Gold Refining Forum Sponsored Contest

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
xelexo
Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Rusty,

Nice to see your filter setup again. How easy is it to unload? I'm thinking of making one like this

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-hand-crank-centrifuge-brass-facile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Do-9mAAHo
except scaled up to use sawed off propane cannisters. It might be easier to load and unload.
My idea is to coat the steel with thinned down polyurethane adhesive, but I might break down and get some proper paint.
 
skippy said:
Rusty,

Nice to see your filter setup again. How easy is it to unload? I'm thinking of making one like this

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-hand-crank-centrifuge-brass-facile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Do-9mAAHo
except scaled up to use sawed off propane cannisters. It might be easier to load and unload.
My idea is to coat the steel with thinned down polyurethane adhesive, but I might break down and get some proper paint.
Click to expand...

Skippy through my ignorance mis named it as a filter which it is not. It's a centrifuge that extracts liquids from pulp a job that it performs rather nicely. Since having made the centrifuge found other ways to extract liquids from pulp.

For all intents and purposes I do not think it all that practical to have as a piece of lab equipment, proper cleaning is impossible so you will always have cross contamination if you use it for more than one type of material.

The base requires machining as it has to be sloped from the center downwards to the outside edges for the liquids to run off.

I've only used it once to recover spilled silver nitrate from a broken coffee carafe where I scooped up the wet earth then feed it through the centrifuge periodically bring the centrifuge to a full stop then spraying water onto the mud for a full recovery.

Goldsilverpro gave us good instruction on using a wick, which is efficient and economical to operate as it requires no electricity.

Regards
Rusty
 
rbramsey said:
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
Click to expand...

This made me think of the show "Breaking Bad" :lol:
rusty
Please post pictures when you're done!
 
Ok, here goes, this is my setup. The building I already had - just had to add the shed on the outside. I made my fume hood from left over plywood, the tile was left over from our bathroom remodel, the shop vac was purchased for $25.00 at a pawnshop, the 4" pvc pipe and fitting costed $215.00 at home depot, the buckets were $2.84 each, the metal shelves were free, the glass in the front of the fume hood is plexglass that came out of a bigscreen tv i scraped, I made the frame from hardwood flooring i had to hold the plexglass, the scrubbers you see were old square barrels i found, I cut the tops off and welded the fittings and the inside is coated for protection against chemicials. All in all i have less then $500.00 in this setup, its not the state - of - art but it does work for my little operation. I would like to thank everybody here for all there posts, and information i gathered to build this setup.

Ken
 

Attachments

  • shop 013.jpg
    shop 013.jpg
    92.4 KB · Views: 400
  • shop 009.jpg
    shop 009.jpg
    113.2 KB · Views: 400
  • shop 006.jpg
    shop 006.jpg
    94.4 KB · Views: 400
  • shop 003.jpg
    shop 003.jpg
    107.3 KB · Views: 400
  • shop 001.jpg
    shop 001.jpg
    135.4 KB · Views: 400
Very cool. How effective is the suction on that thing? I was under the impression that only about 2/3 to 3/4 of the opening was supposed to be covered for there to be a really good vaccum.
 
goldenchild said:
Very cool. How effective is the suction on that thing? I was under the impression that only about 2/3 to 3/4 of the opening was supposed to be covered for there to be a really good vaccum.
Click to expand...

The suction is great, here is a photo of the inside, notice the holes in the top of the hood. When the hood is running it pulls from all points inside. Note the way i made this a closed system goldenchild, the grove in the front is the fresh air return. The fumes are scrubbed with a soda solution in the tank nearest to the outside wall, this tank uses plastic for the packing, then the air is pulled through the second tank closest to the hood through 12 filters used in air conditioner to clean any excess fumes, before returning into the hood. to tell the truth is works great for doing small to medium batchs. Inside the building along the wall is my leach buckets it works well with them too.

Ken
 

Attachments

  • shop 011.jpg
    shop 011.jpg
    83.9 KB · Views: 373
  • shop 012.jpg
    shop 012.jpg
    75.8 KB · Views: 373
4metals said:
Nice setup.

