# goldrecovery.us solder mask removal not working



## steyr223 (Jan 29, 2012)

Hi everyone
This should be a simple one :shock: 
Steve (or other) tried soaking board in draino ( sodium hydroxide) for um about 24 hours or should I say left since you say 4 hours. Removed and Scrubbed vigorously , but no mask removal. Now I feel the need to say these boards had no gold traces or plating I just thought it might be less contamination in in my solution
thanks steyr223 '


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## kuma (Jan 29, 2012)

Hi Steyr223 , how are tricks?
I hope your well!



steyr223 said:


> Hi everyone
> This should be a simple one :shock:
> Steve (or other) tried soaking board in draino ( sodium hydroxide) for um about 24 hours or should I say left since you say 4 hours. Removed and Scrubbed vigorously , but no mask removal. Now I feel the need to say these boards had no gold traces or plating I just thought it might be less contamination in in my solution
> thanks steyr223 '



I've no hands on experience with this one yet , but did you try warming your caustic solution ? 
I can't remember exactly , but I'm sure that in Steves video he had removed the solder mask in just 5 or 10 minutes by soaking the depopulated boards in a warm solution.
I could be way off though , :roll: 

LaserSteves solder mask removal video ;
http://www.goldrecovery.us/goldrecovery/videos/ShowVideo.aspx?id=soldermask&yt=0

All the best with it , and kind regards ,
Chris :mrgreen:


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## steyr223 (Jan 29, 2012)

Hay.Chris
Tricks are always good
Thank you for your post. I Wii have to get to a computer to view that 

Thanks


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## kuma (Jan 29, 2012)

Hi Steyr , no worries chief!



steyr223 said:


> Tricks are always good



8) 

Laser Seteves solder mask removal video is a real good watch , it couldn't be explained and demonstrated any better to be honest , be sure to check it out when you can!  
All the best for now and kind regards ,
Chris :mrgreen:


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## Geo (Jan 29, 2012)

did you warm the solution? if you bring it to a boil it will be too hot and make the solder mask bind harder. i have some that i heated too much and i had to sand the solder mask so the AP could get underneath.


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## rewalston (Jan 29, 2012)

If I remember correctly, LaserSteve states to bring it just to boil (bubbles slightly larger than a pin head), remove from heat and soak board for 10 minutes. Then use a bristle brush to scrub off loose mask.

Rusty


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## steyr223 (Jan 29, 2012)

Probably tonight I watch,
Sandpaper :shock: wow
Nope didn't boil. I was finally able to scrape away part of a mask today that had gold trace but only The trace was masked
Hay Geo remember my red mud?
Do you think it was mask

Anyways I'm going to upload some pics of my next process. Please let Mr know if you or anyone sees catastrophe in the mix all boards have been split separating top and bottom.there is not 1 drop of soldler anywhere. .the rectangular pieces are not part of this batch


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## steyr223 (Jan 29, 2012)

I cropped this one it should be smaller
These are magnets for part of the money identifier in the ATM draws. They are covered with stainless. when peeled away exposes gold plating. When split the magnets fall away and by the weight I believe there aluminum -but that's rare maybe something else. I will do these by themselves 
Thanks


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## Geo (Jan 29, 2012)

the solder mask turns into goo like jelly when it works right. i don't think it would turn brown. take a look at this. this is what happens when the reaction runs out of hcl, in other words too much material and not enough solution. does it look familiar?


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## butcher (Jan 29, 2012)

Geo.
That wouldn't be the thick part of eyeglass fames in the jar would it?


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## Geo (Jan 29, 2012)

nope. just big heavy pins. i get some odd shaped stuff occasionally.


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## butcher (Jan 29, 2012)

Thanks GEO,
I have some plated glases from Ocean, and that kind of looked like the thick pieces.


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## steyr223 (Jan 29, 2012)

I agtee with butcher
Eye glasses
I think Geo is fibbi'n :lol: 
So is it necessary to remove the mask if there's only say copper traces to rid the contamination. Since its a solid,doesn't go into solution and doesn't plate back to anything,I should be able to filter it when I refine if not sooner or is it easier to just remove it
Thanks?


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## Geo (Jan 29, 2012)

solder mask in your foils is not a problem. if you can work around it and get the foils off the board even if all the solder mask comes with it, they will be left in the filter when you dissolve the foils. like i said about the sand paper, theres no need to sand all the solder mask off but scratch over it so the AP can work its way underneath to the copper.


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## jaythenutz (Jan 29, 2012)

well i used sieves instruction per his web site video under harvesting solder mask removal . except i used a ZEP product called crystal heat drain opener but i followed his weights and measurement X4 and it worked wonderful no wire brush needed just rubbed right off with my fingers after the rinse. yeh i tried the let it soak in crystal Drano over night thing what a mess. any how check out his web page it is perfectly alright to substitute sodium hydroxide with the zep or Drano product as long as the warning label says contains sodium hydroxide.

