Flatpack IC memory chips per pound price

Doing some research of my own and wanting to check my number crunching with some of the old hands on this forum...My estimate is that flatpack ICs sold as scrap (non-working) should fetch $6 per pound, if removed from boards. Does that sound about right or is my number way off?

I'm trying to determine if it is worth removing the chips and sell them loose by the pound or leaving them on the boards. Right now, I'm leaning to leaving them on the boards. I might reconsider if the value I've ascribed to them is too low.

Thanks in advance for your thoughtful replies.

Marty

i think your price is right on.

The only boards I pull them off of is the low grade boards, that way it does not degrade them, their already low.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

The only boards I pull them off of is the low grade boards, that way it does not degrade them, their already low.

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I agree totally. I have about 10 pounds of them right now and still have about 100 pounds of low grade to go through. Slowly but surely lol.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

The only boards I pull them off of is the low grade boards, that way it does not degrade them, their already low.

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Yes, that is what I figured as well. Thank you

Have 14 pounds now and still some low grade to go. not sure how much to go as a buddy brought me another big box of it lol.

Do yall only take off the IC chips that are socketed? Or do you take off the IC's that are soldered on as well?

Just curious. I've been only taking the socketed IC's out. But if the price you're talking about refers to the IC's that are soldered as well, might be worth the effort on my part to start yanking those guys off low grade too.

I use a small 1" chisel and lightly go down each side along the legs at an angle and remove them, most times the legs will pop out of the holes, once in a while you'll cut the legs off in the process.

Gotcha. So, basically, ALL IC's on lowgrade CAN be removed and sold for that roughly $6 a pound price, correct?

good question there Hoss! I've just been tossing low grade in the dadgummed shred anyway, not worth shipping

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Originally Posted by TheHoss

Gotcha. So, basically, ALL IC's on lowgrade CAN be removed and sold for that roughly $6 a pound price, correct?

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As far as I know, Yes. But for the sake of it I just go for the bigger ones and not the little flea looking ones, it would take a hundred of them to make a pound. Also I don't pull the chips that were connected to the heatsinks.

This is like the last thing i do before my boards enter lowgrade mountain. Just lots of buckets a lawn chair and 2 piles of money. cant beat that afternoon. Ill have 40,000 pounds for you in about 6 months easy :-p

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

As far as I know, Yes. But for the sake of it I just go for the bigger ones and not the little flea looking ones, it would take a hundred of them to make a pound. Also I don't pull the chips that were connected to the heatsinks.

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Machanic, that raises an interesting point. In terms of the larger and mid-size ICs, which I agree are the ones to pull, how many of them (on average) does it take to make a pound?

If, let's say, it takes 25 to make a pound and you can pull 50 an hour, which I think seems reasonable, that's $12 per hour.

Knowing the amount-to-time ratio would make the decision whether or not to pull them much easier.

Here is an exploded view diagram of a flat pack IC for anyone interested in learning more about the guts of ceramics. See figure 1-22 on page 22.
http://www2.elo.utfsm.cl/~lsb/elo102...lectronics.pdf

The link.

http://www2.elo.utfsm.cl/~lsb/elo102...lectronics.pdf

Aha - now I know why they're worth so much. Each one has a little dollop of gold on the inside.

I use flush cutters and cut one side only. Once the one side is cut free, Wiggle it back & forth until the other legs break.
http://www.photostringer.com/images/...ush_cutter.jpg

Sweet. Looks like i'll be going through my 10x5x3 ft bin of lowgrade today, pulling all those IC's!

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Originally Posted by TheHoss

Sweet. Looks like i'll be going through my 10x5x3 ft bin of lowgrade today, pulling all those IC's!

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Just returned from my yard where I was paid 0.05 for my low-grade boards. I made $0.30 for 6 pounds. It makes a heck of a lot more sense to pull the chips. It is like they are stealing from me, I feel.

I will be pulling them off, too, using the method that COPYCAT suggested in this thread.

I get a price that's very nice, simply because of how much i sell. I have to leave the copper stuff and alu heat sinks on, but can snip the wires and pull the IC's.

It actually works out pretty well in the end.

Yeah with your deal Hoss i would leave all of it on as well. O well some day that person will be found down here as well.

It would be worth remoing if you could have lot of it(maybe more than 200 pound)

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I use flush cutters and cut one side only

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How do they last?

I will pay upwords of 20+ cents a pound if the ic chips are left on the low grade. If you have a trailer load I can pay past 30cents a pound and cover all shipping costs.

Can i take the transformers off easy? Since im saving up for that trailer load.

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Originally Posted by Dunemaul

Can i take the transformers off easy? Since im saving up for that trailer load.

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hmmm...yea that should be ok.

