Barren Realms 007
In Remembrance
goldsilverpro said:
I don't think he currently has any material but I could be wrong.
Melting silver cement - how to properly do it ?
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I don't think he currently has any material but I could be wrong.
I am in learning. don't have any material. I want to know witch is bettergoldsilverpro said:
gas furnace or electric furnace ?
using borax or don't use it
in YouTube I see a person melt 1 KG dry cement without borax with torch and in another clip I see melt 0.5 KG silver chloride with borax in ceramic crucible with a torch
If you are learning, you need to spend more time reading and less time asking questions that have been hashed out ad nauseum. I for one feel like a broken record half the time here.
The more you read and understand fundamental separation science, the more you'll look back and realize that there's no single process solution to every material but that knowing what does what (if not why) and when to use it will make this all..easy-er.
As for AgCl and borax...NO! Never melt AgCl ever unless you're painting glass with it. Don't let it get dry, even if you plan on solid state reaction with Na2CO3.
The more you read and understand fundamental separation science, the more you'll look back and realize that there's no single process solution to every material but that knowing what does what (if not why) and when to use it will make this all..easy-er.
As for AgCl and borax...NO! Never melt AgCl ever unless you're painting glass with it. Don't let it get dry, even if you plan on solid state reaction with Na2CO3.
Great advice as alway's Lou.
There is no substitute for study, I still do not understand why someone thinks they can learn by asking a thousand questions when they will more easily learn a billion more answers by spending that same amount of time in study, and gain a much better overall understanding of the subject.
How is being a dad going? Have you been getting any sleep? Maybe that is why you seem somewhat cranky today. I bet she is growing like a little weed and more cute than a shiny gold button.
P.S. have you seen the new gold pregnancy test kits?
There is no substitute for study, I still do not understand why someone thinks they can learn by asking a thousand questions when they will more easily learn a billion more answers by spending that same amount of time in study, and gain a much better overall understanding of the subject.
How is being a dad going? Have you been getting any sleep? Maybe that is why you seem somewhat cranky today. I bet she is growing like a little weed and more cute than a shiny gold button.
P.S. have you seen the new gold pregnancy test kits?
butcher said:
It's awesome! Yes, she grows fast. And no, not much sleep.
Topher_osAUrus
Well-known member
Lou said:
My boys didnt start sleeping through the night until they added meat to their diet. For desmond, that was a year old, for hendrix (who had a mouth full of teeth at 8 months) it was 8-9 months old.
...still dont get a full night sleep, but thats because of "scary ghosts and monsters"..
jason_recliner
Well-known member
Wait til you tell them about PGM salt and metastannic acid...Topher_osAUrus said:
Topher_osAUrus
Well-known member
jason_recliner said:
Haha!
When i do, I will be sure to tell them about proper PPE's for pgm salts and sulfuric acid treatments for the metastannic as well... For every evil, there is a good
I required 27, 3" X 9" impure cell bars (anodes) to fill the basket (about 29" x 29" square) of my 30 gallon Thum (horizontal) silver cell. When melting the impure silver in my top-loading gas crucible furnace, I used no borax. I cast the bars in preheated, then coated (usually brushed on motor oil - with no puddles) cast iron molds, whose inside bottoms measured about 3" X 9". I had 4 of these molds and then poured 4 bars, dumped them and brushed on a little more oil. I only poured enough silver in them to cover the bottom with enough metal so that it ended up in one piece and didn't separate - about 35 ounces per bar. If done continuously, preheating of the molds isn't necessary after the 1st pour - they're already hot enough. In the basket, the bars were all snugged together to maintain contact. If contact was lost on some bars during operation, I sprinkled some silver crystal in between them.
Without borax, you will end up with more BB's stuck to the inside walls of the crucible. I didn't worry about this since I knew that, eventually, I would get them. In my refinery, I had quite a few crucibles, and most I only used for a specific purpose. For example, I had 1 or 2 that were only used for pure silver and a couple only used for pure gold. When I used a torch and melting dishes for pure gold, nothing else was melted in them. When loading and unloading crucibles and for pouring, I only used charging tongs. With these, I could handle up to a #16 crucible safely. The only time I had problems was when the crucible had not been stored in a dry place. A couple of times, I tore off a chunk of the crucible with the tongs when I started to lift it. Do things slow and heat the crucible alone, slowly, before loading it. When I first started casting silver bars, I always started with the same weight of silver in the crucible. This cut a deep depression ring into the crucible, at the top surface of the melt (where oxygen is present, which ruined the $50 crucible. After that, I varied the amount of silver in the melt
Without borax, you will end up with more BB's stuck to the inside walls of the crucible. I didn't worry about this since I knew that, eventually, I would get them. In my refinery, I had quite a few crucibles, and most I only used for a specific purpose. For example, I had 1 or 2 that were only used for pure silver and a couple only used for pure gold. When I used a torch and melting dishes for pure gold, nothing else was melted in them. When loading and unloading crucibles and for pouring, I only used charging tongs. With these, I could handle up to a #16 crucible safely. The only time I had problems was when the crucible had not been stored in a dry place. A couple of times, I tore off a chunk of the crucible with the tongs when I started to lift it. Do things slow and heat the crucible alone, slowly, before loading it. When I first started casting silver bars, I always started with the same weight of silver in the crucible. This cut a deep depression ring into the crucible, at the top surface of the melt (where oxygen is present, which ruined the $50 crucible. After that, I varied the amount of silver in the melt
Wingedcloud
Well-known member
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goldsilverpro said:
I myself have low height round sand crucibles and a gas furnace, similar to the one in the picture.
