Of pipes and crystals

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That's the way buttons and bars should look. Crystal and pipe. I never liked bars with those concentric swirls. They're pretty but I don't trust them. With big crystals and a deep pipe, you know the purity
 
Thanks everyone! The gold was recovered from electronic scrap: fingers, pins and CPUs.
 
With that voice you can get a $500,000 a year job as a radio host!. :G

Great collection of refining videos too!. :G :G :G
 
Hi OwlTech,

Owltech said:
button, in the making:

https://youtu.be/_DILKWccPQ8

That not-small-at-all button is ridiculous. I mean that in a grandly positive way, but just... ridiculous.

So I’m still recovering my gold for the first time, and studying up to refine/melt for the first time, too. I wanted to pour the molten gold into a cylindrical quartz mold, and I want to create the crystalline surface.

I was thinking, surround the mold with red-hot charcoal while I melt the gold, then after I pour, remove all the the pieces of charcoal closest to the mold, and just let the charcoal slowly die, thereby letting the gold cool slowly like that. Might take some time... but beers and snacks with friends makes for a shorter wait. :lol:

But I could think of a few questions...
1) Would I be able to get the crystalline surface, have no unattractive cavities, and still have the overall shape be that of the mold?
2) When the gold & quartz mold finally cool, would I have trouble removing the gold? Whenever Hoke mentioned using a quartz crucible she almost always said to just break it to get the gold.
3) In case I won’t be able to remove the gold from the quartz mold, what’s a safe way to break it without denting or deforming the gold...?

Thanks a lot for your help. I hope mine comes out as nicely as yours...!
 
It appears that the scene where you add sulfamic acid to de nox the solution you are doing it on a table which apparently is not under a hood. The reaction forms nitrous oxide, which isn't the best to breathe.

With HNO2, sulfamic acid reacts to give N2, while with HNO3, it gives N2O.
HNO2 + H3NSO3 → H2SO4 + N2 + H2O
HNO3 + H3NSO3 → H2SO4 + N2O + H2O

They don't call it laughing gas for no reason.
 
4metals said:
They don't call it laughing gas for no reason.

Hey 4metals,

Had it ever occurred to you that he might’ve done it on purpose, and that the nitrous oxide effects lingered all the while he was editing the video?

I mean, he did entitle the post “Of pipes and crystals”...

—Luke
 
Hilarious reading...

https://publicdomainreview.org/2014/08/06/o-excellent-air-bag-humphry-davy-and-nitrous-oxide/

Apparently it was all the rage back in the day, and hurt him not in the slightest.
Really, there are far worse things to inhale than laughing gas (especially if you're hypertensive, it may actually help you!)


In all seriousness, any N2O produced by sulfamic must be avoided due to entrained precious metal aerosolized mists!
 
4metals said:
It appears that the scene where you add sulfamic acid to de nox the solution you are doing it on a table which apparently is not under a hood. The reaction forms nitrous oxide, which isn't the best to breathe.

With HNO2, sulfamic acid reacts to give N2, while with HNO3, it gives N2O.
HNO2 + H3NSO3 → H2SO4 + N2 + H2O
HNO3 + H3NSO3 → H2SO4 + N2O + H2O

They don't call it laughing gas for no reason.

Hi! Thanks for your concern, all procedures (digestion, de-NOxing, filtration, precipitation and washing) are performed inside a hooded cabinet. It doesn't look this way because the camera itself is placed inside the cabinet. :)
CIMG4598.JPG

The videos can't and don't show everything, that's why (IMHO) they should be used only as reference rather than "do as shown"
 
LT_golden said:
Hi OwlTech,

Owltech said:
button, in the making:

https://youtu.be/_DILKWccPQ8

That not-small-at-all button is ridiculous. I mean that in a grandly positive way, but just... ridiculous.

So I’m still recovering my gold for the first time, and studying up to refine/melt for the first time, too. I wanted to pour the molten gold into a cylindrical quartz mold, and I want to create the crystalline surface.

I was thinking, surround the mold with red-hot charcoal while I melt the gold, then after I pour, remove all the the pieces of charcoal closest to the mold, and just let the charcoal slowly die, thereby letting the gold cool slowly like that. Might take some time... but beers and snacks with friends makes for a shorter wait. :lol:

But I could think of a few questions...
1) Would I be able to get the crystalline surface, have no unattractive cavities, and still have the overall shape be that of the mold?
2) When the gold & quartz mold finally cool, would I have trouble removing the gold? Whenever Hoke mentioned using a quartz crucible she almost always said to just break it to get the gold.
3) In case I won’t be able to remove the gold from the quartz mold, what’s a safe way to break it without denting or deforming the gold...?

Thanks a lot for your help. I hope mine comes out as nicely as yours...!
Hi!
1. Don't know the answer to your question.
2. Yes I think both gold and crucible would suffer :)
3. Don't know of a safe way to do it.

Not much of a help, sorry!

I always leave my gold to solidify inside the crucible, then quickly pry it out before the borax solidifies
 
Owltech said:
Not much of a help, sorry!

I always leave my gold to solidify inside the crucible, then quickly pry it out before the borax solidifies

That’s alright, thank you anyway for replying. :) I’m thinking of trying thermal shocking the quartz — that is, after the gold has slowly cooled to form the crystals etc. that I’m after, then torch the quartz again and then dunking it into ice water — repeatedly, to crack/break it without exerting external force inwards to break it.
 
Depending how pure the quartz is, that may be a wasted effort.

I take my quartz stir rods from pushing down Pt sponge into the molten Pt in the induction melter and put them in ice cold water and they do not crack.

Tell you what though, if you have grab the end of the rod with your glove and not the outside of the rod, the light transmitting fiber optically up the rod will singe you!
 
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