Clean-up on isle 5

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Dreamer

Dreamer

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Apr 15, 2023
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105
Spilled a few grams on a stainless steel table and it is stuck! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
 

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I'm low tech. I'd try Mr. Chisel and Mr. Hammer first. I agree with nickvc, but I'd try to knock off as much of a chunk, or chunks, as I could first to expose more of the stainless. Thos chunks will be pretty clean.

Then I'd trim as much stainless away as possible. Saw, metal shears, whatever you have. If I can use physical means to eliminate / reduce base metals, I usually find it worth the effort. Less acid, less waste. Then toss the remaining bit of stainless with the gold into HCl as nickvc suggested and you should be ready to do a second refine to clean it up.

Dave
 
Wouldn't it move if you sprinkled borax on it and around it and heated it with a torch?
 
4metals said:
The problem is there is nothing to reference scale in the photo. The stainless table may be worth more than a few grams of metal. And act as a constant reminder of what not to do.
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is in the description :

a few grams
 
4metals said:
The problem is there is nothing to reference scale in the photo. The stainless table may be worth more than a few grams of metal. And act as a constant reminder of what not to do.
Click to expand...
Sure will be a reminder!😡 yeah over 3 grams. I soaked a papertowel with HCl, covered it with a plastic cup for about an hour and it loosened up enough to get a chisel under it. Got the majority off but there's still at least 0.25 grams

What if I soaked a paper towel in AR and covered it overnight? ....would I just make more of a mess?
 
Dreamer said:
Sure will be a reminder!😡 yeah over 3 grams. I soaked a papertowel with HCl, covered it with a plastic cup for about an hour and it loosened up enough to get a chisel under it. Got the majority off but there's still at least 0.25 grams

What if I soaked a paper towel in AR and covered it overnight? ....would I just make more of a mess?
Click to expand...
If you soaked a paper towel in AR and covered the gold you will risk dissolving some gold.
I would put the gold in either hydrochloric acid or nitric acid and give it a boil for a while or if not in a hurry just let it soak in either acid at room temperature until the stainless steel is visibly gone and then refine it again to be certain there's no metals besides gold are there.
 
This is so easily done, I honestly understand the pain Dreamer. Ive melted a fair bit of gold over the years and still sometimes spill a small amount, fortunately very rarely but it still happens. My melting bench isn't steel it's a normal kitchen worktop and I have a base sheet of plasterboard beneath the bricks. If I spill, then the gold beads and sits as beads on the (now slightly burned) surface of the board. Easily pulled off with a pair of tweezers. I'm not sure what you call plasterboard over in the US, but it's Gypsum with card outers. It works extremely well for this occasional abuse and extremely cheap to replace.

For this one I agree with the advice to chisel it off and leave it as a war wound/reminder of that little incident ;)
 
anachronism said:
Hey, thanks! Well the fireproof stuff would be perfect. It's not going to be permanent of course but it'll catch your gold perfectly.
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If your "melt" bench is outside fumehood, I would opt for non-fireproof version. Flame retardants are nasty halogenated compounds, and they decompose to HCl, HBr and whatever toxic organic junk as they burn/heat up. Considering that hot things on melt bench dropping onto it are quite regular thing (crucibles, slag/metal spil, accidental pointing of torch towards board etc...), you will be steadily breathing small quantities of nasty smoke over the years.
Underlayer is gypsum, which is fireproof enough (in my opinion) for small accidental spills.

We used to use larger steel tray/catchpan, several centimeters high, filled with few cm layer of clean sand. However we did some larger smelts where several liters of melt could potentially be spilled. Sand is very good at containing spills of molten material - melt does not just flow away, and heat is evenly dissipated. Potential metal spills are easily recovered by panning.

BTW, correct me please, doesn´t it also called drywall ? Gypsum between two pieces of thick paper/cardboard, sold in large "sheets" for construction of interior walls ? Or I am wrong :D
 
orvi said:
If your "melt" bench is outside fumehood, I would opt for non-fireproof version. Flame retardants are nasty halogenated compounds, and they decompose to HCl, HBr and whatever toxic organic junk as they burn/heat up. Considering that hot things on melt bench dropping onto it are quite regular thing (crucibles, slag/metal spil, accidental pointing of torch towards board etc...), you will be steadily breathing small quantities of nasty smoke over the years.
Underlayer is gypsum, which is fireproof enough (in my opinion) for small accidental spills.

We used to use larger steel tray/catchpan, several centimeters high, filled with few cm layer of clean sand. However we did some larger smelts where several liters of melt could potentially be spilled. Sand is very good at containing spills of molten material - melt does not just flow away, and heat is evenly dissipated. Potential metal spills are easily recovered by panning.

BTW, correct me please, doesn´t it also called drywall ? Gypsum between two pieces of thick paper/cardboard, sold in large "sheets" for construction of interior walls ? Or I am wrong :D
Click to expand...
"Sheetrock" is a brand name. It's all fire resistant and as far as I know type X has fiberglass, type C has fiberglass and vermiculite. It's used for demising walls and utility/elevator shafts/stairwells. Fire ratings are variable depending upon the occupancy classification, but 5/8" drywall gives an hour burn rating.
 

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