Gold Refining Forum Sponsored Contest

[glondor]

I would be embarrassed to show my tiny little workspace. I do have an 800 sq foot shop I will be moving to at the end of the month.

 

[handsoftheninja]

I am very eager to get started but do not want to act hastily. I am getting great ideas from these pictures and set ups and thinking of great ways to improve on them. Hopefully my lab and products will look half as good as these.

 

[goldenchild]

Can someone pleeeeease show how their blower is situatated on their fumehood?

 

[Emmjae]

Can someone pleeeeease show how their blower is situatated on their fumehood?

There’s not a whole lot I can show. I needed to change my filters so I took a couple of pictures for you. I am using 2 - basic ceiling mount 120-cfm bathroom exhaust fans. The housing and squirrel cage part of the blower are all plastic. The motor is sealed with sealed bearings and is rated for continuous duty. I keep 1 of the fans running 24 hrs a day and has been running since I built this hood in October 2010. They cost me less than $100.00 for both including shipping. I figured if they only last a year it’s cheap maintenance and would only have pull 2 screws change the motor assembly.
The filter is just a standard 14” x 14” x 1” furnace filter that I attach with 2” packing tape.


Hard to take a picture from the back since the hood is so close to the wall. Note that I used some 4” flex duct insulation on my 4” PVC piping. I did this to prevent condensation from forming in the pipe during the winter. My vent pipe goes straight up through my cold attic space before exiting through my roof.

 

[4metals]

I doubt you have a velometer but you can judge the old fashioned way. If you close the door (which appears to cover about 2/3 of the opening when down) if you hold a burning cigarette in front of the hood opening, how far out from the hood can you still draw smoke into the hood?

 

[Emmjae]

With both fans running 22 - 24 inches.

 

[goldenchild]

Emmjae

Thanks for the pics. The more and more pictures I see the better I can form a plan on how to build my hood.

In your last post with pictures you mentioned that if the blowers only lasted a year it would be cheap maintenance. It made me think of something that I haven’t seen addressed on the forum. What is the contingency plan if the blowers fail during a reaction? What do the mid to large scale refineries do? I guess in a situation like mlgdave's it wouldn’t be too bad since it’s a garage. Just open the bay door and or move the reaction outside. But what if you're in an upper floor or part of a building/house where these two options aren't viable :shock:

 

[4metals]

Emmjae

That is excellent suction, it is obviously less when the hood is full open but when a reaction is working I'm sure you keep it down.

Goldenchild

Considering Emmjae has 2 blowers he has a bit of a built in backup. The real concern will be if there is a power failure, since he is working in his house.

I set up a process for large digestions in NYC and after about 1 year they decided that a backup generator was required for the blower and scrubbing circuit. They felt power outages were more of a risk then equipment failure. You should realize the bigger blowers made for the purpose of corrosive fume exhaust have rather heavy duty motors and multiple belts and large bearings with grease fittings. They are inspected and maintained regularly and any sign of a problem initiates some preventive maintenance.

Now bathroom blowers are a different story but the dual fan setup that Emmjae has does give him an advantage, the odds of both fans crapping out at the same time are low.

This is an ideal application for a venturi driven scrubber http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=9115 which does not require a blower. The scrubber would exhaust and neutralize the nasty corrosive fumes and the fans from the blower (bathroom fans) would see much less corrosive fume and so last longer.

 

[Claudie]

Just some ideas here. Many of the draft inducer motors on modern day gas furnaces are made of chemical & heat resistant material. The usually have a decent CFM and they are fitted to accept 2"-3" PVC pipe. The air filter housings used in some automobiles are fitted to accept a duct also, and you can buy a perfect fitting filter at the local parts store. The furnaces also have a vacuum switch that works with the blower as a safety device to shut the unit down if the air flow becomes restricted. With some modification, this switch could be used to automatically turn on a second or third blower in case the first one failed. All of these parts can be found at a scrap yard so cost wouldn't be an issue.
Just my two cents. :|

 

[rusty]

I'm not officially entering this contest, but I will share some of my ideas and home made equipment.

