greetings from Oly, WA!

    • @VashStarwind
      @VashStarwind ปีที่แล้ว

      Just wanna say that you could make more money off old pc parts by selling them on ebay than doing this! ha

  • @MegaZidzid
    @MegaZidzid 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Any way of recovery that excludes acids is great. 👍

    • @hateonskillz318
      @hateonskillz318 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Look up SHOR international they have a seasalt extraction its not really seasalt but they say no prior knowledge of refining says its easy and recovers 99.97% but isn't cheap like 1000 plus the solution they use in the system is sold spereratly so I'd say at least 1200 so it's expensive but doest require acids says it's easy to use just follow instructions sounds a little to good to be true but at 1000+ I'd say you better get what they advertise

  • @johnblair8146
    @johnblair8146 4 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Silver bearing solder is used to join package components together. Don't forget the rest of the PC. Newer hard drives have PGMs and the other ICs have gold bonding wires and lead frames as well as the gold plated fingers and slot connectors.

    • @victorjubinville5720
      @victorjubinville5720 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      As per 1 comment I would definitely try older CPUs memory chips & circuit boards. I like this method of reclaiming over hazardous chemicals.

  • @davidlester6673
    @davidlester6673 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That was probably the best way I have seen to at least get to the metal part of those cpu's and definitely the cleanest method I have seen without all the cpu dust.

  • @danyalam2465
    @danyalam2465 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    hey man thank you for your wonderful video

  • @Mikkelltheimmortal
    @Mikkelltheimmortal 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    That little mill of yours is pretty cool.
    It is, by all intents and purposes, a flower mill. It works literally the same way

  • @ProspectorTripp
    @ProspectorTripp 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    CPU’s have silver and gold from my experience.
    Usually I lightly burn, crush, dilute nitric to remove silver and base, Aqua Regia the remaining material, drop gold with SMB. Cement out silver with copper.
    I’ve been experimenting with the cupel process to reduce my acid cost and waste.
    There’s no super shortcuts as best as I can determine so far.
    A few times I have used this process up to removing the base with dilute nitric, then picked out as much as possible the ceramic material and junk silicone chips then directly cupeled.
    It works fairly well but the cost seems to be a wash and sometimes I will get crud on top while cupeling which will have some gold caught up in it. I Still get a bead or two of gold, but will Crush the crud and put in a pan and gently blow off the very light powders and cupel the remaining material again.
    Thanks Jason having fun with the process.
    ✌️PT

  • @ProjectHazy
    @ProjectHazy 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This has been the easiest way I have ever seen I am very appreciative of this new knowledge.

  • @ursamines7643
    @ursamines7643 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Great video and I think you hit it on the head with your post-melt thoughts.

  • @ChrisStPierre
    @ChrisStPierre 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    It really is fascinating to see the process. Ty.

  • @mrgreenswelding2853
    @mrgreenswelding2853 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Yes they are silicone dies.
    A great demonstration Jason! Keep up the fantastic work.

  • @eWasteBen
    @eWasteBen 4 ปีที่แล้ว +70

    I like your channel mate, keep at it

    • @mbmmllc
      @mbmmllc  4 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      Thanks Ben! Glad to have you on board

    • @zacholson4230
      @zacholson4230 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      You both rock! 🤟🏻

    • @NandiCollector
      @NandiCollector 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I'm addicted to booth of your channels. :)

  • @fabiandennis1247
    @fabiandennis1247 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    i total respect your approach.. hopefully i can break into this industry soon with your equipment

  • @russtill403
    @russtill403 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    keep up the good work m8,great vids.

  • @cheesynuts4291
    @cheesynuts4291 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    It’s funny but I saw a bunch of guys on the Refining forums saying that you can’t reliably smelt gold pens. Looks like you did great to me.