I gonna melt my cement tomorrow. And since I still don't know if I should use borax, and the videos I've been watching don't make mention of using it, I'm just going to pre-heat my crucible, add some cement to it, and melt. When melted, I'm going to pour it into a pre-heated, oil coated mold I made with steel and see what happens...hope something good.
Winged
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Do use borax. Then add a small amount of sand to thicken it up. When I say "small" I mean like a pinch of salt of sand if you had added a tablespoon of borax. Little goes a long way.
At work, I use my broken borosilicate glassware for dirty melts.
At work, I use my broken borosilicate glassware for dirty melts.
That is a nice little gas melter, once hot they will melt a crucible full of silver in 15 to 20 minutes. One thing to be aware of is when these are new, the refractory used to cast the furnace contains moisture which has to be removed by firing the furnace. It doesn't look wet but it has moisture. the first heat may take an hour to cure the refractory. After that it is much quicker to get to temperature.
It is difficult to melt any metal until all of the moisture is gone as all of the heat goes to drying the refractory, can be frustrating if you don't realize what is happening.
where did you purchase that furnace?
It is difficult to melt any metal until all of the moisture is gone as all of the heat goes to drying the refractory, can be frustrating if you don't realize what is happening.
where did you purchase that furnace?
Crucibles do not take long to drive out moisture, they can be warmed and slowly brought up to red heat after a good warming.
Furnace refractory can be a different story, if it is a new furnace there can be a lot of moisture in its construction, some of the moisture is removed by allowing the refractory to cure in open air, before a low heat is applied, the low heat is run for as many hours or days (depending on refractory type and thickness).
some may need days of curing and bringing heat to a certain value and holding that heat for a predetermined amount of time before raising heat to a higher value and another holding time. How the furnace refractory was made can be a major factor in how the furnace is cured, (blown in refractory cures faster than cast or poured refractory) before slowly raising temperature to red heat.
If the furnace refractory has been cured and fired before, the furnace in storage can absorb some moisture, which can easily be driven out with a short low heating period before warming up the furnace to red heat.
Curing really is dependent on the refractory material, and the moisture content of its construction, a fire brick and mortar furnace would not contain as much moisture and require less preheat, than a cast-able refractory with a surface refractory mud wall coating which would hold a lot of moisture in its cement type of construction.
How long it will take depends on how it is made and if it has ever been fired before or not.
Furnace refractory can be a different story, if it is a new furnace there can be a lot of moisture in its construction, some of the moisture is removed by allowing the refractory to cure in open air, before a low heat is applied, the low heat is run for as many hours or days (depending on refractory type and thickness).
some may need days of curing and bringing heat to a certain value and holding that heat for a predetermined amount of time before raising heat to a higher value and another holding time. How the furnace refractory was made can be a major factor in how the furnace is cured, (blown in refractory cures faster than cast or poured refractory) before slowly raising temperature to red heat.
If the furnace refractory has been cured and fired before, the furnace in storage can absorb some moisture, which can easily be driven out with a short low heating period before warming up the furnace to red heat.
Curing really is dependent on the refractory material, and the moisture content of its construction, a fire brick and mortar furnace would not contain as much moisture and require less preheat, than a cast-able refractory with a surface refractory mud wall coating which would hold a lot of moisture in its cement type of construction.
How long it will take depends on how it is made and if it has ever been fired before or not.
Just warm it up very slow, then bring the temperature to around 6oo degrees F. and hold it around there for the refractory to bake for a while.
Driving the moisture out slow is important, too much heat and the moisture inside will try to escape too fast, which can create small explosions of refractory as the moisture expands and has no place to escape fast enough.
The heat needs time to slowly drive the moisture out.
Driving the moisture out slow is important, too much heat and the moisture inside will try to escape too fast, which can create small explosions of refractory as the moisture expands and has no place to escape fast enough.
The heat needs time to slowly drive the moisture out.