I have two of these old soft drink coolers, one is going to be used for a fume hood and the other for chemicals compatible to be stored together. The corner with the pails is going to have a work bench with an overhead hood with extra lighting.

Most of you have already seen the ball mill and the centrifuge, the small hammer mill is a new addition. Planned is a heat exchanger with a pump that will heat a coil which I'll wrap around a 30 gallon fiber glass tank to heat my leach.

The centrifuge is not a filter, this is used to extract the last dregs, yet to do is to make a casing at the bottom then fill it with concrete for weight. I find that I never have to run this at full RPM to get a good extraction from the dregs which I dampen down with a bit a water.

Then there will be a couple of electrolytic cells added, no pictures yet.

Some modifications to the shop, upgrading the wiring to a 200 amp service, overhead trolley for my pneumatic hoist. Scrap will go into barrels the hoist is for lifting the filled barrels onto truck or trailer.

Just outside the shop door a steel pole with an arm for another hoist to lift the lid from my furnace and to handle the crucibles for pouring. One of my hobbies is back yard metal casting.

I may build a hydraulic bailer later on to cube my tin scraps, the briquettes would not weigh anymore than 500 lbs.

Excluding the materials currently going into shop improvements, I have around $600.00 invested in my lab not counting chemicals.

Regards
Rusty

 

[goldenchild]

rusty,

You've go the wheels spinning with the cooler thing. :idea:

 

[dtectr]

I'm not officially entering this contest, but I will share some of my ideas and home made equipment.

I have two of these old soft drink coolers, one is going to be used for a fume hood and the other for chemicals compatible to be stored together. The corner with the pails is going to have a work bench with an overhead hood with extra lighting.

Most of you have already seen the ball mill and the centrifuge, the small hammer mill is a new addition. Planned is a heat exchanger with a pump that will heat a coil which I'll wrap around a 30 gallon fiber glass tank to heat my leach.

The centrifuge is not a filter, this is used to extract the last dregs, yet to do is to make a casing at the bottom then fill it with concrete for weight. I find that I never have to run this at full RPM to get a good extraction from the dregs which I dampen down with a bit a water.

Then there will be a couple of electrolytic cells added, no pictures yet.

Some modifications to the shop, upgrading the wiring to a 200 amp service, overhead trolley for my pneumatic hoist. Scrap will go into barrels the hoist is for lifting the filled barrels onto truck or trailer.

Just outside the shop door a steel pole with an arm for another hoist to lift the lid from my furnace and to handle the crucibles for pouring. One of my hobbies is back yard metal casting.

I may build a hydraulic bailer later on to cube my tin scraps, the briquettes would not weigh anymore than 500 lbs.

Excluding the materials currently going into shop improvements, I have around $600.00 invested in my lab not counting chemicals.

Regards
Rusty

"... and it will withstand a direct hit from an ICBM." 8)

 

[rusty]

rusty,

You've go the wheels spinning with the cooler thing. :idea:

One half will have a shelf built in the the counter top range, the floor of the shelf will be formed using cement to mimic a shower stall, should I have an accidental breakage the liquids will go down the drain so to speak - into a pail waiting underneath.

For fume control I'll be using 4metal's venturi design, with a blower removed from a dryer. Since I have no neighbors may just vent the fumes into a drum first then let them go to atmosphere.Yea I've got the wheels spinning.

When I build me work bench there will be a fume hood overhead to take care of any hydrogen coming off my cells.

Both coolers were free.

Regards
Rusty

 

[Barren Realms 007]

rusty,

You've go the wheels spinning with the cooler thing. :idea:

One half will have a shelf built in the the counter top range, the floor of the shelf will be formed using cement to mimic a shower stall, should I have an accidental breakage the liquids will go down the drain so to speak - into a pail waiting underneath.

For fume control I'll be using 4metal's venturi design, with a blower removed from a dryer. Since I have no neighbors may just vent the fumes into a drum first then let them go to atmosphere.Yea I've got the wheels spinning.

When I build me work bench there will be a fume hood overhead to take care of any hydrogen coming off my cells.

