I know it still says that I'm a (stranger), but i've been buzzing around here for about 2 years now. I just try really hard to figure things out before i post, because i have read so many flaming responses. I've searched for the answers, believe me, I can't find them....if they're out there, please point me in that direction.
A little history. Swim's got the rp/i and a few birches under her belt. Since rp/i aren't readily available in her part of the country, and annie is, she would like to keep trying her luck with the birch. BUT....
Her yeilds are so low that she's spending more money to make it than she would to buy it off the street (ugh!)
Details on her last birch:
-------------20g E
-------------250 annie (homemade)
-------------2 aa lithium strips
--Poured annie into reaction vessel.
--1/4 strips lithium added to annie until royal blue stayed
--E sprinkled into vessel while stirring.
--Waited 15-20 minutes until reaction slowed (blue left, whiteish junk remained.
--Added colemans fuel
--Stirred, let settle, stirred, let settle...so on.
--Filtered off colemans, left white junk behind.
--Water washed colemans, separated.
--Gassed with H2SO4 and salt.
--Swim's wonderful yeild was 3.8g of so-so go-go. That's about an amazing 19% return, right. (Swim is soo ready to scream right now!!)
-----------As luck would have it, she had 12.7g of E stuck back for just this kind of emergency and a little left over annie she had put back on dry ice. Whew!-------------
This time, it went like this....
--------------12.7g E
--------------150ml annie
--------------1.4 aa li strips
--Poured annie into reaction vessel.
--Sprinkled in the E.
--Added li 1/4 strip at a time til blue was seen.
--Stirred and stirred and stirred and set by the lamp to evap, stirring occasional.
--about 30-40 mins later mixture looked whitish/grey and kinda like chunky dough.
--Added colemans. Stirred and let settle, stirred and let settle, and so on for about 15 minutes.
--Filtered out colemans, leaving junk behind.
--Gassed same as above.
--Yeild was a tiny bit better, but still very low, coming in at 4.1g of a better burning and tasting go-go than above.
(that's about a 32% return, i think)
So...question is, which way is the right way? What is swim doing wrong? Is she leaving something out? Is she letting it react long enough or too long? Oh yeah, when gassing NP always gets cloudy, even though she dries it first. Any ideas on that? By the way, she saved EVERYTHING from both of the above reactions...is there anything she can do to get the rest of her go-go? What about the already-gassed colemans? Could some still be in there?
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions or ideas, hopefully someone will correct swims way and the next time, she'll get a better return.