Scrapping A Flatscreen TV - How To Make Money From A Scrap TV! 

I have collected "broken" flat screen tv's for several years. Sometimes, if it is an easy fix, like replacing a board, then I sell the working tv for several times what the part cost to fix it. I have, on occasion, collected the tv's, and, when testing them, found that they were thrown out just because the person wanted a higher resolution or a tv with more apps preloaded. Two of these I now use in my work shop. They work well, have good enough resolution for my shop environment, and, didn't cost a thing. The best part is that the ones that I fixed and sold, or, fixed and now use, don't go into a landfill and provide entertainment for me and other people. Reuse is not a bad word.

I know I will never scrap a thing, but love watching these. Thanks, Thub.

man, i've been in and out of jobs and stuff like this definitely helps in between and honestly you can learn a lot, thanks for the content brother!

I scraped that same TV last week and still have all the electronic parts. So this video is exactly what I need know. Thanks.

loved you video from the first few seconds. im 55 now and have been scrapping since i was 14. yes, theres a ton of screws to undo to scrap. i put them in containers and they go on the scrap trailer with everything else.

Where I live in my neighborhood ( my house is right on the corner of a 4 way stop) My side yard for some odd reason has been deemed the convinient "free stuff" corner. So regularly people leave all sorts of stuff they don't want yet think others will. This sucks at times but honestly is great most of the time. So far this week alone I've gotten a 55" Toshiba fire stick smart tv ( can't remember the exact name) a newish Toshiba satellite laptop that turns on and functions fine, just a cracked screen a floor standing heater on wheels and a dehumidifier.

Thanks for showing those capacitors and resistors. That was super helpful

As soon as you hit your thumb, I hit "Like". Taking apart flat screens obtained at the dump has become a hobby of mine. I simply can't pass one up! They contain cool translucent and silvered plastic sheets for artists. But the BEST part is the OPTICAL SHEETS. You've seen them. They're flat Fresnel screens. Not with the typical concentric rings, but rather horizontally-etched surfaces that do the coolest things with light. I pass on all the hardware, metal, plastic and LED strips and chips.

Lots of gold fingers in flat screens. I can knock out 20 in an hour. Depending on the TV. At first it's difficult but now I've learned a safe and fast why of doing them. Worth the time.

You need to make money in radio with that golden voice bro

Ive learned many ways to make the most from scrapping . GREAT VIDEOS THANKS

Put the magnet in a thin rag. After picking up the screws turn the rag into a sort of bag and pull the magnet off. Dump the screws.

I think you're just like me bro you get comfort and relaxation on just breaking down things finding what's actually in. And then to I bet you make more money off your RU-vid channel than you do scrapping.. that's all I had to say peace and love bro. 😊 I am a scrapper down here in Memphis Tennessee

I resell working boards for 20/50 each. And stock tvs to make 1 working one out of however many. And reselling 50 to 400. Just recently got back into scrapping. Usually resell what I find complete. Great videos byw.

Your personality is truely a wonderment …thank you for your honesty. And until next time…bye🧐✨

whooop whoop, good to see/hear you.

Defo miss these videos was nice to see the old house and garden again. Hope your staying safe thub and as always keep doing the thing :)

I picked up 250 flatscreens from a return center. I have taken apart 170 so far. I have 12 pounds of screws, an 18 gallon tote of copper, a 1/4 barrel of power cords, 2 trash cans of circuit boards, 2 5 gallon buckets of aluminum, a quart of brass and half of a 5 gallon bucket of aluminum and zinc (mixed because i ran out of buckets)!! I can strip 7 to 10 TVs an hour depending on size.

I just wanted to say thank you so very much I've learned quite a bit from some of your videos

You can also make led sky light out of screens and sell them as well. Thanks for your video. Hope that tip helps you, as well as others. Enjoy. ✌️

You remind me so much of myself and my junk (and good stuff) all over my house. I am a technologist and I've always stripped everything for the goods they carry . Don't forget to get the strong magnets from computer hard drives . In Toronto...😁😁😁

The best part of a flat screen is the polarizer sheets. Some are actually created by electroplating platinum metal on to them. Other than that they're really cool and you can make little outside grow tent enclosures out of them. I made a mini hoop house with them they last forever unless you live somewhere cold then they may get brittle after 2 years.

