# Homemade plastic filters



## DylanDownright84 (Apr 21, 2017)

Hey all! I decided to make some filters from an old shower curtain (clear) using just a pain of scissors, a sharpie marker, and an 8.5 inch paper plate for a template. Gonna use sewing pins to make holes of different sizes based on what I'm trying to filter. I'll also be using some fine sandpaper (320-400) grain to "roughen" the filtering area to try and catch the more fine gold particles while allowing more of the junk to drain out. Also gonna play with a few ideas involving using tiny bits of quickcrete along the filter to help catch the fine gold. Might be an utter failure, but thought I'd see where it goes and see if anyone has any improvements to the idea in order to filter fine gold particles without catching all the junk in a paper filter. Since I literally have no access to nitric acid (thanks patriot act) I'm trying to put my boredom to good use.


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## Topher_osAUrus (Apr 21, 2017)

Whats it made out of?

Some plastics get destroyed by HCl, some get destroyed by nitric, and some get destroyed by sulfuric.

What to do with an AR solution then, that was only partially denoxxed with sulfamic? That situation, all three acids will be at work. And more likely than not, the shower curtain will get eaten up.

Edit to add

Like that nylon strainer you have there in the last picture on the right, doesnt stand a chance against HCl


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## 4metals (Apr 21, 2017)

Let me get this straight, you're taking a piece of plastic, waterproof plastic from an old shower curtain, and poking holes in it with a pin. 

And this is going to work? Why?


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## Shark (Apr 21, 2017)

In this case, I think coffee filters would work better. There is Palladium's paper towel filtering systems. There is also the charmin plug, pretty quick and easy to put together. Home made units made from PVC pipe fittings. Even a simple basic funnel with a filter cloth or paper filter of almost any type.

There are many ways to filter things posted all over the board. Some are very ingenious ideas that work as well.

Edited: for clarity


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## Topher_osAUrus (Apr 21, 2017)

My favorite is the fiberglass insulation charmin plug
Quick and easy, cheap too.
Can also stand up to concentrated sulfuric. Which not many things can. So its particularly useful with the sulfuric cell powder reclamation.

If i need a coarse filtration, i flute a crappy filter paper, and get the big junk out. Then go from there. If it's a solution that gums up the filter paper quick, I use 4metals trick of the fiberglass mesh between the paper and funnel to give more surface area for drainage.


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## anachronism (Apr 21, 2017)

4metals said:


> Let me get this straight, you're taking a piece of plastic, waterproof plastic from an old shower curtain, and poking holes in it with a pin.
> 
> And this is going to work? Why?



This basically nails it.

Charmin plug? No.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 21, 2017)

Gotta be the goofiest idea I have seen on this forum in 10 years. Great time waster. It will never ever work.


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 21, 2017)

DylanDownright84 said:


> Since I literally have no access to nitric acid (thanks patriot act) I'm trying to put my boredom to good use.


If you live in America, you have access to nitric acid.

Dave


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## Shark (Apr 21, 2017)

Again, reading up on the various processes and when to use them will bring you many good results in your attempt at refining. I did this for 2 years without access to nitric acid. There is the hydrochloric/bleach (HCl/Cl) method. Their is the Poorman's AR method as well. Some have even used vinegar and bleach with success (just not me) It can vary widely based on the material your working with. That is the main reason so many here recommend starting with fingers. They are some of the easiest material to work with. But then I started with some of the harder materials first as well. I worked with what I had, so that is where I started.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 21, 2017)

A Whatman #1 filter paper, which is relatively coarse, has a pore size of 11 microns. The diameter of a human hair ranges between 17 and 180 microns. In other words, A human hair is from 1.5 to 16 times larger than the pore size of one of the least retentive lab filter papers on the market. Also, in, say, a 6" Whatman #1 filter paper, there are probably millions of pores (holes). Even a crappy coffee filter paper is 20 microns and it would be infinitely better than anything you could make by the process you're suggesting. On the other end of the spectrum is Whatman #42 at 2.5 micron pore size. So, how are you going to be able to punch millions of holes in a piece of plastic that are so small that you probably can't see them. Even if you had a tool that small, which you don't, it might take the rest of your life to produce one filter. Bad idea.


