Silver Recovery

From the aluminum copper rads i cut and save the ends that have been silver soldered, plus any other joints i find.

Later on I will melt these into what is basically a copper anode 95 percent copper with the remainder - other which could be silver, iron etc.

Using an electrolyte made from sulfuric acid and copper sulfate, a small transformer in this case an old plating power supply from a plating shop. i will recover the copper at the cathode as pure copper while the silver and other metals will settle out as anode sludge, if you put a cloth bag over the anode it makes it much easier to collect.

The anode sludge will be dried and roasted then either melted into another anode this time the anode would be 95 percent silver then refined in a silver cell using silver nitrate as the electrolyte or I could treat the anode slimes chemically to recover the silver.

When I'm finished with the electrolyte or it becomes to fouled I can recover the silver by hanging some scrap copper into the electrolyte the silver will cement out then I can filter and save the good stuff - silver.

You can cement the copper out using scrap aluminum or iron, then use this copper in another anode to bring the copper content up to 95 percent to reclaim scrap silver.

Anytime your electro-refining you must start with an almost pure anode.









Regards
Gustavus

How many "ends" does it take to make this worth while? I have been interested in the refining of pm's for a while but too many things to do now. Interesting thread, Mike.

Originally Posted by miked

How many "ends" does it take to make this worth while? I have been interested in the refining of pm's for a while but too many things to do now. Interesting thread, Mike.

Mike it is impossible to say how many ends it would take to may a troy ounce of silver, factory joints from early evaporators and condensers I've seen lots of silver. where as technology improves the use of precious metals is much less but still there.

Where the capillary tubes co join there could be an ounce or more, I've had evaporators with two sets of capillary joints. Anything with a sporlan expansion valve valve would be older stuff.

I believe that silfoss used for copper to copper joints is about 20 or 30 percent silver, while silver solder used for copper to steel joints is much higher.

With silver prices going stratospheric - save it regardless.

I noticed that we have a refrigeration tech on board, maybe he is able to shed some light onto your question. I'm 30 years out of date, still thinking in yesterdays terms.

Regards
Gustavus

http://www.goldrecovery.us/
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/...ff8cf27c846ca9
Here's two good sites dealing with refining, a lot more experts on there than here.

Couple of the small yards I go to, whenever I see a copper / aluminum rads I offer to cut the metal ends off in exchange for the copper elbows. Once the metal ends have been removed the value has just increased for the yard owner. as well my own personal wealth.

I use a sawzall, if any tin is facing the wrong may out comes my Estwing hammer to clear the way.

Regards
Gustavus

When I melted the copper elbows that had remnants of silver solder I took advantage of using the copper as a collector to scavenge other precious metals. looking at the wire connection on the anode this was the color of the whole anode before it was introduced into the cell.

After a couple of days you can clearly see the gold clinging to the surface of my anode, the gold will eventually fall off as black mud and settle to the bottom of the cell along with the silver.

Same anode after 10 days in the cell which now weighs 1 3/4 lbs, judging by the color of the gold I would say it's running around 10k.

In the picture below I have removed the silver contacts from an oven thermostat from a pre - electronic electric range. The contacts are solid buttons not plated, it's my estimate from an electric range there is over an ounce of silver if you include the thermostats from the heating elements.

Otto from that dishwasher grab the timer, inside more silver contacts. Yea the fun part removing the little bastards. First time I did it picking each one off with a pair of pliers, 2nd batch rigged up my bench grinder with a water spray with a box under it to catch the silver, 3rd time feed everything through a hammer mill.

I'm working on my summer collection right now, removing as much iron and plastic as I can by hand before shredding in the hammer mill.

I realize that not everyone has a hammer mill, not much I can do about that, purchased the two I have from hog farms.

Thermostats from refrigerators, freezers,air conditioners, humidifiers, electric ranges, hot water tanks toasters ,coffee pots, frying pans, electric motor overload protectors, motor start relays, circuit breakers, relays from under the hood of your car or truck, washing machines, dryers the list is endless.

I apologize for high jacking your thread olddude.

Most things i;ve learned in the trades of life i;ve learned in a hard bound book thanks for the confimation. wb.

The copper cell keeps working while I play doing other things.

On each side of the cell is an anode connected to the positive side of a DC power supply, on center is the cathode, negative. The anode to began its life as a mixture of copper and silver, the copper is plating out onto the cathode leaving the silver behind as mud on the bottom of the cell.

No dangerous chemicals or high voltages to work with, simple and easy. The scrap yard buys my cathode copper as number 2, silver sells just below spot.

I'm really keen to start refining copper & silver using a plating bath & a generator powered by a small windmill.
8 Foot high or such.

I have about 50Kg of black & green solid that I have washed off burnt copper wire, planning on converting it back to copper & then maybe looking into the silver side of things.

I did make a tiny electroplating plant from a 'solar powered garden light' I found.
It did what I thought it would. Plated solidly. A 7/8th square copper ingot.

Then when I went to using a transformer, it blew out, dunno about using it 24hrs a day, hence the windmill.

Any suggestions? I think the Anode should be Titanium, or under the copper oxide in the bottom of the tub.
Maybe a stirrer in there as well?

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

I'm really keen to start refining copper & silver using a plating bath & a generator powered by a small windmill.
8 Foot high or such.

I have about 50Kg of black & green solid that I have washed off burnt copper wire, planning on converting it back to copper & then maybe looking into the silver side of things.

I did make a tiny electroplating plant from a 'solar powered garden light' I found.
It did what I thought it would. Plated solidly. A 7/8th square copper ingot.

Then when I went to using a transformer, it blew out, dunno about using it 24hrs a day, hence the windmill.

Any suggestions? I think the Anode should be Titanium, or under the copper oxide in the bottom of the tub.
Maybe a stirrer in there as well?

Using what you have for resources is a waste of yours and my time. The best suggestion I could give is for you to join the gold forum.

Doing some maintenance on the cells this afternoon, the black mud in the filter is the silver slimes that fell to the bottom of the cell as the copper plated out onto the cathode.

The reason the slimes look black is because the silver is so finely divided into a very fine powder that it does not reflect light, if the powder was pure silver melting it into a bar or button would show the true color of silver that we're all so familiar with.

More silver from the scrap pile, these came out of large circuit breakers and motor start relays, 231.3 grams of contacts which would more than likely sell for $239.24 on ebay or slightly more than spot.

The reason for this post is that a forum member here has offered me his contacts as a freebie, a very generous offer but I would rather he sell them and reap the rewards for himself.

Gus, in the lower right corner is a small round disc. I found a similar one in a contact type item that seemed to be made of bake-a-lite type plastic. Because I was disassembling with a large hammer I don't know where it was positioned. I saved it so do you suppose it contains silver? Thanks for all that you contribute here, Mike.

Originally Posted by miked

Gus, in the lower right corner is a small round disc. I found a similar one in a contact type item that seemed to be made of bake-a-lite type plastic. Because I was disassembling with a large hammer I don't know where it was positioned. I saved it so do you suppose it contains silver? Thanks for all that you contribute here, Mike.

Bakelite will not stand up to the torch and these were all heated to melt the solder holding them onto the copper.