Both coolers were free.

Regards
Rusty

Why don't you do it out of fiberglass insted of concrete? Then you won't have a rection if you have an accident.

 

[rusty]

rusty,

You've go the wheels spinning with the cooler thing. :idea:

One half will have a shelf built in the the counter top range, the floor of the shelf will be formed using cement to mimic a shower stall, should I have an accidental breakage the liquids will go down the drain so to speak - into a pail waiting underneath.

For fume control I'll be using 4metal's venturi design, with a blower removed from a dryer. Since I have no neighbors may just vent the fumes into a drum first then let them go to atmosphere.Yea I've got the wheels spinning.

When I build me work bench there will be a fume hood overhead to take care of any hydrogen coming off my cells.

Both coolers were free.

Regards
Rusty

Why don't you do it out of fiberglass insted of concrete? Then you won't have a rection if you have an accident.

To make a fiberglass drain pan i would still have to build a mold, whereas concrete I can trowel in the slope to center then give it a protective coating of good paint. The drain pan is just a precautionary measure, hopefully it will never be put to the test.

Regards
Rusty.

 

[Barren Realms 007]

rusty,

You've go the wheels spinning with the cooler thing. :idea:

One half will have a shelf built in the the counter top range, the floor of the shelf will be formed using cement to mimic a shower stall, should I have an accidental breakage the liquids will go down the drain so to speak - into a pail waiting underneath.

For fume control I'll be using 4metal's venturi design, with a blower removed from a dryer. Since I have no neighbors may just vent the fumes into a drum first then let them go to atmosphere.Yea I've got the wheels spinning.

When I build me work bench there will be a fume hood overhead to take care of any hydrogen coming off my cells.

Both coolers were free.

Regards
Rusty

Why don't you do it out of fiberglass insted of concrete? Then you won't have a rection if you have an accident.

To make a fiberglass drain pan i would still have to build a mold, whereas concrete I can trowel in the slope to center then give it a protective coating of good paint. The drain pan is just a precautionary measure, hopefully it will never be put to the test.

Regards
Rusty.

You can actually do the same thing with the fiberglass just add layers on the outer edges to build your slope. But I understand where you are coming from.

 

[glondor]

You could put it on its side and use a counterweight to operate the lower door and pin the upper door closed. I know you would need legs for it to do this or perhaps rest it on a ledger board lagged to the wall and just tapcon it to the wall then do your drain work. You would have a sweet up sliding glass front. It would be a tall hood, Maybe you could have shelves up high to hold pots or beakers doing slower reactions.

 

[rusty]

You could put it on its side and use a counterweight to operate the lower door and pin the upper door closed. I know you would need legs for it to do this or perhaps rest it on a ledger board lagged to the wall and just tapcon it to the wall then do your drain work. You would have a sweet up sliding glass front. It would be a tall hood, Maybe you could have shelves up high to hold pots or beakers doing slower reactions.

That is a sweet idea glondor it would give me more usable work space and solves a couple of problems. The ceiling in the lab slopes down to 7 feet to the rear and I wanted the fume hood located at the lower side of the room, there was no clearance left overhead for the plumbing for the blower. By laying the cabinet horizontal this makes everything possible now.

All I have to do now is make some modifications to the tracking on the doors as they are designed to be held in place on the lower track by gravity.

Thanks for the great idea.

Regards
Rusty

 

[glondor]

Cheers Rusty. You say you have 2 of them? I would put the second one right side up beside it and pipe it to the first for ventilation. Then I would put shelves at the right height for 3 rows of 5 gallon pails and use it as a vent box for all the big pail stuff for in the winter. A/p type stuff as well as stock pots. Easy access to the pails, they are not in your main hood but they are vented...

 

[rbramsey]

I am one of those shade tree refiners, literally. Although, I recently scored a 12 x 50 mobile home to move in work in doors. It is definitely a work in progress. I don't even have a pad ready yet for it to sit, it will have to wait until the spring rains stop. It cost me $300.00 for the trailer and have it moved to my property. I'll post some before pictures.

Richard