Just getting started

[joekbit]

Hello from Joe

I'm a disabled vet in Ms. Money has been and is getting tighter by the month, as we all know. I get my check and 3 days later I am broke, that is not an exaggeration. On average I have about 300 left after bills, my wife is a diabetic and her meds cost me 100 a month so 200 is left to buy food and the other things,,,not much. We have been married 27 yrs, 3 grown children.


I began investigating scrap recovery several months ago, mostly just online videos, studying wikies on chemical processes and so on. I thought what the heck, I had some sulfuric acid, old cell phones , directv box , couple routers ,,in short some odds and ends laying around. So I started experimenting with my very limited scraps using different processes.

It was a learning thing for sure. The amount of unwanted material showing up in my filters made me want to give up. I was picking through it with tweezers. To speed things up I got a piece of plastic 1/8" screen, you can find it at any art and craft store. This worked great for sifting out the larger material and allowed the gold flakes to pass right on through. I then took the same liquid and did the same thing with a piece of non metallic window screen. So as you can see I went nuts. Now I know to depopulate before digesting.

At this point I am ready to dive in "BUT", I have no scrap. LOL
As far as my background, DOD, aerospace, aeronautics, licensed A&P, 2 degrees, business and IT, plus a cert in network design.

 

[the iron dwarf]

there are many threads on here that will help you.
first find a poster here called frugal refiner and in his sig there are links to download for free a book by CM Hoke, it was written many years ago when the use of asbestos, cyanide and mercury were common, the edited version has notes about better ways of doing things safely and the book is still probably the best foundation you can get ( and its free ).
also read the safety and legal sections here so you can work without endangering others or yourself and know how to deal safely with waste.
read up on here about the different processes and study the ones you want to use.

then find out how to get the gold and other metals back from you first attempts.
collect scrap but dont process it till you have learnt enough to do it right.
you may have friends who want an old computer taking to the dump, learn where to find precious metals as they are all around you.

trying to hurry will lose you gold ( and there are many other metals you can find and reuse too )

there are those here who can help you get the best from your first attempt and with quite a bit of study you can avoid a lot of problems in the future.
store what you have now and dont throw it away.

 

[g_axelsson]

Hello Joe,

If you're into this to earn money on electronic scrap I recommend scrapping and selling, the refining part is often more time consuming and small lots often comes with larger losses. (Though, most can be caught before going to waste.)
Only save the easiest scrap to refine in the beginning and only if you have extra time. Ask around for scrap, sort and sell metals locally and circuit boards to http://boardsort.com/ or similar places.

For tips on how to find scrap, read this thread : http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=7735

Then if you save some of the easier scrap, for example gold fingers you have some easy scrap to learn the refining craft. But it will take time and a lot of study.

Welcome to the forum!

Göran

 

[joekbit]

Thanks to the guys above. I have Hokes book. I have been processing very small amounts, as in a couple cell phones and things like that. I keep everything, filters, fluids and so on.

I did my first very small gold drop / precipitation from a gold 3 solution of about 4 liquid ounces. It dropped well and I had mud and clear liquid which I checked for gold and it was negative / no remaining gold in the fluid. So I drained off the excess and took the rest of my diluted gold chloride and poured about 1 oz into the precipitated jar and it turned purple. Why, I have no idea, both were the same original source. I think from doing some research I may now have Colloidal gold.

ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloidal_gold .

I imagine if I just let it settle the gold mush that looks purple will be recoverable, I diluted it 50% and it dropped like rain. So im going to check the top solution for gold with the stannous when it clears.

As before any comments are always accepted.

 

[joekbit]

Hello Joe,

If you're into this to earn money on electronic scrap I recommend scrapping and selling, the refining part is often more time consuming and small lots often comes with larger losses. (Though, most can be caught before going to waste.)
Only save the easiest scrap to refine in the beginning and only if you have extra time. Ask around for scrap, sort and sell metals locally and circuit boards to http://boardsort.com/ or similar places.

For tips on how to find scrap, read this thread : http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=7735

Then if you save some of the easier scrap, for example gold fingers you have some easy scrap to learn the refining craft. But it will take time and a lot of study.

Welcome to the forum!

Göran

I have begun asking local computer shops friends and so on. I have a friend living right behind me who works for Dish network, he said he could get me some e scraps, my son works for verison and is collecting sim cards and dead cell phones. Very small sources but good for a starting and learning experience.

 

[GotTheBug]

Your friend working for dish can likely score you some sim cards, which have gold, and also the heads of old dishes typically have a silver plated board. Cell phones are great when you get an idea of what your'e doing. Above all, stay safe, don't do any of it inside the house, not even depopulating as the dust can be hazardous, and welcome in sir!

 

[joekbit]

Your friend working for dish can likely score you some sim cards, which have gold, and also the heads of old dishes typically have a silver plated board. Cell phones are great when you get an idea of what your'e doing. Above all, stay safe, don't do any of it inside the house, not even depopulating as the dust can be hazardous, and welcome in sir!

I do everything outside. Cell phones taught me a big lesson. DEPOPULATE FIRST,, to date the most fluid volume I have used at one time is about 6 ounces, the rest has literally been done in 1 oz jars

 

[joekbit]

wow you would not believe how long it took me to find this, my own post. I finally found the bookmark button way down at the bottom left side of the page.
I have joined a number of other forums for other reasons and all the tools have been located right here so to speak. A universal menu bar located right in the reply screen. Just navigating and following my own posts and the responses seems a bit difficult.

Is there a forum tutorial showing where the tools are, what they can do, and how to use them? This would be a big help.

 

[solar_plasma]

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/faq.php

 

[the iron dwarf]

I normally go to view new posts from the board index page to see replies, then I go and read any other relevent threads on anything I need to work on

 

[joekbit]

Thanks guys, FrugalRefiner sent me some info with screen shots , I changed my format and wow, much better. Now I actually have the option to view my posts.

Thanks again
Joe