Non-Chemical Eureka

[Dravin]

Ya thanks for all your help guys got my 1st process and wash and smelting done and im left with these little beauties, 2 grams
woooooohoooooo

it is beeded, wish it was a button, but hey here is my furnace (home made)
if you got any sugestions feel free to let them rip

 

[qst42know]

Can you explain how your furnace is fueled. I haven't seen one quite like it. With some changes a button should be possible.

 

[Dravin]

Can you explain how your furnace is fueled. I haven't seen one quite like it. With some changes a button should be possible.

coal, and air
the 2 layers of fire brick house coal with a steal pipe funneling air from the blow drier on high, massive, able to smelt copper, i have not tried to melt anything above copper,
i knew that if i could melt copper i would have no problem melting gold and i did it just took some doing, had to angle the crucible at about 45 and put another brick atop the opening so when the flames came thru the whole it hit the brick and on to the gold, just the fire hiting underneath the crucible wasnt doin what i needed

 

[qst42know]

Coal wouldn't be the best choice. Do you have access to any sort of gas fired torches?

 

[Dravin]

Coal wouldn't be the best choice. Do you have access to any sort of gas fired torches?

yes i have propane torch, but that hasnt done squat, the charcoal and air mix melts fine if i fanagle with it some, torches are so expensive. i have read on here that torches are the way to go tho

 

[MysticColby]

coal /could/ work, but with my experience of it, it works best using direct contact (you currently have air moving through it, being heated, then moving around the melting dish). If the melting dish was sitting on top of a bed of coal, that would be much quicker.

propane and oxygen or propane and air torch? propane and air won't work too well for an open dish like that (it does work well for a furnace with crucible inside). propane and oxygen should be able to melt in an open dish no problem (though acetylene is faster).

 

[qst42know]

Are those hard fire bricks?

Soft fire bricks and a propane torch works, or ceramic wool.

Less than ideal heat sources can work if you insulate and confine the heat. Hard fire bricks conduct some heat so you need extra BTUs but you might try building another chamber around your melt dish to trap the heat. The coal fumes may contaminate your gold some, a second dish flipped on top of the first might help. From the color of your dish this is recovered gold yet to be refined, not completely pure?

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

My first several ounces were done with a propane torch. A propane torch can work reasonably well, just takes a long time. 45-50 min at least.

Scott

 

[Geo]

coal fired furnaces are still used to make steel and can very well melt gold with very little problem. a brazier can be made to melt gold, it may not be perfect, but it can be done. the way to use coal to melt metal is to have the metal in close contact with the coal and a good air supply. if you use a plinth inside the furnace with coal around it and the melting dish on the plinth with another dish upside down on the first one you can cover the top with two firebricks and fire it up. trust me when i say, if the gold doesnt melt, then its not gold (maybe kryptonite :lol: ) but really, if you want to use this method, it should work. your just doing it wrong.

 

[Harold_V]

My first several ounces were done with a propane torch. A propane torch can work reasonably well, just takes a long time. 45-50 min at least.

In that amount of time, I would have melted and poured to shot, no less than 200 troy ounces of gold. I used a large Hoke torch, fueled by natural gas and oxygen.
I strongly advise ANYONE who is serious about refining to invest in an oxygen (plus fuel of choice) torch. There clearly is no real substitute---not if your time has any value.

Harold