A lot of it was trial & error for me. Tried some of the different methods of depopulating the boards and at the end of it all .... it just didn't seem like it was worth doing. It was nasty work, time consuming, and there wasn't much to show for all of the effort.
I suspect the real value was that the experience taught me how to identify all of the little parts n pieces that are on a board. Wouldn't presume to be a grader, but you can look at a board and have a fairly good idea of whether it's low, mid grade, or higher value depending on what's there.
It was a similar thing with printers. I tried them for awhile but it doesn't work that well here. It's a sixty mile run to the nearest scrap yard with the motors,wire, and stainless steel rods. The boards were worth maybe thirty of forty cents after operating expenses and there was a whole trash bag full of plastic to get rid of afterward. Somebody in the big city that's set up to do plastic recycling could do a better job so i generally take a pass on the printers.
Much as anything though, the value is in the experience and figuring out what things do and don't work for your particular situation.
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