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## haveagojoe (Apr 21, 2017)

Sorry Dylan but I think you haven't quite grasped how filtering works and how it is used in refining. You cannot create a filter which will retain finely divided gold but allow other solids to pass through. A filter will retain all the solids, gold or otherwise. To separate the crap from the gold, you have to dissolve the gold itself. When the gold is in solution it will pass through the filter as a liquid, leaving the unwanted junk trapped in the filter. Then you use a precipitant to 'drop' the gold out of the solution back into solid (powder) form. 

As others have suggested, in most cases normal coffee filters work fine. A wad of fiberglass insulation works great.

If you are bored, use your time to study the forum. It will provide many, many months of reading, and perhaps the best free education available on the internet. I have been here almost every day for nearly 3 years and I only managed to do my first refine last week. I still haven't melted my refined material into a lump of metal, and when I do, it will be very, very small. I don't mean to be a kill-joy, and I know the forum can be difficult to navigate, but I urge you to read and ask questions before doing things. While you are studying you can also collect items which have gold in them to work on later. Please please do not try to obtain nitric acid yet. No need. Seriously if you start 'playing with a few ideas' without proper understanding you could be creating very real danger.

However, luckily, the main danger with this shower curtain filter idea, as goldsilverpro pointed out, is that you will run out of time :lol:


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## DylanDownright84 (Apr 22, 2017)

Well, considering a litre of nitric is roughly $80-100 online from my searching, it's pretty much out of my grasp for now. The labs in my area don't sell to private citizens either, so it's just about impossible for me to get some currently, unless someone knows where to get it cheaper? Here's a question, the acid tests that you buy for testing PMs, which one is strongest? Since each bottle is a mix of nitric and muriatic acid, wouldn't it be considered just a weak aqua regia? As far as my thought process on filtering, I was bored, and it did help separate some junk out of my AP mix for use later. Thanks for all the info! You fellas are masters of your craft!


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 22, 2017)

DylanDownright84 said:


> Well, considering a litre of nitric is roughly $80-100 online from my searching, it's pretty much out of my grasp for now. The labs in my area don't sell to private citizens either, so it's just about impossible for me to get some currently, unless someone knows where to get it cheaper? Here's a question, the acid tests that you buy for testing PMs, which one is strongest? Since each bottle is a mix of nitric and muriatic acid, wouldn't it be considered just a weak aqua regia? As far as my thought process on filtering, I was bored, and it did help separate some junk out of my AP mix for use later. Thanks for all the info! You fellas are masters of your craft!



Specifically, where are you located?


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## DylanDownright84 (Apr 22, 2017)

Chesterfield, Va. About 20ish minutes from Richmond, Virginia. The places I've called that do carry it won't sell it to me. Which is extremely frustrating considering I only want a litre or two. Might not even need that much, but I want to familiarize myself with using it. I've gotten to the point where I'm debating on just buying a bunch of the little bottles of gold testing acid from amazon, since it's technically aqua regia, and trying that. Would that even be worth trying?


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## Topher_osAUrus (Apr 22, 2017)

DylanDownright84 said:


> Chesterfield, Va. About 20ish minutes from Richmond, Virginia. The places I've called that do carry it won't sell it to me. Which is extremely frustrating considering I only want a litre or two. Might not even need that much, but I want to familiarize myself with using it. I've gotten to the point where I'm debating on just buying a bunch of the little bottles of gold testing acid from amazon, since it's technically aqua regia, and trying that. Would that even be worth trying?




There are several suggestions listed on the forum for a much better deal on nitric, you will find them while doing your homework.
Not trying to be discouraging, but, this is nothing to dive into face first. 

The bottles you are talking about, they contain nitric, then varying degrees of AR. So, not really the best for acquaintance experiments. Who knows how long they have been in those bottles. Who knows their potency?.. I would just be patient and hit the books. There are PLENTY of tips and tricks you will come across in your journey, and millions of questions will seem to answer themselves as you read through the tons and tons of posts here.


