# Platinum Basket for cupellation



## goldandsilver123 (Dec 4, 2016)

Hello everyone,

I've been waiting to do this for a long time, and finally a company ordered one, a platinum basket for cupellation. I posted the platinum bars at the Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Osmium, & Ruthenium section.

The cups are removable, everything is made with almost pure platinum (from an old beaten basket, it has 1,5% gold, because the company didn't want to refine further), don't know if a platinum-rhodium alloy would be better, it's only immersed in nitric and has to withstand 900 °C which pure platinum does.

The solder used was 90% Au 10% Pt.

Here are the pictures:






Every bit of platinum: Basket, cups, filings, left overs:


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## anachronism (Dec 5, 2016)

That's pretty darned good Chris.


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## Lou (Dec 5, 2016)

Beautiful work!

I don't know if I would have even brazed it--the stuff TIG welds and flame welds so nice. 

That's what I love about platinum. The ease with which you can hand work it is probably greater than any other metal. 

Need to join it? It resistance welds awesome. It welds any which way period. It rolls great. It draws great. Need to clean it up prior to joining? Dilute aqua regia or hot sulfuric, or even hot KOH (to remove silica etc.), HF etc. 

Only thing it doesn't do very well is machine! Gummy stuff.


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