# Show your work area



## Smack

Everybody luuuv's pictures so this is my recovery area in my garage at my home, I don't do any refining here just scrapping. Lots of piles and containers with goodies.


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## Smack

the rest


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## Smack

14lbs of ISA, PCI, EISA, AGP & Risers. I've got about 20lbs. saved up now all together.


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## Geo

very nice, paper cutter never crossed my mind.


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## Anonymous

I tried an industrial paper cutter that we recieved in a load from the school board,and it ended up breaking.Maybe I should have got one from harbour freight,it may have lasted longer....chuckle.


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## butcher

Smack what happened to that nice neat garage?

Oh you joined the gold refining forum that explains it.
Looks like your getting a collection of goodies there.
Well maybe soon you will clean that garage back up and melt that mess into some pretty nuggets.

PS No I will not show picture of my barn, I cannot hardley get into it to take the picture.


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## Smack

Some stuff down at my shop where I do the refining, don't have pic's of the lab area but I'll get some up.


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## slickdogg

Dam i wish i had that much e scrap. Nice little setup you got there Smack.


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## trashmaster

I have the same paper cutter ( made by photo materials chicago, Ill.) This paper cutter is the best i've ever had ..  I think that it around 30-40 years old ... It cuts thru fingers like butter...


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## glorycloud

Hey Smack, nice collection of hard drive magnets you have there. 8) 

Anyone else notice them. :lol:


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## slickdogg

yup i seen them, 
on the drill press pole. 8)


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## glorycloud

And all around the window. :lol:


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## slickdogg

darn! I didnt notice those until you said somthing. :lol: :lol:


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## Smack

Yup, trying to keep them away from my cell phone :shock:


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## niteliteone

stefani88 said:


> nice pic
> 
> __________________
> ttp://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/ I broke the link. It now shows nice space view



Joined at 1:15am posted by 1:17am then gone. looks like a spammer to me.
Plus the movie link sucks.

Tom C.

The spammer has been banned, with the post deleted. 

Harold


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## jimdoc

Please don't quote spammers and leave their links intact. 
It is then harder to say goodbye completely.

Jim


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## joem

jimdoc said:


> Please don't quote spammers and leave their links intact.
> It is then harder to say goodbye completely.
> 
> Jim



Awe, But the spammer movie site has the new twilight. 
I even downloaded a picture from it.


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## Claudie

Is it a good idea to store all of those Lithium batteries in a metal can like that? :|


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## slickdogg

Smack,
hey bud you wouldnt be intrested in getting rid of one of them 7 pound brass bars you got in you picture 
would you?


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## Smack

You need a paper weight?


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## slickdogg

haha....
no i need one of them to use at my body shop


i could make a nice brass hammer out of one of them..
i use brass or lead for special kinds of auto body repair. 8)


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## jimdoc

Painted gold or plated, those brass bars would make some nice sacrificial "gold bars" to keep around for burglars to find if they ever get in. They will grab them and go and hopefully not spend the time to find the real stuff. They will think they hit the jackpot!

Jim


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## Smack

Haha, that's a good one, that sure could distract a fella.

You serious about wanting one Slickdogg?


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## butcher

My luck they would tell all their riff raff friends where they got them big heavy gold bars and then I would have all kinds of company visiting me.


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## dtectr

Aren't we getting a little off topic here, guys? I am as excited as the next guy to see if slickdogg gets his brass or not, but I do come here to get ideas about WORK AREAS! If we only had a place to chew the fat, kind of like a BAR AND GRILL ... lol
Seriously though, I hope to finally get my new shop up and limping in the next couple of weeks and I would like for members to be able to make it to my posts so that I can get the benefit of their input. 
Just a thought ...
Edit: clarity
Dtectr


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## MMFJ

I've been wanting to make a post like this for awhile, just been pretty busy lately and today's the first day I had some time, so here goes.....


btw, these have electricity in them (for charging the RV batteries....) and the manager doesn't care HOW we build out, as long as we don't attach to the walls or burn the place down!). The only drawback is that we share a 20A service between 5 units and the guy that has the three next to me on the same line is a crate builder, so when he's using his saw and compressor, I have to turn off my heater (or AC, depending on the season!) Oh, they run $250 a month each....

Another thing I really like about working out of a self-storage area is that folks bringing us JUNK have to wait until WE open the gate (and, ergo, until we let them out! - there's a lot to be said about gating systems and security....)




We just took out most of the scrap yesterday and are able to again start organizing (the last three weeks has been BUSY, but then, craigslist blocked my ad..... - has been SLOW for three days now!)



I think I can only attach 4 pics, so more in another post...


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## MMFJ

yes, we only got this room about three weeks ago, and in that time, I had to build it out, move in and process all the e-waste.

