Hi I have 150 lbs of this part and I am looking for a buyer or suggestions on the best way to process. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks Ken
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Hi I have 150 lbs of this part and I am looking for a buyer or suggestions on the best way to process. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks Ken
Very nice find. I have no good suggestions other that I have read posts of members who seem to have a lot of knowledge this type of material.
One thing I do remember some of the silver should NOT be heated up because of the dangerous fumes. So please wait until knowledgeable folks respond. Mike.
bump
You know, I would just sell them as-is on ebay. You can torch them off, outside, but there are precautions to take...research cadmium. Possibly use a sharp chisel as well. There are threads here on the subject, and also over on the GRF on this type of material.
Those are heavy duty relay or contactor contacts.
You should be able to knock the contacts off with a vise and a chisel.
I'm sure you can sell the contacts on ebay.
The copper would then sell fior #2 copper (Because of the solder left on it) #1 if it is clean
If you only have a few, just throw them in with your #2 copper
If you have a LOT, consider breaking them down
DISCLAIMER.....WHAT I AM ABOUT TO DESCRIBE IS DANGEROUS AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO HARM AND/OR KILL YOU!!!! I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY HARM OR DAMAGE YOU MAY CAUSE YOURSELF OR ANYONE ELSE IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE BELOW DIRECTIONS OR TRY DOING THIS IN ANY OTHER WAY EXCEPT FOR WHAT IS DESCRIBED BELOW!!!
I HAVE DISCUSSED POSTING THIS WITH THE MODS HERE IN THE PAST AND WAS ASKED TO STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DANGERS INVOLVED.
DO NOT DO THIS INDOORS, DO NOT LEAVE CONTACTS UNATTENDED AT ANY TIME DURING THIS PROCESS. FOLLOW THE BELOW STEPS AND DO NOT VARY THEM IN ANYWAY!!!
The key to doing what I am about to describe is slow and even heat until you have to use a torch in step 3.
1. I use a propane stove with a solid griddle over the flame. Put on med/high setting and let griddle got hot.
2. Put buss bar on griddle with contacts facing up. Heat for 10 mins or so.
3. Next take a pair of pliers grab the buss bar and torch the back side NOT the contact directly.
4. When it starts to turn red bang the buss bar on the edge of a steel bucket or tray and the contacts should come right off.
You do not want to heat the contact directly at any point, since it may be alloyed with other metals that when heated directly will emit a toxic smoke that has the potential to scar your lungs or KILL you! I can not stress enough that this should NOT BE DONE INDOORS.
IF YOU HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS ABOUT REMOVING CONTACTS IN THIS WAY SELL THEM AS IS ON THE BUSS BAR, NO AMOUNT OF PRECIOUS METALS OR MONEY IS WORTH HARMING OR KILLING YOURSELF OR ANYONE ELSE FOR!!!!
I have looked into the Cadmium problem. My QEHS (Quality Environmental health and Safety) director has stressed the same issues. We have a hooded vent system that I can use along with a p100 filter with hepa filter over. What do you think of these options?
Not to Hijack the thread but what do these come out of? I've seen several listings do well on Ebay if you're not going to refine them yourself. There's an auction that recently ended for 3.6 pounds which sold for $110 plus shipping. Of course there is the 12.9 percent fee you have to consider (10 % for ebay and 2.9% for paypal).
I would be guided by whatever regulations you have to follow for your area. I am not versed enough in discussing filtration or ventilation systems. You may need to have a scrubber installed somewhere in your vent system as well. I would recommend going over to grf and looking through the archives. Hoods,vents and scrubbers are discussed in depth there.
There are contacts in all switches. Motor starters, circuit breakers, push buttons, toggle switches and on and on. The key is the type of contact and the metal the silver is alloyed with. Some contacts yield 40% silver while others my yield 80%, while others still may be coin silver at 90%.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDude80
If you are doing it as a business you probably need an EPA-approved fume hood designed for Cadmium-containing vapors.
Brasscatcher pretty well has it nailed but a word of further explanation might be helpful....What you are doing with the heating is to melt the solder that holds the contact to the copper bus bar. This is a high melting temperature solder, and can also be a silver solder. I am not sure if it is silver solder 100% of the time but since contacts can get pretty hot if they are used a lot they need to stay in place at pretty high temperatures. That's why the solder doesn't melt until the copper starts to glow a dull red.
You can potentially be losing a bit of the silver in the solder if you melt the contacts off so what I have been doing is to take a zipcut disk and cut the contacts off of the busbar to eliminate as much copper as I can.
I checked the melting point of pure cadmium and it is below 300C so it is below the melting point of a lot of silver solders. That being said, I don't know how it acts when alloyed with silver but the threat of cad fumes is very real.
One innovative way of dealing with contacts while eliminating the fumes issue was posted here by Gustavus some years back. He rigged up a grinder with a water cooling setup and ground the contacts off the copper. That way he got all the silver solder as well while minimizing the copper "contamination" in his precious metals. Granted, he was doing his own refining so he did not have to worry about negotiating price with a refiner when he presented them with a barrel full of ground up silver contacts!!
My bet would be the best money would be had by simply cutting the bus bar at the contacts and selling them on fleabay. Doesn't take fancy equipment you need to train your yard guys to use and speeds up the process of concentrating the contacts down to something easily sold. And keeps the EPA and OSHA guys from coming to your yard and having rectal hemmorages!!
Hope this helps,
Jon.
Well said BC an Saw...
BC...you need one of these for such disclaimers..
http://memecrunch.com/meme/18950/dan...nson/image.png
Sirscrapalot - For the wise man looks into space and he knows there is no limited dimensions. - Lao Tzu
There is no Cd in that type of contact. The ones that contain Cd are small this is to control the arc burn.
You find the large ones like that in repairable motor starts or relay switches.
I have some experience with these types of contacts.
[IMG]http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/...ps91cc9597.jpg[/IMG]
Eric
Etack,
Not trying to be a pr*ck and question you, but I'm wondering how you can definitively say that the larger contacts are all Non-cd? There are gazillions of manufacturers of starters and contactors, covering probably 75 years. Have you done any XRF gunning or refining that bears this claim out?
I looked at a contact manufacturers website about a year ago. Can't remember it just now. But it seems there is a whole range of contact types containing a whole range of different metals, all with differing parameters that the particular electrical equipment manufacturer may want in their equipment.
If EwasteofCo is a business with employees, he has to work to the possibility of finding that ONE contact that the design engineer chose to use Cd-containing contacts because that is what the authorities having jurisdiction will expect.
Jon.
Sold them whole.
Do you mind letting us know how much? If not thats ok, Mike.
A good subject as it is an item that yields the potential for a much better than average return. With any task that has risk to anyones personal health, possibly even causing death. All steps, processes and procedure need to be approached with analytical thought and review. Starting with your own level of competency and knowledge of all aspects of the work. Where employees are concerned, my personal approach: ASK NO ONE TO DO ANYTHING, I WOULDN'T DO MYSELF! Very obvious to me Brass, has put a lot of thought into each and every word he posted. Well done sir and thank you!