first batch

[onewally]

ive read the hoke twice many many posts here im useing sulfuric acid to get rid lead then goin to use nitric acid to get rid of as much base metal as i can then goin to use ar then percipitation im doin this on a about 100 grams of pins and conections so far looking good will post pics as i go along

 

[butcher]

Next batch try HCl on the solder, I think you will find HCl a bit better for removing the solder from the gold plated materials, the lead will make an insoluble choride white powder, the tin will dissolve into solution as a tin chloride.

Looking foward to seeing your progress.

 

[pimpneightez]

You can also use muriatic acid wich is the same as HCL acid.

 

[onewally]

heres what i started with 100 grams of pins and conectors

 

[onewally]

here it is in sulfuric acid i got on a hotplate to speed it up a lil the hot plate only gets to 180 deg its a coffee maker hot plate

 

[Geo]

i dont understand what your intention is with what you are doing. are you heating the pins in sulfuric acid? if you are, can i ask what you are hoping it will do? you are dealing with some very dangerous chemicals. if you dont understand the process, i suggest you stop what you are doing now. stop heating sulfuric acid and let it cool. decant the acid into a clean glass container and put a lid on it. rinse your pins and find Lazersteve's website http://www.goldrecovery.us and log in using the username :gold and the password :goldm1ner* and watch his video tutorial on the stripping cell and then read the forum on the subject before you try again.

 

[onewally]

i was wanting to remove the lead the temp dropped outside thats why i heated it but just a lil bit under 65 deg the process that was already slow got slower but im goin to go with hydrocloric acid next time instead this is my first attempt but im posting as i go along so if i make mistakes i hope the ppl here and help

 

[Marcel]

I think he is confusing that with one of Sam´s tutorial where ( a.f.a.i.r.) a few drops of sulphuric acid were added to the AR in order to drive out lead.
But that is a whole different story...
Btw, there is rarely lead on these kind of contacts. They look as if tehre even is no tin on them. In this case the whole preprocessing is not neccesary.
Were are the pins from ? D-Sub connectors?

 

[onewally]

i dont belive there is alot of lead but i know lead is bad from other expirences they are connectors and pins found on cpus and mother boards where drives hook too i know that there is only a little lead and am trying to remove it im waiting for my nitric acid to show up (ordered it online here localy they want 180 bucks for the same amont only 100 online after haz charge)

 

[Marcel]

If there is lead it will be transformed to leadchlorid if you soak the pins in HCl overnight, then you can wash it away. No need to waste expensive nitric.
Apart from that lead is very unlike. It´s source is the tin, it was a component of solderintin in the old ages. I have not seen lead in soldertingin in the 90s. Your pins look like 100% gold plated - where should any lead be?
You can rub one pins over a piece of paper, if a black/grey line appears then there is lead, if not, there is none. Btw. 100g of those pins will (usually) yield 0,1g-0,2g of gold - hard to follow/filter etc. So too much fumbling with the material will create losses until the yield is barely visible. Using nitric will complicate recovering this small amount, because it is ususal for first tryouts, that there are losses in AR when precipitating and later collecting the result. To observe the way of the PMs it is easier to start with AP.
Another point: If your pins where in contact with HCl, due to your try to remove BMs, the remaining salts - even if minimal will form AR together with teh nitricm which will make your gold first disappear then recement on the rest of the material. Maybe better to start with unused clean material....
Just my 2 pence and I remain silent. 8)

 

[onewally]

no no dont remain silent ...lol so i should use ap instead of ar...and im only useing this small amount because well im new at this and id rather screw up a small batch if what im useing is to small should i double it and use 200 grams of pins? and did u mean 0.1-0.2 grams of gold?(i was hopeing to get a gram or 3 out of it) most the videos show fingers for ap solution wich was another reason i was goin to use ar solution

i want to thank everyone for their thoughts as i do this, i find all of this extremly intersting and wish i had a better understanding of chemistry, please let me know if im doing things right and any suggestions, i have read hokes and trying to do this the best way thanks all

 

[maynman1751]

I think that it's time to stop, re-group, do one heck of a lot more reading and studying before you hurt yourself. Hot sulfuric is one of the most dangerous acids there are. Play it safe and know what you're doing BEFORE doing it. If you have questions ask BEFORE doing a process!!!!!! You're playing with a loaded gun!!!!

 

[onewally]

i stopped with the heat and rinsed and leting dry.... and let me explain this a little bit better...in the last month ive done a ton of reading and watching videos, i got from all kinds of sources, somewhere i could swear that should keep stuff at 70 deg min i was working outside and because of temp i was warming the liqued useing a coffee hotplate hooked to a dimmer to reg the heat and only warmed the liqued to about 90 deg....and yes im reveiwing information now and rethinking how i want to do this thinking that i should change how i was goin to do this i was useing information from a site that told me how to get rid of lead but im thinking now mabe not all that information was good....i was goin to try ar but the more i look at ap im starting to like that better as a first time wich one should i do? im useing a batch of pins and connectors 100 grams worth as a trail batch

 

[butcher]

onewally,
These guy's will help you out as you proceed, but at this point you do not have much material to work with, and you need a little more preparation in the study department, If I were you I would concentrate more on research, and collecting and separating materials, preparing the scrap for when you have enough to make a decent size gold button, I also suggest Hokes book and her getting acquainted experiments, and honing your skills of testing for metals in solution, spend some time on Laser Steve's web site, and other sites of forum members like Gold n Scrap.

Gather together memory fingers and start the learning process with these, it is a much easier process, with a lot less variables to have things to go wrong, read up on the processes used to recover the foils, and then the processes to refine the foils, while you collect enough material to make a several gram button of gold, spend time on making a notebook of all of the facts you are learning and setting up and stocking your lab, spend time on learning what the scrap is worth, and how to find it.

Do not worry about getting a little bit of gold from a handful of pins before you are ready (you would probably just loose it in the process at this point anyway), save it up, and when your ready then go for the gold.

 

[onewally]

ok stopping going back to the books...and switch over to fingers ive got a bunch of old ram and pci cards n stuff like it, ill use hci+proxide then hci + bleach then smb, how much should i have to try this? im goin look and read up on the best way to process the ram sticks to get them ready then i ll take them useing the bucket in bucket with the smaller one set up like a strainer..place the fingers in there steves vid shows 1:2 ratio and go from there for now im goin back to reading and watching so kind of a false start this time ill put the pins back in the pin container and save them for later

thanks everyone for the input...im not as ready as i thought i was

 

[butcher]

Read up on finger yields, and decide how big of a pure gold button you want to make and work from there.

Actually you are ready and willing to learn and I know you will do fine, just don't dive off the diving board without seeing if the swimming pool has any water or not.

 

[maynman1751]

ok stopping going back to the books now im goin back to reading and watching so kind of a false start this time ill put the pins back in the pin container and save them for later

thanks everyone for the input...im not as ready as i thought i was

Smart move! We're just looking out for our brothers safety. You'll be fine. Just try to curb your excitement and take your time to learn proper steps. I'm still very much a greenhorn myself, but I have come to realize my limitations. Take care, John.