limestonecowboy
Active member
Hi Steve and all, I am new to the forum- this is my first post, but I have been gold prospecting, sniping and panning here in the Uk for over ten years.
Firstly I must say thanks for the excellent site, and steves tutorial vids are just super, Keep up the good work.
I have spent many hours reading the posts and learning lots from members postings.
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I am a proffesional geologist, and have decided to do a little gold-refining on the side, starting with the construction of a cell for reverse plating, as I have a quantity of scrap plated stuff to strip.
I also have stock of many of the chemicals and acids as they are of geological use.
I have sucessfully constructed a cell, and so far I have stripped about 1kg of plated material, jewelery cpu lids etc.
So a few questions.
1. How do I decide when the cell is 'full' - I am using concentrated sulphuric (4 cups as opposed to 3 in the video as my glass cell is slighlty larger than the one shown) + glycerine (even though I have read the glycerine is not esential)
After use, the mixture will settle out over a couple of days and I can see black sludge on the bottom when it does so, there is about 1 cm of it so far over the base of the glass dish which measures 19X24 cm. There is also some black scum on the surface and around the edges.
2. Do I need distilled water for rinsing my sludge or will tap water suffice ? I am using distilled for storing my lead cathode as instructed.
3. How can I retrieve my Sulphuric once my dilution process is complete, do you have a tutorial on it ?
4. Any ideas on a melting torch as i dont currently have access to oxy/acet- maybe something for the future. Are portable propane/oxy any good, I have seen a Rothenburger kit on ebay for about £50, any use and are there other cheaper alternatives to Oxy/acet ?
Thanks , hope i can returning the favours but making some input to the forum at some point,
Best wishes,
Richard.
Firstly I must say thanks for the excellent site, and steves tutorial vids are just super, Keep up the good work.
I have spent many hours reading the posts and learning lots from members postings.
--------------
I am a proffesional geologist, and have decided to do a little gold-refining on the side, starting with the construction of a cell for reverse plating, as I have a quantity of scrap plated stuff to strip.
I also have stock of many of the chemicals and acids as they are of geological use.
I have sucessfully constructed a cell, and so far I have stripped about 1kg of plated material, jewelery cpu lids etc.
So a few questions.
1. How do I decide when the cell is 'full' - I am using concentrated sulphuric (4 cups as opposed to 3 in the video as my glass cell is slighlty larger than the one shown) + glycerine (even though I have read the glycerine is not esential)
After use, the mixture will settle out over a couple of days and I can see black sludge on the bottom when it does so, there is about 1 cm of it so far over the base of the glass dish which measures 19X24 cm. There is also some black scum on the surface and around the edges.
2. Do I need distilled water for rinsing my sludge or will tap water suffice ? I am using distilled for storing my lead cathode as instructed.
3. How can I retrieve my Sulphuric once my dilution process is complete, do you have a tutorial on it ?
4. Any ideas on a melting torch as i dont currently have access to oxy/acet- maybe something for the future. Are portable propane/oxy any good, I have seen a Rothenburger kit on ebay for about £50, any use and are there other cheaper alternatives to Oxy/acet ?
Thanks , hope i can returning the favours but making some input to the forum at some point,
Best wishes,
Richard.