What type of exhaust blower are you using?
Click to expand...

I am using a shopvac, ulitizing the canster top. The suction port for the hood to remove the fumes and the exhaust port for the blower to push the fumes to the scrubbers. With the system being closed this works very well. I have attached another pic of how the bottom of my hood is made so you can see the fresh air return that I made into it.

Ken
 

Attachments

  • ex2.jpg
    ex2.jpg
    84.5 KB · Views: 361
  • ex1.jpg
    ex1.jpg
    77.1 KB · Views: 361
I must admit I've never seen a closed loop system for NOx I'm intrigued. Do the AC filters contain carbon? Shop vac's are loud when running, and not designed to run continuously I think that may be the weak link. Do you know the CFM of the shop vac?

I understand the complete closure of the front with the glass door, it allows less CFM airflow. I think you did a very nice job.
 
4metals said:
I must admit I've never seen a closed loop system for NOx I'm intrigued. Do the AC filters contain carbon? Shop vac's are loud when running, and not designed to run continuously I think that may be the weak link. Do you know the CFM of the shop vac?

I understand the complete closure of the front with the glass door, it allows less CFM airflow. I think you did a very nice job.
Click to expand...

Thanks 4metals, as far as the NOx it does scrub all the brown fumes before re-entering the hood, the cfm's i dont know, i used a 12.5 hp vac. It is somewhat load but not as load as you would think because it is outside and not enclosed. The filters do have carbon and so far they are doing a great job for me. I have run the vac for up to 12 hours non stop and to this day have not had any prolbems with the motor or it working. I do keep the hood clean and change the filters once a week when processing, the baking soda solution i use in the main scrubber seems to work great and I have to say I myself am amazed at what it will do. I installed two exhaust ports inside the hood but i found that keeping one closed works better since the holes are in the top for suction. What I think helps the system is that I used the whole shop vac container mounting it to the top and drilling the holes through both the vac and hood, I removed the filter inside the vac for complete air flow allowing the container to move the air inside while pushing out to the scrubbers and creating a suction from the fresh air suppy. Just my thinking.
I am open to any suggestion you might have to enhance the system for better preformance.

Ken
 
Emmjae said:
Hi Folks,

I've been quieter than usual on the boards due to the fact that my little e-waste recycling hobby has grown way out of proportion. I've been layed off for a little over a month and decidied to place a small ad in the newspaper offering my recycling service.

Since then I have filled my dining room, my garage, my Mother's garage and a 10 x 10 storage building and it's not letting up. Needless to say I quit my job. This Monday I formed my business corporation and leased a 3200 sq ft building and I'm in the process of moving everything in. I had a few minutes this evening so I thought I would snap some pictures and give my entry a shot.

I found this forum in July of 2010 when I was googling info on refining computer scrap. Was the best search I have ever done :mrgreen:

I built my lab October 2010 in one of my small upstairs bedrooms, approx. size is 10' x 9'. (waits till everyone is done raising there eye brows) I hate working out in the cold and we use our garage as an actual parking facility...or will again when I get all the computer crap moved out...lol. I have a window that is always cracked open and 1 of my fume hood fans runs 24 hrs. a day. You will see a picture in the following of a new piece of 1/4" plate steel I have left out in the open air since I started using my lab. It has yet to show any signs of corrosion so I'm comfortable with my ventlation set up. Also have a bathroom across the hall with a plastic sink set up for my clean ups.View attachment 4

Very sweet set up 8)

Some storage shelves behind the door.
View attachment 3

One of my better eBay buys. 24 - 2-liter borosilicate beakers for $90.00 delivered.View attachment 2

3' x 3' work area beside my fume hood.View attachment 1

This is my fume hood. Inside dimentions are 56" long x 26" deep x 36" high. I am venting with 2 - 120 cfm (all plastic housing) bathroom exhaust fans. Each has it's own 4" vent pipe going straight up and through the roof. The hood was constructed with a 2" x 3" wood framing. Inside is covered entirely with 7/16" F.R.P. with plastic trim and plastic rivets. Outside is covered with std. 7/16" OSB. I have also installed a 4' flourscent light and the front opening is partialy covered with a hinged piece of 1/4" lexan. Total cost was less than $200.00. That was for the fans, vent pipes, roof flashings and 1/4" lexan. The remaining materials were from cut off scraps from work including the light which had a little damage.
Click to expand...
 
