Best way to melt nickel at home?

I have a small source of 99%+ pure nickel.

I was wondering what would be the best way to melt it all together and keep its purity. economically too.

As nickel has a high melting point approx 2651F.

Would just melting with a tourch work. Or would I need a hotter source of heat.

And also is there any other high nickel purity products.

Jimmy, while i was in the scrap business i ran across the same thing. A guy called me with a truck load of the material.

They were turnings. If it is turnings then they have to be kept dry. It they get wet they form a oxidized skin. This will really screw up the melting process. Being as how they are thin and form this layer, when you melt it it will totally oxidize and go up the stack only leaving the residue which is where the dross come from.

Every see a soda can after a fire. All that's left is the film trash. The moisture in the air and the combustible gas atmosphere leads to oxidization before thermal melting. Most scrap yards don't even handle nickel that i am aware of. They can find you a source though. But they will screw you. Trust me i know this first hand.

If it is in block form. Just sell it. The gas alone will cost to much. Induction melting is probably the most efficient method there.

Just some thoughts.

Ralph

Jimmy,

What form is the 99% nickel in? A photo would help. Do you know what the other 1% is? Why do you believe that the purity is 99%? A group that can always use decent nickel are the amateur platers. They can't stand much impurities, however, except for maybe cobalt. Copper is a no-no. They also need solid forms like rounds, squares, bars, etc.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Electroplating/

Melting nickel isn't easy. I doubt if any type of gas furnace would get hot enough. Only some type of electrical furnace will work: induction; electric elements; plasma arc; etc. Plus, you need a method that prevents the formation of nickel oxides.

If the nickel is already 99%, I would absolutely sell it as is. If there are oils or other soil present, you may have to clean it to get a best price. Never try to melt it. Without high dollar melting equipment, you will most assuredly end up with a product that is worth far less than what you started with.

Maybe a MAPP furnace ? :lol:

In order to melt any given amount of metal a certain amount of heat has to be added. I have a formula some where. If you do this in an open air atmosphere you readily lose the heat to thermal convection to the air.

Very very inefficient. The refractory alone will become another issue.

You're right, Ralph. The refractory is a huge issue.

As a result of the high nickel (and copper) prices, there have cropped up forums that cater to the hoarding of coins. They draw big crowds. They even have converters that calculate the intrinsic value of the different coins. Everybody thinks they're getting rich by this hoarding. People talk about "melting down" the coins and "refining them" as though it were like falling off of a log. Of course, none of these mental giants have never actually tried doing these things. They ask but nobody seems to be able to answer the questions.

Think of the difficulty of refining and melting gold and silver. For nickel, multiply this by about 100.

GSP,

Early on I tried to melt down some copper wire into a buss bar to drop silver with. Much to my surprise I went thru an entire bottle of Oxy/Act torch gas and never suceeded in making the 50 gram copper ingot. If nickel is anything like melting copper, I don't want anything to do with it. It's just not cost effective on my scale of things. I'll try my luck at selling the raw metal or powder before melting any of the higher temperature base metals again.

Steve

But thanks so far for info

Live and learn. I had no idea that certain Canadian nickels were 99.9% nickel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_(Canadian_coin)

This, of course, makes it a different proposition than U.S. nickels, which contain copper. You're right. There is a potential $10/pound profit with the pure Canadian nickels. It is illegal to melt them, however, under Canadian law. I don't know how that would affect melting them in the U.S. They may have reciprocal laws. In the late '60's, those who were illegally melting 90% silver U.S. coins added enough copper to the melt to make it appear that they were melting 80% silver Canadian coins.

You know much more about this than I do. Are the dates in question sold at a premium in the U.S.? Are they that available or, have they most all been hoarded?

The melting problems are the same. I think you would need at least an induction furnace to melt this stuff. A torch would get hot enough but, it wouldn't work since you would get much oxidation.

