Boards soaked in hcl

Shop deals on ebay
xelexo
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
bcgold, I can make stannous chloride from 60/40 lead tin solder and it will produce the same results. I can evaporate the solution and end up with crystals. That doesn't mean the solder is 100% tin. That's the point Jon is trying to make.

Dave
 
FrugalRefiner said:
bcgold, I can make stannous chloride from 60/40 lead tin solder and it will produce the same results. I can evaporate the solution and end up with crystals. That doesn't mean the solder is 100% tin. That's the point Jon is trying to make.

Dave
Click to expand...

Sulfuric acid would have turned the lead into a solid as a sulfide.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/OM8HzFHAEwA[/youtube]
 
It may well be on your dime, but an experiment needs to be carried out from a position whereby you can quantify results.

You can't, so it is all conjecture. What I find vexing is that you seem to have an aversion to straightforward answers, and that concerns me as inexperienced people will read your guesswork and think it has validity.

It could have validity but as I have mentioned already you have no hard data.
 
The brown powder along with a few other metals were all easily taken up in the aqua regia withing hours of applying heat what I'm now left with is a heavy layer of grey powder on the bottom of the vessel. It's like cement and the acids are having a difficult time making contact.

I guess its time to purchase a magnet stirring hot plate, in the meantime this project is on hold.

Some of the problems I've encountered on this journey, a few of the boards had a lead based solder, thankfully lead is slow to react with a dilute hydrochloric acid. But with the help of a bit of sulfuric acid added into the aqua regia this problem was resolved. I also use sulphamic acid to neutralize the nitric.

To precipitate the gold, I'm going to make a fresh batch of ferrous sulfate aka copperas, my preferred scrap iron is the laminates from transformers.

I thank the late Barran Realms for that tip, I had Frank on speed dial.

The platinum group from the small surface caps that would have been lost to dust had they been chiseled free from the boards.
 
anachronism said:
It may well be on your dime, but an experiment needs to be carried out from a position whereby you can quantify results.

You can't, so it is all conjecture. What I find vexing is that you seem to have an aversion to straightforward answers, and that concerns me as inexperienced people will read your guesswork and think it has validity.

It could have validity but as I have mentioned already you have no hard data.
Click to expand...

Your mistaken I have posted hard data with pictures and weights of the material recovered, if your after how much gold, silver or platinum group is present that information is not forthcoming.

Rather than rip me a new one try using google once in awhile my experiment is based on research not conjecture.

The circuit board itself, component leads and jumper wires all introduce copper into the solder in a wave soldering machine. ... Like the other coinage metals, gold and copper, silver will dissolve in the solder. Iron - Temperatures over 430°C will cause the solder to dissolve iron from the solder pot itself.
 
butcher said:
what about all of the toxic waste generated?
Click to expand...

This is the main reason I suggested using a blast cabinet with silica media that could be incorporated into a smelting op.
 
bcgold said:
anachronism said:
It may well be on your dime, but an experiment needs to be carried out from a position whereby you can quantify results.

You can't, so it is all conjecture. What I find vexing is that you seem to have an aversion to straightforward answers, and that concerns me as inexperienced people will read your guesswork and think it has validity.

It could have validity but as I have mentioned already you have no hard data.
Click to expand...

Your mistaken I have posted hard data with pictures and weights of the material recovered, if your after how much gold, silver or platinum group is present that information is not forthcoming.

My point. The yields are the hard data. Saying "i've got xx grammes of sludge" is not hard data. You're not doing this to recover sludge after all.

Rather than rip me a new one try using google once in awhile my experiment is based on research not conjecture.

I assure you that I'm not ripping you a new one. I'm asking you to be coherent and present facts not guesswork.

The circuit board itself, component leads and jumper wires all introduce copper into the solder in a wave soldering machine. ... Like the other coinage metals, gold and copper, silver will dissolve in the solder. Iron - Temperatures over 430°C will cause the solder to dissolve iron from the solder pot itself.

What's the relevance of this to the sludge?
Click to expand...

Points in red above.
 
bcgold said:
The circuit board itself, component leads and jumper wires all introduce copper into the solder in a wave soldering machine. ... Like the other coinage metals, gold and copper, silver will dissolve in the solder. Iron - Temperatures over 430°C will cause the solder to dissolve iron from the solder pot itself.
Click to expand...

anachronism said:
What's the relevance of this to the sludge?
Click to expand...

Hot molten solder becomes an aggressive solvent a collector of metals including those considered precious, solder mask is applied to the board to keep contaminants at a minimum from entering the molten solder.but some gold plated areas remain exposed as well as a few other metals.

