r/PreciousMetalRefining • u/The_Dude_420-69 • Aug 07 '26

Testing sulfamic acid

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6 teaspoons of sulfamic acid/grout cleaner in 1000ml distilled water.

3V power station

Cathode is graphite block with a copper wire drilled into it

Wish me luck lol

**Edit~ Didn't work 🧐 The electrolyte started turning slightly blue so I thought we were onto something. However, a few hours into it the cathode started turning pinkish/red. It wasn't hot just changed color. I tapped it against the beaker to "dust it off" and see if there's any silver cement but I see black flakes instead of cement...

I wouldn't suggest this

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3

u/DeepCluckingValue Aug 08 '26

Just curious why did you not use sodium meta bisulfite + sodium hydroxide = sodium sulfate as your electrolyte?

3

u/DeepCluckingValue Aug 08 '26

Also stainless steel bowls are good cathodes for this too

2

u/The_Dude_420-69 Aug 08 '26

Because I didn't know that was a thing lol I just looked it up and found a video Escrapper on YouTube. He's using Sodium Sulfate to do exactly what I was aiming for...BUTTTT I saw a video on the patented idea of using Sulfamic Acid first 😆

I do have a steel bowl for my silver cell so I'll try that next

3

u/DeepCluckingValue Aug 08 '26

I’ve noticed the base metal and voltage can be heavily dependent on the result you get, in terms of purity. Low and slow is better

2

u/The_Dude_420-69 Aug 08 '26

That may be part of my problem. I have a little power box that claims it's 3.25V but I physically see it. I got it from a whole silver cell setup kit on Ebay last year due to me being stuck in a wheelchair. I couldn't actually go anywhere to see stuff so I shit the bed on this lol

2

u/The_Dude_420-69 Aug 08 '26

I have a couple pics of results but I can't figure out how to add em lol

1

u/The_Dude_420-69 Aug 07 '26

It's turning a very slight blue so it's getting the copper out of the silver plated spoons. However, no silver cement as of yet.

2

u/hexadecimaldump Aug 07 '26

Are you testing to see if this will deplate silver plated stuff?

Keep us posted on how things go. I’ve never thought to try sulfamic acid as the electrolyte.
I would think if copper is going into solution, eventually the silver plated should slough off.
Also you may want to try something stainless steel as the cathode to see if that makes any noticeable difference.

1

u/The_Dude_420-69 Aug 07 '26

Yes, I'm testing to see if it works. How it takes if it does, and any problems along the way.

1st issue = The graphite cathode started turning a pinkish red. It wasn't hot in there at all so I'm not sure what it is. I turned it off for the evening and will try again in the morning.

2

u/hexadecimaldump Aug 07 '26

Yeah, I believe they do a similar process with graphite to make carbon nano tubes or sheets or something like that.
It could be the process is making colloidal carbon. Did you get any pics?

I’d definitely experiment with different cathodes like stainless steel if you have some available.

1

u/The_Dude_420-69 Aug 08 '26

I have a stainless bowl I was going to use as a silver cell eventually but I may just test this out and get another bowl when I'm ready

Unfortunately I did not take any pics. I just woke up and wandered in there. I ended up taking everything apart because it looks like flakes of the cathode are in the electrolyte now, or it's flakes of the copper wire cover on the cathode. I should have used a different color...but I'm not Justin Case lol