Recycling silver from contacts??

[rt66electric]

Has anybody tried recycling the silver from various electical devices,relays breakers, and such????? What are the little dots/squares composed of ??
Signed-- time on my hands with plenty of electrical stuff---

 

[LarryFine]

The silver is a plating.

 

[K8MHZ]

The silver is a plating.

Not always.

My step dad used to work at a foundry and he would go through the scrap to find contactors. He knew which ones had pure silver contacts and he would pull out the little silver buttons and keep them. He got enough to fill up a pill bottle and took the money he got from the silver and bought a brand new Canon SLR with a telephoto lens.

He said some of them even had platinum but they were very rare.

 

[zog]

Not always.

My step dad used to work at a foundry and he would go through the scrap to find contactors. He knew which ones had pure silver contacts and he would pull out the little silver buttons and keep them. He got enough to fill up a pill bottle and took the money he got from the silver and bought a brand new Canon SLR with a telephoto lens.

He said some of them even had platinum but they were very rare.

They do nto make them like they used to. I has all been plating for 50 years or so, my shop replates contacts in breakers and contactors every day.

 

[Ebow]

Some of the older ones are cadmium. If you melt them and they let off a small trail of solid looking smoke then the are cadmium. Had a lab tech go ape when she saw a guy melting them down to get a lump. Said that the fumes were carcenogenic, said it was like asbestos or mercury, built up in your system over time.

Gene
_________________________________________
Remember - Speed Kills and its not always you.

 

[Jraef]

The cadmium in contacts was outlawed only a few years ago (2003?) with all the RoHS stuff that started in Europe. But the newer "silver" is still an alloy that contains maybe 50% Ag and the rest is a formulas of various oxides including iron oxide (Fe2 O3), tin oxide (SnO2) and / or zirconium oxide (ZrO2). The problem is, you will be unable to tell whether you have old or new versions and the cadmium is indeed toxic and a very dangerous carcinogen. I know of a couple of "contact rebuilders" that will no longer work on older contact sets.