Refining Blank Circuit Boards for Gold

[@joek511]

I've been doing this for about 10 years. It's the only hobby I ever started that makes me money. I flew RC Helicopters for years. 1 wrong move and say good by to 200 bucks. Fun but a Very expensive hobby.

[@alhefner]

Aquarium aeration stones work better at getting O2 into your solution. They seem to hold up really well. The ones I've been using have lasted over a month. Oh, and it isn't pronounced "rinze". The "s" in rinse actually has an "s" sound.

[@badideametals]

I will have to look into these stone. Do they rinze off well? :)

[@whateversmurfette]

(if your nitric is concentrated in that final step, it might not get rid of all the copper, because it rapidly causes an oxidation layer that seals the copper against further dissolving. many headaches before i learned that)

[@jrademan1168]

Suggestion...use zinc as a precipitating agent rather than SMB. It will precipitate only the gold and leave the unwanted metals in solution.

[@jeremyjoeryderking]

Oh snap really?? I'm doing this today and I don't wanna use SMB and be left with everything

[@jrademan1168]

Maybe try the following method. Results will be better. 1. Dissolve the gold-bearing raw materials in a mixture of concentrated hydrobromic acid and nitric acid. 2. Neutralize the solution using potassium hydroxide to form a gold compound called HAuBr4. 3. Recrystallize the HAuBr4 to obtain pure gold compound in the form of KAuBr4, also known as potassium tetrabromogoldate. 4. Add a compound called alpha-cyclodextrin (a-CD) to the KAuBr4 solution. 5. The a-CD and KAuBr4 will spontaneously form a complex called a(cid:3)Br, which can be separated from impurities by filtration and then reduced with a reductant, such as sodium metabisulfite or zinc to obtain pure gold metal. This powdered gold can then be melted.

[@badideametals]

That sounds more expensive. Even if it is more accurate. I will look into it.

[@jrademan1168]

@@badideametals it's actually less expensive. Alpha-cyclodextrin is a derivative of cornstarch. The other solutions are standard etching acids. Give it a go. Here is the methodology behind it: It is a selective isolation of gold using a one-dimensional supramolecular complex formed by the spontaneous assembly of KAuBr4 and a-cyclodextrin in an aqueous solution. This process leads to the rapid co-precipitation of a complex termed a(cid:3)Br, where the a-cyclodextrin nanochannels are filled with [K(OH2)6] þ and [AuBr4] (cid:2) ion pairs in an alternating fashion. The superstructure formed in this process is characterized by needle-like crystals with high aspect ratios and coaxial core-shell structures. The study highlights the potential application of a green technology for an economic recovery process of gold from gold-bearing raw materials. The process is deemed efficient and environmentally friendly, offering a promising strategy for gold recovery.

[@badideametals]

I will give it a try :)

[@Alex-kp3hr]

at 16:00 just before you added smb, you forgot to denox. Any residual nitric will hinder the gold from dropping completely.

[@badideametals]

That is true.

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

That is one Big buchner funnel 8:13 wish I had one of those

[@ghostprotocol5876]

Pasty paint remover is easier than lye to remove the solder mask. 🇧🇷🤝

[@coinkiller5495]

When you drop gold you double the solution with water and SMB drops gold better quick

[@badideametals]

I agree, but I also am not a big fan for how much more waste fluid I have to store in my stock bin it causes. The volume at the end is my reason to leave it concentrated most times. I am about to release a video that took me 2 weeks to do where I add 50% more water to the solution before doing the AR and SMB. But yes, more water does have its advantages.

[@justinjackson9705]

Why in the beginning every youtuber gets excited when they see all the foils. Then they cut the video and come back and say oh its not gonna be very much. Lmao

[@coinkiller5495]

Yes and when you do it you know looks are deceiving

[@dizzious]

It always looks like a lot when there's a big cloud of foils drifting around in the liquid.

[@jayfarrell2959]

It's to suck u in

[@sfn4702]

Do you know what off-gas is produced when soaking in the crystal lye, please?