  • @HedgehogOutdoors
    @HedgehogOutdoors 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    It is very weird seeing an XRF reader used outside my industry. We used it in paper manufacturing to test for concentration of silicone. Basically, when you have a sticker, the backing is siliconized. We had to have an appropriate amount of silicone, which was measured by our XRF. We also did linerless paper, which had silicone on the face, and adhesive on the back. It would stick to itself just enough to make rolls, but peel apart without requiring a backing

  • @kouroshjavanbakht3790
    @kouroshjavanbakht3790 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Hi
    Silver comes from solders that connect the pins to the CPU.
    Gold amount is what those 4 CPUs should have.
    Cool video.

  • @donpalmer4155
    @donpalmer4155 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video!
    Learned a lot from it as well as the comments below.
    Thank You All!

  • @lisakaye3935
    @lisakaye3935 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I have so many harvested parts and I’m not sure who to trust enough to send it off to melt down. Ultimately, I would love to do this. So thanks for sharing!

  • @williampinson1125
    @williampinson1125 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Silver is probably from intermediate platings of contacts, the steel covers, and from internal solder joints. Gold wires are essentially pressure-welded to the contact points on the wafer inside the IC, but are likely soldered to the lead frame (not lead as in Pb but lead as in terminal), which is the frame of the IC body that has the external connections. Since the IC has to be able to be soldered at normal PCBA soldering heat profiles, any internal solder connections has to be done with much higher temp solder, which would likely contain silver.

  • @alvinjastrzebski3270
    @alvinjastrzebski3270 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Hi again. I was wondering if you used nitrogen to freeze the cpus first and then crushed them, would it pulverize easier? Also, would the brittle copper separate easier from the softer gold plate?
    You've already done the crushing and shaker table test so you already have half the experiment done already. Thanks again for the interesting videos.

  • @CKILBY-zu7fq
    @CKILBY-zu7fq 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    From my experience dealing with these type of materials.
    I watched all types of electronics change in their composition, from 18k solid metals to cost saving manufacturing techniques, which used the metal silver as a base metal for pins and so on, which the gold plated. With a heavy gold plate. Not a flash gold look that rubs of with one use like most manufactures today,
    So, I have handled millions of computer chips. I still have some that are rare and heavily cited in gold. As well as some very heavy duty diods.
    These computer chips generate electricity for every leg of the chip when exposed to light.
    But anyway, what you probably recieved was a later model of chip from the 90s to today.
    It could be older.
    But the metal content you recieved shows the percentage of metals used to make these chips.
    But, whats important here is the cost per how many chips to process. And what can you yield.
    What you are showing is very cool.
    I wish I was there actually participating in this type of study.
    I actually helped in the reclaiming of silver from one dirt into 5 gal glass bottles. Throught the vacume filter process.
    I think its all a very interesting process.
    After watching several of your videos. I think you might be the kind of person that could do and be interested in making somthing that I keep secret.
    For good reason.
    However. The main reason I keep it secret is, because I can't prove it unless I do it first.
    Thats where I noticed that you have the place and skills to do an awsome job on this type of project.
    It could be an eye opener. And fun,
    It could even bring revenue of sorts.
    But also it could make a great TH-cam
    Learning video .
    And it will answer a great ancient question concerning alchemy still not realized by man today.
    Ok brother. Keep up the cool work. Let me know if you want to ?

    • @joerenaud8292
      @joerenaud8292 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I found this comment by you interesting.'These computer chips generate electricity for every leg of the chip when exposed to light.' Are you saying that these chips without being powered electrically can still generate electricity by themselves? Is there evidence of this that can be confirmed?And what in your opinion causes this phenomena?

    • @CKILBY-zu7fq
      @CKILBY-zu7fq ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@joerenaud8292
      Yes brother, they might have one leg that is ground. But , each leg give off power when exposed to light. Different voltages
      I don't know exactly how its done, but what i do know, is that there is a clear window on top , and when you look into it. You can see a small ,, I would say another chip with tiny gold wires spideeing out form it. So its like a solar chip ? Light sensitivity device.
      I have 4 storage units full of stuff. But these are in there. I don't know exactly where they are or id take fotos of them and their part numbers and send them to you.
      Ok. Peace, have a great day.

  • @ContriteBiggs
    @ContriteBiggs 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    2:03 “like looking at the suns surface. Pretty cool footage!

