# Gold Melting Mini Propane/Mapp Gas Furnace Kit



## Captobvious (Oct 9, 2014)

Have any of you tried this for melting small amounts of gold/silver? Looks to be viable, but wanted to check here first before laying down cash for one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb91nETfaqg

This is the kit I was looking at, although there are other kits that vary in what molds, options come with it

http://www.makeyourowngoldbars.com/...tongs-w-torch-tips-4-cavity-mold#.VDby4haK7TE


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## Anonymous (Oct 9, 2014)

Capt you can actually buy the raw materials to do that for a few bucks mate.


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## Captobvious (Oct 9, 2014)

spaceships said:


> Capt you can actually buy the raw materials to do that for a few bucks mate.



Thanks for the vote of confidence, however my creating skills are more akin to Homer Simpson's, destruction is where I excel


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## Anonymous (Oct 9, 2014)

Haha I hear you mate, I really do. However it's a large tin, cut into sections with a refractory liner (freely available as a paste/powder) and couple of holes drilled in the base to guide the jets, and a cylindrical hole in the middle.

Homer could pull it off- - even with Bart offering help :shock: :shock:


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## Captobvious (Oct 9, 2014)

Cool, I may look into that. The big question though is is it viable? We've all seen so many vids on youtube that are hogwash, mainly curious if something like this has been tried by anyone here


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## JHS (Oct 9, 2014)

I can not say I actually melted anything in it,but I like building things and I built one several months ago.I fired it to 2100f to be sure it was dry and did not crack.Then I put it on the shelf and went back to my torch.
I'm sure it will melt gold and silver.
john


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## Anonymous (Oct 10, 2014)

For small quantities like a few grammes I think the torch and crucible would most likely be just as good as this. However if you get to melting 100g batches then this is likely to have more of a benefit over your torch.


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## Captobvious (Oct 10, 2014)

Good info, thanks guys


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## MarcoP (Oct 10, 2014)

spaceships said:


> Haha I hear you mate, I really do. However it's a large tin, cut into sections with a refractory liner (freely available as a paste/powder) and couple of holes drilled in the base to guide the jets, and a cylindrical hole in the middle.
> 
> Homer could pull it off- - even with Bart offering help :shock: :shock:



It's a while that I'm looking to buy some refractory liner locally without luck.
My intention is to build a custom made incinerator for IC chips and reading some recipes it seems I might be able to make my own liner with perlite and sodium silicate [silica gel, lye and water (someone also adds aluminum oxide to the recipe)]. Would silica cat litter be able to replace the silica gel used for the recipe? As I can read it's similar, if not the same.

I know I could use some refractory bricks, but I'd prefer something lighter and easier to move around, it may sounds weird but I have my good reasons behind this.

Thank you.

Edit: aluminum dioxide to aluminum oxide


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## JHS (Oct 11, 2014)

About a dollar a pound.Ask for muzzaco castable.
Harbison - Walker Refractories Co.
4585 MINT WAY
DALLAS, TX 75236
USA 

Primary Phone: 214-330-9243


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## Palladium (Oct 11, 2014)

I have a couple of clients who are in between the just small enough for a torch but not big enough for a crucible furnace that have enquired about what they should do. I think I'm going to put a design together and start building a refiners version of my furnace.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Oct 11, 2014)

Palladium said:


> I have a couple of clients who are in between the just small enough for a torch but not big enough for a crucible furnace that have enquired about what they should do. I think I'm going to put a design together and start building a refiners version of my furnace.



You mean similar to the aluminum melters you made?


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## FrugalRefiner (Oct 11, 2014)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> You mean similar to the aluminum melters you made?


I believe he's talking about this one: Help with melting silver after electrolysis

Dave


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## Palladium (Oct 11, 2014)

lol. That would take quiet a bit of material to fill up!

No i'm going to take the lessons in furnace design i learned from building larger furnaces and incorporate it with my personal experience of what does and doesn't work as well as what the average refiner needs and build one kick ass furnace. I won't build things cheap! It will probably have stainless steel burners, with cast in place free standing medium density insulating castable refractory ( No metal skin ) with reinforcing stainless needles in the refractory. It will come in three parts, base, lid, and cylinder for easy breakdown and transport to be used in the field for a small mining operation even if you wanted to and the total weight will be about 30-35 lbs. Capable of serving both as a crucible furnace as well as a melting station for using melting dishes to melt. The base serves this purpose also. Gas fired from a bbq propane bottle and capable of melting a couple of grams or up to a kilo. It can be used for a silver cell operation, inquarting karat gold, or melting finished product. It has no moving parts and if i do my job correctly and you don't break it because of something stupid like dropping it then the whole thing should last for many, many, many, years of service and be a quality product. I'm figuring selling them for about $600. They get that for one of those stupid electric units. 12 inch base, cylinder, and top measuring 11 inch tall with an 8 inch burn chamber for use with quality Salamander crucibles. It can either be a kitten for the dishes or a dragon for the crucibles!

The large one i built for the silver cell was overkill and for fun, but it did teach me some lessons i needed to know!


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## Shark (Oct 11, 2014)

The cat liter silica is problematic. Find a gun shop or even Tractor Supply sells them. Get yourself a canister of silica gel used in the large gun safes, TSC here carries them in the 750 gram canisters. Or you can buy the sodium silicate in gallon size buckets online. It is also known as "water glass" and was used as a coolant sealer in automobiles for years. The "trade in your junker" auto deal a while back used it in the crank case to meet the federal requirements to participate in the program which brought it back from obscurity. The perlite option will work, but is softer and is used mainly to hold heat in, reflect might be a better word. It is not very abrasive resistant. The hard brick variety will take more abuse but absorbs some of the heat.

Edit:
Just thought of it, but, Rutland is the brand name that sells sodium silicate in the gallon sizes. It usually runs around $35 to $40 per gallon.


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## Barren Realms 007 (Oct 11, 2014)

Yes it would.  

Sounds like you are talking about the same size and design of the one I have, it will hold a #6 crucible and it has done every thing I have asked it to do. It does have a good metal outer casing on it that I would consider having on the furnace for the top and middle sections, it makes it easier to move around. The price range you are talking about is about correct as well.


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