Hammond E-111

I picked up a hammond E-111 today and spent the better part of the day ripping this beast apart looking for the palladium. Only problem was I coundn't find it. I found this wierd copper contraption with what looks like real thin copper wire with diffrent color coatings. I though I would find it in there. does anybody know if this model had any palladium in it?

pimpneightez said:

I picked up a hammond E-111 today and spent the better part of the day ripping this beast apart looking for the palladium. Only problem was I coundn't find it. I found this wierd copper contraption with what looks like real thin copper wire with diffrent color coatings. I though I would find it in there. does anybody know if this model had any palladium in it?

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Each key has a long copper contact, each of those have small pieces of palladium wire tack welded on the tip. The bussbar that they contact will have a similar palladium wire along the whole length that is tack welded every half inch or so.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=164&p=1626&hilit=hammond+organ#p1630

Jim

I found it!!!! It was really wierd the organ has a top and bottom set of keys but the palladium wire on the buss bars (theres maybe 6 or 7 of them) were only on the bottem keys. the top keys didn't have a buss bar and was only connected with copper wire. looks just like the bottom key's but without a bussbar. Ill take a picture today and post it.

Well I found it but it's nearly frustrating trying to get the wire off with a pair of tweezers. Im just gonna nick the copper ends and cut the bussbar into managable pieces then throw them in some HCL. Im hoping it doesnt need much just enough so the weld breaks its bond. would this work? Would copper cement back onto the wire if it's left too long? The buss bar is some sort of iron I will probably do that seperatly. Is there anyother way to do this. It's so time consuming.

I just took about a half penny wieght out of the organ. Seems like it has a slight magnetic reaction. Could this be the solder?

pimpneightez said:

I just took about a half penny wieght out of the organ. Seems like it has a slight magnetic reaction. Could this be the solder?

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If the Pd contacts are the same (they look the same) that were on old telephone switching gear, there is a nickel backing on the Pd which is magnetic. The only thing I found that would dissolve the Ni and not the Pd is hot concentrated HCl (very fumey!).

Ive been using a razor to get the wire off the bussbar. Working out better than tweezers but still not efficient enough. Think I can use a propane torch to burn the solder off?

I usually just clip the tips off the contacts to process when I get a bunch. And I use tweezers to pull the wire off the bussbar. Some come off in one piece, and others break a lot. I found that it is easy once you get the hang of it. Some organs have bussbar that look like copper alloy, and others that look like a nickel alloy.

It is still a lot of work, sometimes I will just put the palladium parts on the side to deal with during winter when there is nothing else to do. Most organs with two sets of keys end up with 2 dwt, or 1/10 oz of palladium. You just have to figure if its worth it to you or not. I take all the free palladium I can get.

Jim

Im Like you jim! Im tenacious when it comes to PM's. I'll definatly get it out come hell or high water.

If they are the same Pd points like I worked with, they are pure Pd, once you dissolve the nickel backing. I see no reason to dissolve and try to purify the Pd points if they are already pure.

goldsilverpro said:

If they are the same Pd points like I worked with, they are pure Pd, once you dissolve the nickel backing. I see no reason to dissolve and try to purify the Pd points if they are already pure.

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The newer Hammond's seem to have the contacts that have a nickel backing like the old phone contacts. I have only scrapped one newer organ with these contacts for the keys. Some of the other contacts in the older organs look like the phone contacts with the nickel backing, these are in other switches, not the key contacts.
In the older organs the contact is actually a very small piece of pure palladium wire tack welded to the copper, maybe a little thinner than the wire that goes down the length of the bussbar. I try to pull the bussbar wire off as clean as possible and keep it separate from the tips that I clip from the contacts. Those would be impossible to pull the palladium off and should be processed with acid to remove the copper..

Jim

OK here it is! I found stripping it with a razor blade with a little pressure made it easy. It was almost like stripping stranded copper wire. Just do it away from your body and try not to cut a finger off.

jimdoc said:

I usually just clip the tips off the contacts to process when I get a bunch. And I use tweezers to pull the wire off the bussbar. Some come off in one piece, and others break a lot. I found that it is easy once you get the hang of it. Some organs have bussbar that look like copper alloy, and others that look like a nickel alloy.

It is still a lot of work, sometimes I will just put the palladium parts on the side to deal with during winter when there is nothing else to do. Most organs with two sets of keys end up with 2 dwt, or 1/10 oz of palladium. You just have to figure if its worth it to you or not. I take all the free palladium I can get.

Jim

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lol... I'd rather be working on a woman during winter... :twisted:

DarkspARCS said:

lol... I'd rather be working on a woman during winter... :twisted:

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What??? You making one?? :shock:

Or, nah surely not ............for heavens sake, i hope you are not trying to understand a women?? :mrgreen:

Deano

NoIdea said:

trying to understand a women?? :mrgreen:

Deano

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Impossible, such a feat will never occur. Surely not in my lifetime :lol:

A man did a feat worthy of a gift from God, God says to man, you have one wish, man wishes for a bridge from his place to Hawaii so he can travel there when ever he wanted. Gods reply was to say, can you imagine the amount of earths resources it would take to create such a bridge, concrete, steel, etc. He then asked man to reconsider. Two days later man say to God, i have changed my mind and instead he wishes to understand women, how they think, why they think the way they do, basically everything that makes a women tick. Gods reply, one lane or two?

Deano

That's funny ....lol