grey powder in my gold foils ?????

[donald236]

well the title says it ai all . ive done some sound cards (sound blasters ) to be exat an done every thing right down to the letter . i removed the solder masking with caustic soda . i washed the boards afterwards in very hot water to remove the caustic soda so that it would not neturulize the ap bath . i then proceded on with the ap bath a 1 to 1/2 ratio in other words 1/2 gallon hcl and 1 quart h202 and when i removed my foils with were very nice by the way . i got some grey powder in the foils as well . ive washed them several times untill clear but it still has the grey powder in with the foils now my question is what is this grey powder :?: :?:
thanks in advance
donald

 

[lazersteve]

Don,

This is the most frequently asked question about AP. It's copper I chloride and is an indication that your solution was saturated with copper.

Luckily it dissolves easily in HCl (dark colored liquid that's green when diluted).

If you are going to recycle your AP you'll need to add some HCl and H2O2 in the proper ratios to convert the copper I back to copper II.

Steve

 

[donald236]

thanks steve . one question thogh do i need to put these foils in with another ap bath when i start to strip another batch to get rid of the copper chloride or just simply wash them in some more hcl :?:

 

[lazersteve]

Don,

Just as I demonstrated in the AP video, wash the foils with HCl until the rinse water is clear. If you want to be extra through, test the rinse water with household ammonia, if a drop of the rinse water plus a drop of ammonia turns blue, copper is still present.

Steve

 

[donald236]

thanks steve / your the man . brother your a modern day hooks

 

[banjags]

what kinda yield have you been getting from these cards? I have a whole pile (15+ lbs)I have contemplating selling or processing. Cannot make up my mind what I wanna do.

 

[Rag and Bone]

A piece of scratch paper from last year says 50 modems = 100g of fingers and 11g of pins. I have cut fingers off of thousands of cards for AP. I know I could get better money selling cards or cut fingers on ebay but it's too much fun stripping foils!