newby first step

[Geo]

this is the first i hear of this and again this seems a whole lot less expensive than the process i`ve been studying (ar) i`ll be sure todo this, thanks a lot for your help it`s realy apreciated. when you mention the spray bottles it`s to rince the filter from the outside so as to keep the junk inside the filter, and that rince is added to the auric chlauride solution before dropping the gold or is it to keep the fizzing down or is it incase you get some acid-clorox on you or all of the above :?: the smb is sodium metabisulfite :?: if thats what it is i got some from a wine making supply store, they use it to wash the bottles, this should be sufficient right. i also have a bottle of sodium bisulfate (a instead of i) is this a similar product as smb :?: also tommorow i`m going to buy about 30 to 40 pounds of main boards, i told the guy i would give 4.30 $ a pound like pc board sort (i think i have the name right)does on his web site, i hope i`m doing the right thing

the spray bottle is for rinsing.any time you transfer material or solution from one container to another use the spray bottle to rinse the residue into the receiving container and to rinse residue from your filter and are just handy to have around. :lol: if you have floating foils the mist spray will knock them to the bottom quick.yes,rinse the filter with the spray bottle into your receiving container after you've poured all your solution through.the fizzing happens only as you add clorox and last only a couple of seconds.sodium metabisulfite not sulfate,big difference.sodium metabisulfite will precipitate gold and metabisulfate will only make a mess.be sure to inspect those boards as people will sell depopulated boards(boards with the components removed)without informing you before hand.if its from PC's the term is mother boards.

 

[callicom]

if the memories and processors are out thats normal or should they still be on there :?:

 

[Geo]

memory cards are recovered as memory and are seldom scrapped so missing memory cards are to be expected,CPU's is where most of the gold on a mother board is at.its hard to say if one board is worth more than another but the older the board the thicker the gold plating is.so an older board without a CPU can still have more gold than a more modern board with one.with gold on the rise i would say it sounds like a decent investment.personally i pay $5.00 apiece for whole computers but where i live scrap yards will not buy scrap that contains circuit boards of any kind.good for me.

 

[callicom]

well that`s good to have something in your favour, what do you do to get the computers do you advertise of some sort :?:

 

[dtectr]

Sodium bisulfate is a precursor (right phrase?) or less reactive substitute for sulfuric acid. if you have done jewelry fab or repair, gold or silver, it is the same as Sparex 2. It is not the same as "Sodium bisulfite.

The wine store stuff should work, though I'm unfamiliar with it, personally. Get the product name and do a "Google" search for "[product name] MSDS" (material safety data sheet). It should provide percentage of SMB, as well as other additives that should be addressed in processing.

 

[Geo]

well that`s good to have something in your favour, what do you do to get the computers do you advertise of some sort :?:

word of mouth mostly.spending some time at scrap yards and letting people know that you pay for something the scrap yard wont buy (especially the people i call alley runners),the people that collect scrap from alley ways and dumpsters for a living.since the scrap yards wont buy computers most of them will just leave them in the trash but if they know they can sell them for a few dollars they will collect them for awhile till they have enough to sell and either call me or even bring them to me.i only pay $5.00 if they still have the CPU and HD,the more parts that are missing the less i pay.for other machines with electronics its per piece.medical equipment and military equipment has the most PM's as all the connections have to be fail-safe so the gold is very much thicker than PC's.also there are other precious metals in a PC besides gold,palladium being the other more common PM in a PC.this metal is located in the very small components that are soldered directly to the face of the board and dont have legs that go through the board and are called monolithic ceramic capacitors.normally found directlly behind(or underneath)components called flatpacks on opposite side of the board they are also found opposite the CPU.small and rectangular ranging in color from black to gray to brown and sometimes as small as a grain of sand.collect these components and hoard them till you have enough to warrant processing them.MCC's have been discussed at length on the forum so do a search for more information.

