My Chlorate Cell — Under Construction

[JohnnyCappone]

Hello. First of all, I'm sorry for the lousy English.

 

I do not yet have this language, so I'm using Google Translate. This is my first topic, I hope it will be useful for someone. I thought about creating a blog in Portuguese to publish my experiments, but I gave up on the idea. There would not be many people to read it, and the freedom to experience amateur science in Brazil without irritating the authorities and ending up going to jail is very restricted.

Also, not many people are interested in this sort of thing here. People do not care about science when they struggle to get food and shelter. Well, come on. This is not my first cell. A decade ago, I was a curious teenager making chlorates with graphite anodes in a pot of mayonnaise. At that time, I discovered another Brazilian who also practiced backyard science and he generously gave me an anode of MMO and titanium CP bars. Time has passed and the activities of adult life have turned me away from the good old garage science, but now I'm back. 10 years older, but with the same sparkle in the eyes of that boy who made things go up in the sky using chlorate and sugar.

 

I will update this topic as the cell construction has progressed.

 

Anode - Formed by an MMO mesh with dimensions of 40x160mm. The power cord was attached to it using a threaded screw. Thereafter, the connection was insulated with a rubber cap, hot glue and PTFE plastic.

 

Cathode - They consist of two bars of solid titanium with dimensions of 250x4mm, approximately. The bars were attached at their upper end, where a copper wire was twisted and trapped. This wire is attached to a small screw at the top of the support cap where the bars were inserted. The cap was then sealed with hot glue and then covered with a layer of PTFE.

 

For now, just come back with more details as the construction progresses!

Edited April 11, 2018 by JohnnyCappone

[Scorpion812]

Hey Johnny,

I would avoid plastics on the electrodes as it might either not survive the harsh conditions of the chlorate cell. the PTFE should be fine but the hot glue wont be. looking forward to updates from you, keep us updated on the progess of your cell. if you have any questions feel free to ask

[Arthur]

Consider using some of the titanium rod to make an electrode hanger. Hot melt glue will not survive the cell liquid for long. Use a piece of the stainless, spot weld it to the MMO and pass it through a hole in a PVC lid , fill gaps between the lid and the Ti with PTFE.

[eb666]

You mean spot weld the titanium bar to the MMO?

If you spot weld the stainless to the MMO and the stainless is close to the liquid it will corrode.

 

 

If you simply attach a piece of titanium to the mmo using grade 1,2, 3 or 4 bolts (if you can get them) or simply rivet a piece of titanium to the mmo and keep the junction between the

mmo and the titanium 'current runner' under the liquid everything will work OK. When you keep the (bad or good) junction under the liquid it works as shown by PDFBDQ (a poster here) a long time ago. This will mean that you can use ALL of the

precious MMO to make chlorate and not waste any of it between the outside of the cell and the surface of the liquid.

 

eb

[WSM]

You mean spot weld the titanium bar to the MMO?

If you spot weld the stainless to the MMO and the stainless is close to the liquid it will corrode.

If you simply attach a piece of titanium to the mmo using grade 1,2, 3 or 4 bolts (if you can get them) or simply rivet a piece of titanium to the mmo and keep the junction between the mmo and the titanium 'current runner' under the liquid everything will work OK. When you keep the (bad or good) junction under the liquid it works as shown by PDFBDQ (a poster here) a long time ago. This will mean that you can use ALL of the precious MMO to make chlorate and not waste any of it between the outside of the cell and the surface of the liquid.

eb

 

This is all true. I spot weld titanium leads to the MMO and it works well.

 

An important lesson I've learned is to NOT remove the MMO from the electrode surface before spot welding. You can spot weld right through the MMO layer (the MMO appears to be more electrically conductive than the titanium metal under it).

 

All "plastic" is not the same. Polymer materials that seem to work the best so far are:

• Teflon (PTFE)
• Kynar (PVDF)
• PVC (hard plumbing plastic)
• CPVC
• and with varying success, PE and PP (more limited due to eventual breakdown)

Have fun and good luck.

 

WSM

Edited April 22, 2018 by WSM

[Arthur]

The fact that plastics are NOT all the same led Swede to develop the "Bucket cell" so that the engineering needed done accurately could be made in a moderate sized rigid PVC sheet, and this assembly could be dropped into a hole in the lid of a 10 litre to 5 gallon bucket, the bucket being disposable.

[tenneyguy]

Hello. First of all, I'm sorry for the lousy English.

.......... Time has passed and the activities of adult life have turned me away from the good old garage science, but now I'm back. 10 years older, but with the same sparkle in the eyes of that boy who made things go up in the sky using chlorate and sugar.

 

Hello. At age 13, following a recipe in Henley's "Twentieth Century Book of Formulas and Recipes", I learned the hard way while trying to make a small batch of Berge's Blasting Powder. Potassium Chlorate, sugar, sulfur, shaved wax, book said "triturate together". Best definition I could find for triturate was to mix thoroughly. Big mortar & pestle, about the 3rd. or 4th. stroke, WHOOSH! About a cupful burnt in maybe 3 seconds. Second Degree burns to face and mixing hand.

 

Sorry for intruding on the OP. Chlorates need to be warned about for those unknowing.

[Igor1]

Thank you very much