# Removal of gold without chemicals



## Gold Nut (Nov 18, 2008)

Hello everyone. I'm new here, so it may take me a while to figure out how everything works. I have a question for everyone that has probably been asked 1000 times before, but here goes! Is there a way to remove gold, silver, and platinum from circuit boards without the use of chemicals?
Any information you have will be very much appreciated.
Thanks 
Gold Nut


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## qst42know (Nov 18, 2008)

None that I have ever heard of. Except for sell to someone who does.


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## Anonymous (Nov 18, 2008)

Welcome to the forum Gold Nut

If you want your metals in a pure form then unfortunately chemicals are the only way to go.

To help you figure out how things work, here are a few pointers,
1, Read Hoke's book, you can download a copy from the books section on the forum,
2, On any posting by Lasersteve you will find a link to his website, go to his site and watch his videos
3, Read past posts on the forum,

Hope this helps, and best of luck in your ventures


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## Gold Nut (Nov 19, 2008)

Thanks a lot for the information. I'm sorry to hear that there is no way to do this other than chemically, but you do what ya gotta do!! Thanks again
Gold Nut


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## Bernie Foley (Dec 6, 2008)

Goldnut,
It's overlooked by most.There is some people who scrape it off with
exacto tools razor blades or jack knives. Some also use a dremel tool with a fine burr on it. Most also just send the dust to a refiner for the cash.
Have a great day! Bernie


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## Gold Nut (Dec 7, 2008)

Thanks Bernie...That's a good idea.
Gold Nut


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## Bernie Foley (Dec 7, 2008)

Hi Goldnut&friends,

I often wondered if a timesaver machine would sand the gold off of boards that were depopulated.It would require a good dust system to separate the bad dust from the gold dust. A "timesaver machine" is a trade name for a machine made to sand off burs and finish plates and 
pieces of metal to a sanded finish. I believe those machines sand both sides at once sort of like a planer does boards. Happy Holidays to all !
Goldnut welcome to the forum!...........Bernie


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## Gold Nut (Dec 11, 2008)

Thanks Bernie for the welcome and the idea. Any ideas you want to throw my way will be welcomed. I will try just about anything once!!
Gold Nut


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 13, 2008)

I've written about this before on this forum. 

A long time ago, I got the idea of abrading off the gold plating. We first tried tumbling the parts in a small rock tumbler, using various media. We tried it both wet and dry, without much luck. I still think it would work if the conditions were right - maybe with a vibratory finisher.

I then found a company that made sand blasting equipment used for small items, like nuts and bolts. This consisted of a rotating, rubber coated, mesh basket mounted in a cabinet. The basket was tire shaped and was mounted vertically. In the front was an opening, into which the downward pointing blasting nozzle was mounted. The parts were placed in the basket. As it turned, all portions of the parts were exposed to the blasting sand.

I took a variety of plated materials to the manufacturer, who agreed to let us play with various blasting media. To make a long story short, the best was tiny steel shot peening. The peening action flattened and stretched the plating sideways. This broke the adhesion and the plating fell off. Everything we tried worked completely, including rhodium plated jewelry. To collect the plating, the shot could be continually (or, batchwise) separated with a magnetic separator and the shot reused.


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## ppoowweerr (Feb 11, 2009)

anyone ever try a sonicator, we use them for cleaning but I just thought it might be a good final step GSP??? If it is useless, nevermind.


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## Fever (Feb 12, 2009)

GSP-

Great ideas there.... Did you ever experiment with any gold plated boards with the green overmasks? If so, did you separate the overmask chaff from the liberated gold plating through incineration?

Fever


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## g_axelsson (Feb 12, 2009)

ppoowweerr said:


> anyone ever try a sonicator, we use them for cleaning but I just thought it might be a good final step GSP??? If it is useless, nevermind.



I use a sonicator when I wash my precipitated gold, it really stirs the powder.
It would probably be better to boil my solutions, at least when washing with HCl, but I don't have the place for that. This is second best and really fast.

...oh, I better tell that I have my solution in a glass beaker inside the sonicator with plain water in the steel container. The ultra sound just passes through the beaker. I learned that from a gold smith.


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## Bernie Foley (Feb 12, 2009)

Hi to all of our friends,
I often wondered if sonicator/ultrasonic cleaner would accelerate the
mild acids action on the plating..I have an ultrasonic cleaner that is old and doesn't work all that good. It has a very shallow pan. If i can i will try it.I'll let you know what happens....If the ultrasonic was very stong it can remove some gold plating.The plating i had that happen to was very thin.
Good luck to all....Bernie


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