Being heavy on the diy side of things, I find saving and organizing screws, various flat and perforated metal panels, fans, power supplies, etc, money savers, for various other projects…

I always assumed flat screens weren't worth the effort. Now I know for sure. Thanks from a Canucks fan living in South Australia 👍

I started doing this during the great quarantine of 2020. That one’s bit different than the ones I have taken apart. I’d say upwards of 50 tv. But your showing me I left a little on the meat on the bone.

Guy says dont break it....then hammers every bit to pieces. 😂🤟

This video answered a lot of questions about what is useful. I'm not looking for a pay day just what can be re purposed

Dude that flatscreen is ancient! I Just scrapped out an old Sony Bravia 2006 model today and it didn't have near as many circuit boards!

It's amazing how much is in the older flat screens like the unit above vs the newer flat screens.. The newer units basically have a calculator and 2 crappy speakers.

Make it worth your while it always depends on how you do your stuff but recycling I like to recycle anything and everything I can get my hands on because it's very fun and exciting mostly learning about all these little parts inside and attached to a board which all these names I can't remember

Man oh man you are the cutest! I don't even care what your talking about, I love watching you talk. You have the best personality and energy aaaand your beautiful 😍❤️

Thanks for the heads up! Thanks for covering. Like i said a little bit before: wish I found your channel sooner!!!

I know how little of money and gold is on a flatscreen t.v. but I still pick up the ones I know are not the ones that has pennies of gold in it. I recover and refine gold as a hobby so it's fun to get the finger strip boards and other gold plated items out of the good ones. Have a GREAT Day!!!

Thanks for posting this!

I put them out for target practice makes disassembly easy

Ok so good info that you have given however you missed or left out some details that iv learned from scrapping with my man for 7 years. The first tv you messed around with is a plasma. They are very heavy even though they are flat. A plasma tv has about 3-4 pounds of copper transformers on the boards as well as all the round things that are wrapped with copper wire. We don't clean small transformers we just throw them in a bucket till it's full. But the round things wrapped in Cooper on a big plasma there is around 2 pounds of copper all you have to do is cut the wire connection to the board and hit the round things once with a hammer and the middle part the copper is wrapped around disintegrates and you pull the copper apart and discard the middle. Also if you take just the transformers and copper wrapped round things, the wire and aluminum a person with a drill for the screws can get it apart and ready to sell to the scrap yard in under half hour. With the prices in southern Ontario where we are it's worth around $11 so I would say worth it not for gold tho. We also have no one to buy gold boards ect.

Check for gold plating under that big square CPU chip at the 4:36 mark.

I’m a new scrapper. Like watching your videos. I’m learning from my mistakes. Keep your videos up like watching them. I’m learning lol 😂

thanx to thub for even bothering to make this vid: i learned a lot! (even though i've repaired electronics - all kinds - since forever). i used to collect aluminum cans, but found the actual cost of hauling the cans to the recycler cancelled out what i got for them... you live, you learn. i was surprised when thub said: "all those little pieces of gold are not even worth a dollar..." (gold has steadily increased in price) it's early days in my research: process of extracting gold from old PCBs seems time-consuming and dangerous. (maybe there's a a way of harvesting gold quicker with less dangerous chemicals)? (i'll try to find out). the big surprise is when thub mentioned palladium (MLCC capacitors). palladium is a very rare metal, much more valuable than gold and (probably) well-worth harvesting from scrap. tantalum was new to me, too (another rare metal). hauling metals cheaply (especially cheaper kinds) is probably a key to success. or, if you're clever enough, harvesting the very rare metals thub mentions. the way i see it, scrap-harvesting is a big service to humans, our communities and the economy generally. (the electronics industry is worth billions, so the demand for metals must be high). in my neck of the woods, "fly tipping" (people illegally dumping large items out in the streets) is a big problem: i literally find myself rescuing flat screen TVs and other items regularly. if i had a wood burner, i could keep myself warm all year with the amount of timber people discard... its amazing the valuable stuff people chuck-out.. anyway, i think knowledge is power with getting the most out of scrapping, so here's a run down of current metal prices for anyone interested. [happy hunting] zinc castings.... £1 - £2 ($2) per kilogram aluminum frames ... £0.60 - £1.40 ($1) per kilogram palladium per ounce > as of march 20, 2023: $1,339.00

Thub, your my hero. Happy gathering to ya!

