Need a little help with my cell

[louis488]

Hi,
I could use a little help with my cell. I know this is going to sound crazy but for some reason I can not get cpu lids to strip. I have tried gold plated connectors and pins and a few earrings and they have striped just fine.

OK my set up is lead cathode, copper mesh anode. Liquid lightning and DieHard charger.

Also there is a lot of black matter in my rinse water, could this be gold?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[butcher]

The black powder can be gold, make sure the sulfuric is concentrated and water is not involved, or this would also attack base metals like copper.

Is your copper basket getting in the way (between anode and cathode).
Is your power source actually creating a current in the circuit of your cell?
Are you sure the material your stripping is gold and not some form of brass?

I am not sure what your asking besides it did work but is not working now, (not enough details in your question), can you give more details or clues as to why you believe it is not working, or something that may give us a clue to your problem?

 

[louis488]

Thank you for your quick reply.

As far as the acid goes SPECIFIC GRAVITY (H2O=1): 1.843 I copied this off the MSDS and it is labeled virgin sulfuric acid.
The cell didn't stop working but just will not strip a cpu lid. I just put a drop of some 22k test acid on one of the lids and there was no reaction. I found a few more gold plated connectors and put them in with 2 lids the connectors striped down to the copper in a few seconds and the lids don't look any different

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Did you incinerate the lids?

Sometimes the lids have a protective layer, like a soldering mask. I have had a few like what you are describing. Also, they sometimes have a greasy kind of heat sink catalyst/glue to both keep the heat sink attached and to facilitate heat from the CPU to the heat sink better. If either of these are on your CPU lid, it could be preventing the sulfuric acid from attacking the gold plate.

I would give it a good soak in Lye/Sodium Hydroxide solution then rinse it real good, and finally incinerate to remove anything left over, then put into your cell.

It sounds like your cell solution of sulfuric acid is concentrated enough to remove the gold plate from other material, so I would rule that out and focus on the lids.

Also, are you sure they are gold plated and not gold painted? I have heard of people buying gold plated CPU's off eBay only to find someone else has already recovered the gold, and then painted the caps with some type of gold paint. I am not sure what type of paint would hold up under sulfuric acid, but I guess that could also be a possibility if you are doing an acid scratch test, and it's negative.

Scott

 

[butcher]

I agree with Scott, good answer, incineration of the lid would also strip any paint if for some reason that is what you had.

I incinerate most any materials I recover or refine; the benefits just pay off in so many ways, later in the process.

Sulfuric acid loves water it will suck water from the surrounding air, or wherever it can, I am not saying yours is dilute, but if your cell has set long enough the acid can become dilute, a lid on your cell when not in use can help keep the concentration up.

 

[louis488]

Thanks so much I am going to washing with lye and then incinerating them. I don't think there forged for lack of a better term because they were attached to chip that were attached to a board when I got them.