They would be awesome to sell but then I wouldn't have anything to play with! I want shiny gold, not money ![Money-mouth face :money_mouth: 🤑](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f911.png)
![Money-mouth face :money_mouth: 🤑](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f911.png)
You've already played enough with this toy, now it's monotonous work.They would be awesome to sell but then I wouldn't have anything to play with! I want shiny gold, not money![]()
I've read that the sulfuric cell won't strip the inside. 90% of what I have are not solid but hollow and fully plated inside and out.For a quality return on the copper your mix should be 97% copper and 3% other material. Any nickle will foul the electrolyte, and a few other metals as well, but volume of solution and amount of metals can allow for a slightly higher mix of metals. As another method, even a sulfuric stripping cell should work quite well.
i believe most of mine are brass with gold plate. they do have some pain-in-the-butt stainless sleeves on them, but i'm working on removing those.I've read that the sulfuric cell won't strip the inside. 90% of what I have are not solid but hollow and fully plated inside and out.
@Master Nater are yours the same?
Also, some are copper (probably beryllium alloy), some are brass and some are bronze. Would that mess up the stripping cell?
A sulfuric cell won’t work well if the pins are plated inside. The copper cell won’t handle bronze or brass very well, tin and zinc can foul the electrolyte. But, they can be reduced or even removed in the melt with flux’s or in some cases by sparging. Beryllium I am not sure about. Beryllium in pins is pretty rare as I understand it, but not unheard of.I've read that the sulfuric cell won't strip the inside. 90% of what I have are not solid but hollow and fully plated inside and out.
@Master Nater are yours the same?
Also, some are copper (probably beryllium alloy), some are brass and some are bronze. Would that mess up the stripping cell?
all the way to 97%? that seems like a lot of mass to run through a cell just to get the copper out of the original material. can you explain what you mean by "quality return on copper"?For a quality return on the copper your mix should be 97% copper and 3% other material. Any nickle will foul the electrolyte, and a few other metals as well, but volume of solution and amount of metals can allow for a slightly higher mix of metals. As another method, even a sulfuric stripping cell should work quite well.
I have a lot of that style too. Hot dilute sulfuric acid takes those right off leaving the gold plated pins. By hot I mean only around 190 F, that's all my hot plate will do but it sure works slick!i believe most of mine are brass with gold plate. they do have some pain-in-the-butt stainless sleeves on them, but i'm working on removing those.
If you run a high mass of mixed materials, example 75/25 copper to bronze or brass, the amount of metals that can and will foul the electrolyte will cause problems. Some of those problems can be poor electrical conductivity, poor copper quality, excess base metals in your slimes, and others. The excess of nickle, tin or even zinc can go into solution or stay with the slimes depending on several factors. In a very small cell, fouling the electrolyte is the main concern as poor electrical connections. If we have to little copper, the cell will start to produce light, spongy and fluffy copper from poor amp/volts. This can interfere with the ions moving between anode and cathode and leave even more base metals in the slimes. The big plus for copper cells is removing the copper into a means of additional income. Small scale it may not be much, but start moving 100 plus pounds of high quality copper regularly and it adds up quite well. Now the copper that is generally a nuisance is a profit maker. There is way more copper in most electronics than there is gold. We might as well make a salable product of the copper if we are going to use the copper cell besides just gold or pgm’s. By starting to do this small scale as practice the payoff later is time saved and more money made.all the way to 97%? that seems like a lot of mass to run through a cell just to get the copper out of the original material. can you explain what you mean by "quality return on copper"?
the purpose of running the material through the copper cell would be to remove the copper from the original material and get it out of the run, not to make pure copper. then the slimes could then be run through aqua regia to reduce the amount of material that needs to be ran. of course, that questionably pure copper could always be used again to inquart another run of other plated material to bring things to whatever % is necessary to run it through the copper cell again.
