Hey Andrew... Just watched your video. Thanks for sharing this information with us...! Like you, I’m on a tight budget when it comes to purchasing prospecting equipment so I really appreciate folks like you who build their own equipment and then pass their knowledge on to the rest of the prospecting community...! I believe that this is the way it should be, all of us sharing our finds and our knowledge to help keep the prospecting tradition alive and well...! When another prospector shares their finds it doesn’t matter if I’m not doing so well it helps to keep me motivated and positive. I’m not one of these prospectors who gets a burr up my arse because someone is doing better than me. I get just as excited watching other people’s clean-outs as I do with my own. I really get excited when I start seeing those pickers and nuggets showing through the black sands because I live in North Central Indiana and all we have around here for Gold is Glacial Good or what we lovingly call “Fly-Poop” Gold... There are some small pickers and nuggets around but they are few and far between. At the end of the day, any Gold is good Gold...! Have a great day and thanks for sharing this information with us...! Be Blessed and may your bottom always be yellow...!
Nice work man. I like your sluice set up with the punch plate, I try to catch the gold right up front and put matting as soon as possible to slow gold particles down as quick as I can in the system. Hope your pan is yellow:) BTW I think your water flow looks just right.
Thanks RidgeLine! I think the punch plate over matting(I have vortex or rough top conveyer belt matting), is an excellent stopper at the front for the fine gold. I've done some reading and need to change the angle of the punch plate. I have it lower at the beginning(top) and higher at the end so material backs up. I need to have it higher at the top, and lower at the end, it'll help clear material and clear the matting.
If you add more holes towards the back more material will reach your sluice and you will have more water drop off which in turn lowers the amount of water pushing out the other end
Thanks Rendan! One reason I havent done that yet is I need to make a better diversion trough underneath the barrel to direct the water into the first box
Did you think about putting the sluice perpendicular to the trommel such that only the trommel holes are over the sluice and the tailings go to the side?
I did, and the purpose to try and keep it as streamlined as possible. Check out version 2 here :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gTowOKcXa4A.html
You look like you could play with the angles on both the sluice & trommel. Also your holes look to be 1/2 inch. Just for kicks you might try a 1/4 inch sift between your trommel & sluice. I got a feeling you might start losing less in your tailings.
I definitely have! The holes are indeed 1/2" and so far I havent been losing anything in the tailings. I always have a 2nd sluice set up and theres usually hardly anything in there except a couple of fly poop specs. Main sluice has hogmats that seem to clean up pretty good :) Then again I also don't find a lot:(
Hey Zach, I used a Timing Hub Pulley and the appropriate XL timing belt from Servocity: www.servocity.com/motion-components/rotary-motion/pulleys-belts/timing-pulleys-belts
Sure, or just a guide for others looking to build one on a budget, concept, ideas, and general fun of putting something together yourself and seeing it work, making tweaks, and making it work the way you want it to work without having to fork over thousands of dollars and purchasing it from someone else.... But hey, to each their own, way to try and put a man down for doing something he had fun doing Mike, you must be a lot of fun at parties.
I believe the little electric motor im running is this one from Servocity: www.servocity.com/84-rpm-hd-premium-planetary-gear-motor. I based it off my barrel diameter, my drive pulley diameter, and desired rotation speed. I used an online calculator like this one:www.blocklayer.com/pulley-belteng.aspx As for the water pump im using, its just a harbor freight 2" semi trash pump. Got it for $149 with their coupon. Has worked very well for me!
