# fingers and CPU



## Anonymous (May 28, 2009)

Question about fingers and CPU's. I put a small bag of fingers togther with about 15 CPU's in a 3 gallon bucket then set inside a 5 gallon, i put half a gallon of muratic acid and a cup of aqua regem, hope i spelled that right , let it sit and periodcally stirred for about 5 days and only did 2 CPU's lose anything, most of the fingers are now discolored, and the other CPU's still shining. What am i doing wrong? should i use nitric acid or can i utilize the method i've gone with? Its not working the same as the videos I've watched, not the mention the color from the mixture is a neon green which in the videos i saw blue, and with the nitric acid the soultion turned black.??? Can anyone give a few suggestions


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## OMG (May 28, 2009)

I'm assuming you meant to say '3% hydrogen peroxide' and not 'aqua regem'

I think neon green means you have too much CuCl. What you want is CuCl2 which is normally transparent emerald green, that's what etches the base metals away. As its etching away the copper, the CuCl2 gets loaded up with copper and becomes CuCl.
So people run air bubblers into their mixes to turn CuCl and some of the free HCl (aka muriatic) back into CuCl2.
If there is still free acid I assume a small shot of peroxide will re-oxidize the CuCl as well.
Check wikipedia under CuCl2, the color depends on different things like what is mixed with it and what temperature its at.

I am no expert, I just put together one batch recently using HCl + H2O2. I heated mine up a bit too much which made it dissolve some of the gold as well. But it cemented itself back out on all the exposed copper anyway. The only thing is now its super fine powder at the bottom of the container that im not sure if i want to try to filter it.

Hope that helps, there are lots of people who do AP (acid peroxide) to lift gold plating off they will probably chime in as well.

edit:
Some of the stuff i put in there isn't being affected either. I think it has to do with how well it got plated onto the surface to begin with. If there are no spots for the leach to get behind/underneath the gold, then it would have a very hard time.


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## Anonymous (May 29, 2009)

Thank you very much. I added the peroxide and within 5 minutes saw some of the gold coming off the fingers, i'll let it sit for a day, maybe com up with another question. Actually, to melt it down can i use a propane torch "is it hot enough" or will i need to get an oxy acetylene torch.?


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## glorycloud (May 29, 2009)

Welcome to the forum superman!

Check our lazersteve's website and awesome videos - you will be sure to learn a lot.
Spend the money for Steve's mini-furnace and use MAPP gas. It's easy to set up and
I highly recommend it!

Good luck!


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## qst42know (May 29, 2009)

Once the fingers are free there are several steps recommended before you melt. Properly wash, dissolve, filter, precipitate, rinse, all before you melt. Each of these steps are discussed throughout the forum. 

As far as propane torches go not all are created equal. What type did you have in mind? 

If you can afford it the oxy/acetylene is the way to go it will handle large amounts of gold or silver.

As a question to Steve. Have you tried a melt with a disposable tank screw on propane torch with your firebrick furnace? It would be an interesting experiment if the cheapest torch on the planet would do the job.


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## lazersteve (May 29, 2009)

I have not tried it with the ultra low cost propane torch, but I would be willing to bet it would work only slower. 

I'll have to put that on my list of things to test for you guys.

Steve


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## peaksilver2012 (May 29, 2009)

Just my 2 cents worth: I started with a propane torch-verrrry slow. Graduated to Mapp after watching Steve's videos, and wouldn't go back. The cost differential is not worth the time it takes imho.

Welcome Superman: this forum is the "only" one worth spending time on. All the others put together won't give you the wealth of info these guys give for free. Hats off to Steve, Harold, Noxx and all the rest of you gurus. You know who you are. Who says the practice of apprenticeship is dead? lol

Preston


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## Anonymous (Jun 15, 2009)

I have recently collected about 30 CPU's and put them together with hydrogen peroxide and muriatic acid in a bucket to remove all the gold’ “sat for over 2 weeks.” All the pins have come off the CPU’s and a few of the pins are still gold while others are not, I believe “steel” is what’s left. Why is that? Are the pins that are still all gold’ “all gold?” 
Now most pins have no gold left on them and in “my bucket” I’ve placed a magnet underneath and found those pins must be steel because they are magnetic, what is an easy way to separate this or should I separate this? Maybe I’ve done something wrong? I’d like to start, what I believe is the next process of melting these flakes down……? I purchased a small torch, If I can separate the flakes is this my next step? I’m doing this for the first time and any help will be greatly appreciated. I'll check out more videos in the mean time
Thanks


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## leavemealone (Jun 15, 2009)

If you have "steel" in your pins,or a material that is ferrous,that is the amin reason they are dissoling at a very slow rate.Exactly what make and size CPUs did you put in there?They must be kovar based pins if they are ferrous.Im gonna guess they were pentium 2 or 3 green fiberglass cpu's ?
Johnny


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## movas (Aug 19, 2009)

Dear Forum,

I look in ebay "Easy scrap gold recovery from circuit board fingers" without using dangerous chemicals like nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, cyanide, mercury or aqua regia.??

As I read in this forum always use that chemical..Are this True, Please Help me..

Thanks


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## glorycloud (Aug 21, 2009)

In order to get gold quality gold from escrap you need to be able to:

1. process the material in a manner that seperates away as much of the base metals as is feasible.
2. use the appropriate chemicals based on the material you are processing to free up the gold you want to refine.
3. use safety procedures when processing and refining these materials - your health is more important than gold!
4. refine the gold to a high quality by learning how to best get the gold into solution so you can easily precipitate out the gold.
5. learn how to wash and dry the precipitated gold to get a better quality gold as the final product.

That happens by studying this forum, reading the threads that apply to what you want to process and refine and
asking questions when you don't understand. Read about the basics, about safety, legal things, handling responsibly
the waste acids, reading Hoke's book, etc. Have fun!! 8)


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## erogers36 (Jan 23, 2010)

lazersteve said:


> I have not tried it with the ultra low cost propane torch, but I would be willing to bet it would work only slower.
> 
> I'll have to put that on my list of things to test for you guys.
> 
> Steve


 

the cheap one i have will not even make borax flow.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jan 23, 2010)

erogers36 said:


> lazersteve said:
> 
> 
> > I have not tried it with the ultra low cost propane torch, but I would be willing to bet it would work only slower.
> ...



ROFLMAO, I just fee out my chair crying, OHHHHH my belly hurts.


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## erogers36 (Jan 24, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> erogers36 said:
> 
> 
> > lazersteve said:
> ...




yes thats right save your $ 10.00 at homeDepot and dont get one lol

Eric


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jan 24, 2010)

erogers36 said:


> yes thats right save your $ 10.00 at homeDepot and dont get one lol
> 
> Eric



If you are going to use a small tourch like that you have to use one that operates off of _*MAPP GAS*_ for it get hot enough. And that cheap tip will not do as good of a job with Mapp gas make sure you get one for mapp gas. The tip desighn makes a diffrence.


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## ander (Jan 24, 2010)

I use torch with 1,8kW power- uses 145g/h butane mix. With maxigas 400 the power is little higher. Its like 1,7-1,9BTU. It works for 1ccm of metal in open porcellain melting dish. My furnance gives better power efficiency so I can melt a little more, also need to buy something more powerful, two torches at the time are rather difficult to operate.


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