  • @Hobypyrocom
    @Hobypyrocom 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    just found your channel, watched tons of your videos and subscribed... good stuff, keep up the good work man and best wishes...
    one question, is there any way to recover the lead from those used cupel's?

    • @saintcrispan5068
      @saintcrispan5068 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I actually looked it up, there are research papers written, but they're written by treehuggers who just want to neutralize the environmental threat from lead. Translation: yeah, but unless you're a tree hugger, it's more expensive than it's worth...

  • @groovynelson1575
    @groovynelson1575 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I have no suggestions except thanks for posting this video. Pretty darn cool what we can find in our own back yard...Have a good one.

  • @johnhayes8557
    @johnhayes8557 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Given enough chips, ot could scale up into recovery pf Pd and other PGMs. Rh and Pd/Pt will tend to move with the silver but also can alloy well with gold. Would love to see that video!

  • @palandasghodeswar6169
    @palandasghodeswar6169 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for sharing valuable information about Gold Smelting .

  • @jasong8377
    @jasong8377 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Awesome video maybe grind the chips to powder first then pull out magnetic stuff then melt

  • @whereasthepeople27
    @whereasthepeople27 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Nice job bro. Really help full

  • @rondonahue5509
    @rondonahue5509 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great video, many people push there rifined gold to high purity? Not nessary, the silver is the main conductor and gold stop corrosion. Great process and not harsh chemicals. I'm going to use your techniques for sure. Thanks 👍

  • @bloomingtonian7529
    @bloomingtonian7529 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I'm really enjoying these smelting videos. Keep them coming.

  • @OwlTech333
    @OwlTech333 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Loved the video! Well done mate!

    • @mbmmllc
      @mbmmllc  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks Owl

  • @jamesstevens2362
    @jamesstevens2362 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thank you, this was really good info!
    People have been asking about using smelting for gold recovery on a particular gold reclamation forum, and members have insisted it can’t be done. You’ve proven them wrong! It can be done!!

  • @RunningGrass-we7tm
    @RunningGrass-we7tm 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I really liked this video, my dad did this for 20 years, us kids had to cut the little gold spikes, and he used acid and the gold turned into gold flakes

  • @joemamans8365
    @joemamans8365 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Finally a person that does it logicly w/household materials, the lead is a great idea for the collection metal, I GOTTA GIVE TO YA let it be known thanks to u we're gona be financialy stable! Thanks. Maybe u can show us how to xtract platinum from catalic converters. Keep it on.

  • @martkbanjoboy8853
    @martkbanjoboy8853 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is so educational. Love your chan!

  • @sharkscrapper
    @sharkscrapper 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I really enjoy your channel. A very interesting video. thank you

  • @svenp6504
    @svenp6504 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I agree, the powdered ceramic (alumina) should dissolve in your flux. On it's own it has a super high melting point. I think iron and maybe nickel is used some cpu pins. All I know is they're often magnetic. Is there anything you can add to the flux that will oxidize iron/nickel so that it doesn't end up in the lead? Seems like this method got a very nice recovery... great video.

    • @kylestrokelitus360
      @kylestrokelitus360 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      when i did a direct smelt from 1960s electronics (heavy gold plating) I was shocked after I direct smelted my lead button --> because this is exactly what happened to my surprise. The iron nickel eded up in the lead button. When I cupelled out my large lead button, my cuppellation process was a disaster due to all of this teal in color steel.... JASON whats is the best way to oxidise out the iron / nickel in the smelting process..... I used chapmans flux 190g, plated pins 64g, and 110g borax, I left the smelt boil for about 30 minutes at 2200 and figured all the steel would be in my slag, and this was definitely not what happened!!! HELP!!!

    • @kylestrokelitus360
      @kylestrokelitus360 ปีที่แล้ว

      JASON HELPPP!!!!

  • @damianbutterworth2434
    @damianbutterworth2434 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    My first job was at Marconi in the 80`s. They looked like the same type of chips we made. We made all sorts from telephone dialling chips to space SOS chips. The cheap ones use epoxy to attach the dies and ali wires bonds and the more expensive ones used gold to attach the die and gold wire bonds. Never heard of any silver being used back then.

