minor electronic parts- are these worth anything??

**Flinthills** · 08-29-2014, 08:24 PM

In the middle photo, appears to be mostly Tantalum capacitors. That type is found in decent quanities on finger cards among other places. For sure, the larger ones @ 4 & 6 o'clock and the one @ 12 o'clock lying horizontal over FDR's head. On those I mention, take note of the solid slightly darker bar across one end. That is the way this style is marked to signify the positive end. The black ones eesakiwi mentioned have a very light (white) bar across the positive end. Generally speaking, from what I have seen the black ones are marked as being HP brand. Tantalums will be magnetic at least on one end, possibly both. Another reasonable, I believe, statement that can be made is that Tantalums will generally be found on better electronics and/or higher grade boards. As of this date, I have never found one on a brown board. I will attempt to provide some good close up photos, so check back.

Except for photo 2, the diagnostic area of interest is in the middle.

This photo shows the ones you have and the black ones. Positive ends pointing towards the middle.

Next we have the epoxy coated capacitors, sometimes referred to as a paint drop shape. I think the multi-color ones at right are cool, some are even pretty.

Next are the cannister type or silver casing. What's important to note here is the bulbous area on the wire pointing to the center. This is where another piece of wire of another material is adhered to the wire coming out of the main body.

The Tantalum capacitors in this last photo, I believe are considered hermetically sealed. Note the ends toward the middle are rounded and are the positive end.

**DakotaRog** · 08-30-2014, 05:08 AM

Thanks eesakiwi and flinthills!!

I'm glad I finally found a few that may be worth $, although at my pace of occasional scrapping it may take years to get a pound. I guess its not surprising that I haven't found a lot of Ta caps because I mostly do old tvs and not as many computers (there's a lot more competition around here over picking up computers off of the "free" category on craigslist than old tube tvs). I also live on one edge of my metro area so to justify a gallon or two of gas, I usually try to chain a couple of stops together and those opportunities then cost me chances at some stuff vs. a guy who's just driving a mile or so to pick something up.

So, besides the occasional tantalum and monolithic ceramic capacitors (and not talking about any obvious gold plated stuff) , there nothing else of these small, minor electronics worth money unless someone goes to the trouble of removing them for reuse, right??