An other silver cell problem

[BonesWild]

Apologies for taking so long to post these pictures. I don't have anything running right now, but these show the complete assembly of one of my cells (minus containment and ventilation). Hope this helps!

-Mike T.

How much of a return do you get with your set up? TBH I've never seen one with a Callender. I'm kind of intrigued by this.

 

[Argentum Auricle]

How much of a return do you get with your set up? TBH I've never seen one with a Callender. I'm kind of intrigued by this.

I like to think I get very good returns. I didn't have to melt one bit of my last batch (40+ ozt) of Ag crystal. Kept some of the tiny crystals to work on some other projects (making wire and casting experiments). Sold the rest as crystal at about 16% over spot price for .999 Ag. For the investment, this is worth putting together a good refining setup that will maximize efficiency and produce good results. To put it another way... the proceeds from my silver and gold refining side project pay for my family summer vacation every year and spending cash for while we are there. Nice little side hustle. Of course like everyone else though... my profit margins depend greatly on how cheaply I can purchase scrap.

 

[Argentum Auricle]

Thank-you. Although I can't take credit. My cell design is based on one I saw in a Sreetips video on YouTube back in 2018. Shout-out to Sreetips - Thanks for the videos!

I made a few modifications to Mr. Sreetip's design, to give it a few efficiency tweaks,based on my needs. Of course that was back when I was refining non-stop and needed a way to run a cell without having to shut it down between batches and conserve electrolyte. This design can keep running (with colander changes) until the electrolyte gets too fouled with copper and PGMs. As you can tell from the photos, my electrolyte has a fair bit of palladium contamination.

 

[BonesWild]

I like to think I get very good returns. I didn't have to melt one bit of my last batch (40+ ozt) of Ag crystal. Kept some of the tiny crystals to work on some other projects (making wire and casting experiments). Sold the rest as crystal at about 16% over spot price for .999 Ag. For the investment, this is worth putting together a good refining setup that will maximize efficiency and produce good results. To put it another way... the proceeds from my silver and gold refining side project pay for my family summer vacation every year and spending cash for while we are there. Nice little side hustle. Of course like everyone else though... my profit margins depend greatly on how cheaply I can purchase scrap.

That's is great. I'd definitely call that a damn good return.

 

[Argentum Auricle]

Thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time!!!

As much good info as I have learned from this forum, I'd be remiss if I didn't pay it forward. The sharing of ideas is how we all improve our craft.

 

[Sputins]

As much good info as I have learned from this forum, I'd be remiss if I didn't pay it forward. The sharing of ideas is how we all improve our craft.

Thanks for showing your setup. Pictures here are worth few thousand words. Clever about the cathode contacts glued to the underside of the clear cover to make contact with the colander, (as long as they don't corrode). Great idea about using a colander, as you can remove the one with crystals and replace with a clean second one right away. Then you can take your time washing and collecting the crystals off the first one. Awesome work. (Also shouts to Sreetips for his youtube content) J

 

[BGDOCK]

Hello,ecucll!

Yes, indeed. The surface area of the cathode is a big factor in how silver deposition occurs. For instance, there is a direct relationship between cathode size and amperage. More surface area requires higher amperage; less requires correspondingly lower amperage - per square inch of cathode surface area. Likewise, the size of the anode basket plays a similar role. Making the surface area of the cathode smaller, while increasing the size or efficiency of the anode would improve the efficiency of the cell, overall. If not using a hanging bag for your anode basket, make sure you have a ridiculous amount of holes in the cup being used, to ensure that the flow of AgNO3 out of the anode container can keep up with the draw from the cathode.

I like that hanging bag I didn’t notice it until re- reading this