how to build an acid resistant hood & scrubber _hood_

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The blowers are usually PVC or fiberglass, I do not know where to buy this equipment on your side of the pond but here in the US check out this link;
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/ca...SPlastic&category_name=58&Page=1&clickid=land

Caustic can be pumped by a lot of different centrifugal pumps look for one rated for highly corrosive liquids. (also in us plastics catalog) as can nozzles. Personally I would steer clear of nozzles favoring small holes which are easy to maintain. (caustic tends to salt up and clog nozzles)

The only material which will be unaffected by the chemicals we are encountering is glass or glass lined steel, very pricey. Vinyl ester resin fiberglass holds up well and is affordable and doesn't break.
 
usplastic.com is an excellent company that carries about everything plastic you'll ever need, at good prices. They also used to have a Safety Equipment catalog that was excellent. I've bought many things from them in the past. The founder, Stanley Tam, was originally in the silver film scrap industry.

Lou, I'm glad you mentioned them. I just ordered their catalog.
 
The equipment to process gold in the quantities the hood and scrubber described in this thread can process is expensive. But if you want to jump from hobby refining to a business they're necessary. I'm not offering excuses but if you want to do anything right in this day and age it's going to cost you. If you take care of them the pumps and blowers will last a very long time.
 
Lol wow, I dunno it just seems like an obscure part of the refining process to cost so much, I am only currently doing it as a hobby but from what i understand a hood and scrubber is a necessity anyway. Is there no avoiding this?
 
Thinking back, I guess most of the stuff I bought from them in the past was for companies that I was working or consulting for, when I didn't care what I spent. When I had my last refinery, besides little things like drum pumps, I think the only thing I bought from them was an 18" dia. plastic vacuum filter funnel. I never cared much for it. The way it was designed, it was very tricky to get a good seal. However, it was a good brand (Bel-Art, I think) that was sold everywhere and U.S. Plastics had the best price. It was my fault for buying it.

I think a decent fume hood and scrubber can be easily homemade. There has already been more than adequate information on this forum to make both. My last refinery was located in a building in a scrap metal yard. Almost every major piece of equipment I used was made from stuff that came from that yard. I don't think that, compared with tailor-made high dollar equipment, anything was sacrificed. My 12' fume hood cost about $200 to make from lumber. It worked great. BTW, I never incinerated in that hood. The 2 standard steel squirrel cage blowers came from the scrap yard and were mounted in the top rear of the 7' high hood - it took 5 years for them to crap out.

I have had both high dollar and El Cheepo, and I really think I prefer the El Cheepo. I can design it to fit ME.
 
I was hired once by a guy who wanted to own a gold refinery and after I began working with his contractor I realized he never told me the whole story. Sure he wanted a refinery but he wasn't about to buy anything new, everything was bought at auction. In the end we had a high tech refinery with moderate capacity (3750 ounces of karat per week) for a lot less cash than I had imagined.

Shop the auctions, these days with companies closing and auctions gone internet there are great deals out there. Generally scrubbers and corrosion resistant blowers don't go for a lot of money, filter presses on the other hand always cost a bundle.
 
Actually it's pretty east to get into the auction bidding scene. Since you live close to a big city, Google commercial / industrial auctioneers in your area, check their websites for local auctions of industrial businesses. For refining stuff you should look for businesses that had electroplating shops and or labs. Within a week or 2 of the auction most sellers post pictures on line of everything they're auctioning off so you can browse to see if anything sparks your interest. They all have days when anyone interested can walk through and browse the equipment, so you can check it out in detail. Go, look you may see something you need. Auction prices are usually cheap, especially if nobody else is interested. You can usually pick up old computers and scrap at auction as well.
When you feel comfortable doing it you can begin to bid on equipment further from home, usually the photo's are decent and you can get a good idea, after you have trained your eye on local stuff.
 
