melting gold power

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ericrm

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
1,198
Location
Canada, Quebec
im ready to melt my first button but all my gold is in powder form
i dont have solid little ball,only realy powdery stuff. and i pretty sure that it will fly out
i have already eated and boraxed one crucible(i melt a thick layer maybe 1/16 to 1/8 of borax in it, did i put too much borax ?)
i dont wanna loose gold ,i was thinking that i could put my gold powder in the crucible and buried it under borax... could that work?
how should this be done?
i use oxy acethylene torch...
 
Put your powder in the dish and melt it. Do not put the flame on the powder, heat the dish. When you see the gold starting to melt together and looking lumpy you can start to put the flame on it but still keep it back a bit like 3 to 4" away from the end of the torch. If you have 2 dishes you can put one on top of the other, that will speed it up a bit.
 
Eric, when using an oxy/acet torch to melt dont use alot of oxy. a gentle blue flame will melt the gold in a few seconds. first warm the dish slowly with the torch at 8"-10" from the dish until you see red or orange specks in the dish (at least the first time you use it) this will (hopefully) keep it from cracking. dishes will crack and it can still be used as long as it stays in one piece. if the crack goes halfway across dont trust it. after you see the red-orange specks in the dish (this is bits of the fireclay thats stuck on) sprinkle a couple of pinches of borax around the top inner edge and as it melts push it down and to the middle with the torch flame. (this is the same motion you will do when your melting powder) make sure that you use enough borax to make the entire inner surface look wet but not so much it makes a puddle in the bottom. use the torch to make the dish red all the way through and around the edge. move the flame away and add the powder. put the flame on the top inner edge and start making a circle with the flame at the top of the dish until you see the top layer of gold start to collect into larger clumps. now you can put the flame directly on the powder. after this it should take a couple of seconds for all the powder to be melted. pick up the dish with ypur tong, pliers or what ever you have to hold it with and gently swirl the melted metal in a circle in the dish, this is to pick up any stray pieces and let the melted metal come in contact with the borax in the dish. keep the flame on the metal as you pour into the mold. leave the flame on the mold a few seconds and slowly lift the torch away from the pour.

good luck.
 
Place your melt dish on a piece of fire brick and both in the middle of a piece of sheet metal or a large steel cookie sheet. Even when you work carefully you would be surprised how much dust you can sweep up after a melt.
 
thank you for the help it has work fantastiquely well.i have melt my first batch of refined gold
just did what you told me ,excellent ,the only thing was when the gold did start to melt ,visualy it looklike i was loosing my gold milimeters by milimetere ,but i weith it and its is ok
as i was expecting i have brun trace in my borax so my purity wasent perfect but it was my first batch so i dont feel bad about it...
tank you all
 

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That's how I melt small quantities; using a ceramic blanket. No borax needed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRArtpB-7k&list=UUovgXKChwYn97YT2QFBLztw&index=14&feature=plcp[/youtube]

It melts very fast, even with a MAPP torch.
 
thank you geo and bigjohn
noxx that is an interesting way to do it
but why do you do it that way, is it to save on crucible,avoid contamination or simply because it is simpler?
 
If you can afford to keep your first buttons they are a great way to see your own progress and will be a reminder of how far you have come since you started, they also give you a nice warm feeling every time you handle them and their value is in that first success. 8)
 
Something that you might want to know: Although gold melts at a much higher temperature, the amount of BTU s required to
raise the temperature for each 1 degree is the same as the BTU s need to raise lead each 1 degree. If using a scorifier dish to melt gold, lay it on something that doesn't rob it of it's heat. In other words; don't lay the scorifier dish on a cement block unless there's an insulator between the dish and the block. 8) Dr. Poe
 
i use commun house insulation to isolate the dish ,it is made of some mineral wool and it melt if i put the flame on but with the dish to absorb most of the heat, it does a great job
 
on the off chance that this helps someone, I found something that works well for insulation. I filled a metal container almost full of impactor beads from a sand blaster. I set the crucible on top of the glass beads and pushed it in until the bead were about 1/4 inch from the rim. I preheated the crucible, and when I finally started heating my gold powder, it probably to about two minutes with a mapp gas torch. just thought i would share.

oh, dont spill the beads... they are round and can create a hell of a mess if you spill them... like i did. :p
 

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