# 1st gold button...i think it has a pipe



## AztekShine (Apr 27, 2012)

This is from about 12oz of fingers and plated boards then I mixed the powders from 11 cpus most all fiber 3-4 were ceramic one of those was a AMD MK5...I belive MK5 is correct.

.28g 

Fore those that seen my silver button, I am consistent aren't I . 

Is that a pipe? Theirs definately an indention.


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## jmdlcar (Apr 27, 2012)

When I get my first button hope it that big. Your looks great good job. How much was the total of e-scrap was it?


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## AztekShine (Apr 27, 2012)

I just got my digitals last week and I didn't weigh the cpu's on my carbarator scales. I estamate 10oz by hand, my hands pretty accurate though.


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## Harold_V (Apr 28, 2012)

Understand I'm not trying to be rude. 

Your button has less than desirable color and texture. A sign it's not pure. Can you detail what you did before it was melted?

Harold


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## AztekShine (Apr 28, 2012)

I didn't wash the powders as many times as I should have. It was such a small Ammount I only washed it once with water and HCL. It is mixed powder from CPUs which I should of refined the powder from them. It is also powder from fingers in the mix. I should have washed it twice more and refined it.

The CPUs and fingers were processed in poor mans AR.

Tomoro I will post a picture of the bottom and I would like you to look at that for me.
If you don't mind Harold. I feal that the bottom has better color for some reason.

Thank you for Takeing a look Harold.


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## Harold_V (Apr 28, 2012)

No problem. Do post another picture, trying to get a close-up. While you're at it, show me a picture of the dish you used to melt, making sure I can see the flux. 

How pure your gold is may or may not matter. It all depends on what your objective is. However, I've refined enough gold to know that you are most likely not very pure. It's not easy to get it pure when you work with dirty materials, and if you cut any corners, it is unlikely the quality will be high. I struggled with purity for a long time, and finely caved in and started refining a second time. Only then was I successful in melting gold that didn't form oxides. 

If your button was quite pure, the surface would be very shiny. When the surface frosts up, as yours has, it's generally a sign that there's a contaminant present. You'd have seen evidence when it was molten, assuming you melted with the gold exposed to atmosphere, and not buried in flux. Oxides form at the center and migrate to the edges, where the flux coating of the dish absorbs them. One of two things will be very evident. The flux in the dish will be free of color, aside from, maybe, a trace of pink or purple. If that's what your dish looks like after melting, the gold should be of reasonable quality. If, however, the flux has picked up color, blue, gray, black, green, you can rest assured, your gold is not pure. 

There are no shortcuts. If you hope to achieve fine gold, you'll find you must do each step properly. Cut a corner and you'll compromise quality. Guaranteed!

The bottom may have better color because the oxides of which I speak didn't form--because it was isolated from atmosphere. The contaminant, assuming there is one, is still there, but you don't see the signs. Won't make a difference when the gold is pure, because there's nothing to oxidize. 

Harold


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## AztekShine (Apr 28, 2012)

The crucible has a pink halo around the top , I have no clue about what that is.

Is their a way to desolve flux without soda ash? I read that soda ash will work to make it more liquid when heated, will potassium nitrate work?

Now that the first button buzz is gone, I do see a redish tint to it.


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## Geo (Apr 28, 2012)

the green in your borax is probably copper. the dish should be clear of color other than a hint of purple or pink. i too thought the color is too bright. treat with some hot dilute sulfuric acid to remove the borax and get a better look.


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## Harold_V (Apr 28, 2012)

There's not a doubt in my mind, the button is not pure. It lacks the clean, bright color (and surface) of pure gold. The discoloration in the flux supports my thoughts. While Geo suggested he may be seeing copper, I wouldn't discount the possibility that it's nickel. If you short circuited the process, it would well have been left behind when you stripped the copper base material. 

You can thin flux with fluorspar, but that's not an issue in this case. It, like soda ash, is quite aggressive in dissolving the melting dish, so I suggest you don't worry too much about cleaning until it is quite contaminated. Just don't use it for melting pure gold. If you must, then, yes, clean it with soda ash and more borax. You may have to melt, stir, then pour out the slag, then repeat. You can clean the dish quite well, but, keep in mind, if you hope to produce pure gold, you must use a clean dish, never one that is contaminated. Molten gold will pick up traces effortlessly. 