Excellent work Jeneje, nice entry!

It's obvious you are very skilled with your hands.

Steve
 
In the early 80s, I spent a couple of days in the facilities of a large film processor in L.A. In the back, there was a typical self-contained unit for dissolving karat gold. The unit was manufactured by Shor, believe it or not. It had about a 30 liter dissolving flask and an enclosed vacuum filter.

What was unusual was the fume scrubbing setup. This consisted of 2 inline clear plastic cylinders, about 4" in diameter and 18" long, that the fumes traveled through (very slowly, I would assume). One was packed with chunks of carbon and the other with chunks of limestone (I believe). Both type chunks were about 1" to 2" pieces. I'm thinking that both cylinders also contained water but I could be wrong - maybe it was only the limestone one. It seemed that the final exhaust went into the room. I didn't see the unit operate and I'm not sure which cylinder came first but I would assume it was the carbon. There may have been other parts to the unit that weren't attached but it didn't seem like it.

In later years, someone told me that the carbon (if dry) might start a fire from contact with the NOx.

Any ideas about all of this?
 
I don't know if there is a fire hazard with NOx and dry charcoal but if there is we should find out for Jeneje's sake, between the dry AC filters and the plywood that could be an issue for him.

I have seen similar systems for scrubbing but they ran wet and were longer than 18", more like 4 feet. The carbon material looked like charcoal briquettes. The clear tubes make it easy to see when it is time to replenish the limestone chips.

The only way a setup like this can work is with a low airflow through the scrubbing media, it can't scrub an entire hoods exhaust. That's why the system had a sealed dissolving flask, so the fumes can travel slowly through the scrubber.
 
4metals said:
I don't know if there is a fire hazard with NOx and dry charcoal but if there is we should find out for Jeneje's sake, between the dry AC filters and the plywood that could be an issue for him.

I have seen similar systems for scrubbing but they ran wet and were longer than 18", more like 4 feet. The carbon material looked like charcoal briquettes. The clear tubes make it easy to see when it is time to replenish the limestone chips.

The only way a setup like this can work is with a low airflow through the scrubbing media, it can't scrub an entire hoods exhaust. That's why the system had a sealed dissolving flask, so the fumes can travel slowly through the scrubber.
Click to expand...
Hey guys, after reading your posts I will reframe from processing until I know for sure there is no hazard here. I don't want a fire and surely don't need to get hurt or hurt someone else. At this time I will remove the filters and use only the plastic packing if you think that would be ok, please let me know. I will wait for reply befor doing anything else. Thanks for looking out for me I am grateful for that guys.

Ken
 
4metals said:
I did find this paper http://www.osha.gov/dts/hib/hib_data/hib19970730.htmlwhich mentions fire hazards on carbon beds however there is no mention of NOx.

I'll keep looking.
Click to expand...
4metals thanks for all your help here. I looked at the link and read through it and found this - ("Such chemicals include organic sulfur compounds (e.g., mercaptans), which may be found as impurities in crude sulfate turpentine and other materials. Other classes of chemicals that may cause large thermal releases are ketones, aldehydes, and some organic acids." ) Does our acids fall under organic ??

Ken
 
From the JT Baker MSDS.

Explosion:
Reacts explosively with combustible organic or readily oxidizable materials such as: alcohols, turpentine, charcoal, organic refuse, metal powder, hydrogen sulfide, etc. Reacts with most metals to release hydrogen gas which can form explosive mixtures with air.
Click to expand...

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/n3660.htm

Two thirds of the way to black powder, lacking only sulfur.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top