My first AP process with fingers

[ilikesilver]

1 lb of mixed fingers. ram/boards/all different types

appropriate chemicals

one large coffee pot/pulled the cheap plastic lid off and used a ceramic plate on top

filled the fingers just over the top of the fingers with muratic acid, then added peroxide till it started to fiz. muratic acid is NOT the smart or green stuff.

here are some pics

i just let it set, i did heat it up for 15 mins on a hotplate outdoors just to get a good reaction going, i have not added a air pump bubbler yet, i will for the next batch.

 

[ilikesilver]

so two weeks have gone by and thru the magic of photography, ive decided to clean out all the board sections that have had there gold fallen off. i will filter the fluid and just wash the gold foils for now with water. Ive taken out all the bare boards and now i will dry the boards that still have gold on them, because they water on them. then i will restart the process with the boards again.

 

[yar]

I may be wayyyyy off here but from what I have been reading if you gave the boards a stir and agitate the solution the remainder of the fingers will come off the boards. I think you are wasting chemicals and time doing it the way you are doing it. Like I said i may be wayyy off base but it just didn't sound right to me. Sorry if I am sticking my nose where it doesn't belong yet.

 

[ilikesilver]

I may be wayyyyy off here but from what I have been reading if you gave the boards a stir and agitate the solution the remainder of the fingers will come off the boards. I think you are wasting chemicals and time doing it the way you are doing it. Like I said i may be wayyy off base but it just didn't sound right to me. Sorry if I am sticking my nose where it doesn't belong yet.

No your right, some will come off, but not all, some you can take and just hit with your tweezers/plastic only/ and they will come right off also. but remember, i didnt use a bubbler at all on this batch, just stirred them up every other day to mix a little then set again for two weeks. This is the REALLY slow way of doing it. I could have just let them keep going, but this is really my first batch and wanted to see how long it was going to take but letting them sit with no bubbler, well i lasted for two weeks, and now will get a bubbler tomorrow. Ive still have over half of the original batch to do, and another larger batch waiting so i want to get these done, and then work on pins. will try and post some pics tomorrow night, i so far have taken all the loose gold out and is currently soaking in water. Ive restarted the original batch again, will add some more chem's, not much, heat it for a bit and add the bubbler tomorrow.

 

[kkmonte]

The bubbler will help mostly at cold temperatures. The problem with doing it the way you are doing it is how are you going to separate the fingers? Pull each of them out with tweezers? Check out lasersteve's website for video's, the way most people do it is to get a smaller bucket inside of a larger bucket (i use a 2 gal inside a 5 gal), drill holes in the smaller bucket (all over the bottom), and put fingers in the inside bucket, that way you can agitate it by pulling the inside bucket up, giving them a shake and dropping them back inside the acid. After a few days, the acid should be a pretty dark green if everything is working correctly. How much peroxide did you add (in relation to the acid?) ? Steve suggests adding half as much peroxide as you have acid (measure the acid as you are adding it). Also by doing it this way, you can reuse your AP solution for probably 20+ lbs of fingers by just having a bubbler going occasionally. I've done about 7 lbs of fingers and my solution is still working great (only up to about ~2 gallons total right now).

Ken

 

[Geo]

ilikesilver, patience grasshopper.good things come to those that wait. your AP solution isnt saturated until the solution is almost black. by restarting the process, you may be dissolving gold as you add the fresh H2O2. dont be over anxious and let the chemicals do their job.all the foils will come loose in the amount of chemicals you had. since your doing it in a coffee pot, you can also warm the solution and speed things up quite a bit.

 

[squarecoinman]

patience grasshopper.good things come to those that wait.

I have not hear that since mid seventies , but it brought back lots of memories

scm

 

[ilikesilver]

ilikesilver, patience grasshopper.good things come to those that wait. your AP solution isnt saturated until the solution is almost black. by restarting the process, you may be dissolving gold as you add the fresh H2O2. dont be over anxious and let the chemicals do their job.all the foils will come loose in the amount of chemicals you had. since your doing it in a coffee pot, you can also warm the solution and speed things up quite a bit.

actually, Geo, thats exactly what i did, warmed it up slowly on my hotplate to speed up the process, the reason i did stop doing it was because the fluid was to the point black. So with all the reading i have done, im on the right track. And temp wise, its still pretty cool here in vermont. Buckets, yeah i will probably pick up the buckets and try it that way, but for now, im happy with the way im doing it and its working, and im in no hurry.

 

[ilikesilver]

The bubbler will help mostly at cold temperatures. The problem with doing it the way you are doing it is how are you going to separate the fingers? Pull each of them out with tweezers? Check out lasersteve's website for video's, the way most people do it is to get a smaller bucket inside of a larger bucket (i use a 2 gal inside a 5 gal), drill holes in the smaller bucket (all over the bottom), and put fingers in the inside bucket, that way you can agitate it by pulling the inside bucket up, giving them a shake and dropping them back inside the acid. After a few days, the acid should be a pretty dark green if everything is working correctly. How much peroxide did you add (in relation to the acid?) ? Steve suggests adding half as much peroxide as you have acid (measure the acid as you are adding it). Also by doing it this way, you can reuse your AP solution for probably 20+ lbs of fingers by just having a bubbler going occasionally. I've done about 7 lbs of fingers and my solution is still working great (only up to about ~2 gallons total right now).

Ken

for now yes, im separating them with tweezers, buckets are fine, but remember im only doing one pound at a time, buckets for me would be overkill. the coffee pot method is working fine, just slower.

