Update on the 12 Volt Gold Dredge, Infinity Jet, and 3D Printed Matting. 

Thanks Micheal!

Me too! :)

I remember looking into fluid bed sluices way back in the day. There was a guy on RU-vid called "astrobouncer" who was testing with them as well as drop riffle sluices. I gave up on the fluid bed after learning how elutriation columns won't work for flat flour gold due to the shape, and since for many years I've been focused on the unique ultra fine powder gold I found in Alberta I never pursued them further. I think a fluid bed could work well for the subsurface target gold, but I also am not sure it would offer a distinct advantage over a properly setup riffle system. It could be another thing to test at some point I guess. It seems so many methods to capture gold actually work really well if it's not the really fine stuff... I'll look into testing it as one of the comparisons going forward.

Hello, I found your project very interesting. You said in your video that the nozzle is on your website for free download. I downloaded it, but there are no files. I am Brazilian and I live in Japan. Here we do not have options for stores to buy tools for prospecting. I would like to know when your project will be ready and if it is possible for you to send me the nozzle project. Thank you and good luck with your projects!!!

Thanks Dan! I'm hoping I can take what I'm learning and put it towards a brushless 3" machine sometime next year... Would be a very cool challenge to take on one day. I have been using Fusion 360. The free version has some limitations, but has so far been effective. It was a steep learning curve, but I followed a "learn fusion 360 in 30 days" course on RU-vid and that was very helpful to get started. I have no experience with other software, but my initial google search got me started with fusion 360 and it seems like a powerful program.

@@UtmostOutdoors - cheers, thanks Kyle!

Thanks, that would be a good solution if I go for the surface sluice design.

Thanks man!

Thanks, I sure hope this first prototype works well!

Yeah, I build 6 for sale and they all sold out in under 2 months. I'll likely be returning to the shop in Canada to build another batch this winter. I keep getting email requests to build more, so I think it has been well received so far!

Cool mat, I had a look at it on your channel. I think some sort of linear dividers would be helpful for the real world accidental tilt protection I was talking about at the end of this video. (although not really as important in a narrower 6" sluice) Is that a silicone mixture of some kind?

@@UtmostOutdoors Yes it is Platinum silicone . The riffle system uses Disruptive Osculation.

Running battery power , having efficacy is paramount

Thanks! I think for now I'm going to keep my impeller file and just sell those as physical parts as they should be fairly affordable to ship out. I put far too much effort into that thing to put it out for free just yet. But I likely will at some point down the road a bit.

I think I'll stick to manually adjusting the ring gap. Once it's set, you can just mark it and use what works best. Anything automated would ad a lot of complexity I think...

Drogue weights?

Hi Robert, I'm not sure I understand your first point about the keene jet flaring larger as it enters the tube. The ones I've seen in person use a straight tube that enters at a shallow angle making the side profile into the jet log look like a long eclipse. They don't seem to flare open as they enter the tube. I'm not sure the opening flare into the tube applies here like it would in a rocket nozzle, but perhaps send me a picture of this drawn onto a napkin and if I can better understand what you're talking about, I could run a test for you to see the results. As per measuring pressure vs measuring flow, I have a vacuum guage but in my opinion the relationship goes hand in hand. For example, for flow at the nozzle to be the same in a 5 meter hose, you would need more power at the jet to achieve that as you would for the same flow at the nozzle through a 1 meter long suction hose. Both nozzles performing the same suction volume will behave the same as open flow, but block both off with a rock and the longer hose nozzle will produce higher vacuum because the it needed more power at the jet in the first place. In the extreme, a very long hose would require such a powerful jet log to still achieve good flow at the nozzle that when a plug up occurs, you can't remove the rock by hand and would need to throttle down or use a flap. But the ability to vacuum up material is just a result of flow into the nozzle. So if that makes any sense, it's another bonus to keeping the suction hose as short as is convenient. (Sorry, writing this on my phone) The gold divers couple jet was a cool design, keene engineering has a test of one on their youtube channel. It did not out perform their own optimally designed single jet in that video. I was surprised to see that at the time, but have since found similar results in my own testing. I still think an adjustable 360 degree jet has Merritt, because you can adjust the size to match your pump curve perfectly. Sorry for the long response, hopefully it makes sense.

@@UtmostOutdoors Thanks, I sent an email follow up.

The bilge pump comes with an integrated intake screen. It's designed to sit in the bilge of a boat and so they designed in a screen that clips over the bottom of the pump. In some cases I have wrapped window screen around the bilge pump to keep tiny bits of pond scum out, but I assume it should work fine. If you are referring to the suction nozzle, then I have a threaded nozzle tip that reduces the intake diameter to help prevent rock jams. I need to test a few designs out for that still.

You seem to have strong feeling on the subject of mats.... 😏 I do find it interesting how that specific subject seems the most heated and contested compared to all other areas involving brands. I really do like testing mats for real results, but it's definitely the kind of thing that can get you in the cross hairs of a hoard of zealots who refuse to accept their "team" could loose. I do look forward to my next recovery test when I get around to it 😀.

@@UtmostOutdoors hah only when it comes to dream mat. The reason is I have seen every comparison the maker has made and they have never been a fair test. Any other mat I'm ok with as they don't make unfair tests

@illernpiller That makes sense. I agree that some of their marketing videos are snake oil level bad.

Hey, I'm definitely no expert on Mercury, but what was your question?

At the moment I'm far from able to go out and mine full time myself! That sure is the dream though, head out and mine, return home with more money than you left with... I'll do my best to get setup and make it happen in the coming years, and at the very least I'll show you the ups and downs of it all here on RU-vid.

The main reason you loose a good percentage of suction by breaking the surface is that water is heavy and takes a lot of energy to lift. But under water, water is neutrally buoyant. It weighs nothing, so you only have frictional resistance to worry about. The backpressure does have an effect, I noticed an increase in suction by flaring the exit of the tubing compared to running straight out. But lifting above the surface has the largest effect.

@@UtmostOutdoors I guessed so. As soon as you go over the waterline it is tiny bits over that kills your water flow