Remove Gold Trace From Ribbon Wire

I just received a small digital camera the other day and found it to be inoperable, I spent the time and took it completely apart and shorted all the metal and plastic, I was bout to throw the ribbon wire in the wire bin when I noticed gold plating on the ends of then where they connect to the pcbs. I was wondering how do you remove the plastic coating to recover the gold trace or is it just on the ends and I should cut them off and save then for future recovery.

Please do not say its not worth it, I am bored when im not working both my jobs and this is a good way to keep me busy, I don't care of the gold plating isn't even worth $0.00000001

typically ALL ribbon cables and cables in general just have gold plating on the ends...the reason they even put it on there is because it will not corrode. Cut then ends and rest goes in low grade wire (well my yards takes it that way).

I've been selling my ribbon wire whole, recently between $.60 and $.80 / lb.

Gold plated fingers, pins and cable ends the soft gold is easily removed via a tumbler with an abrasive such as that used in lapidary to polish stones.

Download a free copy of Hokes Refining Precious Metals Wastes to learn how to recover the gold from the abrasive.

does it look like this?

Where he said it was a small digital camera i was wondering if he might have been talking about white Mylar. That's a different kind of critter and the PM content varies by application. Don't know of any market for it out there. There are solvents that should dissolve the plastic and leave the metal but then you would end up with a hazardous waste product.

Thank you everyone for all your replies, i just recovered a little gold off of fingers (granted wasnt worth it for only 15 grams of fingers but it makes a pretty snow globe when i was shaking the jar with water lol) sorry i couldnt post any pictures it wasnt allowing me to upload and i couldnt share a link. Its almost like a mylar but the plastic has a redish/orange color to it and as far as i can tell its just the ends that are plated. The cable is very very thin.

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Originally Posted by gus4113

does it look like this?

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There wasnt a picture atlease not one thats showing up for me

Also may be off topic but what ratio for AP do you guys use and is the copper that i cement out of the solution with a SS spoon pure copper like could i melt it down after collecting a good bit of it

Good morning Rob
We don't discuss refining here, it's in the forum rules.

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

Good morning Rob
We don't discuss refining here, it's in the forum rules.

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Ok I'll try and keep that in mind for this site. I posted that question on a few other sites too, and thank you.

gold flashing

It's possible that the traces running through the ribbon pictured above are gold -or- a gold alloy. The reason they use PM's in the ribbon is to achieve very low resistance .... lower resistance than you would get with copper.

I believe that industrial grade silver is used in the traces found in computer keyboard Mylar sheets ?

i dont know if they are but i save mine...and what i pictured is not actual computer ribbon wire

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Originally Posted by webuyselltradestuff

typically ALL ribbon cables and cables in general just have gold plating on the ends...the reason they even put it on there is because it will not corrode. Cut then ends and rest goes in low grade wire (well my yards takes it that way).

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as stated above :)

Thank you everyone ill just cut the plated ends off and put them with my recovery pile and throw the rest of the ribbon in the scrap wire pile

That thin white ribbon cable, its only Gold plated on the ends where you can see it. The rest of the conductor is Copper strips.
If its 'silvery' on the ends its the same Copper strips with a Tin coating on the ends where they contact the connector.

The Mylar connectors, normally green plastic, sometimes Brown, have the same Copper strips and a nice Gold plated connected ends.
These are normally on flatscreen LCD and Plasma TV's, screens.
On the Plasma TV's, both ends are plated Gold, the end that's connected to the screen is also Gold, so of you rip it off and find no Gold end, the ends still stuck to the screen under a clear glue.
Use gloves doing this as most Plasmas screens are broken.
You can sometimes wedge the screen off where its glued to the backing plate.

Or maybe use a car battery charger and a long peice of Nickel/Chrome wire off a heater or such to make a 'hot wire' to separate the screen from the backing plate (only if its Aluminium, if its Steel its not worth doing)
There's about 4kg of Ali in that sheet, depending on if there's Ali or Steel stand off pins fastened to it. You have to remove the Steel standoff pins or braces, anything Ali can stay on it, its classed as 'Domestic Ali' anyway.

Fix each end of the NiChrome wire to a wooden handle and connect a good wire to that, the other end goes to the battery charger or such.

I'd think twice before trying a actual car battery.... It might be far too much power and blow the wire up.