Mad as a hatter, or how to reclaim.....

[harryagain]

I worked on those as an apprentice. It was for DC for trolley buses. Would have thought they were long obsolete by now.

[polygonum]

Very simply - take your own amalgam fillings out. Again -> :-)

[Nick]

50 odd years ago I was a jewellers apprentice. This old chap taught me many things, some of which I still recall and use. He had been commissioned to produce a silver chalice, of a particular design, as a school trophy. A part of the commission was that there be chased into the silver a gold shield. Jeweller produced the chalice and performed the chase work himself. Came the day of gilding the shield he invited me to watch. He took a small square of aluminium sheet and formed it into a dish. Into this dish he added a small quantity of mercury. He used the mercury whilst he applied gold to the chalice. When all was done, it looked fine indeed. There was still a little mercury in the dish. I pointed this out and the master said don't worry about that boy, let's see what the morning brings. So we both walked our ways home. Next morning the little dish was a forest of the finest tendrils, reaching vertically to 3 or 4 inches. I was truly amazed and said so to my master. His reply "boy, you can have that if you want". I gently picked it up and the forest disappeared instantly. The bowl was pocked but not pierced. I still have that little bowl. Perhaps this little tale is a reason for my enduring fascination with quicksilver. As header, mad as a hatter.

[Matty F]

Waipukurau would be about an eight hour drive to Auckland, where I live. I suppose technically the mercury is not mine, but it's next to my locker a nd I don't want it. There would be a disposal process to go through, which probably means that someone else has to get rid of it. There are tram museums around NZ. The ones in Auckland and Wellington run t rams every day. There are also trams in Christchurch (destroyed by earthqua kes) and Whanganui and Whangarei.

[Nick]

Hmmmm. Interesting. How do you cut bulbs? Belljars, no problem. I had thought the process would be vapourising/condensing. Do I sniff a whoosh here?

[Nick]

Not necessarily. If this is something that I want to do and will gain something from it. No matter how small. It would beat the hell out of watching television. I've always enjoyed the sound of breaking glass. I wonder if CRT's contain mercury? Nick.

[harryagain]

No, only fluorescent tubes and high pressure mercury discharge lamps. (The blueish lampsyou used to see on street lights.) Offhand the only other source can think of is some electrics witches for explosive atmospheres. Some had mercury glass bottles that tilted to make contact.

Barometer repairs shops keep it forTorricelli tubes, I expect they have the same problem as you though. Old thermometers. Sphygmomanomters? See your doctor? They are replacing them with electronic gadets now.

You don't want to be crushing old tubes, the fluorescent powder in them is poisonous. The newer ones are pretty harmless.

[Huge]

Thank you, I suppose. :o)

[Theo Markettos]

Mercury tilt switches would be a source - you get a small blob of mercury per switch:

Not sure if this works out to be a decent exchange rate, but a lot cheaper than smelting a few thousand fluorescent tubes.

Theo

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 23 September 2013 18:54 Theo Markettos wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Is the above really a mercury switch? Because I've got one that looks like that and it has a metal ball inside that rolls around.

[John Stumbles]

"Genetically Modified" food has been banned in a number of countries but that doesn't say anything about its safety or otherwise.

[Gripper]

Hi Nick - I've tried to pm you but it bounced. I removed the NOSPAM from your email address, but it bounced. Cheers

mercury from fluorescent tubes and cfl's?

I use a fair bit of mercury, clockmaking, jewellery, baros etc. My stock is running a little low and the substance is becoming increasingly hard to obtain. I am aware of the elfin safety stuff re. hg but it really is not the monster depicted. It is the vapour that's damaging to the body and not the liquid form. Thanks, Nick.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In the 1950's-1960's, they're around 50mg in longer T12 tubes, but still not really viable for DIY recovery. They've steadily reduced the dosing mount ever since.

In modern tubes, what little mercury there is has mostly been lost by absorbtion into other components of the lamp (phosphour, leads, glass) by the time the lamp dies.

I have a few old 400W mercury vapour lamps with very visible globules of mercury when cold. (I'm not chucking them out though.) They came from Reading Borough Council in the 1970's when they swapped them all out for low pressure sodium lamps.

Mercury is also a key component in high pressure sodium lamps, but the arc tubes are much smaller, so the total amount required is probably less.

[Nick]

and.........perhaps you've discovered Y. If you've summat to add, please do so via the ng. Nick.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Nick escribió:

You'll like the mercury fountain at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona then.

Saw it earlier this year, it's rather mesmerising to watch.

[Huge]

I'm surprised the Health & Safety mob allowed that.

[Gripper]

Given the questionable legality of selling a hazardous substance, I would have thought it obvious why someone would want to contact you privately, but ho-hum....

and.........perhaps you've discovered Y. If you've summat to add, please do so via the ng. Nick.