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  1. #1
    newattitude started this thread.
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    How do you all cut the gold ''fingers'' off the boards

    without breaking them? I tried a utility knife and nada, those don't even make a dent in those green plastic boards.



  2. #2
    PartTimeScrapper's Avatar
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    Band saw or scroll saw or jigsaw. Prefer the scroll saw. I wouldnt try doing it with a hand held saw unless your putting them in a vice.
    This works well if you put them in a vice.
    http://www.harborfreight.com/high-sp...saw-91753.html
    Here is a cheap scroll saw. Would pay for itself with first pound of fingers.
    http://www.harborfreight.com/16-inch...saw-93012.html
    Last edited by PartTimeScrapper; 08-18-2011 at 11:11 PM.

  3. #3
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    Find a heat sink with thick fins. If you can get one with different height fins even better. Place the fingers in between the fins of the appropriate depth (only gold hidden). Now with the top of the board against your palm and your fingers wrapped around to the back of the heat sink, squeeze. You might have to bend the board back the opposite way to finish the break. You can also mount the heat sink to the bench top and hit the board with a hammer. You can get nice clean separation like this. Fast and easy with items you most likely already have.

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  5. #4
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    I read someone else to clamp the edge of the card in a bench vice. Bend it back and forth. Try scoring it with a utility knife and then try the vice again.

  6. #5
    newattitude started this thread.
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    Thanks for all the answers! Using a heat sink is a neat idea and the bench vise makes me go ''Duh! why didn't I think of that!?" lol.

    PTS - wow, I didn't realize there is that kind of money in those things! I've never saved them until I learned about them on here and can kick myself for how many i tossed earlier this year before having this knowledge!

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    omg...dont cut the fingers!!! you are down grading the board BIG TIME!!!!

    *hits head with hand*

    If the fingers are cut the board is not worth much at all..its worth like $2.80 is what I am paying...if the fingers are on the board then the board can be worth as much as $3.50 or MORE based on how many pounds you have....

    Its NOT worth cutting the finger off....

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  9. #7
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    check into boardsort they're pay $7.50 /lb for trimmed memory boards, and $15 /lb for the complete ram.

    looks like clean cut fingers he's paying pretty darn good too.

    boardsort.com

    Looks like I'm breakin out the scroll saw this weekend.

  10. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by dherik View Post
    check into boardsort they're pay $7.50 /lb for trimmed memory boards, and $15 /lb for the complete ram.

    looks like clean cut fingers he's paying pretty darn good too.

    boardsort.com

    Looks like I'm breakin out the scroll saw this weekend.
    Ok..lets talk about this...

    Memory is 20.6grams

    Small cleanly trimmed finger is 1.1 grams

    There are 453.59237 grams in a pound.

    So to make one pound of trimmed fingers it will take 412.3567 / 1.1 = 412.3567 memory sticks.

    It takes 22.019047087 memory sticks to make one pound (453.59237 / 20.6 = 22.019047087)

    So it will take 412.3567 memory sticks (412.3567 / 22.019047087 = 18.727272728 pounds of memory

    Trimmed memory is only worth $7.50 so 18.727272728 pounds of memory is now worth only $140.454545457 and the one pound of gold fingers is worth lets say $100 bucks...THATS IF you will get $100 bucks..Hell Call it $150 It wont matter much!

    Same amount with 18.727272728 of memory = $243.454545459

    so in fact you LOSE MONEY an thats not even counting YOUR TIME IN SNAPPING THEM OFF

    p.s...No I did not need to go WAYYY past the . an give you all the 0.000000 numbers...but I did it to give you proof that you are losing money...and big time.

    Its better to sell it WHOLE than snapping the fingers off...but if you want to lose money and kill nothing but time you can do something else with...thats UP TO YOU!

    Pull out you calculator...do the math I laid out for you and you will SEE that I am giving you the REAL NUMBERS!!!
    My company name was Easy Recycle but has since been closed
    My Name Stephan Harz
    My YouTube page

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  12. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kris Kringle View Post
    Easy Dude Now you see why What I put in my Signature Block
    I have told them and told them...on this post now an so many others...I should just so I dont have to keep repeating my self...do a long post...with ALL the math spelled out nice and cleanly...have a admin LOCK IT and sticky it...so that it stays on top an people can read it...run there own math..an make up there own minds.

    but in short...you cut the fingers off...you lose money and waste your time...you will be better spent drinking a deer and saving the can...you will make more money doing that than cutting the fingers!

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  14. #10
    PartTimeScrapper's Avatar
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    Yeah i wouldnt trim them from memory sticks but what about PCI cards? boardsort.com diference in price there is only $.55 So with the fingers cut off they pay $4 /lb with them still on they pay $4.55. So for maths sake lets take your number of 412 fingers to make a pound. If i left that pound of fingers on the pci cards I would make an extra $.55 but if I cut that pound off i would get $78. With my scroll saw it takes me ruffly 3 to 5 seconds to cut the gold fingers off a PCI card. So at 5 seconds each that would be about 20.6 minuts of cutting off fingers. Hopefully not my fingers. Ill take $78 bucks for 20 minutes of work anyday. I havnt gotten a full pound of fingers yet so I dont know exactly how much it takes to make a pound if your cutting them from slot boards. Since there are so many diferent size fingered slot boards it would have to be averaged out. But most slot boards are thicker then ram chips and and i would imagine they weight more then the memory fingers. Ok thats it im going to go cut one off and weigh it right now and redo the math.

