gold amalgam thread

[Harold_V]

Interesting. The color description closely matches what I'd get, but if there was a significant amount of amalgam present, once the mercury was removed, the material melted, forming a solid, Bits and pieces of odd substances weren't included in the solid piece.

I knew that I hadn't approached the melting point of silver, so came to realize that the combination of silver, copper and tin melted at a very low temperature. That's why I heated the material in a second operation (incineration) and allowed it exposure to atmosphere. That turned out to be the magic bullet needed to allow filtration of the resulting solution. Didn't get any of the gel, but, instead, white material that settled readily.

I'm real curios about the contents of the gray material. Even more curious about the lack of mercury. Keep the reports coming.

Harold

 

[Anonymous]

Harold the second batch which included some amalgam produced some mercury. from the retort, There is an oily substance floating in the collection container pheew this stuff stinks.

Reading up on these perforated screen filters, they are primarily designed to trap only the heavy metals permitting the free passage of body tissue and fluids along with small bone fragments from drilling, grinding and polishing to enter the sewer system.

There may well be more mercury than I currently see, the collection bucket has a jelly looking substance on the bottom that quivers when the pail is moved. This could be the mercury from the retort with a layer of oily crap clinging to it.

When I have time later in the week I'm going to run the Grey powders one more time.

Best Regards
Gill

 

[Harold_V]

There is an oily substance floating in the collection container pheew this stuff stinks.

Oh, yeah! It seems to be common to dental waste. Even what appears to be clean amalgam tends to liberate the same stuff. That's why I suggested you use soap in the water. May take a few washings. Also, once you have the mercury washed clean, you can clean it chemically with a little HCl.

There may well be more mercury than I currently see, the collection bucket has a jelly looking substance on the bottom that quivers when the pail is moved. This could be the mercury from the retort with a layer of oily crap clinging to it.

That makes sense. I used a beaker to catch the mercury, so I could see what was under the top coating. That's when I started using dish soap.

When I have time later in the week I'm going to run the Grey powders one more time.

Likely not necessary, but that's how you make determinations for future applications. Once you understand what's necessary, you can then run from past experiences.

Good job, Gill.

Any trouble with the threads, or any signs of leaking mercury? I used to use a thin piece (1/64") of asbestos paper as a gasket. You could see signs of mercury trying to escape, but nothing got past the gasket more than about 1/4". The flange was about ½" wide, so it appeared to seal properly. To my knowledge, I never had any problems.

Harold