So i spent a little bit of time ripping IC's off lowgrade today. Could only spend about an hour doing it, dizzyness kicked my a$$.

Anyway. I found it pretty difficult removing them, and i have a couple questions.

First: I used the 1 inch chizzle that mechanic recommended. It did the job, BUT. The IC chip still had the strip of lowgrade attached to it by the soldered pins on the back. Will that reduce value? Obviously this is a question for my buyer. But i figured since their are enough buyers here, i should get a decent answer.

Second: I used a box knife to cut the pins. It was a PITA and didnt work too well.

Third: I used a flat head screw driver to do the same thing as the chisel, still a PITA.

Fourth: Once i got one side free, id grab it with my needle nose and try to 'wiggle' it off, or pull it off. Most of the time it ended up chunking up the IC chip.

Which leads too my last question: If the IC chips are broken in any way, are they still purchasable?

Sorry for the list of questions, but i figured they'd be asked eventually by someone haha.

OH. I also tried to use my side cutters to cut the pins, just get on the end of it and cut. But see, on 99.9999999999999% of lowgrade, their just aint enough danged room to do that. So i'm wondering, dude who said he uses those fancy side cutters, how do ya do it?

Thanks yall. Appreciate the help and the knowledge yall have.

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First: I used the 1 inch chisel that mechanic recommended. It did the job, BUT. The IC chip still had the strip of lowgrade attached to it by the soldered pins on the back. Will that reduce value? Obviously this is a question for my buyer. But i figured since their are enough buyers here, i should get a decent answer.

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The other thing you might try is use the small chisel on the end of the chip and kind of tap it under the chip and it might start lifting/pulling the legs loose. That works about 50% of the time. On the few stubborn ones you can use a needlenose to break off the board that was attached. Don't worry about them being broken, your not selling them for repair purposes, just my opinion.

Hoss the way i do it is just get good gloves and crack the board right along it. very easy to do when ur done check with your buyer and if you have to clean them a small flat head and a heat gun work real fast.

I cut all of the legs off as I will process them myself.
I run a boxcutter knife down one side, not hard enough to cut thru the legs.
Then I cut thru the legs on the other side & wedge the chip up a bit so I can get to it, then I pull the chip up & off & wiggle it so the other sides legs stay soldered onto the board & the chips are removed from the legs.



I

Fair enough, thanks guys. Would still like some info from a buyer about them being broken, or having that strip of LG on the back.

I use a cutoff wheel on a dremel tool to cut the legs off. Fastest way I know - but wear gloves, the funky smelling dust gets everywhere and doesn't wash off real easy.

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Originally Posted by waredu

I use a cutoff wheel on a dremel tool to cut the legs off. Fastest way I know - but wear gloves, the funky smelling dust gets everywhere and doesn't wash off real easy.

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On this forum, in numerous posts, there is disagreement about the safety of the "funky smelling dust" (which is led dust, yes?). Does anyone know for certain whether or not this dust is hazardous? My suspicion is yes.

Could be extremely hazardous actually. We always say if it doesnt pluck, then leave it. Could be something containing beryllium Oxide - can lead you to a slow, painful death.

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Originally Posted by Ewasted

Could be extremely hazardous actually. We always say if it doesnt pluck, then leave it. Could be something containing beryllium Oxide - can lead you to a slow, painful death.

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Yea, and you won't know the damage that's been done till many years later.

Excluding flatpacks and eproms from this question, are IC chips worth the same amount from low grade and medium? Or should i be keeping them separate? I do already separate flatpacks from my ICs.. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by zackcat64

Excluding flatpacks and eproms from this question, are IC chips worth the same amount from low grade and medium? Or should i be keeping them separate? I do already separate flatpacks from my ICs.. Thanks!

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My buyer buys them all the same, don't know about all the other buyers tho.

Been doing a lot of reading on the development and packaging of the early IC chips. Chips made 1975 and earlier (basically first four years of commercial chip production) should probably be separated from all others. As these chips will have gold bonding wires and the method of attaching the chip cell to the package used gold as well. After 1975 some chips use a aluminum bonding wire and the use of silver adhesives increased for the attaching of cells to package frames. It might be worth it if you have a lot of early dated IC's to separate those and sell them for their higher gold content. Ceramic chips continued to have a higher gold content into the early eighties. Processors, memory and military/aviation chip a higher gold content into the mid 90's. After 1995 gold content becomes less and less. I'm separating my early chips by date and type into one pound packages. The ones after 1995 all go together in five pound bags. After 1995 I only separate gold plated chips and CPU's.

The other than scrap early chips, the "pulls", from the right chip family, prices can start at $5 and go above $100 per chip to a collector. I say that because only recently I have found some collectable chips that I had threw in with all the others.