M8 cheers on your presentation . I live in Oregon USA where I deal with Schnitzer's metals they do buy all sorts of metals via their other companies. Have you tried asking them about buyers for circuit boards , etc ? Keep up the good work. God bless y'all.

Surface mounted boards are easy to depopulate with a heat gun and scrapper for the mill's, tantalum capacitors and other gold bearing items.

So I live north of Toronto in Aurora, Ontario for anyone doing it in this area. At Aim in Newmarket on Davis they buy whole flat-screens at 9 cents a lb. Otherwise I do strip down computers, some electronics, tvs down in Toronto near Weston Rd & Finch at CMI they buy motherboards for $1.30ish lb mixed, 30 cents lb for circuit boards, $5 lb for CPU chips just for example. Your videos are great thank you for the educational information

Hi, you forgot about people who do craft projects, I have used the led lights and save the screws you would be surprised at how many times I have needed a small screw to hold the let's to a project. Good video 👍

First tv you scrapped was a plasma phosphor array tv. They were very spendy back in the day. The chips and such are worth way more than scrap btw.

It took me 2 days to remove the glass off a Panasonic Plasma. Definitely not worth the hassle. The putty they use to seal that glass down is amazing. Kinda would like to have some of that glue they use.

Great Speed/Actor/Personality!

You have a really great presence for the screen. We really enjoy your topics as well. And hey, if you're ever in Missouri swing by and my husband can take you to his barber. No offense intended please! I just think your lovely happy happy hair would be cooler and so much easier to handle if it were cut short❤

They used to make very large projection screen TVs and it was in a particleboard frame. They have a very nice gold cpu chip and a few optic lenses from europe. And they have a large freshnell lense for the screen backing. You can boil water off a mirror reflecting the sunlight under the pan of water. Very fun to take apart. Three lenses as big as your hand, 4" diameter. The hardest part about it is that you have to bust it up right on the street to get the parts into your trunk. They weigh over 100. All the sides collapse down after a few wacks. Look up the price of a freshnell lense at 2x3 feet. That's the coolest part.

Those heatsinks are worth more as heatsinks than scrap. Electronics guys would buy em. As an EET guy, I didn't think I'd want anything in one of those, but those switching PS look nice. Probably the newer TVs have less stuff worth anything, but those old ones have some nice parts in them.

Im very happy to finally konw the true : no gold bars inside the tv.

I do tons of ewaste here in the states. Flat screens are well worth my time. I have a buyers for all the boards so it works out great. Computers is where I make the most

Those little metal panels on the back make good classifiers for gold panning sometimes

You are doing are planet a favor by collecting the metals out of TVs and electronics. Pat yourself on the back, it is worth it for further generations of people.

How funny I have a flat screen TV that I have been trying to figure out what to do eith it LOL Thank you good Video.

So satisfying and great editing work

Hey I enjoy your videos! I scrap e waste as a hobby came across a tankless water heater. Interesting mix of electronics and plumbing. Had a huge chunk of copper unlike I've ever seen.

The most useful piece of a modern flat screen tv is the back light. You can easily make an artificial daylight window.

It is amazing how heavy that tv is compared to a new one the same size.

But anyhow thub I like your show it's awesome watching you just going out to recycle I did that before it's pretty cool cuz you find a lot of new stuff and stuff you never seen before it's well worth it it's on us .

