Industrial & Manufacturing Blog
Whether you're throwing out a single old computer or a department of recently replaced workstations, there are valuable materials that can be found. Scrap metal recycling and old component reuse can be helpful to both you and the recycling center if you take the time to analyze what you have on hand. As you peek through your old systems, consider a few scrap metal searching concepts that can help you understand what to keep for yourself and what to remove for scrapping.
Metal Content In Cases
Computer cases made approximately before the year 2000 were often made of aluminum or steel cases designed to deal with some rough handling as people became more accustomed to personal computers. As plastics and style demands made custom designs more attractive, the metal content began to decrease. Thankfully, there are still a few structural areas made of metal.
Underneath the plastic should be the same old aluminum framework, lacking only the heavy metal cover and face plates. The plastic is usually held in place by removable tabs, although plastic plates can be removed by force. Be careful, as some computer cases are manufactured quickly with sharp edges that aren't sanded down.
If the recycling center requires that all or most plastics be removed for specific metal scrapping, be sure to look inside the case and framework for any fan covers, loading rails or covers made of plastic that needs to be removed.
Hard Drive For Continuing A Legacy
Don't throw away your old hard drives unless you're sure they're not working! Test them out in another computer, as you could be throwing away valuable files or bulk storage that can be useful in the future.
Many hard drives can be connected with little to no configuration changes. At worst, a working hard drive needs to be made a "slave" or "secondary" hard drive that simply appears as another set of folders. If there's nothing important, you could just erase the drive and prepare it for new use in a process called formatting.
If the hard drive isn't working at all, you can scrap it for some quite valuable materials. The casing is often made of aluminum and there are some drives that include copper framework. Rare earth magnets are also featured in hard drives that use actuator arms to read information. These magnets have a specific market and can be quite valuable on their own, often being worth more than their hard drives if the drives are old or limited in size.
For more information about scrap metal recycling, visit http://www.puremetalrecycling.com/ or a similar website.
Share20 February 2015
Hey there, I'm Finny Moreau. I like to explore the world of junk cars. If you're anything like me, you regularly pick through junkyards to find rare parts or even whole vehicles. Although I'd love to bring home all of the rare items I find on my searches, I have to be selective due to a lack of storage space. I would also never be able to use many of the items that I find. Instead, I bring home the best of the bunch for use on my own cars. I will use this site to discuss my findings in the junkyard. I will also explore the various uses of junkyard cars and parts. I hope to bring the discussion to dinner tables around the world to inspire others to use the wrecking yard on a regular basis. Welcome and thanks for visiting.