[@badideametals]

It depends on the concentration of the aqueous solution. If there is a very low concentration, it "could" be just water vapor, but this is not likely, and there are great debates on that. Most likely, it is tiny aerosol particles of sodium hydroxide (Lye). The NaOH (again, Lye) can burn and irritate mucous membranes, eyes, and other sensitive areas of your face, lungs, and sinuses. Once used during World War II to help with high altitude breathing O2 tanks, Caustic Soda (and yet again, sodium Hydroxide) was used to help scrub CO2 so that the O2 could be reclaimed and used in a "rebreather" sort of way. However, when the mix "goes bad" which I don't remember the details about, the result would burn lungs and sinuses which would leave permanent damage to the pilot. (Look up "richard best, caustic soda") If you want to see what lye does if you breath it in ... Dick Best would be a more extreme example as he went into a long day of fighting over the Pacific about mid 1942 when his mix went bad and he chose to keep fighting. It ended his career as he developed Tuberculosis and was forced to retire as a pilot. Way more then you wanted to know... but that would be my guess what happens when lye gives off gases, especially when it is heated.

[@77-gmfu-s-am-e-xborders2]

Hello friend, thanks for your help in doing this job, did you know what you got from Au in the end?

[@badideametals]

I saw this comment come through when you posted it ... I have spent some time in the last week trying to get that answered from old footage for the larger batch. I don't have the exact number. I was pretty sure I recorded it on video, but I don't have it. I melted all the gold into a larger button with previous melts. I don't know why I did not weigh it. I am trying to remember and the best I think I can remember is that it was just under a full gram.

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

What concentration of nitric acid are you using because I'm not seeing any red fumes

[@Janezhallam]

Gloves full face mask and paper coveralls should be used, acid burns are horrible.

[@riverboat28]

How does anyone get burned by acid? You can feel it eating you and I'd think most people would understand that.

[@coinkiller5495]

You need to put 50 100 mill hydrogen peroxide in it and it starts working in a day and will be black in few more and foils floating

[@badideametals]

I don't like to deal with Peroxide. I deal with sulfuric acids in some of my work, and a slip up there can end with a reaction in my face. I opt for the O2 bubbles from a cheap $10 Walmart bubbler. It takes a week, and it gets the job done. To help speed things up, I add a little CuCl. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CuCl + O2 + HCl + Cu (on the boards) --> CuCl + H2O + H + O2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That is all H2O2 (Peroxid) is doing. It is infusing the reaction with O2 faster then ambient air is doing. This is why the reaction will eventually work. The bubbler allows me to know I am not mixing Peroxide with the wrong reactions in my work space. I have added Peroxide to Sulfuric... That was a truly frightening day.

[@coinkiller5495]

@@badideametals peroxide is food product for supermarkets and chemists lolol and you think drain acid that will eat you to the bone is safer????????? Sulphuric acid well hopefully you know not to put water into it then yes air bubbles work even better with peroxide it just speeds up the process

[@dizzygardener562]

Forgive my ignorance, but i am a total newbie here. What happens to the copper and (possibly) silver that has been put into solution? Do you try to precipitate that out? Or does that just go down the drain?

[@badideametals]

The HCl takes copper into solution. Any tin may also go in depending on how concentrated the solution gets with Cu. HCl + Cu -> CuCl(2) + H ... HCl does also react with iron and makes Ferrous Chloride, but there should have been no Fe in these boards. All other metals should have remained barring any contaminated materials that could throw things off... (not likely) Silver reacts and dissolves into HNO3 (Nitric Acid). Nitric will pull other metals into solution too, but the point of starting with HCl then moving on to Aqua Regia (.75 HCl + .25 HNO3) is that we can cement out (precipitate) solids that we want at the correct times. Many people do a Nitric second step to pull in the silver and not lose it to the AR mess. I am seriously considering a change in my process. Once the Tin and Cu are out in step 1, your mix should be pretty much Gold, Silver, Platinum Groups, Lead, and maybe a few other "more valuable" metals. The ones I really try to recover personally are Gold and Silver. PGMs are a bit tricky and I don't have the right things to get them back at the moment. There are a few "best ways" ... and it all seems to be based on who you talk to. I just learned a new way from a commenter on this video yesterday. I will see if I can replicate success with that one. But I have been doing this for a few years, and I find I always have something else I can do better. The most important things is that you understand and honor the caustic and dangerous nature of the acids and fumes. THIS WILL KILL YOU. Proper ventilation, safety equipment, disposal and handling are a must. This can be a fun hobby. Be aware and never cut a corner. :) Cheers and good luck. (Study hard first... seriously, know how things can go wrong first)

[@prospectorpete]

You should test with stannous after boiling in nitric because one rinse of water isn't enough to remove all hcl. Id say some gold is going back in solution. You should be boiling in hcl instead of nitric

[@deplorablesunited7168]

This guy is like the Laurel and Hardy of e waste refining 🤣

[@matthewnicholson2699]

No stannous chloride?