How’s it going man? I ask myself these questions all the time. Is it worth it? It always depends on, my time to what I end up with. I did notice several coils of copper wire. I guess not enough for your time. But if in fact you already are taking them apart, I’d definitely start saving it , copper had s as good solid value and isn’t too difficult to separate. It’s still one of the precious metals that you still css as n acquire if you want to do the work or research. There’s still large quantities of pure clean copper just laying around, you just need to know where to look. And many who do know aren’t likely to share their knowledge. Because the tougher times get the harder it will become to scrap, and the supply will be much less of what’s readily available. People still throw away items daily that have many valuable scrap metals without ever considering it. Many people still throw away 5 cent returns that they pay for. A case of water 24 bottles is $1.20 evey case you either return or throw away. It shows how different things are in different places. I’m many places in the world $1.20 can go a long way and can make a difference in the world if collectively that money went to the places it matters. Sadly there’s places and people throughout the United States would greatly benefit from the money that other throw away daily. Maybe one day it won’t be like this! Maybe recourses will become so scarce that every penny, every scrap will matter!! We’re far from it but I’m always amazed at the value in things so many regard as valueless! I’ve been scraping for many years, I know in upstate NY many junk, salvage businesses are generational. I had several uncles and a step grandfather that were lifelong scrappers. They all died very wealthy but no one would have ever known. They were very tight with they Money, wore them same dirty raggedy old clothes every day and were perfectly happy. Sad because all never got to enjoy it! It’s almost a sickness to work so hard to collect that money just to die and have family members squabble over it and pick through your belongings or for the state to take it all. But very few ever get to enjoy all the years of hard work they put in!!

Hey Thub! What are the websites to send off the circuit boards? Thanks!

That's a load circuitry in there, pretty sure it might have been a plasma screen TV, definitely wasn't cheap when 1st bought.. 😊

And the second one was your standard LEDs that they have now so your best bet is to try to find as many pulled plasma was as you can

I live in Canada and circuit boards are bought from our scrap yards.. 27cent per pound.. take the copper off and and heat sinks then leave the rest on as wieght

Here in southern California TV repair shops have gone the way of the Dodo or even Stegasaurus. Also small applience and shoe repair shops are anchient history. Vacume repairs suprisingly enough are still around just hard to find.

Love the video . But you mention before the 3/4 mark... about time and money and is it worth it... it's not just about making money but also helping the world and responsible recycling... I haven't started recycling at your level... this video is actually feeding my desire to recycle... but I can say I will spend the 30 minutes to clean that piece correctly since I've made so much more off all its other parts... and I'm thankful to have this earth to live on... I don't mind giving back and donating my time to clean some material better... you win some... you give some...

Precious metals, including gold are measured in Troy Ounces. There are 31.103 grams in a Troy Great video

When he fast forward I feel out my car laughing cause it looked like me on tweak🤪🤣🤣

Heyyy, I'm early! Love the content, thub

I've taken some tv's apart but where I live there are aluminum cans everywhere, thousands of them so to me that time would be better spent collecting all these cans especially if you live in a deposit state that gives 5 or 10 cents each for them...but taking tv's apart is kind of fun I have to say

hey! I watch a lot of your videos. thank you for the knowlage. Idea for you. I save the screws from all items I take apart and then take the bucket to a hobby shop or rc track and sell them. they are always in need of small screws to make repairs to rc ac cars, planes, boats or other items. sometimes I trade for time on track for screws and nut, bolt bucket.

Thank you on the tip on the palladium. Don't throw away the steel. It isn't worth much, but it'll pay for the gas to get to the scrap yard. Why throw money away? The screws where the cables secure, those are often stainless. I usually check them. Takes a while to build up enough stainless to be worth it, but again why throw money away? There's tiny bits of copper on those boards. It adds up as #2 over time. Often a bit of aluminum also. The capacitors are aluminum but have a very toxic substance inside. Most yards won't take them as is and it's rather tedious to remove the plastic, then unstuff them for the aluminium but for the really big ones I make the effort. Just do in a well ventilated area and wear gloves while doing it.

I find the cast cases (most of which consists of cast aluminum and ,very rarely, a die cast aluminum/zinc alloy) on most older technology. The yard I sell to takes them as cast aluminum, they add up quite fast.

Awesome vid bro keepum comin!

I live in Ontario and our scrap centers pay for e-waste now, its only .05 - .15 per lbs but it can add up pretty quick and if you only need to load unload vs. break it down its not terrible🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

I try them out to see if the screen is just broken and if so, I sell the motherboard on ebay as a working board for repair.