  • @michaellitchford9285
    @michaellitchford9285 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting always wondered the steps and procedures to smelting

  • @shaneyork300
    @shaneyork300 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I'm not a refiner, but my understanding of Ewaste or the CPU's is that it's plated with 8 to 10k Gold. If it's karat gold sometimes they put silver in that. I know they usually use copper, and white gold has silver, platinum and or paladium.
    Have a GREAT Day!!!

    • @music-jn3wn
      @music-jn3wn 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      not correct. the plating is almost pure gold. .995.

    • @shutupsitdownandhangon
      @shutupsitdownandhangon 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@music-jn3wn They don't use pure gold because it's too soft. If it were pure gold, you could just scrap it off because it would be soft enough to do that.

    • @goranaxelsson1409
      @goranaxelsson1409 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The plating is between 98 and 99.5% pure, some cobalt is added to increase the hardness in places where you need higher hardness.

    • @shaneyork300
      @shaneyork300 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@music-jn3wn Many test on many different computer parts have been done. The highest purity was from the 80's and 90's computers and the most was 12k or 50%!! After the gold is recovered it's 8k, 10k or sometimes 12k then you'll see people refine it to 98% to 99% on rare occasions you can get 99.9% pure on the first refining, most of the time it takes a second refining to get it to three 9's fine or 99.9% pure gold!!

    • @shaneyork300
      @shaneyork300 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@goranaxelsson1409 Many test on many different computer parts have been done the highest purity was from the 80's and 90's computers and the most was 12k or 50%!
      After the gold is recovered, it's 8k, 10k, or sometimes 12k, then you'll see people refine it to 98% - 99%. On rare occasions, you can get 99.9% pure on the first refining. Most of the time it takes a second refining to get it to three 9's fine, or 99.9% pure gold!

  • @socaltravelball
    @socaltravelball 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good work. You got me wanting to learn how to do this.

  • @leewhite1969
    @leewhite1969 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    If you take gold electronic fingers and stuff that has been removed with acid or vinegar and melted into a bead, could you cupel that to purify the gold and skip the smelting process?

  • @idontknowmyfirstname69
    @idontknowmyfirstname69 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Just found your channel. Enjoyed the video. Just wanted to point out, most of that iron came from the cpu pins. They are steel clad in gold usually on the ceramic cpus

    • @johnhayes8557
      @johnhayes8557 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      The pins on some CPUs are copper alloy. If they're CuBe, be careful!

  • @drinventions9742
    @drinventions9742 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The big shiny plate was aluminum,, it’s a heat sink, there was a smaller plate that was gold plated steel, all the gold plated pin on the CPU are magnetic so there’s another source of iron, the silicon chip does contain trace amounts of gold, the ceramic body will have either gold or silver bonded wires, on most CPU’s , they have monolithic ceramic capacitors attached to them, this is where you got your trace amount of palladium plus small amounts of silver

    • @goranaxelsson1409
      @goranaxelsson1409 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Finally, someone knowing what they are talking about!

  • @FollowMe2aMillion
    @FollowMe2aMillion 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    The silver comes from the solder. The pins themselves are gold plated kovar which is a magnetic iron alloy. All in all I think it was a success. Definitely want to remove aluminium top. Thanks for the video.

  • @CrucesNomad1
    @CrucesNomad1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Neat process. I need a few more things to do what you do. I would chemically treat it to get the fine gold.

  • @Alacritous
    @Alacritous 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I used to work for an electronics recycling company. We kept our eyes out for particular brands and classes of chips that we then melted down and smelted the gold from. It was worth our time, but we went through tons and tons of material over the course of a year. And this was in '99-2001. a lot of the older chips were very large dies and the circuit designs and manufacturing weren't as optimized as they are these days and so had more material in them than chips from more recent generations.

