Successful screen basket for cell!

[socorban]

I know in one of these posts steve mentioned about a basket style screen for using a cell. I have rigged one together tonight that has been very successful so far. It has minor draw backs but beats stripping each items individually, especially for pins. I was able to strip a half pound of 2" long pins in less tahn 20 minutes, were stripping them one by one would take me about 2 hours.

Hopefully this picture loads right, now this isnt a beauty pagent winner its just a rough design i slapped together in about 5 minutes to see if i could tweek it to work. Now that i found it will on a small scale i am going to make one more durable.

With this im able to strip about 25 pins at a time, its takes about 7 to 10 seconds to strip them, right now its in the wash tub cause im taking a short break.

The pins must all be able to touch the stainless steel mesh somewhere, so i just lay them out across the bottom, so far its working nicely.

 

[lazersteve]

Great work Socorban!

Thanks for the post.

I've been using SS screen mesh from drop in drain strainers for several months now ( get them at Bed Bath and Beyond ). They work but, I want MORE!
Just remember the least amount of SS you have to submerge in the cell the better.

In my free time (HA!) I'm working on even more efficient anode forms. I will share these ideas with the forum members.

Steve

 

[socorban]

yes i love the screen, when in the cell ( its in the wash tub in the picture) its barely submerged, the outer rims just breaks the surface and the botom rest about a lil over a 1/4 inch under the surface. Its been working very well, now i plan to make a more sturdy design now that the "prototype" worked out.

I'll be lookin forward to you smelting slide show as well!

Thanks

 

[jmelson]

I know in one of these posts steve mentioned about a basket style screen for using a cell. I have rigged one together tonight that has been very successful so far.

With this im able to strip about 25 pins at a time, its takes about 7 to 10 seconds to strip them, right now its in the wash tub cause im taking a short break.

So, is the screen eventually consumed, or does it last a long time? Where did you het this screen material? Do you know which stainless alloy it is?

Thanks,

 

[socorban]

Well steve said you can get them a bath and body works although i havnt gone into one of those. I just cut up an old stainless steel food strainer. used stainless stell alligator clips and copper wires for the hangers.

As you can see the design is crude i just wanted to test it, now that it works im gonna make a more sturdy design. To my knowledge the stainless stell is not consumed as long as you always keep the parts submerged in distilled water between uses and clean. I have been using the same alligator clips for a while and they are in good health as long as i take care of them other wise they build up crud.

 

[lazersteve]

Yes it does corrode SS away, but very slowly. I've had to replace many a set of miniature hemostats due to this corrosion.

As mentioned by socorban, it will last longer if taken care of properly.

Steve

 

[eemtek]

did you try graphite? Take a graphite plate 1" deep, hollow it out so that is has .5" sides then use a 1/8-1/16 drillbit and make lots of holes in the bottom. on one of the sides, make the wall 1", then drill a hole and insert a graphite rod very snugly. connect your wire at the top of the rod. now you have an electric scoop that should outlast you.
my problem lacking time is the placement of the other electrode. I use graphite myself, but more lean to lead. anyone have an idea which is better?

now I've sent some good info. I'm looking for better acid solutions than plane sulfuric acid for de-plating the gold.

post your results thanks

 

[sandhog]

I use glycerin and sulfuric acid.

 

[lazersteve]

The biggest drawback to using graphite is that it rapidly corrodes into your cell. The electricity will chew thru the graphite in short order. You end up with a lot of carbon in your gold (they both appear as black powder in the cell!).

As an experiment mix up a saturated solution of normal (non-iodide) salt water and put a 9V battery hooked up to 2 pencil leads into the cell. You will quickly see what I mean. The pencil leads will dissolve as the current is passed.


Steve

 

[eemtek]

try it, I've been doing it for some time, and there is not even signs of pitting on the rods

 

[lazersteve]

EE,

Please post some photos of your setup so the forum can see what you've come up with.. it sounds interesting.


Steve

 

[Fever]

Any more "advanced" versions of these baskets being experimented with? Seems like a great way to do pins and other small scrap. Just wondering if anyone has come up with anything new and successful....

Fever

 

[Harold_V]

Any more "advanced" versions of these baskets being experimented with? Seems like a great way to do pins and other small scrap. Just wondering if anyone has come up with anything new and successful....

Fever

This shouldn't really be an issue. Copper will make a basket that lasts indefinitely. Copper won't dissolve in sulfuric. The cell I witnessed back in the 70's used a copper basket, and literally tens of thousands of troy ounces of gold had been recovered.

Harold

 

[Fever]

Sounds good Harold, but I haven't seen too many copper screens. Any ideas where I could find a source? Also, I would think the conductivity would increase with copper vs. stainless, so this sounds like a great suggestion!

Fever

 

[Harold_V]

Non-ferrous metal supply houses should be a source. Copper screen is available, or at least it used to be. I have some, in fact, although not a lot. I believe it's the remnant from the basket I made for a large stripping cell that was never put in operation.

If you have trouble locating the screen, do a Google for it---and also check Alaskan Copper as a source. Don't know that they do or don't have it, but they are a large supplier of copper alloys to the manufacturing industries.

Harold

 

[Fever]

Thanks for the tips Harold. I'll look into getting some of this material. If I find it, I'll post my results...

Fever

EDIT

I found this stuff online. Looks like the kind of stuff I could work with. It is 100% copper according to the source. AND... They're only 30 minutes away from where I live! :wink:

These guys have some excellent options for various mesh materials, including lots of different alloys: http://www.twpinc.com/twpinc/control/home

 

[fafrd]

yea it looks good but what are u going to do with 75$ of copper mesh screen it sounds like we as a group need to pitch in and buy about 10 square feet of it so everyone can get some with out going broke just an idea then u need to decide what size would needed

 

[lazersteve]

I'm willing to buy the inital lot of it outright if I get enough interest from the members. I'm curious about using the stuff myself as well. I'll look into the pricing and post some on my website at cost when I get it if you guys are serious about it.

Steve

 

[Fever]

Yea, it's a shame they only sell it in such large quantity. I called them and asked if they had "scraps" they would be willing to sell on a will call basis. Their reaction wasn't very warm.....

I'd be interested in chipping in for a small sheet of this stuff. Anybody else?

Fever

 

[lazersteve]

I just bought a 15 foot roll. It's coming UPS ground. I'll let you guys know when it comes in.

Steve