1

I am sorry, if this is not a good place to ask, but is there any general rule of thumb about how much precious metals could you expect to get out from 197x(?) printed circuit boards, especially Soviet ones?

We have at work finally got to send to utilization an old Soviet monster like this, and it is full of the PCBs:

the module all-together

one example of PCBs

other example

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    I'd suggest that Electrical Engineering would be a more appropriate place to post questions about PC boards.
    – cjs
    Oct 25 '19 at 16:31
  • 5
    This is really a question about cash value from precious metal recovery (in particular, estimating how much precious metal a circuit board contains). But I couldn't find any StackExchange sites for recycling, disposal or salvage, so Retrocomputing may be the least bad option. It does rub me the wrong way to ask people who are trying to preserve old systems how to figure out how much cash you can get by destroying them, but I don't feel like that by itself is a good reason to vote to close.
    – Ken Gober
    Oct 25 '19 at 17:19
  • 2
    Wow! 102/116 IC series! 155la3.ru/k102.htm
    – Wheelmagister
    Oct 26 '19 at 4:45
5

First of all: Wow, nice exchange. A fun piece for a museum. Where is it located?

I am sorry, if this is not a good place to ask,

Not really, as your question seems to be about electronics and scrap metal, not old computers.

but is there any general rule of thumb about how much precious metals could you expect to get out from 197x(?) printed circuit boards,

Not much - at least judging from the pictures. There are no chips, which may have gold bonding, not gold covered pins (not that they yield much anyway). The transistors may have some, but again, it doesn't seam like a lot. Guessing from the boards shown, I'd say it's less than 10 USD gold in total. And that needs to be extracted. Heck, even the steel may be more valuable as scrap.

The most valuable part here might be the copper wires - which in itself is rather meager.

People tend to overestimate the value of scrap boards. They only make sense (and money) for recyclers when handled by container loads, not single racks or boards.

especially Soviet ones?

There is no principal difference here - except for the time line as in the USSR every thing happened (military excluded) a few years later. So above is rather late 60s technology when seen from the west.

We have at work finally got to send to utilization an old Soviet monster like this, and it is full of the PCBs.

The best would be to keep it complete in working condition and donate it to a museum.

Otherwise be happy to get rid of it without paying for disposal.

Improve this answer
5
  • 2
    Thank you! And, yes, since it is probably near working order, we just now got offered around $120 to take it away for a collection. :) Down here you can occasionally see pieces like this occasionally someplace.
    – Gnudiff
    Oct 25 '19 at 14:09
  • Cool. Giving it to a collection is a very good idea. and 120 USD seams a good price for both sides. So where exactly is 'down here'?
    – Raffzahn
    Oct 25 '19 at 14:27
  • 1
    Riga, Latvia. Reminds me, one of my friends' father happened to privatise the whole Soviet phone exchange station, he must have some stuff like that left over, too, not to speak of old PCs.
    – Gnudiff
    Oct 25 '19 at 14:37
  • 1
    @Gnudiff Oh, cool, I guess I should jump in the car and come over :)) Haven't been in the Baltics in years.
    – Raffzahn
    Oct 25 '19 at 15:45
  • 3
    Service manuals for Soviet hardware usually list total weight of precious metals contained within -- check those if you have them.
    – sendmoreinfo
    Oct 25 '19 at 23:10

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.