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Is it gold???? Lol

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    mikeinreco started this thread.
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    Is it gold???? Lol








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    Yep.....solid!!

    The real answer is the pins are plated, but I don't know about the main body. I have had some similar stuff and was told that it was gold anodized and didn't have any actual gold plated onto the aluminum. Then again, other people told me different, so I'm hoping we get a definitive answer from someone who knows.

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    The circuit board trace is. The main body....not likely but I have seen gold plated heat sinks. You wont know unless you can test it. File a deep cut into it. A drop of nitric acid will dissolve the base metal leaving behind the gold if it was plated.

    What did it come out of?
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    looks like gold plate to me. what did it come from.

    Eric
    I buy Tantalum Capacitors and offer other services. Check out my thread for more info.

    http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...-cap-more.html

    http://recycletantalumcapacitors.com/

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    mikeinreco started this thread.
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    It came from circa 80's early 90's handheld radios the type used by Gov't institutions Police/Fire etc.....I actually have approx 100 of these and every unit has one of these in it plus some other goodies........I bought them without looking up how old they were on Ebay (DUH) and now I can't sell them as no one seems to want them........So to recoup some of my money I am breaking them down for scrap.......The only reason I set these aside is because the nature of the item

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    mikeinreco started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by etack View Post
    looks like gold plate to me. what did it come from.

    Eric
    I kinda thought that myself

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    OMG! Mikeinreco found the legendary ounce of gold that is suppose to be in every PC. Apparently the legend was wrong and they have been hiding in old Gov't radios.

    Seriously though, let us know what you find out. It's an interesting looking piece.

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    mikeinreco started this thread.
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    Anyone have a suggestion on some testing solutions......I looked on ebay and cheapest I saw was a $15 kit.........Not in my nature to spend $15 to test .50cents worth of scrap....LOL

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    Quote Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER View Post
    The circuit board trace is. The main body....not likely but I have seen gold plated heat sinks. You wont know unless you can test it. File a deep cut into it. A drop of nitric acid will dissolve the base metal leaving behind the gold if it was plated.

    What did it come out of?

    Hey BC,
    Gold plated heat sink, what or why would they do that. Is it for military application's?
    Serious, not doubting it at all. Would love to find something like that. Or maybe already have and didn't know it.
    Learn something new everyday.
    Sorry to high jack
    Last edited by junkfreak; 02-23-2015 at 04:40 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikeinreco View Post
    Anyone have a suggestion on some testing solutions......I looked on ebay and cheapest I saw was a $15 kit.........Not in my nature to spend $15 to test .50cents worth of scrap....LOL
    Bring it to a jeweler and ask them to test it. Or maybe a pawn shop.

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    Quote Originally Posted by junkfreak View Post
    Hey BC,
    Gold plated heat sink, what or why would they do that. Is it for military application's?
    Serious, not doubting it at all. Would love to find something like that. Or maybe already have and didn't know it.
    Learn something new everyday.
    Dont want to hijack this thread so i will make it fast, Old mainframes, old telecom boards is where I have seen pictures of them. I have also seen the results after the gold was processed.

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    mikeinreco started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER View Post
    Dont want to hijack this thread so i will make it fast, Old mainframes, old telecom boards is where I have seen pictures of them. I have also seen the results after the gold was processed.
    Feel free to hijack your knowledge is welcome here..................Science/Chemistry etc were always my worst subjects (history buff here).................With scrap so low and all this snow I am just tinkering with items that I have already in my possession.......I would like to test the item somehow and perhaps pass them on to someone who can actually do something with them (remember I have over 100 of them).....Not sure if its worth the time or effort but I would like to get something back out of these radios....LOL

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    Is it gold???? Lol

    gold plate is common use on burst or high power transmitters. Its all about quality of the signal and because gold acts like shielding. It probably is gold but very thin.
    WI ITAD LLC, IT Liquidation Services, we remarket, buy and sell scrap electronics No customer too large or small!

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    Most plating is 30 microinches i believe. Maybe Etack can correct that or confirm.

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    Mike, I've taken things to the Cash for Gold type stores for testing. They are pretty good at it and it didn't cost me anything.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pnutfarmer View Post
    Mike, I've taken things to the Cash for Gold type stores for testing. They are pretty good at it and it didn't cost me anything.
    Just dont sell them anything. I think i mentioned this in another post

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    Oh, right. Yeah, they didn't have good prices at all and they were going by pennyweight instead of grams so it took a bit for me to decipher the price offered.

    There is one thing I have sold to them. Some stores were offering 99 cents per lb for silver plated anything. I got to sell some silver plated steel platters. That worked out pretty good. (I did tell them they were steel too.)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pnutfarmer View Post
    Oh, right. Yeah, they didn't have good prices at all and they were going by pennyweight instead of grams so it took a bit for me to decipher the price offered.

    There is one thing I have sold to them. Some stores were offering 99 cents per lb for silver plated anything. I got to sell some silver plated steel platters. That worked out pretty good. (I did tell them they were steel too.)
    1 pennyweight(dwt)= 1.555 grams

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    The plating on the heat spreaders for them will be thickish. Think $0.25 sq in. The problem is that the copper part weighs a lot.

    Eric

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    Quote Originally Posted by junkfreak View Post
    Hey BC,
    Gold plated heat sink, what or why would they do that. Is it for military application's?
    Serious, not doubting it at all. Would love to find something like that. Or maybe already have and didn't know it.
    Learn something new everyday.
    In the 80s, because gold skyrocketed to a high of about $800 USD per ounce, and them plummeted and stayed around $300-$400 USD for the rest of that decade. Because gold, for the majority of the 1980s was so inexpensive, many items that did not require plating received it.

    However, this is not the case with Aluminum heat sinks. Aluminum oxidizes over time, specially when heated and cooled repeatedly as heat sinks tend to be. Once oxidized, aluminum no longer dispenses heat nearly as well, it can actually start behaving in the reverse and accumulate heat. This is why heat sinks are anodized. However, during the 1980s, it was actually less expensive to gold plate an aluminum heat sink, than anodizing. It actually made things look far more expensive than they actually were, so they would also command a much higher prices in the marketplace. If we were to valuate gold, currently, at today's prices, per sq inch, with today's technology, it would be right around .33 cents per sq inch. Even today it would not be so expensive to gold plate most things, however because heat sinks have so many fins the plating surface is several inches even in regards to small heat sinks. Back in the mid-late 80s it would cost between .10-.12 cents to plate a square inch in gold.

    During the mid-late 90s, heat sinks were anodized more commonly than being plated in gold, and done in a gold anodizing process so as to seem gold plated. The difference is that gold plated items in the 80s were using an older plating technology, so look almost dull buttery because of the thickness of the plating, the anodized heat sinks look shiny.

    Scott
    At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. -- Carl Sagan

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