bloodmoneybullion
Member
Hello gents, I've been experimenting with my silver cells and I'm running in to a few problems but can't isolate the cause. Once I know the causes I feel like it would be easier to research and find the solutions.
Problem 1: my crystals look pure when harvested but when melted down and verified they test a little higher than 925 which means no refining happened at all.
Problem 2: I've had two cells now where crystals grew to a certain point and then turned into a cloudy milky particulate and crystal growth stopped.
Problem 4: underneath my anode baskets a large stringy ratts best looking crystal growth starts and eventually shorts out on the anode baskets leading to impure crystal in problem number 1.
Now for the stats. I run 3 cells at once 2 4.5l cells and one 3.5l cell. The two larger ones are ran by 10 amp DC power supplies set to 3 v CC amps usually run between .5 and 1.8 except in the event of a short where it jumps to 10 and I know my batch is ruined. The smaller cell is run off a 5 amp DC power supply set to 3.5 amps. Of the 4.5 and 3.5l cells 4 and 3l respectfully of electrolyte. The electrolyte started out at about 150g/l but I suspect that has fallen significantly and has now saturated with base metals and copper.
I have cleaned the anode filters but they still gunk up rather quickly. My plan moving forward subject to change upon advice given here, I'm going to start one cell with fresh electrolyte and shoot for 300 grams per liter and run 925 sterling through it. 3v as before harvesting frequently to prevent shorts. I'm going to add a 10 amp online fuse to the positive line Incase of anode baskets contact. I'm going to take the harvested material from the first cell and melt it into shot and run it through a second cell with the same specs repeat and run a third time to harvest.
My hope is that I can tell just how pure the crystal is getting by the difference in color of the electrolyte and shot produced as well as the amount of slimes in the anode baskets. With a final result of atleast 3 9s fine silver.
Am I missing something and can I make my plan better?
Problem 1: my crystals look pure when harvested but when melted down and verified they test a little higher than 925 which means no refining happened at all.
Problem 2: I've had two cells now where crystals grew to a certain point and then turned into a cloudy milky particulate and crystal growth stopped.
Problem 4: underneath my anode baskets a large stringy ratts best looking crystal growth starts and eventually shorts out on the anode baskets leading to impure crystal in problem number 1.
Now for the stats. I run 3 cells at once 2 4.5l cells and one 3.5l cell. The two larger ones are ran by 10 amp DC power supplies set to 3 v CC amps usually run between .5 and 1.8 except in the event of a short where it jumps to 10 and I know my batch is ruined. The smaller cell is run off a 5 amp DC power supply set to 3.5 amps. Of the 4.5 and 3.5l cells 4 and 3l respectfully of electrolyte. The electrolyte started out at about 150g/l but I suspect that has fallen significantly and has now saturated with base metals and copper.
I have cleaned the anode filters but they still gunk up rather quickly. My plan moving forward subject to change upon advice given here, I'm going to start one cell with fresh electrolyte and shoot for 300 grams per liter and run 925 sterling through it. 3v as before harvesting frequently to prevent shorts. I'm going to add a 10 amp online fuse to the positive line Incase of anode baskets contact. I'm going to take the harvested material from the first cell and melt it into shot and run it through a second cell with the same specs repeat and run a third time to harvest.
My hope is that I can tell just how pure the crystal is getting by the difference in color of the electrolyte and shot produced as well as the amount of slimes in the anode baskets. With a final result of atleast 3 9s fine silver.
Am I missing something and can I make my plan better?
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