No mercury in that one as it’s a plasma screen (metal back, glass front & very heavy). CCFL backlit LCD screens contain mercury. modern LED backlit LCD screens do not.

I’ve got a 65” tv in my living room that I’ve managed to get the light diffusing plastic sheets out of and a large sheet of plexiglass which I’m going to use to make an airbrush spray booth. I havnt gotten to the electronics yet though. Other things I’m in the process of taking apart are 2 G5 Mac towers, induction heating stove top, epson 4in1 printer, and some other things. I’ve been hoarding 12v computer fans, microwave fans, transformers and magnetrons, many DC motors of various sizes, nichrome wire, 3v LEDs(the bulb kind and board mounted ones that are 1m) and strip light LEDs(going to make some light tables). All the circuit boards I’ve taken out of things I’ve managed to save every one and have a 40gallon tote almost filled because I’m still learning what is worth keeping and what isn’t by watching RU-vid videos like these.

I dont think I have ever thru out anything without stripping it down esp. electronics old vcr , stereos, pwr tools, microwaves , washers dyers , ovens like i said everything i keep ALL screws & use plastics making stuff probably my fav is recliners for the flat bar metal, mounting brackets i can re cut & weld to fabricate something I need I love it & do it for fun

This is so soothing to watch. All my anxiety about the disgusting amount we waste in this country is melting away

Thanks for ripping into it so I dont have to!, I will grab one and sell it to a tv repairman, thanks

excellent points and opportunities.

Really good looking I enjoyed watching you . Oh I think We would get along so good haha 😊 Nice video

You can never undo too many screws, it always releases my inner child to take something apart

Throwing silver away to keep zinc come on!!!!!

Someone may have said this earlier, but one may be able to sell on places like ebay, amazon, etc the WHOLE circuit boards and interconnecting wire harnesses and LED strips for a great deal higher ROI and with much less effort than tearing them apart at the component level. Even if one offers a zero-cost return policy if a board/harness fails, it can be worth it to eat the cost of the infrequent bad board...especially if you know a TV was tossed-out due to a bad LED strip, or damaged display, etc. and a failure is less likely to be due to a bad board. Otherwise, either the main power supply circuit board or the LED power supply board are often the failing part. Also, more modern TVs have far fewer boards than they used to. edit to add: If you know the power supply board(s) are fully functional, they're probably one of the easier/faster selling circuit boards. You can search the net to see what kind of price you might consider asking for them.

I hope you get some income from RU-vid for all your effort. Thanks brother scraping that way is cost prohibitive. Wish you the best and God Bless be careful with whatever you do hopefully no injuries. Safety first in any endeavor goes a long way.

It's take to much time to tear a tv apart Then i was selling as scrap for .15 cents a pound Then somehow my tv stop working so i call a tv repair guy to fix it one thing led to another he said that he has to get a part so he saw that I had TVs in the back and I told them that I sell it as scrap for extra cash and then he said he buys broken TVs 15 $20 each And ever since I've been selling it to him

The power supply and main board are worth between 25 - 50.

like you said resale the good parts... the less work you have in it the more you make... thanks cool video

this video has been the official sounds of offer up lol when you get a notification

The precious metals salvaged doesn’t cover the optometrist bill for removing the shards of glass that possibly severed ones corneas.👀👁👁

I noticed you threw away all the steel , I would have just put in a bucket and get a dollar for the bucket full.

To bad we couldn't get paid to recycle all those friggin screws ! 🤣🤣 I've done tear downs and the screws used is insane lol thanks for the info you keep it interesting and informative

Thank you. So kind

I recently started scrapping flat screens for materials (to melt), and you are correct, not much in them. Better to convert them into a faux skylight or a light table. Edit. Recently found one and it turned out to be working. Now it's a 50" computer monitor.

Hey thub quick question were do you find most of the stuff you Scrap? In America it seems so hard to find anything just laying in the side of the curb. Also I sent you a message on Instagram about some wire types and if they were worth saving

Idk if this helps, but I have seen videos online of chemically stripping the gold plating from the circuit boards to get money. Idk cost to value ratio, and you would have to learn a basic amount of chemistry, but it might be worth watching a few videos on that as well.

Now this video makes sense after watching a lot of your videos