 

[kkmonte]

The bubbler will help mostly at cold temperatures. The problem with doing it the way you are doing it is how are you going to separate the fingers? Pull each of them out with tweezers? Check out lasersteve's website for video's, the way most people do it is to get a smaller bucket inside of a larger bucket (i use a 2 gal inside a 5 gal), drill holes in the smaller bucket (all over the bottom), and put fingers in the inside bucket, that way you can agitate it by pulling the inside bucket up, giving them a shake and dropping them back inside the acid. After a few days, the acid should be a pretty dark green if everything is working correctly. How much peroxide did you add (in relation to the acid?) ? Steve suggests adding half as much peroxide as you have acid (measure the acid as you are adding it). Also by doing it this way, you can reuse your AP solution for probably 20+ lbs of fingers by just having a bubbler going occasionally. I've done about 7 lbs of fingers and my solution is still working great (only up to about ~2 gallons total right now).

Ken

for now yes, im separating them with tweezers, buckets are fine, but remember im only doing one pound at a time, buckets for me would be overkill. the coffee pot method is working fine, just slower.

I only do 1 pound at a time and I couldn't imagine doing it the way you are. Once you do the buckets, you'll see how much easier it is. Also, you should be leaving the fingers in the solution until they come out nice and plain plastic (with no copper/gold/etc.) on them. Is that what you are doing?

 

[ilikesilver]

The bubbler will help mostly at cold temperatures. The problem with doing it the way you are doing it is how are you going to separate the fingers? Pull each of them out with tweezers? Check out lasersteve's website for video's, the way most people do it is to get a smaller bucket inside of a larger bucket (i use a 2 gal inside a 5 gal), drill holes in the smaller bucket (all over the bottom), and put fingers in the inside bucket, that way you can agitate it by pulling the inside bucket up, giving them a shake and dropping them back inside the acid. After a few days, the acid should be a pretty dark green if everything is working correctly. How much peroxide did you add (in relation to the acid?) ? Steve suggests adding half as much peroxide as you have acid (measure the acid as you are adding it). Also by doing it this way, you can reuse your AP solution for probably 20+ lbs of fingers by just having a bubbler going occasionally. I've done about 7 lbs of fingers and my solution is still working great (only up to about ~2 gallons total right now).

Ken

for now yes, im separating them with tweezers, buckets are fine, but remember im only doing one pound at a time, buckets for me would be overkill. the coffee pot method is working fine, just slower.

I only do 1 pound at a time and I couldn't imagine doing it the way you are. Once you do the buckets, you'll see how much easier it is. Also, you should be leaving the fingers in the solution until they come out nice and plain plastic (with no copper/gold/etc.) on them. Is that what you are doing?

yeah i didnt pull out anything that wasnt spotless. everything else is back in the bath. tim

 

[jmdlcar]

Can you post picture and the amount of foil you got? Can you post picture of the powder and the amount of powder?

Jack

 

[jmdlcar]

ilikesilver, patience grasshopper.good things come to those that wait. your AP solution isnt saturated until the solution is almost black. by restarting the process, you may be dissolving gold as you add the fresh H2O2. dont be over anxious and let the chemicals do their job.all the foils will come loose in the amount of chemicals you had. since your doing it in a coffee pot, you can also warm the solution and speed things up quite a bit.

Geo, is a temp of 140° F to hot hot and do it for 1 hour?

Jack

 

[Geo]

it should not boil and the volume of fluids should not go below half of what you start with. as the volume of solution drops, you will begin losing acid due to evaporation so keep adding water to keep the volume steady.

time needed varies but an hour is a bit short. it can definitely be done in an afternoon with good stirring.

 

[kkmonte]

it should not boil and the volume of fluids should not go below half of what you start with. as the volume of solution drops, you will begin losing acid due to evaporation so keep adding water to keep the volume steady.

time needed varies but an hour is a bit short. it can definitely be done in an afternoon with good stirring.

Wouldn't you lose water and actually concentrate the acid?

 

[Geo]

Wouldn't you lose water and actually concentrate the acid?

absolutely. thats why you want to keep the volume as constant as you can and not let the volume get low. if you start with 32% hcl, any evaporation will lose acid unless you add water before you start the process. be careful with the fumes emitted while heating.

 

[ilikesilver]

Can you post picture and the amount of foil you got? Can you post picture of the powder and the amount of powder?

Jack

Yes i will be posting pictures, I did a complete cleanout today while it was nice out. But i was also, clipping more for another run, in my new improved bucket within a bucket. It came with the holes and even handles. wow...

I washed my foils clean and heated on low heat on my hot plate for a while till the water was almost gone, couple spoon fulls let, then let it evaporate in the sun while it was cooling, worked out good. didnt want my coffee pot to break getting it to hot. but by the time it was done, it was getting dark, so i will take pictures tomorrow. I will take pictures of my new fangled bucket within a bucket contraption also. lol

 

[ilikesilver]

started a new batch today, 3 to 1 ratio, 1 pd of mixed fingers, a few ounces of sim cards, and thee small gold laden boards from phones. everything was depopulated off the phone boards. this is a batch in my new fangled bucket within a bucket, holes and all, will post results tomorrow. later

 

[ilikesilver]

so a long day of work yesterday, and a long day of work today, had my first real bbq of the spring season *steak of course*.yum Here are the pictures i promised. checked everything out tonight, picked some bare boards out of the bucket and swished it up, should be done by tomorrow.

 

[ilikesilver]

just one extra pic i took