Advice sought. Vortex mat on bazooka

[Edi]

Hi everyone

After reprocessing some tailings it's obvious my croc gator is loosing a bunch of fine flat gold which sux. I've put a punch plate over the grizzly which has helped quite a bit but I'm still unsatisfied. So I've ordered a gold cube dream mat (just under a foot length and width) to put on the top deck as I figure it can't hurt my retention ratios.
The big questions are (1) how do I attach it? I'm loath to drill holes in plastic deck as I am the kind of bloke who flogs his gear and am worried I'll split the plastic. I am seriously considering glueing it on permanently. If I go down this path I'm keen to trim it to shape and have it right up against the grizzly leading to question (2) how do I cut it? And of course the next question is if the mat is permanently fixed how do.i clean it out? Can I just stand the sluice vertically in a bucket and splash or pour water over the mat?

I'm pretty interested in opinions.

I've been alluvial prospecting for several years and have recently found two separate spots that are producing really good results, glad I persisted as I was a bit despondent about my lack of success over the past few months. So for those of you not getting a lot of colour, keep sampling and dreaming. Cheers everyone

 

[Moneybox]

Hi everyone

After reprocessing some tailings it's obvious my croc gator is loosing a bunch of fine flat gold which sux. I've put a punch plate over the grizzly which has helped quite a bit but I'm still unsatisfied. So I've ordered a gold cube dream mat (just under a foot length and width) to put on the top deck as I figure it can't hurt my retention ratios.
The big questions are (1) how do I attach it? I'm loath to drill holes in plastic deck as I am the kind of bloke who flogs his gear and am worried I'll split the plastic. I am seriously considering glueing it on permanently. If I go down this path I'm keen to trim it to shape and have it right up against the grizzly leading to question (2) how do I cut it? And of course the next question is if the mat is permanently fixed how do.i clean it out? Can I just stand the sluice vertically in a bucket and splash or pour water over the mat?

I'm pretty interested in opinions.

I've been alluvial prospecting for several years and have recently found two separate spots that are producing really good results, glad I persisted as I was a bit despondent about my lack of success over the past few months. So for those of you not getting a lot of colour, keep sampling and dreaming. Cheers everyone

I'm not into alluvial gold prospecting using water, we have none but I'll give my ideas anyway....

If the mat you want to hold down is semi-rigid perhaps you can permanently fix a lip to retain its edges or corners. Then you only have to release the one edge to slip it out.

Ps: It sounds like a risky game being out there with the croc, gator and grizzly... :lol: :lol:

 

[Goldtarget]

Id try a clip in option, if Im visualizing it correctly, a pic would be helpful. Alternatively you could glue in an anchor point and use a thread to bolt or bolt to thread in a number of configurations, or perhaps a "H" piece if you did not wish to glue.

I think the solutions are only restrained by what you envisage in engineering a solution. The fastest way is 2 rails running each side of the mat placed in from the top possibly secured with plastic hand held clips, but perhaps you need a cleaner more long term solution.

 

[AussieChris]

Hmm I have the v mat as a tell on my grizzly, but its not the main capture zone of course it just helps you determine if you are on the colour.

Id be concerned with dream mat changing the action of the fluid bed as the slick plate is a factor in allowing gold to drop out, rooster tails right before the trap could be nasty.

Id certainly want to test it with bulldog clips before resorting to glue!

A better option would be to add the dream mat square an extension after the fluid bed.
Would be a reasonably simple addition out of acrylic sheet.

I just run my gold rat sluices after my fluid bed sluices.
Well I did when there was water! :goldpan:

 

[G0lddigg@]

mate i believe we have spoken on the phone a few times, since speaking last year we have released a micro mat which can easily be trimmed to size and has many "micro cells" it really wouldn't be hard to grab a flat piece of aluminium from bunnings the ones that you use to install carpet and cut a small section for a clamp, i know youd have to drill the plastic sluice but at least you could try it with very small screws i think this would actuality suit your application. just an idea

https://highbanker.com.au/collections/vortex-dream-sluice-mat/products/micro-dream-mat

 

[Jemba]

I do like the look of that matting. :Y:

 

[Edi]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. Dustin you are a champion with a wealth of patience and great advice. Although the idea seems a little stupid I have tried the mat and have temporarily clamped it along the sides of the bazooka and it's obviously been a success with the bulk of the gold being collected before it hits the grizzly. Most importantly my gold retention has definitely improved. I've got a few old holes for comparison and whilst you can never be sure the material concentration is similar I'm pretty confident I'm getting more gold per shovel. I've taken to shoveling onto a quarter inch sieve placed on the slick bar and it hasn't slowed things down much. The whole bazooka capture problems I've faced I believe are due to the high proportion of small flat river rocks locally. Replacing the grizzly with a punch plate screen helped a lot. Using the mat has taken my retention to a new level. In hindsight I think for simplicity just using a goldrat 10 or 12 inch sluice would work just as well and certainly be more cost effective. Those bazookas are big bucks and I'm surprised the croc guys couldn't make the business payable. On that note I read codan metal detector sales hit $100m last year. The Golden triangle and west oz goldfields must be getting hammered!!
Thanks again Dustin

 

[SWright]

G'day

If you have your fluid bed sluice set up properly you will not lose a single speck. I have two and have tested them both on every new spot. don't forget to charge them first by running a few scoop full of material with heavies but no gold. then you are ready to go. if you want matting then just get a bit of that Bunnings V matting and clip it to the feed end of the sluice. that way you can see the fine gold and catch it if you are still concerned. just use those crocodile clips for keeping papers together so you can easily undo, wash out and put back without disturbing your sluice.

Araluen

 

[blisters]

I agree with Araluen set what you have up correctly, the slick plate is important on the fluid bed and I wouldn't be messing with it. If you want different capture methods set them up in line with one to process the dregs off the other. You'd need to get your flow rates right for each one to be effective.

Jon