  • @featheredskeptic1301
    @featheredskeptic1301 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The only place I can think of that may have silver in a CPU would be the solder used for the decoupling capacitors of the chip. They typically are on the bottom, under that metal plate surrounded by the gold plated pins. This would also explain the palladium in the final sample as these capacitors do contain a very small amount of palladium.
    EDIT:
    The pins are also soldered to the chip. That is an additional source of silver.

  • @music-jn3wn
    @music-jn3wn 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    silver is in the solder for the pins. Always a nice bonus when processing chips.

    • @MysteryScienceTheater-uq9ht
      @MysteryScienceTheater-uq9ht 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yeah, I was thinking Kovar pins, silver solder. But where is the Palladium used?

    • @music-jn3wn
      @music-jn3wn 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@MysteryScienceTheater-uq9ht ceramic capacitors

  • @JustJeff420
    @JustJeff420 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome video! Can gold be refined using strictly a crucible, flux and a torch. for example turn 14kt and 18kt into 22-24kt? Or does it come down to using chemicals?

  • @NickMeisher
    @NickMeisher 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Could you do a video where you compare recovery from same sample by use of smelting half of it with lead; and the other half you use the acid recovery?

  • @randypinchbeck6916
    @randypinchbeck6916 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome lesson. I have a boxful of chips and cpu s but none of the skills. Just a couple days ago I said outloud I wish I could find out how to smelt vs the ugly dirty chemical processes I've seen. Thanks for this. subscribed. I'm just north of the Canuck border in BC. Grew up prospecting with my dad. Just retired and heading back to that way of life.

  • @TechGorilla1987
    @TechGorilla1987 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I am enjoying the frequent uploads! I would love to work on your small crushing equipment. It would be something else to change out a die with, at most, a small come-along. The largest die we ever flipped was a primary at a quarry that ran about 7 tons. I enjoyed it but I don't miss it. I'll bet there isn't ONE computer screen on your solid-ass equipment.

  • @kube9189
    @kube9189 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Have you compared how much gold you recovered to how much if chemicals were used?

  • @brianherhold675
    @brianherhold675 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting, keep it up!

  • @mikeybigfoot1354
    @mikeybigfoot1354 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This this video was amazing thank you

  • @nickyaero
    @nickyaero 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    The recovery is done in two stages , first treated with nitric to remove base metals , then treated with aquea Regia after the left over ceramic dried and ball milled not hammer milled (1kgs minimum ) again treated with aquae regia , you can pan it see to see the powder has the precious metal and sure it has any way good job

    • @Alondro77
      @Alondro77 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Nitric will also dissolve away the silver. I tend to use a low amount of weak hydrochloric first to eat up the base metals, let it sit for a while so the silver and copper reduce back as the base metals are mostly used up. THEN I add 1M nitric to take away the copper and silver. What's left is a mixture of insoluble oxides, silicates, and platinum group metals.
      After that, it's easy to hit it with hot aqua and dissolve the platinum group. Cool and neutralize with urea and let sit for a day, all the platinum, iridium, and rhodium will just fall out as a fine grey powder which is easily recovered and washed.
      Then warm metabisulfite solution with warmed auric chloride, and you swiftly get a spongy gold mass with over 99% recovery!

    • @DeathValleyDazed
      @DeathValleyDazed 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Alondro77 - thanks for explaining your recipe!

    • @blindluck3643
      @blindluck3643 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Alondro77 do you have a video on your complete method, with equipment, chemicals and proper ratios?

  • @bobwerner6512
    @bobwerner6512 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I think you did some good thinking on this good on ya

  • @patrickstehl6500
    @patrickstehl6500 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    First time coming across your channel. I am glad I did I will be subscribing.
    Couple quick questions....
    Where did you come across your equipment and what did it run you?
    And is this your main source of income or is it a hobby?
    I live in northwestern Arizona, very near the world famous rt66 and the gold bearing town of Oatman.
    Trying to get into the line of prospecting and am just curious about things like this.
    Thanks for your time.

  • @JP-xv3zq
    @JP-xv3zq 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Great video - quite informative. I like that you are avoiding chemicals. Have you considered taking a number of cupelled buttons and remelting them in a small cone mold to see if the atomic weight will seperate the god and silver?

