Recycling Old Cell Phones & Electronics

[BrutalBeck]

I started taking apart old cell phones a few months ago. Yes, there is precious metals in cell phones and electronics, especially gold. The motherboards are coated in gold. But, I know for myself that there isn't enough gold to make a fortune and you would need about a ton of just cell phones, just to make it worth the while. I talked to a guy on the east coast who runs a recycling company. He says they pay $1.62 per pound for old cell phones and electronics. Which tells me, obviously, that I have a very long way to go before I ever see any kind of profit from this. I have 11 cell phone boards, 1 old hose phone board, and 20 litium batteries so far.

What do you think and know about this subject?

 

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[davidhorton001]

I have a a couple pounds of gold scrap pins etc. Just saving it up. I don't mess with this stuff until I have nothing to do and I'm bored. I've heard it takes about 5 pounds of pins and processors to get a gram. In no hurry, but definitely saving what I come across. Some day I will have someone process it for me.

It does take a lot of pins, the thing to watch out for with pins is finding out what type of base metal they have so you can properly process the without having a bunch of issues. That's why I like the mem. cards. Their base metal is copper,so with hydrochloric acid, air pump and a little hydrogen proxicide in a couple of days the gold just floats off.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Agreed David however even this leaves you with a liquid containing copper compounds which can't be dumped down the drain in good conscience. Instead, more chemistry is needed to pull out the copper, otherwise you are killing fish

 

[russau]

telephone equipment from 1966 and older ,the gold was of a heavier plate with a high karet value and some on the relays were almost all gold. after 1976 the phone companys used a lower value of gold and was a very thin plate. but it all adds up .

 

[davidhorton001]

Agreed David however even this leaves you with a liquid containing copper compounds which can't be dumped down the drain in good conscience. Instead, more chemistry is needed to pull out the copper, otherwise you are killing fish

Yeah tell me about it. I had to go through the whole leeching process. Between that and the lack of space I decided it wasn't for me. The chemicals used for the process are very toxic and put off harmful fumes. Safety is a must. Plus nothin beats finding gold in the ground!!!

 

[azblackbird]

Most smart folk I know don't even mess with chemicals. They gather all the electronic junk they can, sort it all out, grind it up, palletize the shavings, and then ship it all back to China. No muss... no fuss!

 

[Chizzy]

I started to save e-scrap late last year. The problem is that the local scrap yards are not yet accepting any of this material. I have room to store it and the time to wait til they catch up to the 21st century...........it will keep for now.

 

[methomas]

Electronic waste recycling has been around the corner for quite some time now, but has not made it to the cover stories of technology magazines and business chronicles. This is mainly because of the fact that it is still light-years away from realizing its true potential.

 

[Gold Maven]

Saw a show where a scrapper made a deal for 1,000 old flip phones.

In the end, he got $1500, ...$ 1.50 each.

Not exactly huge, but if you run across a barrel full, it's good to know.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Saw a show where a scrapper made a deal for 1,000 old flip phones.

In the end, he got $1500, ...$ 1.50 each.

Not exactly huge, but if you run across a barrel full, it's good to know.

Good reminder that none of your old electronics should go in the trash!

 

[911Met]

Here is the metal value of 'smart phones' Mining-iphones · 911 Metallurgist

 

[Mad Machinist]

Having a "breakdown facility" to process this stuff into its main componentsis one thing but to try and actually process the metals out? OH HELL NO.

The level of toxicity in some of this stuff makes it safer to drink gasoline and then light a cigarette.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Just found a bunch of old USN transistors and diodes with gold plated leads. The TO-3 case bases are gold plated copper, but the plating looks to be .002-.003" thick! I could probably pull an ounce from what I have. Time to try that HCl/bleach method.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Sell on Ebay and let some one else process it.

 

[Jimmydolittle]

It's not likely that thick, more on the order of .0001. Even the government had limits on the gold used. They plated over copper on most of the items, that's why it looks so thick.

Just found a bunch of old USN transistors and diodes with gold plated leads. The TO-3 case bases are gold plated copper, but the plating looks to be .002-.003" thick! I could probably pull an ounce from what I have. Time to try that HCl/bleach method.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Recycling Old Cell Phones & Electronics

It's not likely that thick, more on the order of .0001. Even the government had limits on the gold used. They plated over copper on most of the items, that's why it looks so thick.

Chop em up and soak in HCl for a week (pool acid works great). It'll eat up the copper and leave the gold. After removing the gold, drop a piece of iron in there. The copper will precipitate out for you to dispose of as solid waste while you just dump the rusty water down the drain. Do not dump copper tainted water down the drain as it will kill fish! Also, read and follow the warnings on the acid packaging...unless you are able to grow replacement eyes!

 

[russau]

Prior to 1966 everyone used 24 KT gold and it was platted thick. after that gold was 14 KT and a lot thinner platting. old phone equipment is a GOOD example of this. some phone relays had large buttons of high KT gold that were sqwezzed into place on a relay arm. I still have some of it in my shop that ill get around to doing something with it sometime!

 

[Duckshot]

I have heard that gold can be rolled or plated thinner than any other metal, just few molecules thick. The closer to 24kt it is, the thinner it can become.

Silver is a better conductor of electricity than gold. The reason that they use gold instead of silver is because using a little gold for connections is less expensive than using lots of silver. silver plates much thicker, and it cannot be rolled near as thin as gold.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I have heard that gold can be rolled or plated thinner than any other metal, just few molecules thick. The closer to 24kt it is, the thinner it can become.

Silver is a better conductor of electricity than gold. The reason that they use gold instead of silver is because using a little gold for connections is less expensive than using lots of silver. silver plates much thicker, and it cannot be rolled near as thin as gold.

AND it corrodes...that's the main thing about gold - no corrosion!

 

[Duckshot]

AND it corrodes...that's the main thing about gold - no corrosion!

Yep, that's how come your cellphone can survive a dip in the pool.

I head that if you drop your phone in the water you are supposed to take the battery out and put it in a jar of rice.

This will attract an Asian, who are good with electronics, and he will fix it for you.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Rice trick is very hookie but it might help if you have a few weeks to stay off the phone .
My daughter droped her phone in her soap and tried rice , well I took it outside on a 90 degree day covered it with a towel for 3 hrs and back up running like new but do take the back off and battery out before a sun tan .