Cement silver won't work in a silver cell, correct?

[dgolgert]

Since every video I've seen, has folks turning cement silver into shot and then loading up the anode basket, I assume cement silver won't conduct well or will leak through the basket cloth or some equally horrid problem. Anybody know what the exact issue is?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Since every video I've seen, has folks turning cement silver into shot and then loading up the anode basket, I assume cement silver won't conduct well or will leak through the basket cloth or some equally horrid problem. Anybody know what the exact issue is?

Mostly contact and from there internal resistance in the mass.
You want to be able to control that the cell get proper current and voltage.

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

Since every video I've seen, has folks turning cement silver into shot and then loading up the anode basket, I assume cement silver won't conduct well or will leak through the basket cloth or some equally horrid problem. Anybody know what the exact issue is?

Pretty much what you said. The mud doesn’t offer very much surface area for the electrolyte to make contact with and the finely powdered cement mud would be able to pass through most filter materials, contaminating the electrolyte and any silver crystal that plates out in the cell. Shot or flake is a much better form.

 

[James Ball]

Has anyone acutally tried using cement silver and a darcon filter bag? The worst that could happen is that you have to cement out your electrolyte which you were probably going to be doing any way?

 

[Shark]

Answered twice out of two replies. But, the answer is “not very well at all”. That is why most melt it into shot or bars before hand.

 

[4metals]

I have worked with many large refiners all running moebius cells and a good portion of their feedstock is cement silver but it is always, without exception, cast into anodes.

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

Has anyone acutally tried using cement silver and a darcon filter bag? The worst that could happen is that you have to cement out your electrolyte which you were probably going to be doing any way?

The answer is yes, it has been tried and doesn’t work at all. All you will accomplish is the rapid contamination of your electrolyte.

 

[James Ball]

I figured someone had tried it but had to ask. Thanks for the post.

 

[Striker578]

I figured someone had tried it but had to ask. Thanks for the post.

Happy you asked as the thought entered my mind too.