Accomplished nothing so far

[goldshark]

Is an electric smelter furnace advisable for use with small amounts of gold/silver precipitate that was derived from computer e-waste? Opinions please.

Which are you referring to, induction, resistance wire, or carbon arc?

 

[Martijn]

For melting clean powder, yes. For Smelting, meaning using flux and reducing/ oxidizing metals, NO!
Kurtak explained this a while ago. The furnace will get eaten and be destroyed.

And you mean separate gold precipitate and separate silver precipitate, right?
As they should not be coming out of the same solution... (Gold in AR solution (HCl) silver in nitrate solution (HNO3))

edited for spelling

 

[Edwin Price]

Separate processes for gold and silver. I’ve never done any silver. You answered the question. My gold powder is never that clean (yet). Thank you very much.

 

[Edwin Price]

I ordered a special Gusswein crucible designed to retain heat. It seems to take too long to melt gold powder with a Bernzomatic TS8000 and MAP-Pro gas. Even when using a regular crucible on stone block with insulation. I understand that today’s gas is not real MAPP. Some people claim to be able to melt gold with regular blue bottle propane and the TS8000 torch. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions? ty

 

[Edwin Price]

Gusswein crucible pic

 

[goldshark]

I ordered a special Gusswein crucible designed to retain heat. It seems to take too long to melt gold powder with a Bernzomatic TS8000 and MAP-Pro gas. Even when using a regular crucible on stone block with insulation. I understand that today’s gas is not real MAPP. Some people claim to be able to melt gold with regular blue bottle propane and the TS8000 torch. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions? ty

It is hard to beat Oxy/Act for a small amount of powders. It does get a little pricy as you try to heat a crucible with around 10 Toz. The Gusswein is designed for jewelers using shot. Fine powder will get blown out, if a flame/torch is directed inside. Heating from the outside would not create a blow out of powders. The recommended setup, is a melt dish, on an insulated firebrick, or Kaowool. Another option is to place the crucible or melt dish, on a propane camp stove underneath, torch above. This technique was recommended by Kurtak a couple weeks ago. BTUs are your friend when melting Au/Ag. Just don't blow them all over the place.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Gusswein crucible pic

This looks like a crucible holder for centrifugal casting.
Do you have a link?

Edit to add:
I'm not sure Gesswein will appreciate this version of its name

 

[Edwin Price]

https://www.gesswein.com/casting/crucibles/burno-crucibles-50-dwt/

 

[Yggdrasil]

https://www.gesswein.com/casting/crucibles/burno-crucibles-50-dwt/

Aah, it just looks like a casting crucible.
But I failed to see why you need it.
Even Palladium can be melted in a simple melting dish.
Have a shielded insulated area and you should be done.
Check Sreetips on youtube and see what he do.

 

[Edwin Price]

Aah, it just looks like a casting crucible.
But I failed to see why you need it.
Even Palladium can be melted in a simple melting dish.
Have a shielded insulated area and you should be done.
Check Sreetips on youtube and see what he do.

Yep. I really like Sreetips. Watch him all the time. However, he has multiple torches including acetylene that I don’t. Having been schooled and considered an SME in nuclear heat transfer, thermo and materials, I just liked that unusual enclosed crucible design. And, it was surprisingly cheap. I already have a set of regular ceramic and graphite crucibles. For the last few weeks I have kind of set aside melting small beads and such. I dropped and accumulated more gold powder.

 

[Edwin Price]

I have also processed and disposed of several more gallons of waste. My stockpile is shrinking.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Yep. I really like Sreetips. Watch him all the time. However, he has multiple torches including acetylene that I don’t. Having been schooled and considered an SME in nuclear heat transfer, thermo and materials, I just liked that unusual enclosed crucible design. And, it was surprisingly cheap. I already have a set of regular ceramic and graphite crucibles. For the last few weeks I have kind of set aside melting small beads and such. I dropped and accumulated more gold powder.

I have not seen him use Acetylene but two torches yes.'But to melt a few grams of Gold do not need much more than one torch.
And it is better with a dish then a crucible when melting, a crucible is too deep for hand torches.
I have seen videos of people smelting large batches with ordinary waste oil setups.

 

[Darkthirty]

I have not seen him use Acetylene but two torches yes.'But to melt a few grams of Gold do not need much more than one torch.
And it is better with a dish then a crucible when melting, a crucible is too deep for hand torches.
I have seen videos of people smelting large batches with ordinary waste oil setups.

Oxygen is the difference. A cigarette will burn like a bottle rocket if you run pure O2 up the filter

 

[Shark]

I use oxygen and propane for most melts, but there is an extra torch handy rigged with oxygen and acetylene. I also use a small cutting head for the melt. The oxy/propane I also use a propane tip for it. Don’t buy cheap propane, get the good stuff and your melts will come out a bit cleaner.

 

[Edwin Price]

I use oxygen and propane for most melts, but there is an extra torch handy rigged with oxygen and acetylene. I also use a small cutting head for the melt. The oxy/propane I also use a propane tip for it. Don’t buy cheap propane, get the good stuff and your melts will come out a bit cleaner.

Yes. I’ve seen videos of several people advocating use of torches that use propane and O2 cylinders together. It seems the big drawback is fast usage of the expensive O2.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Oxygen is the difference. A cigarette will burn like a bottle rocket if you run pure O2 up the filter

Sreetips among others do not use Oxygen as far as I have seen.

 

[Shark]

The last oxygen bottle I had filled cost $35. Propane cost me $16.50. The cutting kit was on sale at $125. So far I have melted just over two pounds of gold with it. Seems reasonably priced to me. Where the cost becomes high is when using the little one pound bottles. Those things are expensive. Of coarse volume can dictate price as well.

 

[goldshark]

The last oxygen bottle I had filled cost $35. Propane cost me $16.50. The cutting kit was on sale at $125. So far I have melted just over two pounds of gold with it. Seems reasonably priced to me. Where the cost becomes high is when using the little one pound bottles. Those things are expensive. Of coarse volume can dictate price as well.

Sreetips uses both a small propane only torch, then brings in an Oxygen/Act cutting torch, for a faster melt. For a decent size journeyman welder size set up,Acetylene is much more expensive than O2. Last time I got an exchange, the Act. cost $150, while the O2 was around $40, USD. With a rosebud tip, I can melt 10 Toz Au in around 2 minutes, if not less. You have to be careful, as it is easy to melt through an Alumina/Silica crucible in less time, if you don't move the heat around.

 

[Yggdrasil]

My main point is that for small amounts a propane torch will melt Gold relatively easy as long as it is done in a proper set up.

 

[Martijn]

Yes. I’ve seen videos of several people advocating use of torches that use propane and O2 cylinders together. It seems the big drawback is fast usage of the expensive O2.

for small amounts of gold you don't need oxygen or Act. imo, an air fan on the input of the propane torch will do fine.
The thing is you need to insulate the heat you put in. Make a furnace. can be as simple as cheap insulating aerated concrete or firebricks. The heat that's not escaping, does not have to be added again...