So far, we have shipped out nearly 500 lbs of boards and over a ton of scrap metal from this 'facility'...



We have a very solid lead with a large generator of e-waste/metals and they are interested in us processing it instead of them sending it out to Arizona! We expect 5-7 gaylords of the stuff each week!


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## MMFJ

OK, last post (hey, you guys did want to see work areas, right? I'd sure like to see yours!)


Been in this one about a year, though it was PACKED with so much e-waste, we still are sorting it all out (now that we took on the other room and got it going, maybe we can get to where we can BREATHE!)




Well, that's most of the work area - I have left out pics of the 'hoard' (my collection-o-JUNK that is one day to be refined by some lucky(?) person from this forum - I know it won't be me!), though I have collected a lot of bits-n-pieces, there's only about 20-30 lbs of stuff. I keep all the ceramics I can (10 Pentium Pros hidden away so far), but have to sell some of them now and then to make sure the rent is paid!

OK, time for your comments (Please be kind about the housekeeping!


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## Geo

lol


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## goldsilverpro

Oh well, what the hell. A year ago. And that was the day after I cleaned it. I do love buckets.


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## Franciz

goldsilverpro said:


> Oh well, what the hell. A year ago. And that was the day after I cleaned it. I do love buckets.




Is that you Teacher Chris?

Francis


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## Barren Realms 007

I don't feel so out of place after that picture. 8)


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## butcher

I have all the buckets, and the droplight, and cookware, I just need a roof and nicer table.

GSP you look very happy there amongst the buckets, maybe for Christmas the forum could all pitch in and get you a new shiny bucket with a lid of coarse.

I still think I will wait till I get my roof to show off my buckets in a photo.


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## Palladium

goldsilverpro said:


> Oh well, what the hell. A year ago. And that was the day after I cleaned it. I do love buckets.




You can tell when a man is truly happy in what he is doing.


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## AztekShine

Palladium said:


> goldsilverpro said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh well, what the hell. A year ago. And that was the day after I cleaned it. I do love buckets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can tell when a man is truly happy in what he is doing.
Click to expand...


I was just thinking the same thing about an hour ago, whyle sweating my butt off in the kitchen.

Please be mindful of your language on this board. 

Harold


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## necromancer

Claudie said:


> Is it a good idea to store all of those Lithium batteries in a metal can like that? :|




i tape every one of my batteries with see through tape, i have seen a 55 gallon drum of them catch fire, be carefull and dont trust that there safe all alone in that can


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## Smack

Some stuff I sorted during winter for processing. I plan on putting up the data for every one when I'm done with them. Will be lots of incinerating


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## Smack

One more.


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## Smack

First picture, never seen this before, a bit of corrosion separation I guess. More pic's of some interesting old boards that were in the latest haul of 300lbs. of boards.


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## Smack

More pic's from the end of page 2's post.


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## Smack

Welded this up on July 2nd, took most of the day. I even tested it with a 2200 deg. crucible before I fully welded it. Put a lot of thought into this design and this is what I came up with from experience and trial & error. The handles come from the other side so it has a better center of gravity or weight distribution. #16 crucible in the photo, have one for brass and one for copper. The hinge part is just a section of heavy duty hinge, then everything else is welded to it. If I end up making another like this I might use 1" rectangle tubing, fill the tubing with sand and use a slip roll to bend it.


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## bswartzwelder

Really nice. Does the top cover prevent it from opening up once you have the crucible in it? I like to weld. I guess it helps me think I have an artistic or engineering side. But that's the way to do things. Make a design and then tweak it through trail and hopefully not too much error. Thanks for the pix. It looks like stainless. How much heat can it withstand?


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## Smack

The top is just a heat shield, there is no lock just a stop that gives about an inch of squeeze once it touches the crucible. I had it clamped on the hot crucible 3x longer than what I estimated I would need it touching and it never turned orange, just darkened it a bit. No it's not SST., would be nice though eh?


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## bswartzwelder

I am really impressed with this even though I don't have a use for one. What kind of welder did you use? I started learning welding with a Sears "buzz box" AC welder. Never had much more training than my first wife's uncle showing me a little. Learned the rest through trial and error (heavy on the error part). Since then, I have graduated to a very nice MIG welder. I have even welded a wee bit of aluminum (still in the error stage there), but can make a fairly respectable weld on steel. You, have obviously mastered the art of welding. Congratulations.


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## MEANIE

Very nice and a great fit,
but,,,,,a number 16 hold 51 lbs of brass at about 1700 degrees.
Your handles are not long enough for me,
When you use it I would like to know how it worked out.

great job smack

Todd


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## Smack

It's a Powcon mig with Argon/CO2 tank. I used to do production welding in the past. Even with new steel I kept getting porosity on this thing for some reason so some of the welds look like chicken crap (to me), had to grind some back out 3 times before I got a decent weld. You should check with a local Community College or Trade School about an introductory welding course. Most have something like that you could take in a short amount of time.