    • @xenaguy01
      @xenaguy01 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Gold and silver alloy together when smelted. They must be chemically or electrolytically separated.

    • @sorornishicffbaddcde8567
      @sorornishicffbaddcde8567 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@xenaguy01 The metal could be used to make jewellery. Romans called that alloy Electrum I believe.

    • @pattheplanter
      @pattheplanter ปีที่แล้ว

      @@sorornishicffbaddcde8567 Used in the first coins we know about, from 600 BC Lydia.

  • @chrisheal3831
    @chrisheal3831 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The silver probably comes from silver loaded epoxy die attach, which glues the silicon die to to the ceramic carrier, prior to wire bonding, the bond wires will be either gold or aluminium depending upon the finishes of the carrier and the die. some carriers will use silver within the plating as well. If its gold wire bonds they will be pretty pure gold. Also once the silicon die is attached to its carrier and the wire bonding has been completed, almost all finishing processes will use "Non-Conductive" materials the pins which are gold plated have only a few microns of gold, purity of the pin plating will largely depend upon the quality of the chip.

  • @gyrgrls
    @gyrgrls 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Working in a Quonset Hut! I love it!

  • @alexej01
    @alexej01 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Older CPUs and some of the new ones use solder for heat transfer between the die and the integrated heat spreader (that metal plate). That's where the silver could've come from.

    • @fredericktex
      @fredericktex 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I thought it was mostly indium in that solder?

  • @joegen280
    @joegen280 ปีที่แล้ว

    I used KCN to strip Au off of Kovar based dust covers. Involved process using many chemicals. Wish I remembered. Was back in 1990. Fun job as a chemist out of college.

  • @thomas30dk
    @thomas30dk 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is really interesting. I would like to compare notes with anyone to improve tactics on these cou as well as I am holding a few hundred telecom tower motherboards that hold a lot, a LOT of gold 🪙 but just running CPU's now to refine and adjust game plan. Thanks for the upload. Thomas, Denmark

  • @russsherwood5978
    @russsherwood5978 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    that was the first time i saw them done that way, the way i saw it done before was the cpu was incenerated, then crushed, then a magnet ran over the powder, it was soaked in a acid solution to get out the pms, this was a fun video had my fingers crossed that this would be a safer, faster way, and it looks like it was to me, just have to scale this up,. thank you for the info. be strong, be safe, and be blessed

    • @nickyaero
      @nickyaero 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      russ sherwood CPU you mentioned is ics different from ceramic cpu in this video mostly you will lose plating any kind of metal except platinum groups
      The assaying method recovery is mainly done for low grade stuff

  • @richardoconnor7162
    @richardoconnor7162 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    All the solder is silver solder, Pd came from tiny chips (can not think of name at 4am). Use heat to drop the pins and plates off then crush the chips. Some of the heat spreader plates have gold plating under the solder layer also.

  • @3DPT
    @3DPT 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Silver is used in solder for electronics, so the CPU had a lot of sliver. Their may be some gold plated wiring depending on the pins and thickness of the chip. You'd have to pull up the specs for each chip to find the Au / Ag content.

    • @briandriver301
      @briandriver301 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Most solder is a eutectic tin/lead allow. Silver solder is only used sparingly and then, only in high- temp areas.

  • @philipandrew1626
    @philipandrew1626 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    The Silver comes from the bond wires that connect the terminals on the Silicon chip die to the CPU package internal terminals. The CPU package external terminals (pins) are gold coated.

  • @spotlobac7694
    @spotlobac7694 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    thats a good one, these sell for big money on ebay, i know theirs about 5 $ worth of gold not 20 , great video.

  • @kyleryan5154
    @kyleryan5154 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Dude! You’re the best!

  • @gortnewton4765
    @gortnewton4765 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The silver is unexpected! Been dealing with semiconductors a long time and would not have thought there'd be that much silver in those chips. My calculation is about $17 for gold from those few chips. Nicely done.

