Removing gold plating from bus bars

I would like to know what method did you use to make that assumption.

What makes you think it is worth reclaiming today? May be one question you should look at is what the value of gold was back in 1960 compared to what the value of gold is today.

It is going to take a lot of work to get an ounce of gold from something that might only have a .025mm plating of gold.

The same reasons why they didn't do it back in the 60's might not have changed for the 2000's (value is relative with time). Another thing to consider is the plating thickness on electronic components was a lot thicker back then than it is today.

Good luck with that!

Ed

Re: Removing gold plating from bus bars

Thses things have been tucked away in a dirty corner of my shop for 30 years.I was quoted an approximate value of $1 each back then.Gold was around $30 an ounce.

It is now well over $300 an ounce.I have several thousand of them.I think it may be worth the effort. Or perhaps I could sell them to a gold-recyling company?

Any recommendations?

Suggestions?

Here are some numbers to look at. The value of your gold is not as valuable as you think it is when you compare it to 1960. The number of years is 57 and you can look at the interest rate as inflation. Maybe you should invest in bread (just kidding).

Principle X (1 + Interest rate) ^ number of years.

your gold's value

Interest: 4.1224%

Compounding periods: 57

Price in 1960: $ 30.00

Price in 2007: $ 300.00

price of bread in united states

Interest: 5.1600%

Compounding periods: 57

Price in 1960: $ 0.05

Price in 2007: $ 0.880

My point is that value is relative to the time. The time value of money. Your money will by less tomorrow than it does today. Money loses value with time (inflation). You are looking at $30 in todays terms. But you are not seeing it as a value in 1960.

Good luck.

A simple way to capture the gold from the bars without going through chemical process yourself would be to buff the gold from the bars and capture it in a vaccum system with a filter. When I was in the jewelry business I used a buffing wheel with a slightly abrasive comound. This polished out the sanding marks from the gold rings or whatever I was finishing. As the buffer filters got dirty and clogged with dust and compound I had to change to filters but saved them. After about a years time I would box them up and send the used filter to a precious metals refiner. The refiner would burn the waste to ash and assay for gold. I usually got a check for about $700.00 usd for a years worth of polishing rings. Hope this helps.

rustyh2o

can you recommend a precious metals refiner?

http://www.hooverandstrong.com/

I have used them many times. They are honest and give good service

Thanks for the link, Rusty Water.

I sent them an E-mail today.

I would have liked to use you as a reference, but I don't know your real name.

Thanks again!

(exit 0)

HTRN

Thanks for the advice, but I really wanted a method of recovering the gold, not an inaccurate analysis of worth.I was around in the 60's and I do not recall bread being that cheap, also, the current price of gold is over $600 dollars an ounce.

Also the number of years in your comparison is 47, not 57.

I will use a gallon of gas as an example:

Gas $.22 a gallon in 1960 Gas: $2.20 a gallon in 2007

Gold $30 an ounce in 1960 Gold over $600 an ounce in 2006

Effectively, the value has doubled.

But thanks anyway.

HAHA, yes that guys "analysis of worth" was something else. I was wondering what that guy was thinking. I looked at his profile to learn a little about him and saw that he sells dust collection systems.DUUUUH. Bet he sell a lot of them with his way of thinking. Well I shouldnt slam him too bad. Maybe he will see this and possible change his attitude.

Where at you located. I am in NC and have a few used buffing machines with suction filtration.

Rusty

Hi:

I've actually assisted someone with doing this, very profitably despite what the one poster thought. I was working at a brooch shop(think precision files for finishing parts) and a guy came in, with a handful of those old bus bars - they have a slight taper to them and 1 end with a spatter of gold on each side. I was a surface grinder operator so I (a) ground a block of steel flat;(b)ground some shallow slots the same thickness as the body of the busbars, narrower than the wider end of the busbars(c) ground a slot perpindicular to those slots to allow some clearance for the spatter of gold on either side of busbar(d) made him a second flat block which we ground one "tooth" with a "rake" to it(essentially a single toothed, sharp file). You could lay 5 bus bars in the slots(I made 7 slots but that was too much effort), push the shaver block across them in the direction that would make their tapered bodies "lock" into place and - Voila! the gold was shaved off. The guy figured every 400 busbars gave him an ounce of gold, and his teenagers were happy to do the work for $10 an hour, which usually netted about 1/2 ounce of gold per hour. I think we made him the fixture for $100 cash....he figured he had 60,ooo+ of those busbars.

It can be done Ed Cantarella ed@retroleds.com

Thanks for the offer of help.These bars are approximately 10 inches long, 1/8 inch wide,a nd 1/16 thich,and 100% gold plated all over. I was told years ago that the plating was 24k Gold.The equivalent surface area is about .375 sq in. per bar.I don't know if it would be feasible to scrape these bars or not.Perhaps I can scrape one down to the base metal and mic. it to determine thickness.

Thanks again.

I'd take one to a jeweler and get the k tested. Find out what you're working with.

Google 'cyanide gold electroplating'. Cyanide solution will dissolve the gold off of the buss bars, then you can electroplate it out of solution. A jeweler's supply house like Rio Grande (https://www.riogrande.com/home) should supply you with solution, and a common battery charger will work for plating.

note- cyanide solution and steel don't get along, so this would work best with non-ferrousbars.

Can't you do electroplating in reverse?