It's not clear to me that you dissolved the gold taken from fingers. If you just eliminated base metals, washed the foils, then melted, that is not acceptable (unless you don't care about quality). If you hope to produce gold of quality, it must be dissolved, filtered, selectively precipitated, and properly washed afterwards. Anything less than that almost guarantees it won't be pure, and even following those instructions may not yield the desired results. That's why a second refining is often recommended. 

Hope some of this helps.

Harold


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## Geo (Apr 28, 2012)

this was my first 1 ounce bar. i was so proud to have recovered it from electronics and posted it here. Harold was very critical of the appearance and gave me the best advise i could have gotten. he walked me through the proper washes and rinses for pure gold.



i took every word he said to heart and applied what he told me to do.so after dissolving the gold bar i had worked so hard to make, i did exactly what he told me to do. this is what it looked like the second time.



keep at it and it will come to you.


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## jmdlcar (Apr 28, 2012)

Geo, I hope my looks that good. It won't that big. I will let everyone know after I get done with first process. Thanks Jack


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## AztekShine (Apr 29, 2012)

Harold_V said:


> There's not a doubt in my mind, the button is not pure. It lacks the clean, bright color (and surface) of pure gold. The discoloration in the flux supports my thoughts. While Geo suggested he may be seeing copper, I wouldn't discount the possibility that it's nickel. If you short circuited the process, it would well have been left behind when you stripped the copper base material.
> 
> You can thin flux with fluorspar, but that's not an issue in this case. It, like soda ash, is quite aggressive in dissolving the melting dish, so I suggest you don't worry too much about cleaning until it is quite contaminated. Just don't use it for melting pure gold. If you must, then, yes, clean it with soda ash and more borax. You may have to melt, stir, then pour out the slag, then repeat. You can clean the dish quite well, but, keep in mind, if you hope to produce pure gold, you must use a clean dish, never one that is contaminated. Molten gold will pick up traces effortlessly.
> 
> ...



Yes thank you Harold. I processed the fingers in AR. I've learned too much to pull a stunt like that. 

Geo, I was just reading that post the other day. Very nice.


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## Harold_V (Apr 29, 2012)

Pay attention to the difference in the color and surface texture of the bars posted by Geo. See how the color of the second refining is much richer. 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Apr 29, 2012)

Ok, kaits31 posted a picture of a very nice small button. 
Follow this link, http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=13260 
and page down to the 11th post. 

Note the color, surface finish and pipe. That's what processed gold should look like. If any of those features are lacking, you can rest assured, the gold isn't pure. 

Harold


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## Palladium (Apr 29, 2012)

Don't know if you know this trick or not Harold. If you go to that picture that he posted and put your mouse over it and right click you will notice the tab that says Properties. Click that and it will show you the url for that picture. You can copy that and post it as a short cut.

Like this http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9149/sdc11165t.jpg


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## AztekShine (Apr 29, 2012)

Ah, yes that is a nice color. I have some pins processing now about 8oz full plate. I will put the foils from them in AR wih the button and refine them.


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## Harold_V (Apr 30, 2012)

Palladium said:


> Don't know if you know this trick or not Harold. If you go to that picture that he posted and put your mouse over it and right click you will notice the tab that says Properties. Click that and it will show you the url for that picture. You can copy that and post it as a short cut.
> 
> Like this http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9149/sdc11165t.jpg


Thanks, Ralph!
No, I did *not* know that trick. Now to try to recall it when it's needed!  

There's so much I don't know about computers :!: 

Harold


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## nickvc (Apr 30, 2012)

Harold_V said:


> Palladium said:
> 
> 
> > Don't know if you know this trick or not Harold. If you go to that picture that he posted and put your mouse over it and right click you will notice the tab that says Properties. Click that and it will show you the url for that picture. You can copy that and post it as a short cut.
> ...




Your not alone there Harold


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