Little HG retort

[ratled]

I remember one of these as a DIY project in one of the old mining mags, CA Journal I think. There is guy selling them on E bay for $29 to the door and it got me thinking. I never used one of these styles and just wondering if any of you have. I mean for $20 in parts it might be worth it. I use to use a larger one I bought from Pioneer Mining years ago but traded it for a 5" nozzle. I like the one Neo uses but for what I want to do the $250 just isn't practical right now.

Any thoughts is greatly appreciated

ratled

 

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[triple d]

Looks like a LP gas pig tail with a cap.

 

[Bonaro]

I like this. I usually clean small batches and this woudl be ideal for me. However, I dont think I would build it out of copper tube. The first time you used it the Hg would condense and amalgamate on the copper and you would never be able to clean it out. Steel tube would be perfect.

 

[rodoconnor]

Maybe brakeline tubing

 

[ratled]

Good call Bonaro, I'll look into making one of these. It will be even cheaper

ratled

 

[russau]

I saw something on this order several years ago on another site. The man that was making his version made it from stainless steel . It worked real good. He is in Colorado.

 

[ratled]

Turns out I have all of the parts for the first one in the bin -o-parts so that will the winner. All of them as it turns out will hold some Hg so it will have to be stored in a sealed container that can be filled with water. Here is a pdf I found while searching out small portable retorts - though I wouldn't use the gav pipe for heating but that's just me

As a side note, I am not using Hg to recover gold just need a way to clean up the gold that was found with Hg already on it.

ratled

 

[goldenIrishman]

When using these styles of retorts it is VITAL that you do not allow water to go up the tube to the heating chamber! You can have a minor explosion from the sudden steam pressure! Needless to say, that could put a real hurting on your day as well as allow Hg to escape into the environment. Only use outdoors of course and try to run it early in the morning before any breeze starts up. Have just the very end of the tube submerged in a cup with water and enough length on your tube so it can't draw back should you loose your heat source. A wet rag over the cup and tube end is also recommended as a "Just in case" for fumes.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Double post

 

[KevinInColorado]

You can reach Dash (in Colorado as Russ mentioned) at [email protected] for his all steel model. I've used it with him and it works great.

 

[ratled]

I saw his tube retort but he doesn't seem to have any on E bay right now. I'll go with the small copper one since I dug all the parts for free. For those that want to see his I'll post the video.

ratled

 

[Bonaro]

Turns out I have all of the parts for the first one in the bin -o-parts so that will the winner. All of them as it turns out will hold some Hg so it will have to be stored in a sealed container that can be filled with water. Here is a pdf I found while searching out small portable retorts - though I wouldn't use the gav pipe for heating but that's just me

As a side note, I am not using Hg to recover gold just need a way to clean up the gold that was found with Hg already on it.

ratled

Be mindful when you are using galvanized parts. Not only are zink fumes toxic but but if you overheat the zink is an adequate flux to cause the molten gold to stick to steel...learned this the hard way.

 

[russau]

Thanks Kev! and once you have had galvanize posining youll NEVER FORGET IT! Believe me I know!

 

[Reed Lukens]

Never use galvanized at all, it comes off, coats the gold and leaves you with a pile of contaminated gold. Never submerge the pipe in water... Just use a rag on the end. Make sure the pipe is long enough to allow the vapor to cool back into a liquid before passing out of the tube. If it's just a little, you won't get enough fumes off of it to even measure anyway, So keep the tip out of the water

I use to have plans and pics on how to build them on Tom's site but... no pics anymore - Prospectors Cache Forum - Viewing message

I have a retort sitting here or at my claim if you want to permanently borrow it. It has a water jacket and everything. Made from black pipe and stainless. I usually use nitric. Pioneer use to sell Nitric but ask in person. If you have nuggets, I think have some 70% solution. I don't find a lot of hg anymore, my new area is clean gold...

Here's a link to the submerged style you're talking about, but it say's use galvanized. But only use Iron gas pipe, not galvanized ever or you will be walking away with a dirty coated pile of junk where your clean little spounge should be. -http://web.archive.org/web/20061120183548/http://www.itdg.org/html/technical_enquiries/docs/mercury_retort.pdf

 

[KevinInColorado]

The pipe Reed is talking about is also called "black pipe" or " black natural gas pipe" in some parts of the country.

 

[mikep691]

We/I call it black iron pipe.

 

[Capt Nemo]

If you make one of the tube and pan type retorts, cut a slot at the bottom to act as a safety valve. Fill the pan just up to the top of the slot. If water starts to suck up the tube, it will lower the water level in the pan and expose the slot, which will start sucking air to relieve the vacuum.

No slot = water rocket.

I've seen the same suction when distilling rinse water from gold plate stripping. It's amazing how much steam can expand and contract.

 

[ratled]

Yea I do know of the steam issues water to steam 1:1,700 by volume. Thanks Reed for the gracious offer. I may take you up on that just to be sure it has good home. It would be nice to hang out a little and buy you lunch in the process.

ratled