It is these metals that you will find in the sludge,

Even at ambient temperature metals like tin and gold are never at rest, tin whiskers is the ruin of many electrical gadgets we use daily. Satellites in orbit have been rendered useless over whisker growth.

NASA,Tin Whisker (and Other Metal Whisker) Homepage
https://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/

On circuit boards, ram and daughter cards the gold is plated over nickel to inhibit the gold from migrating to copper.

Without the sludge I have nothing as far as hard data all I have at the moment are the weights of the surface caps and harvested sludge, everything at this point is in solution no gold or platinum groups have been precipitated out at this time.

With the small number of boards used in this experiment, I'm rather impressed with the amount of sludge and surface caps I've been able to recover.

If this project produces positive results then investing in a blast cabinet would be prudent.
 
OK, however the forum doesn't often work that way. It's a debate and there is information here.
 
Thread removal is unlikely to happen. There are lessons to be learned here. I will, however, leave it to forum moderators and administrators to comment on those lessons.

Time for more coffee.
 
As a couple of members have said, we don't usually delete threads just because they don't turn out as intended. I have read every thread in every section of this forum, and I have learned things in the most unlikely of places. There are things to be learned here as well.

Feel free to continue the thread. Don't be discouraged when others are critical, or call your assumptions into question. It's all a learning experience. I thought your original thread about using a graphite anode and electrowinning tin from the electrolyte was interesting. But when others ask questions, try to answer them and question your own assumptions rather than quoting previous posts from members that really don't answer their questions. We may all learn from your experiments.

Dave
 
Where Dave says your initial thread intrigued him, I can say that I completely agree with him.

It was refreshing and different and it brought a smile to my face. I even commented to that effect. Where I diverge with BC is in that the initial appeal has gone because there currently appears to be no substance to this.

Let me be frank, I dearly hope that there is substance because it would be a refreshing addition.

So keep at it BC- but be prepared to be questioned. It's not personal, it's merely a search for knowledge that's backed up with data. 8) 8)

Jon
 
[/quote]

anachronism said:
What's the relevance of this to the sludge?
Click to expand...

Thirty motherboards were processed, after precipitating the gold am now left with a palladium rich liquor which I'm going to cement with copper.

Since most of the magnetic s from the boards along with the gold plated pins located inside had been previously removed, I left the solder balls under chips removed and cpu pins located under the sockets.

So I'm thinking the majority of this gold came from the wave solder, anyhow that's my theory.

The gold recovered does not represent the true numbers as some is more than likely tired up with the tin.

The real value would be the palladium in those teeny surface caps that I have temporarily put on hold as it is proving a difficult process with out a stirring hot plate. The gray powder just lays on the bottom of the pot as cement as as immobile substance.

This capacitor powder is heavy enough you could probably pan it out just like some are doing with the gold bonding wires. Or use a Miller Table or even a sepratory funnel
 
Correct me if I am wrong however the boards you were processing appeared to be PC boards- is that right?

Let's see your Pd test. What did you use to get this result?
 
bcgold said:
I've made a request to one of the global moderators to remove this thread.
Click to expand...

Why would you want this thread removed for? Just reading this thread is a GIANT LESSON for people that are newer to gold recovery and refining on things not to do. if I was a Mod here on the forum I would post a warning on the top of your thread telling new members to read as a educational lesson on what not to do.

There are great teachers on this forum. You are trying to reinvent the wheel and still running on flats.
if a long time member tells you it wont work take that advice lick your wounds and heed the advice that you were given. In a sense this stuff isn't rocket science if you take the advice given.
 
eastky2 said:
bcgold said:
I've made a request to one of the global moderators to remove this thread.
Click to expand...

Why would you want this thread removed for? Just reading this thread is a GIANT LESSON for people that are newer to gold recovery and refining on things not to do. if I was a Mod here on the forum I would post a warning on the top of your thread telling new members to read as a educational lesson on what not to do.

There are great teachers on this forum. You are trying to reinvent the wheel and still running on flats.
if a long time member tells you it wont work take that advice lick your wounds and heed the advice that you were given. In a sense this stuff isn't rocket science if you take the advice given.
Click to expand...

Instead of blowing your own horn why not, set the record straight where necessary for newbies coming into this thread.

Then perhaps I might even learn something from your input.

The whole idea was to prove or disapprove if gold was present in wave solder in no way is this thread intended as a manor of processing boards.

As for the gold being present in the solder I'm satisfied with the results, but anyone with half a brain would soon realize there's not enough gold recovered to cover the cost of the acids used.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top