# Reverse Electroplating Techniques



## sandhog (Mar 3, 2007)

I am wondering what everyone is using to hold their material when doing this process. I just bought some stainless steel sink strainers and was going to try using these baskets to hold my pins. Any thoughts on if this may or may not work. I will post some pics if it works.

Sorry, I posted in the wrong place last time I posted.


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## lazersteve (Mar 3, 2007)

Sandhog,
Sorry to tell you this but it doesn't work very well. The problem is that the strainer is taller and larger (more conductive) than the scrap and so it draws most of the current away from the gold scrap. All the holes are in the bottom of the strainer and none in the sides which also prevents the current from flowing thru the plated item. In effect it forms a cage around the scrap which intercepts most of the current. You get a lot of bubbles from the large amount of stainless. Also, the scrap doesn't make a real solid electrical connection to the strainer so it only strips the items in direct contact with the metal and not completely. I had very limited success with these and can upload the pictures if you want to see them. I have developed a better way to do more pins at one time however. 

I was thinking of redesigning the cathode (negative lead) to fit over the center of the strainer, like a reverse mushroom, but I dropped the whole project plans for easier more direct solutions. 

I have many custom cathode and anode ideas which I will share as I get time. 

Feel free to upload your results, maybe yours will work out better than mine did.

Steve


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## sandhog (Mar 3, 2007)

I have a couple of different type strainers, one of them is very shallow(for a bathtub drain). Do you think this might work. Also, I have read where someone suggested using SS mesh and plug cpu's into it like pluging them into a cpu socket. On the cpu's you would want to pry off the cover before doing this.


Could you elaborate on your method of reverse electroplating. 

Are you doing a large batch of pins at once?
Is your cathode placement across from anode?
Is your anode on the side of container or elsewhere?


-sandhog


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## lazersteve (Mar 3, 2007)

The SS screen works better than the strainer. The drawback to the screen is that the cpu's legs don't all make a solid connection with the screen and some of them don't strip. In my upcoming video you'll notice a SS screen with gold plated cpus on it in the corner of the screen. I pulled the screen from a large low profile strainer that drops into the sink hole and cut it to size so as to reduce the amount of SS that actually gets lowered into the cell. This technique cuts down on the current that is drawn away from the plated scrap.

Update:

Here's a pic of my cell:







Check this post:

http://goldrefining.110mb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=41
Steve


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## sandhog (Mar 3, 2007)

I can't wait to see your video. It looks like from your pictures that you are using drain cleaner for your acid, if so, do you like this better than straight battery acid?

-sandhog


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## lazersteve (Mar 3, 2007)

The drain cleaner is more than twice the concentration as the battery acid (98% to 40%). This means more water is in you cell with battery acid and therefore it is less conductive. Your charger will be working harder to get the gold off, hence it will work slower. Additionally, if you use acid out of an old battery it has contaminant metals (lead) in it that will ultimately end up in your gold. BEWARE !: This lead is toxic and can cause you serious permanent damage if you burn it and inhale the fumes in the smelting process. If you get your battery acid from a battery rebuilding shop it should be free of lead as long it hasn't been dumped out of an old battery. They usually keep plastic containers of the 40% 'electrolyte' at these type of shops. Before you use it gently boil it in a glass pan until it reduces in volume by 58%, this will leave you with good concentrated (98%) H2SO4 (Sulfuric Acid Conc.). 

Steve


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## sandhog (Mar 3, 2007)

Steve,

This is brand new battery acid. I will boil like you stated. Maybe that is why it's taking me about 11 sec. per pin.

-sandhog


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## lazersteve (Mar 4, 2007)

Sandhog,

If you haven't checked out the MSDS for H2SO4 please do 

http://www.bu.edu/es/labsafety/ESMSDSs/MSSulfuricAcid.html

And be very care when boiling this stuff down, pyrex will shatter if heated or cooled too rapidly. The fumes aren't good for you either.

Take care,

Steve


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## Nuwaysolutions (Nov 1, 2016)

I'm looking for an Ore with some possible values to run through our DC Plasma Furnace to possibly concentrate values in the reduced fraction of the melt. We are desperate to find ores with values to process. If we can find an ore with values and are able to concentrate and refine we can then work out a processing agreement. I would only need about a 5gal. bucket full of material for testing. We are located in Fort Worth, TX. 
https://youtu.be/IPzWzNHsAyM

https://youtu.be/sNBeApjEO2c


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## 4metals (Nov 1, 2016)

This post has been moved to the refiners section as it is truly a solicitation for business.


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## Nuwaysolutions (Nov 1, 2016)

4metals said:


> This post has been moved to the refiners section as it is truly a solicitation for business.


Sorry about that didn't mean to post it here. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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