# Anode Electrode for silver cell



## mikeinkaty (Mar 30, 2013)

How difficult would it be to make a graphite mold to pour something like below out of silver? I poured one in a wood mold that would be functional but was not pretty. Use it to set on top of silver shot in a silver cell. I used a pine 2x4. The bottom was 1.5" diameter x 1/2" deep and the tang was 1" long.


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## rybak97 (Mar 30, 2013)

Wouldnt be that hard I imaging, if you had a machine shop set up for graphite. Why dont you just use a stainless screw in one of your ingots to set on top of your shot? Thats what I do, see attached. I dont like to have anything else but silver in my cell so I make sure that the SS screw never touches the electrolyte. You will need to set the alligator clip close to the silver because the resistance of the screw is pretty high.


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## rybak97 (Mar 30, 2013)

PS, if you had some pure silver wire, or evenm some pure silver beat into the shape of a bar you could use that to melt into your ingot. Thats my plan for my next run, I didnt have any pure silver to use so the screw will do for now.


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## mikeinkaty (Mar 30, 2013)

I used a 1.5" spade bit in my drill press. Took about 5 minutes to make the wooden mold. The electrolysis did eat into the SS screws I got at HD whenever they did come into contact with the electrolyte. But those screws were a very inferior grade of SS.


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## rybak97 (Mar 30, 2013)

mikeinkaty said:


> I used a 1.5" spade bit in my drill press. Took about 5 minutes to make the wooden mold. The electrolysis did eat into the SS screws I got at HD whenever they did come into contact with the electrolyte. But those screws were a very inferior grade of SS.



If the screw is only set into the ingot about 1/8in and never touches the electrolyte you should not have any silver contamination right? I want to make sure I’m not screwing up my silver as we speak with this SS screw. I’ll go to the Hobby Lobby right now and get some wire if I am!! I’ll be making a pure silver electrical connection next time, just trying to keep costs down to a minimum for the first run.


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## goldsilverpro (Mar 30, 2013)

Since the cell solution in Thum cells is normally only deep enough to touch the bottom of the shot (or bars), you could use about anything conductive to make contact on top of the shot. I would probably use a fairly heavy flat chunk of copper with a wire attached to it. It won't dissolve since it is not in contact with the solution.


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## rybak97 (Mar 30, 2013)

goldsilverpro said:


> Since the cell solution in Thum cells is normally only deep enough to touch the bottom of the shot (or bars), you could use about anything conductive to make contact on top of the shot. I would probably use a fairly heavy flat chunk of copper with a wire attached to it. It won't dissolve since it is not in contact with the solution.



10-4. I’ve got the anode basket pretty full of shot (some even out of the electrolyte). Should I raise the basket so only the bottom is in solution?


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## goldsilverpro (Mar 30, 2013)

rybak97 said:


> goldsilverpro said:
> 
> 
> > Since the cell solution in Thum cells is normally only deep enough to touch the bottom of the shot (or bars), you could use about anything conductive to make contact on top of the shot. I would probably use a fairly heavy flat chunk of copper with a wire attached to it. It won't dissolve since it is not in contact with the solution.
> ...



Either raise the basket or remove some solution. You could use the removed solution to make up for evaporation losses.

For my 30 gallon Thum cells, I cast a 60/40, copper/silver bar in a mold. With tongs, I held a piece of 1" bus bar about 3" long vertically in the mold while casting the bar around it. I first drilled 2, 1/2" holes in the bus bar - one near the top end for the cable connection and one near the bottom end to allow the molten metal to flow into it and fix it firmly in the bar. The bar was about 3" x 6" x 1" thick. I just plopped it on top of the cell bars. It wasn't in the solution and I used the same contact bars for 3 or 4 years.


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