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This morning I realised that I've been getting a bit slack lately. Dirt builds up around the dryblower and conveyor so I should hook a chain onto it and move it a few metres onto clear ground. This morning the conveyor started and stopped.

1643760220_flat_roller.jpg


I found this poor little roller buried and jammed so it had failed to spin wearing flat on the bottom. While I was looking around I found evidence of where Tonka the destroyer had attacked Goldilocks leaving clear teeth marks.

1643760394_damage_from_tonka.jpg


The bin had been lifted busting two rubber mounts.

1643760448_broken_mount.jpg


It clearly wasn't me because I have an alibi. I've been busy listening to The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and Tom Sawyer on my new Oraolo speakers. Anyway it meant that they both came home for some well earned S&M :)
 
I worked on replacing the conveyor roller this morning and then I walked down to the hall to get my Covid booster.

1643803645_planter_1.jpg


When Mrs M got up I was soon distracted with garden duties.

1643803692_planter_2.jpg


I can't complain, she's been on at me for weeks to help her move some old planters and she's done most of the work.

1643803900_balls_60.jpg


I've been collecting these nice shiny balls but I didn't realise how many I need for my new project. So far I have 30 x 18mm and 30 x 22mm, that's sixty all up and it looks like I need at least four or five times that amount.
 
Sandta said:
Hmmm ?
Mini ball mill / sampling crusher ?
Or dazzling shiny feature piece of some sort
Click to expand...

Yes Sandta, I was starting to build a small ball mill. Mrs M went out a few weeks back and left me home alone. I needed something to occupy me so I slipped over to CueBunno to dump so green waste and came back with a washing machine motor. Then I proceeded to knock up a little impact crusher.

1643865844_crusher.jpg


When she came home and heard the noise and saw the dust that was the end of that. I can only use it if I take it up to the minesite where I have a few thousand tonnes of various types of rock. I intend to crush one type at a time, black, red, white or the others and then see which ones are giving me the gold. I need a bigger crusher but this one discharges right into a 20L bucket so it's convenient to do a bit of testing.

Earlier this week she came up to the minesite for a look and on the way spotted an old gas bottle and of course threw it on to the back of the truck. It gave me an idea, I need a tumbler/ball mill so that's where it all started.

1643866029_ball_mill_1.jpg


Then I started to collect balls. The ball bearing bird has been roaming around dropping ball bearings all over the ground but finding them is not easy. I thought I was going well but when I got to 60 and looked at the pile it was a long way short of what I needed. Mrs M said "Why make it so big? Just make a little one" and handed me a vitamin bottle.

1643866376_tumbler.jpg


Of course it'll never do the job I intended to use it for but it kept me busy yesterday afternoon and I'm sure it'll end up making some pretty rocks or something.

1643866487_solar_panel.jpg


Then she thought about it a while and had a bit of grumble about me running the power for hours on end so today I set up the solar panel on some big deep cycle batteries.

1643866832_batteries.jpg


They should keep it ticking along ok until I get enough shiny little balls to complete my original tumbler.
 
Hi Phil, just wondering if you are noticing any latency issues with the Oraolo neckband headphones and if so whether you find the delay to be a problem or not. Also if there is any noticeable interference/EMI generated by the speakers when you are digging targets and presumably they are closer to the coil. I look forward to hearing your views. Cheers
 
Stingray said:
Hi Phil, just wondering if you are noticing any latency issues with the Oraolo neckband headphones and if so whether you find the delay to be a problem or not. Also if there is any noticeable interference/EMI generated by the speakers when you are digging targets and presumably they are closer to the coil. I look forward to hearing your views. Cheers
Click to expand...

I've not used them enough to give you a good answer. I've not used the DD coil much because I don't like it and this time was no different. I have trouble pin pointing with this coil but latency is something I can't say I've experienced. If I was using the 11" mono then I'd know better how they performed. I never experienced any EMI on the DD even though there were big angry clouds and lightening approaching from the south so again I can't say if they may have interfered with the mono. Google says it's 38C at the moment but I'm sure it's 42C. I just went out and picked up the AEG battery powered drill and even though it has 3/4 charge it's dead because it simply won't work when the ambient temperature is too high. I removed the battery and placed it on the charger but it just showed the high temperature warning light even though the drill hadn't been running. It's way too hot to attempt metal detecting.
 
⚠️ Warning - Restricted hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods use or discussion isn't endorsed by Forum Management. Individuals using any hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods do so at their own risk/s and need to ensure their own legislative compliance.
Click to expand...
I started out doing a little more S&M on Goldilocks but it's difficult working in a residential area because by the time I feel comfortable making a noise it's too hot to keep it up. Anyway the day wasn't wasted.

1643977501_retort.jpg


I knocked up a little mercury retort to go with the little ball tumbler. I may as well put the little tumbler to good use and try to extract the gold from some of my black sand. It's not quite finished but I'll do that in the daylight when I can see a bit better :)
 
⚠️ Warning - Restricted hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods use or discussion isn't endorsed by Forum Management. Individuals using any hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods do so at their own risk/s and need to ensure their own legislative compliance.
Click to expand...
Maybe should let Phil reply but it is used to recover gold from his little ball mill.
Basically gold sticks to mercury (amalgam).
Mercury and gold go into little bowl on right, heat is applied, mercury evaporates and you are left with gold in bowl.
Mercury vapours are condensed by cooling water and recovered mercury is collected from tube on left.
Can be a dangerous operation if not done correctly.
 
My (our) first and only attempt at metal sculpture was a Bunyip in the Yalgorup national park. We place him there on 6th February 2014 and he's visited regularly.

1644018180_bunyip_1.jpg


History
Bunyip Road is the oldest unsealed road built by convicts in the district.

1644017802_bunyip_2.jpg


There was a serious attempt to steal him early on but they just managed to tilt him over. They never counted on the fact that he had buried concrete boots and we placed him onsite with a crane :)

Mrs M continues to collect all sorts on interesting metallic object hoping I'll do something in the future. If only I had a few hours to spare 8.(
 

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