Hi Folks
On this page
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4776
In this picture


hood_and_scrubber_001_16222.jpg (57.82 KiB) Viewed 510 times
Where it writes No 3

I went to the hardware store nearby and the a car parts store
to buy something that i will be able to use to make that
I asked them for a car washing hose with an attachment so I can
squirt soap(lye)and water at the same time.
I don't know if I am being clear
I thought something like this was sold on the market
Can someone give me an idea
Thanks
 
Hi all, Just reading about homemade hoods and scrubbers and me being a Noob I need to go cheap (talking lost my job and need to start with minimal investment in supplies other than the product and production). A hood and scrubber is in my opinion a must for safety and environmental responsibility. I have an idea for a small set up I will be starting and welcome any advice.

The breakdown of the attached pic.
2 plastic 55 gal drums. 1 on my table with a 2' x 2' square cut out also has 2" lip on bottom for spill catch. 2.5 flexable plastic pipe sealed in the top, leading to the bottom of the second drum also sealed. (Filled with Water 8" from top) A shopvac attached to the second drum's top and sealed.
I know the scrubber (2nd drum) has to have a carsnigen will ash work? and sliced round plastic bottles.
I just really am wanting to know that I will be o.k. with this set up till I know I will succeed and not put my self in debt for a refinery set up that I am not skilled enough at.
 
This is my set up currently used to handle my fumes from AR. 1L Elymer flasks, three rubber stoppers with two holes drilled into them, one rubber stopper with one hole drilled, 7 glass tubes to enter flask through rubber stoppers and poly tubing to connect the glass tubes.

I also use an aspirator pump to empty the last remnants of the gas through the caustic solution. Aspirator pumps use running water to create a venturi effect that creates a suction at the exit port. Total cost $75. 8)
 
Valkyrie,

Your shop vac just won't give you enough CFM to do any good. I like the cut off plastic drum, maybe if you use the drum with rigid pvc drain pipe, 4" and just above the hood add a true wye, which is a tee that enters at a 45 degree angle, and use a leaf blower to blow up. This will induce a vacuum and you will get exhaust. Just run the pipe over any roof lines to get the fumes away. The setup you drew will pull the fumes through the workings of the shop vac, and it will not last too long. The leaf blower is out of the air flow and fumes do not pass through it.

This will not neutralize any fumes, just remove the stinkies which escape the scrubber setup below which scrubs just the beaker where the reaction is going on. Very much like Lefty's
 
2002valkyrie;

I'm in the process of building one like yours now.

I removed the impeller (aluminum) from the shop vac, and sprayed it and the shaft/nut with epoxy paint. The first coat is dry this morning, and should it should be finished today. I'm spraying all the exposed screw heads also.

The hood itself is one of those plastic storage bins with latches, so I put screws through the cover and latches, on one side, to use it like a hinge. It sits on it's side, so the cover swings open like a door. Also, it's semi clear so I can pretty much see inside with the door closed.

I used 4" PVC out the back, with a plexiglass flange glued to an "L" fitting. The hole was cut with a Dremel tool and cutting disc. The fitting points downward, and straight PVC goes into a rubbermaid garbage can with latching lid. Probably holes drilled into the lower end of the straight pipe will help make smaller bubbles for more surface area in contact with the water solution.

I've been using the hood and pipe portion already, but with a computer fan, which was too weak to push the air flow through water, but it proved-out the storage bin, and got the fumes out of my face. Now to keep them out of the air.

I'll post how it turns out.

Don
 
4metals;

You must have posted just as I was starting to type my post above. Anyway, I hadn't seen yours until after I posted.

Actually, I was thinking that the air flow with the shop vac might be too much, and create an explosive fountain effect in the garbage can.

Well, it's warming up outside, so I'll get to work on it and see. 8)

Don
 
What can i use in the water to neutralize the fumes? I have a fine Doberman and neighbors and we all have too many cars ( I'm setting up in my carport now).
 
Valkyrie

The object of the scrubber is to neutralize the fume. Cheapest for you may be Lye. You do realize that a well designed scrubber with pumps and pH controls is only 80% efficient. That means coat your shop vac innards or you will destroy them. You also should realize that you want to get your fumes up, even after they come out of your home made scrubber, if your shop vac is on the ground next to your hood you will smell them.
 
Well, right now lack of sucktion is not a problem. In fact it is sucking the sides of the garbage can inward. It looks like grandpaw drinking a too-thick milkshake through a soda straw. Except the garbage can's eyes don't cross.

It will need some fine tuning. 8)

Don
 

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