A newb's progress

So I figured I'd start keeping a log of sorts on here to track my progress in this new "hobby". After around 20 days or so of getting into ewaste this is what Ive gotten so far:
9 cable boxes
1 modem
1 playstation 2
1 alarm clock
4 comp towers
10 lbs low yield wire
3 additional hard drives whole.

I've payed $31 dollars for scrap so far and reclaimed $10.50 from some wire/shred/al cans (My first trip to the yard!). I overpayed on the cable boxes but I learned a cheap lesson.

Things I haven't broken down yet:
1 power supply
1 cable box with inverted torx bolt (I opened one with brute force but it was a lot of work!)
1 tower
1 hard drive (besides board).

Things I need to figure out what to do with:
Low grade boards
Power supply boards
HD platters (need secure data destruction)
PLASTIC (I need to find somewhere in my city that will take this type of plastic as I don't want it in the garbage).

I'll post pictures and weights once I get it all broken down.

Bending the HD platters all out of shape will help to make data un-recoverable.
They are coated Aluminium, and Ali doesn't like being bent backwards and forwards. Putting one in a bench vice, and bending it multilpe times will have it breaking into many pieces in no time at all. Then if you really are that determined to destroy any chance of recovery, lay a piece on top of a 3/4" socket or on the end of a steel pipe, and whack it with a hammer into the centre of the socket/pipe. Bending the sections into a cupped (convex or concave) shape.

Of course melting them into fresh clean ingots of Ali is another option for someone (definitely my favorite). Just throw them into a healthy wood fire, then the next day grab the Ali buttons out of the ashes, an outdoor wood fire will melt Alloy wheels down to a pile of buttons if you are in a place where you can have an open fire.

Picked up an additional 7 towers today for $22 bucks. A couple were missing power supplies and optical drives, but otherwise whole. I haven't gone through them thoroughly yet. I am thinking after I process them I may have enough to fill my box for e-wasted. The dimensional weight is 37lbs so I hope I can fit that much weight in. I am estimating ~.90/lb shipping so I will only ship items that are worth more than that. Which leaves me some aluminum, fans, wire, powersupply boards, and low-grade boards.

I am still not sure what to do with the powersupply boards and low grade boards, need to research it some more. What do you guys do with them?

Check with your local yards on if they will take the low grade boards and pay more than shred. Here its shred price. I would also look to see if any of them will buy the power supplies whole with or without wires. Personally I hate to take power supplies apart to recover the good stuff inside. Mike

I have my shipment all boxed up and ready to send to E-wasted. 33lbs of motherboards, cable box boards, RAM, CPU, hard drive boards, cd/dvd boards, and some misc. My shipping worked out to $0.64/lb so I am only sending items more valuable than that.

I have been saving all my shred/aluminum/insulated wire for my local yard. Also started saving some bare copper, transformers, transistors, and copper windings on ferrite. What do the transformers go as (The ones with plastic, steel and paste enclosing the copper)?

What % profit margin are you guys aiming for that buy/breakdown/resell e-waste? Obviously volume plays a big role, but I am trying to nail down target prices so I can give customers good value while still making it worth my time.

I came across a potential customer that told me he wishes he would of heard of me earlier because he just recycled 100 hard drives. Ouch I would have loved those boards and aluminum.

Also I still have some goals I am trying to reach:

1) Find place to recycle plastic from towers (Not looking to sell just want don't want it to go in the landfill)
2) Find a local buyer for low-grade boards, dvd/cd drive carcasses, computer fans, and other items that my local yard won't take and aren't profitable enough to ship.
3) Make flyers/buying price list to attract new customers.
4) Business cards

I have found that dollar for dollar power supplies are best sold whole. Different yards want them differently so check with your local.yards first. I have one that wants them with no wires and pays .20-.30 a pound and one that only wants with the wires and pays only .10-.15 a pound. The lower priced yard pays the highest on my motherboards so if I only have a few I will go ahead and sell to him. I know he gets to make some money on them and he takes care of me on a few other items.

Transformers are currently .20-.25 a pound locally for me. The smaller ones depending on the yard may put them in with fans and electric motors.

aoshea, this is very helpful for me to see what your working on as I too am having the same types of issues. keep up the journal and happy scrapping!

Just received my first payment from E-wasted. Turn around was just under 1 week.

Drilling the platters will work also. Go with multiple holes. Or grab a hammer an get some hammer time in. Oh an on your cable boxes, if you have a cheap chisel, it'll make quick work of the box. I have that I use an it works like a champ. Might take a couple hits but it'll break that small screw, or the metal. A bit more work then remove the screws the proper way but if your like me an don't want to look for a bit..just use brute force. ;)

Edit: Hammer the chisel. It was likely obvious i meant but just in case it wasn't...there ya go!

Sirscrapalot - Likes the hammer method.

If you're scrapping it's really helpful to have a 4" angle grinder.

I usually just grind the heads off the inverted Torx bits so i can get inside the cable box. Only takes a couple of seconds ....

With the HDD platters .... just cut em' in half with a pair of tin snips. Again ... couple of seconds and you're done.

If you re-invest your scrap money into the right tools the job just gets easier & quicker to do.

1. .67 lb for shipping needs to be cut to at least .50 that will give you another .17 per lb.

2. find a local yard that will take low grade boards. not profitable to ship them.

3. I think Mech buys platters maybe others as well.

4. there are buyers for magnets here also.

5. get a gram scale. and a 6 in piece of com wire strip it and weigh the insulation then the copper. most of it is #2 @ $1+ not com wore at .30 -.

6. info hackers don't buy disks on ebay the only attack where they know the value of the potential info.

7. you are getting your towers for a good price.

8 good luck. study the old threads.

#9. When olddude speaks, listen up. He may not always be right but 9 out of 10 he usually is.
#10. Sirscrapalot is way cooler then BC...just saying. ;)

Sirscrapalot - The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance. - Benjamin Franklin

Just broke down one straggler cable box and thought I would share the contents.

1.2 lb mid-high board ($1.70/lb @ E-wasted)
4 lb shred ($.08/lb local yard)
14 oz low grade board (?/lb; no local buyer yet, .05/lb for estimates)

Total value: ~$2.40

There were also a couple small ribbon cables and a little wire on the low grade board which could add a tiny bit more.

If you don't mind me asking, where/how do you get your towers? I post on CL occasionally, maybe I'm just offering too much money. Looking good so far, keep it up!

In my limited experience I have had the most luck with local computer repair guys. I've emailed some people around town that do computer repair/small business sales, and tell them what I pay for certain parts. 90% of them don't respond but sometimes the 10% have what I am looking for.

Just sold a pound of hard drive magnets for $1.99/lb on ebay. It took awhile to sell but I'll take that price all day!