Quick easy way to salvage parts from old circuit boards.

[Tony Stewart]

I got a few thousand dollars worth of CREE LEDs on MCPCB for the scrap value of the aluminum $10/lb just because the board shop couldn't repair them or be bothered. to replace one and find a mismatch.
I use them everywhere. like Patio Table lights ( were designed for Ambulances) made by Solectron sold to scrap metal dealer and sold to me for $20. I just modify, cust 4 6 or 12 out of 18x3W CREE LEDS on each MCPCB and match power to suit requirement with any surplus brick. In this case 2P6S array on 19V laptop charger.

 

[gary350]

What??? That's not right at all! You're talking about the normal streetside recycling that picks up residential stuff? They're not at all equipped to handle lead, don't know what it is, and certainly won't dispose of it correctly! (Unless I'm misunderstanding you here.) That stuff's gonna end up in the landfill.

Lead in the environment IS a hazard, no matter what. That's why we no longer use leaded fuel.

I save lead scraps--solder bits, and even wheel weights that I pick up off the street--and eventually melt them down into "ingots" (basically big blobs cast in a small metal pan) that I bring to a local metal recycler who 1) disposes of it properly and 2) pays me for it.

We have 3 trash collections in our neighbor hood. Monday is trash pick up for kitchen and home trash. All our organic material goes in my organic garden compost in the back yard not in the trash can. Thursday is recycle pick up for cardboard, cans, glass, plastic, metal, etc. Second Tuesday of the month we can throw old TVs, old computer, old mattresses, old sofas, old clothes, parts of cars, old paint, used motor oil, toilets, anything we want on the city street a dump truck and loader takes it all away to the recycle center. I have several 5 gallon buckets in the garage, 1 for steel, 1 for copper, 1 for aluminum, 1 for this and 1 for that, etc. When a bucket gets full I take it to the scrap yard it = free dollars for free lunch. The lead will go in one of the buckets. The circuit boards should probably go on the street just like the TVs. The Thursday recycle dumpster is full of plastic from the TVs that I picked up on the street a month ago.