please let me know if my thinking is off. 97% just sounds like a lot of mass just to run an electrolytic cell. *fingers crossed*
Have you tried crushing them, brass can be brittle. Smack a couple flat with a hammer ...If you run a high mass of mixed materials, example 75/25 copper to bronze or brass, the amount of metals that can and will foul the electrolyte will cause problems. Some of those problems can be poor electrical conductivity, poor copper quality, excess base metals in your slimes, and others. The excess of nickle, tin or even zinc can go into solution or stay with the slimes depending on several factors. In a very small cell, fouling the electrolyte is the main concern as poor electrical connections. If we have to little copper, the cell will start to produce light, spongy and fluffy copper from poor amp/volts. This can interfere with the ions moving between anode and cathode and leave even more base metals in the slimes. The big plus for copper cells is removing the copper into a means of additional income. Small scale it may not be much, but start moving 100 plus pounds of high quality copper regularly and it adds up quite well. Now the copper that is generally a nuisance is a profit maker. There is way more copper in most electronics than there is gold. We might as well make a salable product of the copper if we are going to use the copper cell besides just gold or pgm’s. By starting to do this small scale as practice the payoff later is time saved and more money made.
I have not tried to break them. Most pins will just flatten out . Some may break, but I haven’t tried much to do so on purpose. Small scale practice you can run a high mix ratio, you will see fouling, but it may not make much difference as the main goal is the pgm’s. Large scale the goal is copper production with a bonus of collecting the pgm’s. The slimes will not be clean even in a good working cell, in a poorly operating cell the slimes become even more dirty. But, the cell in this case is a recovery system, further refining will be needed to remove those base metals. Long term, the longer the electrolyte is cleaner the longer they operate with less input from the user.Have you tried crushing them, brass can be brittle. Smack a couple flat with a hammer ...
i'm not sure what % copper these bars were, but it was not very high. i do not have an XRF to test. they are simply some smelted silver-plated copper that i have hung in this copper cell. yes, i know how terrible they turned out. i'm working on getting better at the smelting process.If you run a high mass of mixed materials, example 75/25 copper to bronze or brass, the amount of metals that can and will foul the electrolyte will cause problems. Some of those problems can be poor electrical conductivity, poor copper quality, excess base metals in your slimes, and others. The excess of nickle, tin or even zinc can go into solution or stay with the slimes depending on several factors. In a very small cell, fouling the electrolyte is the main concern as poor electrical connections. If we have to little copper, the cell will start to produce light, spongy and fluffy copper from poor amp/volts. This can interfere with the ions moving between anode and cathode and leave even more base metals in the slimes. The big plus for copper cells is removing the copper into a means of additional income. Small scale it may not be much, but start moving 100 plus pounds of high quality copper regularly and it adds up quite well. Now the copper that is generally a nuisance is a profit maker. There is way more copper in most electronics than there is gold. We might as well make a salable product of the copper if we are going to use the copper cell besides just gold or pgm’s. By starting to do this small scale as practice the payoff later is time saved and more money made.
thank you for taking time out of your day, to help. it is much appreciated.A bit short on time so a quick reply ...
I use filter bags to catch the slimes in as it avoids mixing them in with other contaminants (somewhat). Simple non woven nylon or polyester bags glued together with hot glue works well. Unbleached Muslim cloth should work also. I used a tooth brush or a small parts brush in stainless steel to scrub the clingy stuff off but didn't put it back into the electrolyte. Since your copper has already played out of solution I would just make up a new batch and clean off the anodes before starting again. Since your already trying it for yourself and have see the problems first hand you might remelt them as well.
weight the anodes, add that weight in copper to it and remelt it. This way you can see the difference for yourself how the volume of copper changes things.
outstanding! i like the idea of a single anodes hanging by their own attachment, with it's own anode-bag catching it's own sediment. thank you for sharing an outstanding design.Here you can see the bags I made for my old cell. I still use these same type bags.
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/electrolytic-copper-refining-cell.24397/post-274435
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