auto catalyst refining

[lazersteve]

Yes.

We have two major welders supplies here:

AirGas and Wesco

AirGas is the only one that could order the short hydrogen cylinder.

Steve

 

[loco]

lazersteve, thanks for the the idea of going to AirGas. I googled them and there are 3 within 25 miles of the house. For my test run I may try and run oxy/acetylene and see how it goes and then if all goes well go to a hydrogen system. Also talking to a family friend that is the big welder repair man in the area he also said there are some propane type gases that should work but he'd need more info on exactly what we were looking for and what we are trying to avoid. I'm sure he was thinking more from a cost and safety point of view (thinking of hydrogen being almost almost invisible to the naked eye).

by the way steve I understand there is ways to color the flame to make it more visible. how is that done? did you bother doing it?

what do you guys/gals think of the other gases idea? good? bad? why? what is exactly is the reason we are shying away from oxy/ace? and what makes hydrogen a better option?

thanks
- Rich

 

[loco]

and I know it was said not to use the same hoses for the torch as a oxy/ace setup but what about for the actual torch itself? does that matter?

 

[Harold_V]

what do you guys/gals think of the other gases idea? good? bad? why? what is exactly is the reason we are shying away from oxy/ace? and what makes hydrogen a better option?

Consider using natural gas as the fuel, along with oxygen. It will serve you perfectly well, and you don't run out of fuel in the middle of a project. Of course, you must still provide oxygen, where you face the same problem, but you cut in half the chance it will happen. I had two oxygen cylinders to avoid the problem of running out.

When you use acetylene, which has a lot of carbon in its makeup, you run the risk of liberating carbon that is not bound to another gas (soot). In melting platinum, the carbon can form compounds known as carbides, making the platinum hard and brittle. If you understand how to set a torch so you are using an oxidizing flame instead of a reducing flame, that may not be an issue.

A smoky torch is best not applied to platinum to insure you don't form carbides, but then a smoky torch would lack the necessary heat. The problem comes from one that is only slightly out of balance, yielding a small amount of free carbon.

Harold

 

[Irons]

If you set the flame on your torch to be oxidizing, it may work ok, since Platinum won't oxidize.

Oxy-hydrogen or as Harold recommended, Natural Gas.

Even with natural Gas, if you use a reducing flame, you can still have problems because Carbon Monoxide can react with Platinum Group metals in the same way that Nickel does, to form Carbonyls.
A reducing flame probably won't melt it anyway, so the argument could be that it isn't an issue.

http://www.esabna.com/euweb/oxy_handbook/589oxy4_1.htm

 

[Lou]

The chief issue when melting PGMs is that you have a reducing flame when you heat the sponge. Then you risk forming carbides and/or carbonyls.

Oxy methane and oxy propane are just fine for melting platinum and palladium. However, if you are heating any thin sheet or making anything that is to be fabricated and not remelted--it is important to use oxygen and hydrogen.


Lou