[@badideametals]

My SnCl expired. It lost potency and got contaminated due to a bad bottle. I have been meaning to make more. So none for this process.

[@coinkiller5495]

O I will put my gloves on but no glasses????????

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

7:30 No Peroxide...? You can make that go a lot faster you know with a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore

[@coinkiller5495]

I told him that and he said he would rather use so uric acid rather than hydrogen peroxide because it’s too dangerous for him he said ??????????????

[@jeremyhigginbottom6579]

I have a question for you about a sun server. How can I reach you?

[@badideametals]

Email: bad idea metals (all one word) at gmail

[@woodguy76]

Boy that sounds like a very small recovery for that amount of boards but maybe they're just lower gold content boards.

[@badideametals]

Most is a thin layer of flashing… I wish the thickness was greater. It was still fun to process boards that had never been populated.

[@woodguy76]

@@badideametals No doubt. Great video.

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

24:02 shouldn't you have about twice that much? Seems like something's missing

[@badideametals]

I am going to respond to all 4 of your comments here :) 1: no peroxide. I used to do 3%, but the bubbler puts O2 into the solution fast enough. It would go faster with peroxide I am sure… the other issue here is that it is getting cold at night when this was recorded. That slowed down the reactions. 2: that is a huge funnel. I found it at a chem store. I had to get a new flask to go with it :) 3: the concentration of nitric is 68% I believe. The gold pads on these boards are surface mount solder points. They are thin and will vaporize off when the solder process happens to mount the capacitors, and other components. The gold really is light, sadly. 4: I have about 100 pounds of these boards in storage. I just need to justify trying again. So you are probably right… something in my process is missing. I can retry this experiment again in the future.

[@shortsenstuff]

@bad idea metals Is that the metal from inside an L19 antenna I see in the background ?

[@badideametals]

Hmm ... I am not sure if I know what specific antenna you are referencing ... could you give me a time in the video so I can see what you are looking at? I know I have a lot of scrap that sits around in bins while I work. I collect things as I go. Meaning I do tend to scrap into a bin and I won't manage what is in the bin until I have enough in there to make "changing my focus" worth while. So, I could have antenna bits sitting around. I did scan through the video already to see if I could see what you are looking at... at about the 4:00 minute mark, you can see a wireless transmitter housing that I am using as a bucket. It has power strip outlet brass pieces collected in it. So that is no longer an antenna :) ... let me know where you are looking and I can take a closer look.

[@Butholie69]

IDK II GIVE I CAN TRAVEL TO GET CHEMICALS IF I KNEW WHERE TO GET SOME

[@badideametals]

I have been looking over this comment for the last few days, and I am still not sure if I understand it. Are you saying you can't get chemicals? If so, I have found that lab providers carry basic things. Nitric although dangerous, is very common. Hydrochloric Acid is also called Muriatic Acid and can be picked up at home improvement stores near the paints departments. If picking it up directly is tough, look on ebay. Some of my best providers were on ebay until they got bought by bigger companies. I am sorry if I did not grasp the purpose of your comment. Thank you for leaving one :)

[@justinjackson9705]

That was alot of smb you added. You only need to add 1 gram of smb to 1 gram of gold. You added about 100 grams of smb. A bit excessive.

[@sowhat7007]

master my hand gloves same condition 😂😂😂 👍

[@badideametals]

I have to be honest, I am not clear your meaning ... but I assume it is about how my gloves broke at the beginning of the video while doing the Lye... They don't last forever :)

[@whateversmurfette]

the first time i used the lye i thought it had eaten off the gold because of how black it looked 😆i was a bit sloppy at first. for anyone that doesnt want to use the muriatic/hydrocholoric you can get the same results with concentrated peroxide and concentrated vinegar mixed. you don't have to use them concentrated but it'll take a very long time, especially in colder weather. using a bubbler helps a lot, but you can swirl the bucket a few times a day if you don't have one. if you use the muriatic/hydrochloric, adding a splash of peroxide really gets things going, but PLEASE sit the bucket in a large "rubbermaid" type tub with any method using the peroxide, it can really run away into a volume you didn't think possible (and always when you're not looking. i'm sure that's written somewhere in murphy's law). ....oh LOL and the sticky gloves ripping led me to buying the thicker sand-blaster type. they last a few mishaps longer imo.

