# Best process for deplating gold from brass rings



## hrushi (Nov 2, 2011)

Hi 
I have some brass rings which have 10 micron gold coating on them.
Which would be better process to treat considering time and economy and recovery cost.
1.AR
2.AP
3.Electrolysis
For process 1. & 2. I am planning to dip these ring for some time and drop my SMB. And I don't have any idea of Electrolysis.
Kindly help me out.
Thank You
Hrushi


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## Geo (Nov 2, 2011)

option 3 is what i would do. the gold stripping cell is the most efficient way to remove gold plating from base metal.the solution is reusable with very little waste and the base metal has value that you can recover. go to www.goldrecovery.us and follow the login intstructions and watch the free videos from lazersteve on the sulfuric stripping cell.


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## hrushi (Dec 31, 2011)

CAn I use AR for deplating gold.
And recover it afterwards
thanks 
Hrushi


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## butcher (Dec 31, 2011)

CAn I use AR for deplating gold.
And recover it afterwards
thanks 
Hrushi

Possible, but why would you want to give yourself so much troubles?

Geo gave great advice, time to learn the stripping cell.


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## niteliteone (Dec 31, 2011)

The brass contains tin and will give you a lot of trouble in the AR. It will lock up all your gold in slime that will be hard to remove. Trust me I just went thru this mess.

The AP process is a better process for the brass compared to the AR process, but it will take several days or longer to disolve the brass freeing the gold.

The best process is to use the reverse electroplating cell. It will remove the gold in a matter of minutes. You let it settle and remove the clear acid to reuse again. The gold filled acid is rinsed a few times to separate the gold from the acid, then process the gold powder in AR.
I feel this is the best overall process for any plated material.
Better instructions are on the forum.

Hope this helps.
Tom C.


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## nickvc (Dec 31, 2011)

Tom c brass is usually a mixture of copper and zinc..but I agree AR isn't the way to go on these rings the cell would be my choice too.


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## niteliteone (Dec 31, 2011)

OOPPSS!
My bad  
I forgot mine had solder on them and that was the source of the tin.
Tom C.


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## Geo (Dec 31, 2011)

brass is an alloy of copper and zinc primarily but bronze is copper and tin primarily.this was pointed out to me because what i was calling brass was actually bronze.bronze is used in applications where the base metal needs to have a fair amount of corrosion resistance.


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## hrushi (Jan 3, 2012)

thank u all
i saw steves's video he used lead cathod
rings which i have has some lead soldering on them will it affect electrolytic sol or gold
thank u
hrushi


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## Oz (Jan 3, 2012)

I would file a few notches or clip the rings into quarter pieces and use straight HCl. I would want to keep zinc out of the stripping cell.


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## hrushi (Jan 4, 2012)

Oz said:


> I would file a few notches or clip the rings into quarter pieces and use straight HCl. I would want to keep zinc out of the stripping cell.


straight HCl for what 
Can any one tell me how should i process those brass rings
thank u
hrushi


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## Geo (Jan 4, 2012)

OZ said to use just hcl.hcl acid reacts with zinc, so if you process the rings in hot hcl it should dissolve the zinc from the base metal leaving gold and copper.if the stripping cell is a bad idea then you can use a small AP set up in a flask depending on the quantity of the rings,this will remove all the base metal (zinc and copper) and leave only the gold.


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## hrushi (Jan 4, 2012)

what to do of lead solder on those rings will contaminate cell
and quantity is too large so I think sulphuric cell stripping would be the best process
which rectifier should be used for eg 6/12/24 volts n how many amps
quantity is really very large
thanks hrushi


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## Geo (Jan 4, 2012)

lead will be no problem for the stripping cell as the lead will not dissolve.cell construction has been discussed many times on the forum, did ypu search for sulfuric stripping cell?


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## qst42know (Jan 4, 2012)

Oz said:


> I would file a few notches or clip the rings into quarter pieces and use straight HCl. I would want to keep zinc out of the stripping cell.




I have used stripped all brass tie clips and brass strip stock sawn with notches to hang multiple pieces or chains in the cell. It does take on a slight copper color but from what I can tell it caused no further troubles.


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