 

[callicom]

i have about 10 boards in the barn that i cut the pins off i`ll go check them for these mcc`s and stick them in a mason jar. when i get a board i cut off all the card plug ins and pins even the spot where the cpu plugs in, all the jacks too, the pins in them have a good plating

 

[callicom]

thanks to geo i just started an ap bath with about half a pound of material. i got the pump and green stones, i was wondering if the green stone will last the whole seven to ten days :?: also i looked and in fact the boards have them ceramic little rectangles, also some of my older looking boards don`t have them but instead have little beige looking saussage shape things are those good also :?: i don`t have an exess amount of time so i`m not sure if i should collect these :mrgreen:

 

[Geo]

ive always used the black stones so not sure about the green ones.of coarse collect and store the ceramics but without a picture of the others i really cant give an opinion on them.it sounds like a resistor though which as far as i know contains no PM's.take one and crush it then dissolve in nitric,it shouldnt take much,make it 50/50 nitric and water about 6 ml then test with stannous chloride if a rainbow shows up your in business.

 

[callicom]

yea thats sounds like a sure way to find out for the ceramics. about the ap, for half a pound i put half gallon of hydrochlauric and one third of a bottle of peroxide, after 3 hours i looked and the metal is turned black, is this what was to expect :?:

 

[Geo]

yea thats sounds like a sure way to find out for the ceramics. about the ap, for half a pound i put half gallon of hydrochlauric and one third of a bottle of peroxide, after 3 hours i looked and the metal is turned black, is this what was to expect :?:

yep.you shouldnt see loose flake for a few days.the black is the small amount of solder on your pins.it poses no problem to the process.

 

[callicom]

thanks for the help, i`ll keep posting an update it might help the next guy that comes around. :mrgreen:

 

[callicom]

day one ap- the liquid is turning light see through yellow and bubbling away :mrgreen:

 

[callicom]

day three the solution is getting a darker green and the pins are all black from i assume the acid working on them to dissolve. it`s a very slow process compared to nitric therefore you get an odor but not the thick brown vapor that you get from nitric, it`s still not something you would do inside i guess unless you had a hood.

 

[Geo]

yea.hydrogen chloride is the white mist you see coming from the acid.dont breathe these fumes.AP is a slow process but speed doesnt always win the race.how much it cost you to win quickly may outweigh the cost of slow and steady.i thought i had done something wrong when i first did pins in AP because it took so long but imagine my surprise when i picked up the bucket and swirled the solution and gold sparkled all in it.

 

[callicom]

i took a couple puffs by accident and it`s not pleasant at all :| i was wondering if i should move the pins around a little or push them over the bubbling area or if i just leave it as is without disruption :?:

 

[Geo]

agitation speeds the process.rotate your reaction chamber in a sudden motion back and forth a couple of times a day to move the pins around,but not so violently to cause a spill.i do this with the wire handle on my bucket.

 

[jimdoc]

Somebody mentioned that you should cut off the wire handles on your buckets when using them to refine. The fumes will rust them to the point they can't be trusted, so you should remove them to avoid an accident. I cut them off my buckets.

Jim

 

[Geo]

Somebody mentioned that you should cut off the wire handles on your buckets when using them to refine. The fumes will rust them to the point they can't be trusted, so you should remove them to avoid an accident. I cut them off my buckets.

Jim

good point.but im not very monogamous when it comes to my buckets,if i see the handle rusting badly i use it for other purposes and grab another bucket.and too i buy new buckets with lids and knew the fumes would be bad so i put vents with tubing to vent gases away.for the AP on fingers both buckets have the handles removed.

 

[goldsilverpro]

For whatever it is worth, I've been using 5 gallon plastic buckets for at least 35 years and have never, never, ever had a handle (called a bail) rust and fail - not once that I can remember. I never cut them off and always use them to handle the bucket. I trust them implicitly and, to me, they are safer to handle when using the bail, even when pretty full. So, what am I doing differently? Your guess is as good as mine. One answer I can think of is that I have always used them in a good fume hood. I also stay away from the crappy orange ones from Home Depot or any other colored ones. I do like the graduated translucent ones from Loews - accurate and handy for measurements.