I agree completely Geo except it takes for ever for AP to get underneath the mask even with scratching and in some cases it left my AP non-reusable.

~*~ peace~*~
~~~~~~~Jay


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## Anonymous (Jan 29, 2012)

Ace Hardware sells 100% pure sodium hydroxide.I use it frequently when stripping boards that are going into a thio bath.I use a large pyrex 9x11(?) baking dish on my hot plate.The heat is brought up very slowly as to not crack the dish,and I can fit several large boards in at once,and still see everything that is going on.DO NOT LET IT BOIL! The solution is very capable of stripping gold,and steel at a high temperature,and I am sure it will attack other metals as well.When I started using steve's method,I made the mistake of using one of my wife's large cooking pots,so that I could strip a large volume faster.After a very short period of time boiling,the solution ate all the way through the pot.I have seen boards that are half way in the solution,look perfectly silver in color,only to scrape away masking from the part of the board that was not under the solution,and see this deepest gold color.And I am not talking about the flash plated video,sound,and ethernet cards either.I sell those to my buyer.


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## steyr223 (Jan 30, 2012)

Thanks everyone
Did not get a chance to watch Steve's. Video, but I will try what #@you guys say thank you
PS you guys got to. See my new mini a/p Setup it's. A reverse osmosis ( only 2 cartridge holders) One for a/p and 1 for water 
To. Filter the fumes
Of course Im sure you know the bases of a dou/ble chamber water pipe anyways sleeeppp..
.....
.
Thanks steyr223


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## Geo (Jan 30, 2012)

steyr223,

all i can say is, wow.

are you still living in your truck? with this thing sitting beside you? :shock: :lol: 

thats really cool looking, does it work well.?


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## steyr223 (Jan 30, 2012)

Oops sorry about that l got a little x cited. Back on track

Mic i have 1 question
since we know that too much of an acidic solutions will make a stannous chloride test fail,would sodium hydroxide .
Just curious but if you were to have tested the solution in the cooking pot would it show gold in solution considering the gold was still there or does your wife have a gold plated stove :shock: :lol:


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## steyr223 (Jan 30, 2012)

Hay Geo hope the big family life is treating you good.
yup still in the truck I'll get a shop sooner or later that I can scrap out of and actually build a lab( maniacal laughing)
Since I bought lowes brand of muratic acid 32 percent I decided to seal my unit and not sleep n.ext to it until I'm done.
As you saw the picture of the reverse osmosis unit I figured watertight is air tight right . of course that's a model downscale it have to be bigger and the downside I can't see my values


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## steyr223 (Feb 2, 2012)

geo and all
it seems to work i will see today


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## steyr223 (Feb 6, 2012)

Hello everyone
I will first start with the fact that the little dots in the trace of a pcb is worthless compare to keyboards I had done previously

2nd I also understand how difficult it is to remove solder mask if you're not ready to refine gold it's an absolute mess I would not like it to sit in a bottle where you could see my, crap ygold even if it is only recoverd
PS why goldrrcovery.us did someone change?
thanks


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## lazersteve (Feb 6, 2012)

steyr223 said:


> PS why goldrrcovery.us did someone change?
> thanks



Where do you get goldrrcovery.us ? I don't see it in thread anywhere?

Steve


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## steyr223 (Feb 6, 2012)

Steve the man
When I look at the title of my post the first message is gold recovery.us
I figured maybe the title in the help section was some sort of infringement of rights is that even a word as it maybe somebody took the name over?

I'll go look at it again I hope this is in another 1 of my hallucinations
Thanks steyr223


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## steyr223 (Feb 6, 2012)

Ok Let me see if I can get this right I had to a re log in to all gone 6 times to make this post
the title in the help needed and both pages of my post gold recovery.us
the first 3 posts in the first page and the second third and fourth post in the second page
all the rest say gold recovery.info


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## lazersteve (Feb 6, 2012)

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, I altered the title of the first post to reflect my correct web site address. The posts that were made before I made the change all automatically got the old title from the thread, any new posts have the new title.

Now I'll fix them all:

Wait for it....poof!! :lol: 

Steve


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## steyr223 (Feb 7, 2012)

Poof I am. glad your recovery & refineing skills are much better than your magic
5 or 6th one on first page by geo :lol: 
so what do you make of the pic Steve. This is the first time I had PCB. Fibers in my mix I only had boards. In AP for. '36 hrs.all gold was still In place untill I sprayed 
Thanxs
Steyr223 
PS by the way after all that I've tried In implementing a method for my situation I went back to the 5 gallon bucket with i :shock: a lid


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## Geo (Feb 7, 2012)

you can still reclaim the gold out of that stuff even with all the trash. dissolve it just like you would clean foils and filter the trash out.


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## steyr223 (Feb 8, 2012)

Yes of course would that not be the Same as refining your gold and what would you do to precipitate smb or am I being presumptuous. You said dissolve not put into solution
Thanxs


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## Geo (Feb 8, 2012)