[@badideametals]

My first attempt at piranha solution (I have never seen it spelled, so I spell it like the fish) was actually pretty dangerous. Adding peroxide to hot acid can actually be crazy and scary at the same time. I don't add it anymore. I just use the fish tank bubbler. I got one with 2 outlets so I can put one on each side of the HCl. It seems to help things not get too one sided. It also allows me to run 2 batches at the same time and just put one bubbling tube in each container. :) and yes, the ripping of those gloves made me laugh later. I am not sure what makes them wear out faster ... working with acids, or leaving them in a bin that allows sunlight in, while being exposed to temperature changes at night... But either way, I go through gloves faster then I would like ... I will have to look into the thicker gloves. Thanks

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

I'll try that I finally got my gallon of 34% peroxide to substitute for nitric acid but I'm going to try sodium nitrate copper fittings and muriatic acid formula I saw to make some because to be honest I'm a convicted felon and I'm not trying to make somebody's watchlist but definitely noticed when you not looking it tends to want to misbehave I'm new at this with no chemistry experience but I catch on quick and I don't mind being behind because not going to high school means I got to miss out on all that horrible social conditioning everybody else was subjected to that's got us all stuck right now because of it LOL you lnow herd mindset go along to get along but don't make waves (luckily I missed all of it but also chemistry class) which is how you end up with cancel culture and Nazis and we don't need any more of that. Thanks for your response and I'll be paying attention to your Channel because I like to have everything in my head before I start doing a whole lot with my hands it's visit pretty steep learning curve on this stuff at almost $2,000 an ounce ciao for now. Almost forgot I'm in Central Florida so cold for me is a little different from what you experience and you can keep it because anything Below 60s cold from my perspective

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

@@badideametals I was thinking about piranha solution for whole pcbs in things with lots of plastic contamination because correct me if I'm wrong but couldn't I torch everything leaving behind mostly carbon and mixed metals and then let the piranha solution turn all the carbon into CO2 because I spent the last twenty-five years fixing computers and literally have a ton of antique stuff from the $300 an ounce days when they were kind of generous with it but my lack of experience makes me kind of us cluster bomber instead of Sharpshooter when it comes to getting the gold because I do a lot of collateral damage and so far get quite and mess of other metals. I'm very poorly equipped too because I'm unemployed and have no budget to work with other than my two coffee pots so any advice you feel like sharing I'm all ears and for the record when I got out of prison and Rehab I did get my GED and a degree in nuclear medicine so not dumb I'm just not formally educated in much Having learned everything on my own by looking s*** up which is a very comprehensive approach but it's what I got to work with

[@badideametals]

@@Rob337_aka_CancelProof I wish I had old machines like your collection of crazy old ones :) … I see one major concern with your plan. Volumetricly, you would need a lot of liquid if you are putting the entire board in solution… unless I am misunderstanding your explanation. If you are going to put that much angry piranha solution together, be very careful. It reacts negatively with water. But here is my concern… I am worried you will end up making copper chloride as the solution will attack the copper in the boards before it breaks down your carbon on the ic chips. High level, it sounds like a fun experiment, and I hope it works as you hope it does. I think the acids will just start stacking everything it can and your solution will end up going after metals you don’t plan for first.

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

@@badideametals nothing beats experience thanks for your time and for sharing your experience you have earned a new subscriber I'll try to keep my stupid questions down to a minimum because I have many see you around

[@quintonharvey1501]

Wasting time you need to use eco gold x

[@badideametals]

I have some. It cost me a lot compared to the HCl… I don’t mind the setup, and the final refinements are done with similar steps, so I save my eco for pins and larger plated metals … and honestly, I am not as practiced so I don’t do videos of me wasting it :) But I did consider it as I was planning this video. That stuff is pretty cool. When I get better at using it, I will do a video.

[@atcn1956]

Acetona tira a máscara melhor é menos perigoso