kmiles412 said:
I've got 3 oz. of older finger foils that someone else peeled. I thank them.
I put them in AP (2 cups/1 cup ratio), it quickly turned dark green/brown.
After stirring for about an hour, and seeing brown still on the foil, i drained the foils, saving the solution of course. I put AP (6 cup/3 cup ratio) back on them. I know its not an instant remover. After a while they are starting to clean nice nice.
How much solution to the oz. of foils before its saturated?
How do i know if its saturated? When/if to replenish with HY. Per.?
How does the temp affect the process?
Heres some tips I learned myself and mostly picked up from the Forum (and Steve's videos). In my experience everythign i say works, but im open to correction from other members
1- For that amount of fingers.... just cover them in HCl, with a little extra on top so when you agitate them none will end up uncovered. You don't need much at all.
2- I think you may have put way too much H202 for that amount of fingers. Too much H202 will dissolve the gold. If there is enough copper in the solution, the gold will self drop out as fine black mud.
3- I would set it all up, stir for a few min then let it sit. After an hour or two, go back stir some more. Should see bubbles come out. Then let it sit for a few more hours (rather overnight) and then it should be good. As it is colder now, it may need longer. In the spring when it would be 60-70 in the day and 50 at night i could strip a large amount with none noticeably dissolved (negative stannous, no dropped gold). Key is to not rush it...
4- If it is saturated, the solution is a very dark green. You can add more H202 then if they are still not stripped, but I found water will do just as well to get it going (some pump air through). But from the amounts you said you added to your fingers, I don't think the solution would get fully saturated with copper chloride. Atleast in my experience.
5- Yes, temp will effect it. I just ran a batch when it was below freezing at night and it took 2-3x as long (i didnt watch it as closely) but still worked.
If it is too hot out, there is also a better chance gold may get dissolved faster.
I dont know at what temp HCl freezes, but it is very low. Earler this year, i put refinign aside for duck hunting and one day i checked all my stuff. It was single digits and the HCl was perfectly fine and still works.
Hope that helps a bit, good luck! 8)