    • @niskaa78
      @niskaa78 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      But the Motorola 68040 is worth about $40-50 on Ebay, the K6-2 maybe $10-20 and the two IDT ORION 79R4600-100G would be ~$30 each. So he is basically throwing money away by extracting gold from them, reducing a potential income from $100+ to $17 not counting the expenses for equipment, labour etc :)!

    • @briandriver301
      @briandriver301 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      $17 worth of gold. $50 worth of materials to extract it. Lol

    • @jhoughjr1
      @jhoughjr1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@niskaa78 IF you actually have a buyer. Listed on eBay and going are two different things.

  • @rydplrs71
    @rydplrs71 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The chips were silicon, you need 1200c to enter the glass phase. There were also many areas of silicide (silicon/metal) with a variety of precious metal. Ti, Cu, Pt, W, Au, Ag, Co are almost guaranteed to be involved. Plus a handful of other random ones based on the manufacturer. There’s something awe inspiring about carrying a million dollars in gold, platinum or palladium, with a 500k core deposit.
    Volume and quality wise I’m wondering if you would have been better off just clipping the bonding wires.

  • @showandgo
    @showandgo 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    I wish I can send you all the CPUs so you can do your experiment. Cool video, thanks for explaining.

    • @royalrefiningllc
      @royalrefiningllc 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Feel free to contact me if you are interested in recovering the previous metals from your ceramic CPUs

  • @rtchow3000
    @rtchow3000 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    i have been trying to find which method is better to recover gold from chips. i have some that were melted into bars. what would be the way to ground these bars and smelt them? i don't want to chemical to dissolve and reheat again. i like your method of using cupel to melt the contaminated residuals. i learned a lot from your video.

  • @bobvb
    @bobvb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very interesting. I worked on an IBM manufacturing line making computer chips for 26 years. I was early enough in the process that I have no idea where the silver came from. As I look at old computers I have and am wondering if they may be worth playing with.

    • @chrism4008
      @chrism4008 ปีที่แล้ว

      The older they are, the more gold is in them typically

  • @sphillips6357
    @sphillips6357 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Interesting video. But how many of those chips would you have to do to pay for all that equipment?

  • @frankzahn7773
    @frankzahn7773 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I believe the silver came from inside the chips. The legs probably has steal in them. Check them with a magnet . Love your vids. I watch them all for precious metals.

  • @rhondajones1313
    @rhondajones1313 ปีที่แล้ว

    Personally I liked your video. I am glad you did this video it answered some of my questions thank you

  • @smittymcjob2582
    @smittymcjob2582 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I was on a video watching some guy melting aluminum cans into bars and it suddenly occurred to me I could be high class watching someone melting gold, and so here I am among you fine high society folks.

  • @joekerr6874
    @joekerr6874 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Old chips like those, looking to be mid 90's to early 2000's, well they mainly used silver leads and pins that were gold plated. Newer ones use aluminum alloys often instead of silver. You have to realize, through the 90's into early 2000's silver was at all-time lowest prices, some spot prices as low as ~$3 an oz. During that period, gold was relatively low, too, around ~$300 - $350 per oz. So it made more sense to use the cheap silver (which was cheaper often at the time than copper) as a base, & gold plate it. That era, you mainly saw solid gold pins/leads only in aeronautical, military, aerospace, and high-end industrial electronics applications.

  • @me-qx2rp
    @me-qx2rp 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Where can I get that grinder? I have 300-400lbs of boards/CPU's/RAM I need to process. That grinder would be a God send!
    Great video, thank you for taking the time to make it.

  • @ivsongold322
    @ivsongold322 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    these ceramic processors they are very generous in gold bath colleague congratulations on your work

    • @mbmmllc
      @mbmmllc  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks for watching

  • @johnnyb3126
    @johnnyb3126 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Awesome video 📸

  • @BullProspecting
    @BullProspecting 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Doing this with acid is much faster and will give you a much better recovery! Great video tho! Love when people do things differently!

    • @rockhound3.14
      @rockhound3.14 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      A chemist hid his gold from fhe Germans during ww2 using acids. Dissolved all the gold until after the war

  • @PoorMiners321
    @PoorMiners321 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    thanks for sharing good video sir