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  16. #11
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    OK just picked a random card from my box of slot cards. Picked a PCI sound card. Weight before cutting is 100.9 grams.
    after cuting card weighs 97.8 grams
    finger weighs 3.1 grams
    So at $4.55 / lb full board gives you $4.55/454g*100.9g=$1.01 for entire card

    After cutting
    $4.00 /lb for fingerless card $4.00/454g*97.8g=$.86 for card minus fingers
    $78.00 for fingers $78.00/454g*3.1g=$.53 for finger

    $.86+.53=$1.39 for a difference of $.38 per card.

    Now it took about 5 seconds to cut that card and thats on the high side. So take 12 cards a minute and 60 min in an hour. $.38*12*60 and you get $273.60 per hour. Even if you cut in half and only cut off 10 fingers a minute youd get $136.80 per hour. I dont know about you but ide like to make that kind of money an hour.

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  18. #12
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    LOL i wish I did have 80 I could cutt of each day. If I had a setup like easy though it could be more profitable. But im just a part timer and only get computers I get lucky enuff to find on craigslist. As a part timer though I look for any way I can to maximize my profits. If it takes me 6 months to get a LB of fingers then thats an extra $70 or so in my pocket. Heck I break down hard drives so i can sell the platters on ebay

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    Quote Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper View Post
    LOL i wish I did have 80 I could cutt of each day. If I had a setup like easy though it could be more profitable. But im just a part timer and only get computers I get lucky enuff to find on craigslist. As a part timer though I look for any way I can to maximize my profits. If it takes me 6 months to get a LB of fingers then thats an extra $70 or so in my pocket. Heck I break down hard drives so i can sell the platters on ebay
    What your not understanding is there is no profit...you are losing money...you will NOT get 150 for the fingers...

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  21. #14
    PartTimeScrapper's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by easyrecycle View Post
    What your not understanding is there is no profit...you are losing money...you will NOT get 150 for the fingers...
    So my math is flawed? I ran the numbers like you said and I dont understand where its wrong? I didnt say i would get 150 for the fingers current price is $78 for 1 pound. Please tell me where my math is flawed.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper View Post
    So my math is flawed? I ran the numbers like you said and I dont understand where its wrong? I didnt say i would get 150 for the fingers current price is $78 for 1 pound. Please tell me where my math is flawed.
    Where would you make the 75?

    if you only make 75 for the gold fingers then you are losing even more money... because if you where paid 100 or 150 you are pretty even...only a few dollars up or down.

    And when I made the post about the math...anyone who will pay $7.50 for trimmed memory is nuts...I will only pay around $3.50 for it because untrimmed silver memory is worth $7.50 or so a pound (thats not what I get but thats what I offer for a large load of silver "tin" memory) But even at the $7.50 there is not any profit to be made.

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    my computer did not refresh right or I did not read right.

    I can see what you are saying about the pci cards...but its not worth doing that to the cards if you ask me...There are many other things I can be doing that has a better profit for me.

    You dont need to use a saw...just use some pliers and bend the finger back on its self..it will snap right off...

    If anyone sent me a snapped pci card...know this..I will only pay you around $2.60 a pound for the card...if there are cards with some fingers cut and others not...I will only pay you $2.60 a pound unless you have them boxed up in two boxes.....not going to spend my time un-mixing them...

  24. #17
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    I cant agrue with you on that easy. Your in the big time and im in the small time. I would never cut the fingers off of memory sticks. But for us small time players that are just looking for the best way to maximize our profits from the hobby of scrapping I have to say it makes sence to cut the fingers off of PCI cards but not memory sticks. Have you checked the prices at www.boarsort.com? He is paying $78 per pound for fingers and $4.55 per pound for high grade boards. I was using his prices for my example and boardsort only deducts 55 cents per pound for the PCI cards with removed fingers. I have yet to get enuff to sell to anyone yet so I dont know if his prices are lagit or not but I have read others on here that have used them before. THey also pay $15 per pound for any memory weather its gold silver or tin fingered. Maybe you can send him a gaylord full and make some bank?

  25. #18
    Scrap Master J's Avatar
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    Please take the time to consider that some of us collect the fingers because they are easy to refine the gold from, not to sell separately. A quick research session will provide the details including videos to anyone not familiar with this concept. The less material to sell to middle men the better off you are.

  26. #19
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    I make more on memory sticks than $15 a pound.

    There are many grades to motherboards. Desktop motherboard is not "high grade motherboard" its just a plain old motherboard.

    High grade motherboard is pci cards, servers, small handheld boards. Those are "high grade" motherboard because the amount of gold used on them is higher than on desktop motherboards.

    I will buy motherboards and high grade motherboards at the same price unless you have a good amount of weight. Reason being that its not worth it to me to pay you the top dollar for high grade if you only send me 5pounds because.

    So once you cut the fingers off he most likely will label it as desktop an then remove the 55cents making the card worth $2.50 to $3.00 or so. That in fact...is what a trimmed pci card is worth.

    So before you go do anything call them...ask them whats up an what they call DESKTOP motherboards..and what do they call PCI cards that have been trimmed.

  27. #20
    Scrap Master J's Avatar
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    PTScrapper said high grade boards were $4.55 lb, but if you go to Boardsort you will see that there category “motherboard grade” is $4.55 lb. “Telecom High Grade” is currently $5.15 lb.

    $4.55 - .55 = $4 not $2.50 - $3.00

    Also their price list is updated frequently to reflect changes in the underlining metals market prices. Other buyer’s prices seem to be stagnant while gold is up around 15% in last 30 days.

    It is important to know the competition as well as yourself.


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