How to fill up excess space in a solder pot?

[Ian.M]

Yes, at regular soldering temperatures.

See: https://www.solder.net/gold-embrittlement-mitigation/

[jonpaul]

Value Au ~ 1850$/oz

If 22 or 24 caret is melted or combined the value is virtually nothing

[Ian.M]

Value Au ~ 1850$/oz

If 22 or 24 caret is melted or combined the value is virtually nothing

Not exactly true.   If there's enough of it to cover the cost of assaying it then alloying it to a known marketable composition, or refining it to fine gold, its worth the value of its gold content less the cost of recovery, which is more or less fixed for quantities small enough to refine or alloy as a single batch.   If not, well gold scrap goes for silly prices on Ebay ...

[langwadt]

Value Au ~ 1850$/oz

If 22 or 24 caret is melted or combined the value is virtually nothing

Not exactly true.   If there's enough of it to cover the cost of assaying it then alloying it to a known marketable composition, or refining it to fine gold, its worth the value of its gold content less the cost of recovery, which is more or less fixed for quantities small enough to refine or alloy as a single batch.   If not, well gold scrap goes for silly prices on Ebay ...

remember reading the about 40 cellphones contain as much gold as 1 ton of ore from an average goldmine
(~1gr)

[T3sl4co1l]

Also for reference, tinning is used in high-reliability processes specifically to wash the surface of gold, to prevent formation of Au-Sn intermetallic layers which are especially weak.  So you'll see certain NASA documents for example, instructing connector pins to be tinned, cleaned, tinned again, etc., then finally assembled with the wire or board.  (You'll also see ones tinning pure-tin surfaces with leaded solder, to help prevent whisker formation.  Over the time scales in which satellites and avionics must operate, this is key; however for commercial, industrial and automotive purposes, it seems tighter process control is sufficient to offer 10yr+ product lifetimes in lead-free.)

Tim

[tooki]

Gold would be a good replacement for steel as it has a higher specific weight

... and the pot would keep your treasures perfectly safe at the same time 

gold mixes with the solder and makes it brittle

At solder pot temperatures? I must admit I never tried myself, but I would seriously doubt that. It's purely academic anyway, isn't it?

It doesn’t have to reach the gold’s melting point.

Table salt melts at about 800°C. Ice melts at 0°C. Yet molten ice (i.e. water) can dissolve salt at temperatures well below 800°C.  Same concept with metals: a molten metal can dissolve another metal long before reaching the second metal’s melting point.

Similar effects apply in glassmaking, where certain mixtures of ingredients will melt at temperatures lower than the individual melting points of the individual ingredients.

[David Hess]

gold mixes with the solder and makes it brittle

At solder pot temperatures? I must admit I never tried myself, but I would seriously doubt that. It's purely academic anyway, isn't it?

Absolutely the gold will dissolve into the solder, specifically the tin part.  Copper or silver dissolve into tin as well which is why copper soldering iron tips are plated in iron.  A pure copper soldering iron tip, or brass or bronze, gets eaten away quickly.

Flash gold plating is intended to completely dissolve into the solder without causing enough concentration for embrittlement, but heavy gold plating will cause problems and must be removed before soldering.  Often the method of removal is to just apply solder and heat for long enough to dissolve all of the gold plating into the solder, then remove the contaminated older and apply new solder for the joint.

[Hydron]

Throw a few scrap (worn) tungsten carbide cutting inserts in the bottom? Will be way denser than the solder.

I actually have a 7kg chunk lying around (part of a roller from a hot-rolling mill that exploded in use) - it's an unexpectedly heavy and satisfying object, I just wish I had a similarly sized piece of pure tungsten, which would be even more impressive. Sadly I missed out on getting an entire (~25kg) roller

[coppercone2]

cut that up into blocks for glue or welding alignment, if its possible, those would be highly useful objects.