[modeleng] Breaking up computers - toxic beryllium disc heads?

Hi there Tim,

I was told that the heads on floppy drive heads were made from beryllium 
to make them light enough to be able to 'flit' around fast enough.

I don't know if it is also used in hard drive heads, but if you weren't 
aware, beryllium is toxic [and possibly carcinogenic].

Might be worth exercising a some caution if in doubt.

Yours,


Rich.



On Sat, 31 May 2008, Tim wrote:

> Hi gang
>
> I am breaking up some of our computers. The data on the hard disks is 
> such that physical destruction of the disk platters is necessary. The 
> computers themselves are 10 years old and of no use even to a charity 
> without the disks (and probably even with disks).
>
> I'm hanging on to the magnets from the hard drives and some of the heat 
> sinks and fans. For reasons I won't trouble you with I can't recover 
> sheet steel from the casing. Are there any other bits worth recovering?
>
> Cheers!
>
> T
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