Maxing out a Motherboard

I did a search for motherboard in the sub and came up with two hits...lol. Neither of which had any thing to do with motherboards directly. So I thought I would start a Motherboard thread to discuss the best way to maximize ones profits on recycling motherboards. Hopeful both the buyer and supplier will partake and we can get the boundaries set on whats worthwhile to do and whats not. I'll start...

Back in the day, we would just strip computers and throw all MBs into a Gaylord and send them off to Sabin for processing. But reading through this site, I'm not that sure that was the correct way to maximize profits. I see people pulling off all kinds of stuff off of boards.

did you remove the CPUs first? im assuming that you have

other than that, unless you can get more than the price of motherboard for any item attached to the board, you're better off leaving them intact.

Hi, we usually pull the cpu's like mentioned, then the cards get pulled if there's any on the MB. (this is on a normal computer) Then we pull the power supply and it goes in a separate box, hard drives(to be broken down later), floppy's- cd/dvd drives all go in the same box. We cut the wires off the power supplies and their sold that way. Mother boards, cards, cpu's, all go in separate totes.

I take the Li-Ion battery and the removable e-proms off them too, also that second heat sink thats stuck on to a surfac mounted chip.

I do this as my buyer over here reduces the price if I leave them on.

I also have to take the metal strip of all the ISA and PCI cards I sell.. or I loose $0.20 a Kg in rate.

I guess after reading the original post again, my answer wasn't close. If there actual mother boards we pull the cpu and heatsink, and memory and all the plug in cards, and if there's a small ic chip on a socket. That's about it.

I also read that people are pulling the gold pins and surface mounted capacitor chips. What kind of impact would that have on MB rates...is it even worh the time. Must be if a lot of people are doing it...right?

SS

the small surface mount capacitors, or "Monolithic capacitors" have platinum listed as one of the items they contain (from manufacturers sites etc..) I do not know of anyone reliably getting any sort of real yeild from them...same goes for pins.

I would rather get the MB price per lb for them, would take you at least 1 hr per board to remove the monos and pins...

IMO :)

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I also read that people are pulling the gold pins and surface mounted capacitor chips. What kind of impact would that have on MB rates...is it even worh the time. Must be if a lot of people are doing it...right?

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IF you do that to all your motherboards, you have "cherrypicked" them and have taken the price per lb. from $3-4 per lb. down to .10-15 a lb. low grade price. Your better off getting the good money per lb. and letting the "pro's" do their own refining.

Do TV's have a 10-15 a lb. low grade price. as i find my share of tv's.

I am new to this venture but my plan is to only remove the following componenets from the motherboard.

Fan (mostly plastic - don't know what to do with them yet, but I'm sure the board buyers don't need or want them)
Heat sink (Solid Aluminum, and for a second or two of work the board buyers don't have to remove it before calculating the weight and sending a cheque)
CPU (they will go to the same board buyer, but separated from the boards)
Button Battery (again, not sure what to do with them, but they might as well be removed as the board buyer is mostly after the gold)

This way I feel I am doing the fastest dismantle that will create resonable profit for both me as a seller and the board buyer/processer as well.

Maybe a board buyer can chime in and let me know if I'm close or way off in my thinking.

Does anyone have a photo of a "monolithic capacitor" ? Thx.

For us, you only need to remove the fan, CPU and heatsink... we go through every lb of boards here so we will remove the battery and have it recycled properly.

Thanks

Ewasted, to make it worth your while, and mine, what is a good shipment size(weight) for you to receive? 20lbs? 50lbs?, a heck of a lot more??

Remember I would be shipping from Canada and I certainly don't want to start off on the wrong foot and be a PITA!

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Do TV's have a 10-15 a lb. low grade price. as i find my share of tv's.

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Yes, tv's stereo's, vcr's, etc. etc.

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Does anyone have a photo of a "monolithic capacitor" ? Thx.

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http://www.tedss.com/stock/images/1994/1994001850.gif

Here is also a surface mount tantalum cap.
http://www.semectech.com/images/scs.jpg

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Fan (mostly plastic - don't know what to do with them yet, but I'm sure the board buyers don't need or want them)

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We throw our fan's (minus the plastic housing) in with the small transformers from low grade boards and small motors, our yard buys them all together; check with your yard, we don't know their policy!

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Does anyone have a photo of a "monolithic capacitor" ? Thx.

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http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...lithicCaps.jpg

They come in different sizes and colours but most contain Silver (solder) and Palladium.

Ballymoss thanks dude I was looking for a picture myself.