Non-Chemical Gold Fingers

[Paige]

I read from a CD that a better way to recover gold fingers is with ferric chloride, supposedly available at Radio Shack. It is supposed to be cheaper than AR.

The description is to use an exacto knife to remove the fingers. Talk about HARD.

Could you just make a cut in the fingers, so the ferric chloride could attack the copper underneath. (It is supposed to dissolve copper.) then the gold would fall off?

This scraping it off with an exacto knife takes a long time and there must be an easier way.

Anyone have any ideas?

Paige

 

[lazersteve]

Paige,

I've used ferric chloride extensively to process PINS, not fingers. It will work but it's messy stuff (stains and hard to rinse from the product). I don't recommend ever scraping the foils from the fingers no matter which method you use. The reason being is that you will end up with a ton of little fiberglass board pieces in your product. They won't rinse out with any type of acid and they make some very nasty fumes if you try and burn them out (always remember GIGO : Garbage In Garbage Out).

Where ever you got the info, it sounds like it came from a really poor source.

If you are interested in processing with ferric chloride just say so and I'll guide you thru start to finish. The stuff works very fast on certain types of pins.

Steve

 

[Paige]

Steve,

I would very much appreciate it if you could guide me thru processing fingers - before I cut off one of my own fingers.

Paige

 

[lazersteve]

Do you have the fingers already harvested or are they still attached to the cards?

 

[Paige]

They are still on the cards.

 

[lazersteve]

Do you have any one of the following:

1) Table Vice

2) Scroll/ Band Saw

3) Heavy Duty Paper Cutter

4) Aircraft/ Tin Snips

If so which do you have?

Steve

 

[Paige]

I was going to buy a heavy duty paper cutter for this very purpose. I have a BUNCH of them.

 

[lazersteve]

What types of cards are you dealing with mostly? Memory, ISA, PCI, AGP, Other?

 

[Paige]

A very wide variety of memory cards with heavy gold fingers.

 

[lazersteve]

Paige,

The memory fingers need to be harvested with a good scroll/band saw or aircraft/tin snips. Some people break them off with pliers, but that makes for some trashy fingers. I'm not sure how good a paper cutter will do on these. They are the hardest type of fingers to harvest because the card is so small and the boards are tough. The scroll/band saw is optimal for these.

Steve

 

[Paige]

Okay Steve,

Once harvested, how do I get the gold?

Paige

 

[lazersteve]

Paige,

Do you want to get the gold fast or do you have some time on your hands?

The fast way is aqua regia, the slower way is acid peroxide.

AR is hazardous, acid peroxide is relatively safe.

Which do you want to use?

There are other ways if you don't want to use either.

Steve

 

[Paige]

I have time.

Paige

 

[lazersteve]

Go to Lowes in the Pool Supplies section and buy a gallon of muratic acid if you don't already have some. While you're there pick up 2 of the clear 3 gallon pvc buckets and one white 2 gallon thick pvc pail with a handle.

Also go to WalMart and buy three of the large 3% Hydrogen Peroxide bottles (32 oz. each). If you don't have a large funnel (automotive) and a pack of coffee filters pick these items up also. Buy a cheap quart sized spray bottle (cleaning isle). Lastly you will need a 3/16" drill bit and drill.

When you have these items let me know.

Steve

 

[Paige]

Okay

 

[Paige]

I have all of the stuff. Ready when you are.

Paige

 

[lazersteve]

Paige,

Now take the 3/16" drill bit and drill this pattern into the bottom of the 2 gallon pail:

Be sure you put the separated holes around the edge!

When you get that done following this link:

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=2782&highlight=#2782

I recommend processing 5 lbs of fingers at a time. You should try to do at least do 2 pounds of fingers.

Steve

 

[Jackrabyt]

Hi Steve,

This is my first post but I thought I would start by asking you a few questions about this method. This will be my first attempt at recovering gold and I want to make sure that I am doing everything right.


1. You mention automotive funnel in the list as well as coffee filters...What am I using those for?

2. What is the quart size spray bottle for?

3. Is the second clear bucket for the cleaning process?

I will start there...I am going to buy the stuff this afternoon and should be ready tomorrow for the process.

 

[lazersteve]

Rabyt,

Welcome to the forum.

The supplies you are asking about are for the filtering and cleanup of the foils after they are removed from the finger boards.

The funnel is for the final filtering of the clean foils from the solution. I always do a few extra rinses in the funnel to make sure I get all the color out of the rinses. The filter does a great job of showing the slightest discolorations.

The spray bottle is to rinse the foils from the buckets and to rinse the filter.

The second bucket is for pouring off the excess solution after the foils have been stripped. This reduces the overall volume of the reaction vessel solution to a managable level for cleaning.

Thanks for the post.
Steve

 

[Jackrabyt]

Is there another name for the muratic acid? I have went to the local Lowes and WalMart and looked in the pool chemicals section and I have not found it yet. Walmart carries a muratic acid replacement but that is the closest I have found to it.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.