Even if you were to cast excellent bars, you might have problems selling them without assay proof of the 99.9% purity. And, of course, the buyer must make a profit. Probably, at least 25%.

The coins could be used, as is, for electroplating, if you could find a plater that would take them.

:twisted: :idea: :twisted:

Jimmy, You might won't to just get off that all together brother. What you are doing is committing federal crimes in two jurisdictions. Not to mentioning smuggling on top of that. We live in a real screwed up day and age. I have heard of people getting 20 Years for less. Think Patriot Act jimmy.

Just a thought.

Try to remember one thing, which will serve you well in life. There's no free lunch.

I'd suggest that you'll work your butt off for a few bucks----in the end wondering why you didn't spend the time on something that has real potential. There's no way in hell you can collect enough of those nickels to make serious money-----not even minimum wage, not when you figure the time you'll invest exchanging, sorting, bagging, what ever. Then trying to develop a market for a few pounds. It's simply not worth your time----and you need to come to terms with that idea.

Harold

Yeah good point I know what your saying. There is no free lunch.
Thats why I look for the cheapest way to eat.


just thinking out loud again.

If you have your mind set on doing that, you would be way better off looking for silver in rolls from the bank, than for nickels.Just my 2 cents.

Well brother, You are relentless. Should i help or not. Huuummmmm ???

O.K. I'll throw you a fish then. I should not really be telling you this but,
I know exactly how you can do it and do it easily. I have a buddy who collects coins and showed me a trick years ago for doing exactly what you are trying to do to get the silver out ( he had a car wash ). Actually his was for American silver coins , but it should for for you to. The trick here is to seperate different weights and sizes. I guess in that aspect it is like refining.

Each American and Canadian coin is different in size and weight so this should be perfect for you. Or it could be either, which or both at the same time , it shouldn't matter. Get you one of these and do the proper unadjustment and it should be a breeze. 1800 coins a min. Best of all no work. :shock: :shock: :shock:

Later,

Ralph

8) 8) 8) Don't forget me. lol

jimmy759 said:

But just think about it for a moment or two.

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I did. More, in fact. I think you need to follow your own advice and think this thing through. From my observations, you're living in La-la land. But I agree----it looks good on paper.

And as long as the numbers stay consistant that could make this an $80 an hour job real fast.

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Sure, Grasshopper. As long as the numbers stay consistent.

And you don't feel that as you deplete the desired dates that things won't change?

You live where there are millions of people, and the source of money is ever being refreshed, so the dates you desire will remain available?

You really think you can check 2000 coins/hr? Hour after hour? You're going to do all these things without buying expensive equipment?

I've spent way more then 20 hours trying to learn how to refine gold and so far I have made $35 in scrap steel from cases.

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Has that ended up with you facing a judge? Screwing with coins could---dunno----I'm not up to speed on the legal ramifications-----but I'm of the opinion that if you'd put as much effort into making an honest living as you're thinking about expending in an effort to pick up all that "free money", you'd be far better served. Are you old enough to have graduated from high school? If so, did you? Are you doing anything with yourself to prepare for making a living for a life-time? If not, why not? Do you think you'll be able to "hang out" and make it big?

And just rember there is 3600 seconds in an hour it takes half a second to read a date.

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Any you're going to do that for hours on end, right?

just thinking out loud again.

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But should you? :wink:

I was young once-----

I was also born at night-------

But not last night.

Jimmy, you're thinking like a criminal----not an honest person. You may be headed for a life of grief. I suggest you give that a little thought.

Harold

But should you?

I was young once-----

I was also born at night-------

But not last night.

aflacglobal said:

Each American and Canadian coin is different in size and weight so this should be perfect for you.

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And it can read dates, and sort accordingly, right?

O.K. I'll throw you a fish then.

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Give him a pole, not a fish. :wink:

Harold

Jimmy,

I think the whole idea of defacing currency is a VERY BAD idea! You need to remember this is a public forum and your posts can be found by Google.

Steve

No they can't
Since every member has to register and the google bots can't