Hello - I need a way to grind silver bullion into basically dust sized particles. I have manually taken a rasps, files and such and gotten the desired results by hand. However, this takes forever and is a lot of time and work. I need a mechanical solution. What kind of grinding media, apparatus and such would work? I need to efficiently collect as much silver as possible. Any ideas? Thanks, I appreciate it.
Also, if a ball mill would work, what would be the best grinding media to use? Thanks again
Any use of abrasives, sanding belt, etc. will incorporate abrasives into the product; if that's ok then a belt sander would be the quickest way. If you need clean silver dust then maybe a rotary file would work:
It's not perfectly clear whether you're making some kind of workpiece or if you just want to produce silver dust/grit.
In the latter case, see if you have some kind of low-speed reciprocating widget or parts to make one lying around. Rig up up a power filing machine with a simple table and some kind of spring feed for it. Mount a file of whatever coarseness works and turn it on. Set it in a wash tub or the like.
No need to complicate things with a lift-off on the back stroke because silver won't mung the file teeth on a back stroke as steel does.
Should run unattended for quite a while depending, of course, on the size & shape of your bullion.
Or maybe one of our used gear guys here will have a ready-made power filer for you.
If you want really fine silver dust, dissolve the silver in nitric acid, neutralize any residual acid, then put copper scrap into the silver nitrate solution. The copper replaces the silver in solution and the silver precipitates out as very fine powder. Filter, wash and dry.
Thank you all so much for your suggestions, they've been extremely helpful. Random contaminants and grit is not a big deal, I simply need the silver dust material collected. The silver will then be placed in another solution, along with the random grit material. I'm taking your suggestions and thinking of the best way to collect the dust and perhaps encasing the entire grinding apparatus into some sort of plastic bin. Again, thanks for your help :)
I saw your post and have been trying to remember who it as that made a process for making fine bronze powder for use in gold paint, it was Henry Bessemer see
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. Some further information here but whether it'll be of use I don't know
How about a burr on a die grinder with external hose exhaust and a cabinet to catch the dust, Parlous?
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