Royally screwed !

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Gwar

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 1, 2022
Messages
259
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Hello, well the good news is that my new Kilo mold and Graphite Crucible arrived today, after pouring a Kilo bar I added another 33 ozt to the furnace, the bad news is that the crucible broke with all that silver inside, so I believe the furnace is burnt toast, when everything cools down, I plan on taking the furnace apart and try to reclaim the 30 plus ounces inside, (sigh) I'm sure I can salvage some of the silver.. I guess I'll work on my silver cell design until I can buy another heat source later this week, maybe that four inch by two-inch-thick circle could be the new Anode ??
 

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My condolences on the crucible, and furnace.

Eulogy:

I need to say that words are not enough to express the grief we feel at your ultimate loss. You were the light of happiness for all of us, which is why we’ll always feel your emptiness. As smelters, we have wanted so many memories of you filled with silver, gold, joy, and humor. we feel honored to have had you in our life for this short amount of time.

The spark in your furnace, and heat was a source of happiness for all of us. We truly believe that you were a pure furnace, and crucible who lived your life with honesty, and generosity. Not only the smelting life, but so many milestones you could've achieved in your professional career as well. All of these things are an inspiration for us to become like you, and achieve the same honorable status in giving life.

Coming to the end, you were indeed a great piece of equipment that will be always missed in our lives. Your nature was very kind, giving us a symbol to adapt in this world, and appreciate the precious metals we are fortunate to hold.
 
Hello, well the good news is that my new Kilo mold and Graphite Crucible arrived today, after pouring a Kilo bar I added another 33 ozt to the furnace, the bad news is that the crucible broke with all that silver inside, so I believe the furnace is burnt toast, when everything cools down, I plan on taking the furnace apart and try to reclaim the 30 plus ounces inside, (sigh) I'm sure I can salvage some of the silver.. I guess I'll work on my silver cell design until I can buy another heat source later this week, maybe that four inch by two-inch-thick circle could be the new Anode ??
You have to be careful when loading crucibles. If you put in pieces of metal to be melted. Those pieces can wedge again each other such that they are tight against the inside of the crucible. Then, when they are heated, they expand much more than the crucible with the result that the crucible fractures because there is nowhere for the expansion to go other than out of the side of the crucible
 
squiggles, I believe that is what happened, so, what choice should I make, try to use in the silver cell, remelt and cement it out or ???
 
squiggles, I believe that is what happened, so, what choice should I make, try to use in the silver cell, remelt and cement it out or ???
Assuming that you want a bar / ingot as the end result.:-
If you can cut up that solid piece of silver that you are left with, as per your photos titled "kilo anode", into pieces. Make sure that each cut piece is no larger than, say, 3/4 the internal diameter of the crucible. Then place these pieces into the crucible by stacking them up on top of each other such that the stack is either central or only lying against just one side of the crucible. Then bring the crucible up to temperature until the silver has melted. Then you should be successful.
 
Well until my new furnace arrives, I thought I would try the silver cell again and with the new power source, I still am not getting enough amps or wattage, I plan on taking it to work and talk with one of our electrical engineers and get a crash course on theory, use, etc; so, I pulled out the old power source and wired it up and the cathode started to grow a small silvery beard, the crystals are not even close to what I was producing a week ago, I did use the same electrolyte, perhaps it's a bit weak or altogether used up ? I will try again tomorrow with a fresh batch.
 

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if you would like i have a stainless steel cathode that fits nicely in a 2L beaker. I used it to produce around 5 kilos before i redesigned, im not using it any more Id be happy to send it to you.
 
Well until my new furnace arrives, I thought I would try the silver cell again and with the new power source, I still am not getting enough amps or wattage, I plan on taking it to work and talk with one of our electrical engineers and get a crash course on theory, use, etc; so, I pulled out the old power source and wired it up and the cathode started to grow a small silvery beard, the crystals are not even close to what I was producing a week ago, I did use the same electrolyte, perhaps it's a bit weak or altogether used up ? I will try again tomorrow with a fresh batch.
If you're still using the same cathode with 10.25 square inches of surface area, then your amps are too low still. Your reading is only at 0.045 Amps, you should adjust your A-Course knob to 1.743 Amps minimum. Your volts of 03.53 is fine.
 
Ams. On that power supply. It works either on constant voltage or constant current. The cv light is lit up. Indicating he’s using constant voltage. The voltage should remain constant at 3.5 v and the amperage will rise till it maxes out the power supply.

He’s not getting amperage because of another reason. Resistance. Connection issue. Etc.

Gwar confirm that you have the a course knob turned fully to the maximum setting.
 
Ams. On that power supply. It works either on constant voltage or constant current. The cv light is lit up. Indicating he’s using constant voltage. The voltage should remain constant at 3.5 v and the amperage will rise till it maxes out the power supply.

He’s not getting amperage because of another reason. Resistance. Connection issue. Etc.

Gwar confirm that you have the a course knob turned fully to the maximum setting.
I went back and looked at the picture just now, you are right it is on CV. That's a weird function. If that's the case, I would change over to CC (Constant Current), and see what the volt number read out would be.

I figured it could've been a resistance, connection, etc. issue as well. I had brought up that up in the past in another post of the OPs, but I do thank you for seconding that as well. It seems to be something drastic that's for sure,
 
This is where I am at as of now, I did switch over to stainless steel bowl, I bought another 208 Canadian dimes and 10ozt of rounds, I may just start a fresh electrolytic solution, it certainly doesn't help my furnace won't be here for a week and I'm heading to Los Angeles for 12 days, kind of bummed out..
 

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what are you using as an anode bag?

There is clearly something wrong, there is no way you should be getting that low of amperage at that voltage.
 
I agree, I talked to an engineer today and he said something is off as well, I wonder if I received a bum power supply ?
 
i doubt it, id say its the bags, sreetips uses dacron cloth bags. I assume thats what your modeling it after. The dacron bags are white, the blue ones are coated with some plastic. i think thats your problem, just for the sake of an experiment. Take another anode basket and take an old tshirt and use that as an anode bag. I think you will be surprised.
 
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