:lol: dissolve = put into solution. use hcl/cl method on the gold/trash (it shouldnt take much Cl) if you see any flakes before you filter add a little more Cl. let the solution sit for night and add enough water to double the volume and precipitate gold with SMB.


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## steyr223 (Feb 8, 2012)

right agree but thats refining not filtering 
i had always thought that it was more of a filtering method
it seems so simple dissolve base metals keep gold-dissolve gold
keep solution oops keep everything :lol: sorry harold :shock: 
i will say it again in, i believe in harolds words. it is not in 
reinventing the wheel thats shows genius but following step by step procedure that is proven to work that is
steyr223 8) 8)


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## BACKYARDTOYS05 (Jul 16, 2014)

Hello everybody. I am brand new to this forum and this is the first forum I have ever joined. First forum post ever. Don't really know how to post properly. My name is Luke, I am 30 years old and I live in Paris Tn. I work at a local recycling center and I have nearly unlimited axcess to electronics and computers. People just bring them to us and we ship them off by the truck load. It hit me about 2 weeks ago that I should try to get some this (gold stuff) that people say are on the ram stick fingers and cpu's. I also have about 2 gallons of Nitric acid 69-71% that was brought to us to dispose of as ( Hazardous Waste) and other acids as well. After some reading on this forum, my jaw dropped as to what was right in front of me just for free for the taking. I am reading Hoke as I was advised on this forum to do. I am a certified automotive technician, No brag just telling about me. I have spent nearly all nights since my moment reading and experimenting. As I read this forum I notice not much is said about successfully removing the solder mask material, or green stuff on the boards. I want to start my new experience to this forum by stating some useful info that I found out. There is a product called RED HOT STRIPPER that removes all coatings from pcbs. I found it (experimenting) because I had a wide axcess to many chemicals donated to where I work. It took about 2 days of soaking and all the coatings washed away with water and none of the metal seemed to be harmed. I am planning to become very serious with my new found hobby and will do all reading before asking any questions. I hope I have made a small contribution to the forum by sharing my little learned humble knowledge. Thanks to everyone for all the great post and wisdom to this forum. Please welcome the green horn who is dripping wet behind the ears.


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## butcher (Jul 16, 2014)

BACKYARDTOYS05,

Welcome to the forum, my advice would be to forget about using the chemicals for the time being, keep up your study with Hokes book, and reading the forum, the safety section is a must, and the topic there dealing with waste. Take the guided tour of the forum, and searching...

After you get some basic understanding, and the principles involved in recovery and refining, and you understanding of the dangers and safety procedures, and understand how to properly deal with waste, then work on the experiments in Hokes book, these will be extremely helpful in understanding many of the reactions involved.

Then start with simple processes, on an easier material to deal with, study the recovery of gold from memory fingers, and then study the refining of that gold, you can use this with what your learning with Hokes book, and the getting acquainted experiments, and learning to test solutions...

This may sound like a slow way to learn, and to get that gold, but in fact the time you spend to get the education needed first, and the understanding, will put you way ahead in the long run. Starting with chemicals before you gain an education will only delay your progress, and you will most likely put yourself and others in harms way while you lose your gold in these toxic solutions, not knowing where your gold went or the dangers you have created for yourself and others.

Welcome to this wonderful forum, where education can be rewarding, and where the education of recovery and refining of precious metals has been freely shared, a gift that man throughout history have wanted, but very few were ever lucky enough to gain, throughout history this science and art was held in secrecy or made into a mystery, to hide this art and skill from others, the education is where the gold is or other valuable metals), educating yourself helps you to acquire some of that precious metal, and to recovery and purify them, basically giving some metals to show for that valuable education you will work so hard to earn.


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## BACKYARDTOYS05 (Jul 16, 2014)

Thankyou butcher for the advise. I will do much and vast research and reading before proceeding. It seems as all info is available and all questions are seemingly answered with just researching. Thank you for your response, Luke


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## Claudie (Jul 16, 2014)

Uh, if anyone does an online search for this stuff, like I did, make sure you have the safe search filter on....  

"Red Hot Stripper" seems t be a popular web search


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## butcher (Jul 16, 2014)

Luke,
I think you will find that treasure, (many treasures) as you go along with your study, You have the treasure map here, keep on track and enjoy finding your way to those gold bars.

Claudie, I am laughing to hard to comment.


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## GotTheBug (Jul 16, 2014)

In the interst of saving Claudie's virgin eyes...

http://www.sun-beltusa.com/red-hot-stripper.html


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## BACKYARDTOYS05 (Jul 17, 2014)

Lol. I didn't think about the other search results that RED HOT STRIPPER could yield. If You want to check it out it is made by Harvard Chemical Research Inc. Thanks again. Luke


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