I did fill the crucible with as much brass as I could get in it and it was fine. I don't just expect it to work right out of the gate, I definitely plan on doing the final test with it full of molten copper so it's contained in a catch pan in case it fails. Your right Meanie, this is quite a step up from the #10 I have been using. I even called a heat treat company and asked about having it heat treated and they told me it wouldn't do any good. Also thought about different coatings like ceramic but I don't think anything will hold up. I did think about wrapping it with some high temp exhaust wrap to help keep some heat off the tong. In the test with a 2k+ degree crucible I held it and moved it around for 25 seconds. I plan on making another one similar but better and stronger right behind it, just too busy right now getting ready for concrete at my shop.


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## Smack

So I got the first pour done on Wednesday and got the base cabinets mounted to the wall in the lab area. Thought the counter top would come this week but didn't see it so I will have to call on Monday to see what's up.


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## Smack

Got the concrete done today, just need to bring in a little bit of crushed concrete to fill in around the edges. I'm tired now, I don't know what's worse, the labor it takes to get it done or paying the hundred bucks a yard for the concrete. Maybe I'll pour some more next year, but for now I'm pooped, I must have had half a dozen blisters. Only had help during the pouring of concrete, the rest was all me and my shovel and the skid steer of course. There used to be a house right in the middle of the drive, I ran into the old foundation when I started digging, didn't find any treasure darn it all. I even took my metal detector over it, found nothing good though.

I worked with a contractor in Jackson, MI on getting a counter top for under the fume hood and after a month with the back and forth on the phone and emails I gave up on them and called another company over by Grand Rapids, after the second call to them, I got what I needed ordered, or so I thought. He (Larry, the owner) said I should have it in 2 to 3 weeks. After 4 weeks I emailed Larry, no response, at the end of the 5th week I called asking what the status of my order was, Larry calls me back, asks if I need the holes at each end of the fume hood, I said no and he said "Ok that should speed things up then" then he hangs up and I'm like, Umm...bye?. So I assume he never ordered it at all the first time around. 

I miss the old days, and I don't mean way back I mean just back to like the 80's and 90's when you could get the things you needed in a timely manner. It's so hard to get anything beyond groceries or textiles these days. Having any sort of custom work done IF you can find someone to do it is an exercise in futility because chances are you'll be overwhelmed with incompetence. If you can't make it yourself with what you have, your going to have a real go of it and you might actually retire before you finish what you've started.

Sorry if I vented a bit there.

Smack


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## Geo

whoa Smack, that looks great. you look like you have done that before. 

you did get the pup out of the form before you placed the concrete, right? :lol:


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## bswartzwelder

After having lived in our present home for a few years, I finally got the wife to agree to a deck. Home Depot had a computer program which helped plan it out and provided a parts list. I laid out the pattern on the ground and rented a hole driller machine for the upright support posts. Local ordinances say 2 feet deep, but I went 3. Put the posts in the holes and made them plumb with 2 by 4's. Since there was no access to my back yard, I bought a relatively small concrete mixer and had a pallet and a half of concrete delivered. Took the deck off my mower and bought a small cart and started hauling concrete into the back yard. Mixed and poured, mixed and poured until I thought I would die. Then, I started on the deck itself. Funny how there are things you never think of, but...Every time it would rain, the water would drain through the spaces between the deck flooring and drip into the same spots on the ground underneath. It wasn't long before I had a pretty, diamond shaped pattern in the dirt under my deck.

Dug it down about 4 inches with a roto tiller, and hauled out more than 60 to 100 cart loads of dirt. Packed some crushed rock into the area, then added a little sand. Made forms from plastic pipe and then started all over again hauling in sacks of concrete. Mixed and poured, mixed and poured until I was sick of seeing concrete. Did get some help from my boys with laying down bricks over the concrete and a friend and his son showed up to help with the deck for 1 day, but the rest was just the three of us: Me, Myself, and I. Never again, I'm retired and no longer able to handle such heavy work.


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## Smack

Geo said:


> whoa Smack, that looks great. you look like you have done that before.
> 
> you did get the pup out of the form before you placed the concrete, right? :lol:



Yeah Pip is safe Geo, she was there quite a bit helping. About 12 years ago I poured over 100 yds. that summer and concrete was about $55.00 a yard. I got a letter from the concrete place here a while back like 2006 or so saying that there is a concrete shortage and prices were going up because of all the building that was going on in China. That's about the time they were working on the big dam in China. So now that all that work is done are prices coming back down? lol yea right. What I did in the drive took just over 22 yds. it's about 35'x36' and 5.5 inches thick.

bswartzwelder, I'm right behind ya bud, it's not so much the age as it is the miles.


