Ready for Action! The Gold Prospector's Shaker-Sluice 

Thanks, Michael!

Nice comment! Thanks so much. -- Dave

I agree. I've run some really nasty dirt through it and it still works but visibility is zero. The gold seems to make its way to the bottom of the grooves. -- Dave

Yeah, I've tried it with a box on top and so far I don't like it. I plan on running the unit on dry sand from the washes, but I don't have dry sand to try it with. I'll remedy that shortly. -- Dave

It's kind of interesting to discuss the optimum size for shaker tables. -- Dave

Great questions. I plan to devote a video on the subject. It's complicated and I'm still working on understanding it in more detail. -- Dave

Hi James. Yes, I'm interested in finding out how long 3 gallons of water can be used before the machine chokes on the clay. It will depend on the location, of course, as much of the black sand accumulations in the dry washes are already washed and mostly free of clay. I'll have a chance in the coming week or two to try it. As you say, it may become a part of a larger system of classification, separation and washing. -- Dave

@@orophilia Please document that trip (and subsequent ones) thoroughly. I'm waiting like the cheese-eating cat at the mouse hole - with "baited" breath!

When you start building them for sale. 😃

What are they expected to sell for. I'd like to try one out it would be great for weekend prospecting wt the kids.

@@drglucas Yes, I think it would be fun for a bit of prospecting with the family. I don't currently make them for sale, sorry. -- Dave

Hi Dennis. The whole thing is made from plywood, a bit of epoxy and spray paint. I'm experimenting with 3D printing, but not for this project. -- Dave

Hahaha. Yes!

Yes, I've seen the old rocker boxes. Quite a clever apparatus. I think the design that I present here uses a different idea, that of liquefaction of the material. An automated rocker could also work. -- Dave

@@orophilia I am wondering if it worth building an automated rocker with electric water pump and rocking action to run material straight off the shovel.

@@MohammedNovalija Yeah, me too. Lithium ion batteries are light and effective. I built the shaking sluice for desert environments where water is scarce and the gold is tiny. A conventional sluice is better in a river or a stream, I think.

Hi Lars. Good question. On heavy clay it may require more frequent water changes. If there's running water then I'd just change the water more often. I'll have it out in the desert soon and we'll know more then. -- Dave

The material doesn't move. Basically useless. -- Dave

@@orophilia Yes I suppose with that miniscule water flow that would b the case. If I can ever motivate myself , I may attempt to incorporate your method into my setup. Have often considered , but never got past halfway through a design.

@@MohammedNovalija Yeah, I'm seeing that the sand liquefaction due to shaking is the key to fine gold recovery with this device. -- Dave

@@orophilia I suppose you have found the chevrons far superior than simply cutting troughs straight across the mat ?

@@MohammedNovalija Yes, many times in different ways. The material sheds very slowly with straight, perpendicular grooves, but it does work. -- Dave

nice set up and excellent improvements ,, u made it to be portable and it seems like it works just as well as a benchtop in your garage .. both places u dont want to deal with too much water ! -- i see the water flow increases towards the bottom-most chevron groove .. and this is the most aggressive groove so .--- from what i have gathered, sluices expect to catch the heaviest in the beginning adn the smallest , lightest at the end, where the water flow is expected to slow down somewhat from the turbulence created by riffles and grooves .. -- im sure your line of thinking is proper for this device as u have been perfecting it over the course of many iterations and hours of observations ...

Thanks for the comment, Robert. I'm not an expert at this at all and I've only run a conventional sluice a couple of times with friends. This machine seems to work very differently from a conventional sluice because of the continual liquefaction of the sand due to shaking. It seems that the gold always falls into the first couple of grooves. I can watch the tiny gold particles diving below the black sand as they enter the first groove. I don't show this well in this video so I'll make a short video showing what I mean. -- Dave

no problem - i have seen a few vids of sluices with clear acrylic showing the vortex, most eye catching ... and Freddy Dodge showed an underneath riffle portal that allows one to know if the angle of incline &water flow is optimized with the dancing of particles or if it is too slow with compaction of sediment ...

I've placed magnets on top of the table, about 1/2" above the surface. It makes a big mess and doesn't really help much. Each to his own. -- Dave

@@orophilia agree, magnets on the table are a bad idea.

A bigger sized magnet separator system like a spin-it-off magnetic Black sands/magnetite removal tool, would definitely work at that volume you talked about.. Check out Columbia River mining supply. Remove the magnetics before it goes on the table with a plastic sorting tray.

@@dennishedrick5308 Thankfully, the magnets are not required. The table does very well in the presence of fine magnetic sands. -- Dave