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## DylanDownright84 (Apr 22, 2017)

Valid points about the small tester bottles. I've studied quite a bit on "poor man's ar," but was going to attempt it as a last resort if I couldn't get access to chemically pure nitric acid first. Still reading alot and researching so I'm in no rush. Trying to take Hoke's advice so I can't familiarize myself with the specific chemical and it's affect on metals. The more I read the more I wanna do it. Haha. I'm loving this hobby and a few of you guys have really been awesome so I appreciate that for sure. I need a matrix style head port so I can just download all this info unto my brain already! :mrgreen:


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## DylanDownright84 (Apr 22, 2017)

The same fiberglass mesh that in insulation? Because my regular non bleached coffee filters seem to clog almost immediately. I've played with the plastic things I made yesterday and they worked well for filtering out the charred stuff from the incineration, but nothing I've used really holds up too well and I'm always worried the filter is gonna split or just give out while I'm pouring.


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## Shark (Apr 22, 2017)

I use a piece of fiberglass window screen. Place it in the funnel under the coffee filter. It will give a bit more time before clogging up, and often will get the job done when a filter alone won't.


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## Shark (Apr 22, 2017)

A few methods I have used to filter things at various times. 

Example of using the window screen. (missing the filter paper of course)




Same idea on a larger scale.




A simple vacuum set up that can use a charmin plug or a screen and filter.


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## Topher_osAUrus (Apr 22, 2017)

DylanDownright84 said:


> I need a matrix style head port so I can just download all this info unto my brain already! :mrgreen:



It may not work for everyone, but how I study is as follows: read, read, read. Write down anything that is important (much of this is). Before bed, I would reread my notes, in the morning, I would read them again. Most things sink in that way for me. Read Hoke's books like 5 times...even if you do not understand them initially, keep reading and taking notes, eventually all of the pieces of the puzzle will come together. Leaving you with the best gift of all -understanding. 

Mind you, I'm no pro, but I know enough to refine gold and silver to an acceptable level. It will eventually make sense. The things to study the most are safety, procedure, procedure, procedure. Because without a grasp on the fundamentals, you will always find yourself in hot water (or worse, hot acid)

"Charmin plug" is something you should search. There was recently (a few months ago) a thread where the options for filtering were outlined. I like the fiberglass insulation charmin plug, sometimes i go in tandem with a good qualitative filter paper (if course filtering has already been done), sometimes I use a coffee filter with fiberglass window screen, sometimes I filter using the wick system. Again, procedure will dictate what to use and when.

Thank you shark, for sharing your rigs. I love looking at other people's set ups.


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## kernels (Apr 22, 2017)

$100 for a Litre of Nitric acid shouldn't really be a problem, that is only a few grams of gold, you will probably use about 50mL of the acid to recover and refine those few grams, so you will be left with 950mL of 'free' Nitric Acid.

If you don't have the initial $100, then mow some lawns for a few weekends, flip some burgers, do whatever. If you have decent E-waste, you can even sell that on Ebay and probably make more money than you would recovering the gold from it yourself anyway. Really, the time you spent poking holes in plastic would have been better spent doing a minimum wage job to get yourself set-up.

In terms of filters, I only recently for the first time tried a charmin plug + vacuum filter setup. What would have normally been about 2 days of filtering was done in 2 hours and solution was crystal clear. I just used a automotive brake-bleeding pump and had to give it a couple of squeezes every 15 minutes or so.


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## DylanDownright84 (Apr 23, 2017)

Man! Everytime you guys post a positive reply it gets my mind thinking of how I can work on and make what you guys recommend work for myself. Then seeing it just make all these blown out light bulbs in my brain light back up again haha. And great point on the studying part. Everyday I read something (either on the forum, Hoke's book, or another document somewhere) that I don't totally understand, but it still slowly sinks in. Just like when I was going through the final steps to the AP process. Certain things I've read or saw started to make sense and it "clicks" and then pow! Right in the kisser! Feels awesome! I appreciate the guidance! Was particularly awesome today when I finished the Hcl/Cl mix and filtered everything and got that pretty colored golden liquid sitting in the jar.


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