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MICROSCRAPPINGE-waste field guide

🪚 Fibreglass and board dust

caution

Where you meet it: Cutting, shearing or sawing circuit boards, especially trimming gold fingers

What you need to know

Epoxy-fibreglass dust is a mechanical respiratory and skin irritant, and it carries lead and metal residue with it.
Wet-cut, or run a shop-vac right at the blade. P100 respirator. Outdoors if you can.
Never grind or sand gold fingers off — you aerosolise the gold you're trying to keep, along with the glass.

The rule: NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.

Components this applies to

Gold fingers (trimmed) Connectors & pins · $225–290/lb Au 2.0–3.0 g/lbBase Cu S Noble Thermocouple Wire (Type R/S/B) Other · $18000–31000/lb Pt ~410 g per lb of bare noble wireBase Rh 6–30% of one legBase Type K/J/T/E/N: zero PGM S Pogo Pins & Spring-Loaded Test Probes Contacts & relays · $200–500/lb Au 1.4–3.0 g/lbCu ~330 g/lbBase steel springs S Precious-Metal Sputtering Targets Other · $32000–50000/lb Au ~454 g/lb — the target is solid metalPt 138 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in discPd 77 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc S Silver-Graphite Brushes & Slip Rings Contacts & relays · $150–400/lb Ag 40–95% by weightCu pigtail + commutator segmentsBase electrographite S IBM Multi-Chip / Thermal Conduction Modules Processors · $36–115/lb Au 1–5 g per module ≈ 0.3–0.7 g/lbCu ~48 g/lbBase Mo internal wiring B Silver-Plated Copper Wire & Coax Connectors & pins · $8–25/lb Ag 2.8–6.8 g/lb as-received; 5.7–11.3 g/lb stripped conductorCu ~230 g/lbBase 40–55% PTFE/FEP B Card-Edge Receptacles & Sockets Contacts & relays · $20–60/lb Au 0.15–0.50 g/lb for genuine gold-contact socketsCu ~130 g/lbBase 55–70% PBT/LCP/nylon C Ceramic disc capacitors Capacitors · $20–70/lb Ag 4–10 g/lbPd 0.05–0.3 g/lb C DC-DC converter bricks & isolation modules Other · $40–400/lb Au 0.08–0.3 g/lbAg 1–4 g/lbCu ~90 g/lb C Metal oxide varistors (MOVs) Other · $15–40/lb Ag 6–14 g/lb C Silver mica capacitors Capacitors · $80–500/lb Ag 10–20 g/lbCu ~60 g/lb C Thick-film resistor networks (SIP/DIP) ICs & chips · $15–50/lb Ag 2–5 g/lbPd 0.2–0.7 g/lb C Bridge rectifiers and power diodes Other · $20–80/lb Cu 140–240 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbAu ~0.02 g/lb D Carbon and metal film resistors Other · $8–25/lb Cu ~15 g/lb D Ceramic HRC fuses (and glass fuses) Other · $25–80/lb Ag 1–3 g/lbCu ~90 g/lb D Chip antennas (LTCC ceramic) RF, power & vintage · $20–120/lb Ag 6–18 g/lb D Clip-on and bolt-on board heatsinks Other · $5–25/lb Cu 0–450 g/lb D Console Game Cartridges Boards · $10–150/lb Au 0.003–0.015 g per cartridge ≈ 0.04 g/lb wholeAu 0.6–0.9 g/lb of trimmed fingersCu negligible D EMI shield cans and fences Other · $3–10/lb Cu 150–290 g/lb D Gold-Plated Flex Circuits (FFC/FPC/ZIF) Contacts & relays · $10–40/lb Au 0.05–0.15 g/lb of cableCu ~100 g/lbBase 60–80% polyimide/PET + acrylic D Laser Printer Boards, Fusers & Toner Chips Boards · $10–60/lb Au 0.01–0.04 g per formatter board ≈ 0.045 g/lbAu 0.0005–0.002 g per toner CRUM chip ≈ 0.3–0.8 g/lb of chipsBase Fuser: no precious metal whatsoever D LEDs (through-hole and power SMD) Other · $20–90/lb Au 0.02–0.08 g/lbAg 2–7 g/lbCu ~100 g/lb D RJ45 Jacks with Integrated Magnetics Contacts & relays · $8–20/lb Au 0.02–0.07 g/lbCu ~57 g/lbBase ferrite D Tape Drives & Libraries (LTO/DLT/DAT) Drives & media · $5–500/lb Au 0.05–0.20 g per LTO drive ≈ 0.03 g/lbCu ~10 g/lbBase 0.7–1.8 kg aluminium per full-height drive D Thermal Printheads Other · $200–900/lb Au 0.002–0.02 g per head ≈ 0.06 g/lbBase Ru as RuO2 glazeBase alumina substrate + Al heatsink bar D Thermistors (NTC/PTC) and piezo elements Other · $20–70/lb Ag 2–5 g/lb D Transformers, inductors, chokes & toroids Other · $15–60/lb Cu 100–220 g/lb D

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