lostinlodos wrote:
This isn’t an easy a or b answer.
My quick and simple suggestion is send a pound in and try a pound on your own. The end result can tell you which is better for you.
In reality I try to urge people away from refining themselves; in general.
I have over 15 years of trial and error in refining. Playing with it again every time I find some new methodology. Everything from drop in acid baths to EC, reverse electroplating, and even some more lab-oriented methods.
On the obvious front You’re dealing with volatile chemicals in the most common acid methods. You’re producing waste to deal with. And if you’re going for the standard gold/silver/copper trio, you’re leaving a lot of other value behind.
With the electro/chemical methods you don’t have enough volume to make it profitable. Not at 20 lbs
YouTube, when correct at all, leaves plenty of steps out. Mike and Moose are two of the more reputable posters. Both are honest and honest enough to say this isn’t going to make you rich. Moose makes extended notes on what he shows and (vitally) doesn’t show in videos. There’s plenty of good videos mixed in with the majority of junk that will just get you hurt. …or worse!
20LBS is definitely worth considering. You’re in the ounce recovery level range there doing it at home with no experience and generic setup.
Keep in mind I’ve pointed out multiple times, and peppered comments with some links, over the years the Pentium Pro is /not/ a grail chip.
If the majority of your chips are intel, Motorola, AMD, or early Cyrix 4x and older: no reason not to try.
Pound for pound, chip for chip. Can you come out better than the prices Chris offers? It’s possible. If your lucky and get a really good run the you’ll get close. But if you’re refining for gold you’re loosing a decent minority chunk of the chips’ value. And by taking the easiest recovery you are left with a hard to refine ceramic chip of fractional value for recycling.
The question is if it’s worth turning a $100+ per pound chip into a ~<$6 trinket for a few dollars of easy gold.
For some yes. Others no. That aspect is something you need to decide on your own.
I do suggest if you opt to try, sign up at the GRF, get involved, and learn all you can first. Tapping the whole CPU takes far more skill and supplies than just pins and caps but there’s a lot of locked up value inside that ceramic. Milling and multi-mineral extraction methods, like the large companies do, can make it worth wile if done correctly.
Start small. Work your way up. Keep records of expenses. Pay attention. And be safe.
Good luck
I have been been refining Gold filled jewelry for many years and have the process down very well. I know how to deal with all the waste and how to handle the chemicals in a very responsible way. I just have not tried to process ewaste. There’s still a lot to learn so thank you for all the Info. I appreciate it. I guess I’ll take your advice and make some charts and see what the cost is and see how much contents I can recover from each one. I know that every chip is different from manufacturer to manufacturer on the Precious metal side of things and there are a bunch factors I need to factor in. Again thank you for the info.
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