Contacts & relays · Tier B

Machined-pin DIP sockets (gold barrel)

If you can see a round turned barrel with a spring clip visible down inside it, that's gold. A flat stamped leaf in an oblong hole is tin and worthless.

Au 1.0–2.4 g/lbCu ~250 g/lb

eBay typical$120–300per lb

Refiner pays$140per lb

Metal in it$212per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencelowof the yield figures

How to spot it

Machined sockets have circular precision-turned receptacles pressed into a black or beige body, each barrel a distinct brass-yellow ring. Cheap dual-wipe sockets show two flat stamped tongues and read silver-grey. Common on vintage 8- and 16-bit boards, EPROM sites, instrument and military boards, and anything branded Augat, Mill-Max, Robinson Nugent or Textool.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	1.0–2.4 g/lb	calculated from Mill-Max-class specs, 10–30 µin Au on the shell and 10–50 µin on the internal BeCu clip — no assay found
Copper	~250 g/lb	brass barrel plus BeCu spring, about 55% of mass

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $212 per pound of contained metal — Gold 1.6 g = $209, Copper 250 g = $2.67. A refiner paying $140 returns about 66% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Hot air 330–360 °C

Hot air at 330–360 °C from underneath and lift the whole socket so the barrels stay intact. Alternatively snip the plastic carrier away and pull barrels individually — barrels alone are the highest-grade fraction. Do not grind: the internal clips are beryllium copper.

Hazards

☣ Beryllium copper

NEVER put BeCu in a grinder, a sandblaster, or a melt.

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.

💨 Fumes, ventilation and open flame

NEVER burn boards, wire insulation or plastic. Ever.

Before you scrap it

Gold machined sockets for vintage CPUs — Z80, 6502, 68000, ZIF and Textool — sell $2–15 each to retro builders, several times refiner payout. Sell them whole and clean.

The common trap

Most DIP sockets on consumer boards are the cheap leaf type — tin over phosphor bronze, essentially zero gold. Weighing a mixed bucket and applying machined-pin yields overestimates by about 10×. Sort by barrel shape before you weigh anything.

Questions

How much gold is in machined-pin dip sockets (gold barrel)?

Gold: 1.0–2.4 g/lb. Copper: ~250 g/lb. At current spot that is about $212 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify machined-pin dip sockets (gold barrel)?

If you can see a round turned barrel with a spring clip visible down inside it , that's gold. A flat stamped leaf in an oblong hole is tin and worthless.

How do you remove machined-pin dip sockets (gold barrel) safely?

Is machined-pin dip sockets (gold barrel) worth more working than as scrap?

Gold machined sockets for vintage CPUs — Z80, 6502, 68000, ZIF and Textool — sell $2–15 each to retro builders, several times refiner payout. Sell them whole and clean.

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