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## Smack

Some progress on the lab, just finishing up on electrical and exhaust. That epoxy resin the counter tops are made out of cuts harder than concrete.


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## bswartzwelder

Now that is an IMPRESSIVE set up.


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## kadriver

Smack, that's a really nice pro set-up. Got any updated pictures, is it finished?

kadriver


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## oldgoldman

Smack .. that set up looks killer ..

Here is a picture of my shop / studio .. In 110 year old haunted loft .. little scary at night ..


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## Smack

kadriver said:


> Smack, that's a really nice pro set-up. Got any updated pictures, is it finished?
> 
> kadriver



Got a lot of irons in the fire, haven't had time to do any chemical work in the lab, only dealing with the scrap I'm getting in, sorting everything, setting aside stuff I want to process myself but I have been doing some initial incineration on IC's to be processed by me of course. A friend has an outside wood burner with boiler that I do a pre-incineration on things to get rid of most of the smoke before I do a good incineration on it all in my shop. I'll get some pic's up before long.

OGM, that place is cool, can tell it's old by all the support posts and the large gaps in the flooring. Kind of wonder what all is in those cracks.


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## Smack

Been trying to get lab work done before it gets too cold to run the fume hood. The gold foils are from fingers, the rest is just batch after batch of pins, connectors with gold pins that were incinerated (boy was that a dirty batch) but not quite done yet. Been a lot of digest, decant, filter, rinse, decant and so on if I even got that right. Been going like mad for almost 2 months now.

The little lock collar on the vacuum line is my regulator  My little vacuum pump was a freebee from a dialysis reuse machine. :mrgreen:


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## MarcoP

Nice lab! Only one thing in common, the paper cutter http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=23111

Marco


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## Anonymous

Hi Smack

That looks top class mate. Have you had any issues with the stainless steel bezel on the from of your hood yet or does it seem to be fine? 

Jon


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## Smack

spaceships said:


> Hi Smack
> 
> That looks top class mate. Have you had any issues with the stainless steel bezel on the from of your hood yet or does it seem to be fine?
> 
> Jon



Thanks Jon, 
The key is to keep it clean, anything with HCL will attack it. I'm always wiping it off, I only noticed one time on a spot I missed when wiping, that some splash of HCL or A/R had begun to attack it slightly overnight. When I got this hood I bought 2 and had to change the painted airfoil on this one to the sst. airfoil from the other hood, then sold the other one on ebay for a nice profit that paid for this hood and a lot more. I think I paid $83.00 for both hoods.


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## snoman701

Smack said:


> Some progress on the lab, just finishing up on electrical and exhaust. That epoxy resin the counter tops are made out of cuts harder than concrete.



One thing that I don't see is the actual exhaust. Is that something you are willing to share? Does it use an eductor, or just a large fan?

How large of a diameter opening through to the roof?


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## Smack

A pic of my blower here: http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=19496&p=197661&hilit=exhaust+blower#p197661
It's a Lincoln Welding exhaust blower and I had the impeller powder coated and it's 8" dia. and moves a little under 900cfm. and yes the hole through the roof is 8". It was cool because Lincoln also sells the 8" duct flange for it. I got it in with scrap so that's why I used it...that and it's performance made the decision easier. They are pretty expensive new, I see them used at repocast auctions now and then.


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## snoman701

Thanks! 

Wouldn't mind finding one of those welding fume cleaners just for the welding shop, but lately, auctions are going sky high....or I don't have the coin to spend. I'm yet to see one sell for a reasonable price when I've got the extra $$$.

The fumes really made me hesitant to enjoy fab work, even though I'm good at it.

Mind me asking how much the table top / drip pan cost? I have a lab table already, but it doesn't have the drip groove pan. I can cut it the table to size, but cutting a groove is completely out of the question. I imagine that stuff would eat carbide endmills alive. 

I haven't decided if I want to use the "bedroom" in the apartment attached to the garage for refining (it's my office now)...or if I want to build a completely separate lab, likely of a mini-house design, on a chassis that could be made rolling really easy. An RV if you will (refining vehicle).


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## snoman701

Ooops...looks like it's right in the other thread! Just over $600 for the table top with marine edge.


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## FrugalRefiner

snoman701 said:


> I haven't decided if I want to use the "bedroom" in the apartment attached to the garage for refining (it's my office now)...or if I want to build a completely separate lab


Separate lab.

Dave


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## Smack

snoman701 said:


> Ooops...looks like it's right in the other thread! Just over $600 for the table top with marine edge.



Yes, and got it right here in Mi. Also, it's epoxy resin and cuts like concrete so you'd need diamond cutting tools.


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