Angus MacKirk Grub Steak Sluice - Highbanker Conversion

[HeadsUp]

a 100 AH battery is not that heavy once you improve the carry handle , or even sew up a carry bag that fits at the bottom of the pack frame so the battery weight rests on your lower back or hips

when you say recirculating , do you mean you would take a plastic tub with you ?

( if you got lucky you might find a fold up canvas one )

 

[Nugget]

Yeah I was thinking about rigging up a tub with some form of grizzly configuration or screen to filter the gravel out. I imagine I'd need something that won't loose to much water. What are your thoughts?

 

[Nugget]

I just stumbled across a slightly different conversion with header box. It's a another possibility but I don't really plan on running two pumps.

[video=480,360]http://youtu.be/Jl2AAvw6c4w[/video]

P.S. The model used in the video is the AM Explorer.

 

[mdv]

Some things you might wish to note:

• Grub steak is low production - you feed by the hand-scoop not by the shovel. Ideal for sampling but if you want to then do some serious digging you will need either a HB or a larger McKirk.[/*]

• You should classify to half inch or quarter inch before feeding Grub Steak[/*]

• A 100ah deep cycle battery weighs a lot more than a small petrol pump (e.g Honda WX10)[/*]

• Why put it on a stand if feeding by the handful? Just put it on the ground, sit next to it and feed it from a bucket of classified material[/*]

• You can, with certain constraints, select one petrol pump that does both HB and Grub Steak. For me, WX10 does Grub Steak at little more than idle and does Walbanker at three-quarter throttle[/*]

My set-up using a WX10 is simple, light, and works well for me.

 

[Nugget]

Grub steak is low production - you feed by the hand-scoop not by the shovel. Ideal for sampling but if you want to then do some serious digging you will need either a HB or a larger McKirk.

Thanks mdv, the main motivation is portability for hiking to and testing new hard to reach areas. I'm not planning on running excessive amounts of material through it except in highly promising remote areas.

You should classify to half inch or quarter inch before feeding Grub Steak

The Grub Steak is currently my go to sluice and I usually classify down to 1/2".

Why put it on a stand if feeding by the handful? Just put it on the ground, sit next to it and feed it from a bucket of classified material

I'm only looking at adding a short stand for the simple fact that my legs start to ache after crouching down for long periods of time.

 

[HeadsUp]

if youre going to use a recirculator then use a rectangular tub with a smaller catch tub inside to collect the gravel

reason for that is if you feel you need to process twice because you saw a bit go right through the sluice then all you need to do is lift out that small tub and tip it back in your bucket

it also stops the pump getting blocked up with grit

 

[Nugget]

Bloody brilliant HeadsUp, that's exactly what I need thanks.

 

[Nugget]

I just purchased a Rule 1100GPH Bilge Pump from BCF ($74.95). I didn't buy any hose because they only had 25mm ribbed on the shelf. I'm going to check out a local irrigation and pump shop sometime during the week to see what they have.

BCF also have these connectors which would be perfect for affixing the hose to the flare attachment. I didn't worry about getting one just yet because there's a few other details that I need to work out first.

 

[Reeks]

Nugget, there's nothing wrong with ribbed hose for what you want to use it for.
In fact I would rather it as its much lighter than solid wall hose.
It doesn't kink either.
Reeko

 

[Nugget]

That's good to know Reeks but I can't seem to find any 28mm hose, I've tried BCF and Bunnings so far and the biggest they have is 25mm :|

 

[Nugget]

I've been thinking more about how best to spread / even out the water. By plugging a 28mm hose into the flare end (via custom attachment) it's going to be a concentrated stream which I don't believe would be ideal. I'm now thinking a backward facing spray-bar (angled at a splash plate so the water drops into the sluice) might be the go to provide a more consistent and even spread.

Now a question for the math-heads. Is there a way to work out the number of, width and height of slits required in the spray-bar to make up 100% flow of a 28mm hose? To clarify, I'm basically wanting to provide the exact same amount of flow through the slits in the spray-bar as it would if the spray-bar wasn't attached, so not to put any load on the pump. I hope that makes sense lol.

Please remember this is still in the design phase so any input is welcome

 

[HeadsUp]

make the holes the same area as the hose , or slightly bigger area than the hose cross sectional area

area is calculated by Pi times radius squared so Hose area is 3.1415927 x ( 12.5 x 12.5 ) = 491 square millimetres

If you have 18 holes @ 6 mm diameter it will be equal but make it 20 - 22 holes to give the water molecules a bit of extra time to argue over who goes out which hole

dont go too small in hole size as they can block up with algae , leaves , gravel and leaches

if possible , use the same diameter pipe as the hose to reduce pressure loss there

 

[Tige]

Hi nugget , not sure about working it out mathematically but if u have some spare pipe u could cut slots about 1cm apart but small , run pump, adjust hole size till u see water pressure dropping from out of slots, depending on spray bar setup . I will b setting up a Alaskan a.m. as a light weight hi banker, just waiting for it to arrive

 

[HeadsUp]

i did use a angus mckirk foreman sluice once for a highbanker but i couldnt get it to handle my shovelling volumes

it would have been fine if i trowelled the feed into it but i like to shovel hard so i kept building bigger and bigger sluices until my sluice ate me.
i am writing this to you now from Sluices Anonymous Rehab Center .

 

[Nugget]

Thanks guys, here is a quick drawing of what I'm thinking of doing.

Do you think this will help to even out the water flow or am I wasting my time?

 

[HeadsUp]

two options for spray bars

the second one just holds gravel longer in the top of the box to break down clay slightly better

 

[Nugget]

i did use a angus mckirk foreman sluice once for a highbanker but i couldnt get it to handle my shovelling volumes

it would have been fine if i trowelled the feed into it but i like to shovel hard so i kept building bigger and bigger sluices until my sluice ate me.
i am writing this to you now from Sluices Anonymous Rehab Center .

The idea is to hand feed it with classified material. If this works I may look at building something bigger later on.

 

[HeadsUp]

Thanks guys, here is a quick drawing of what I'm thinking of doing.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3/1391231845_spray-bar.jpg

Do you think this will help to even out the water flow or am I wasting my time?

that will work , or dispense with the spray bar altogether and just have a deflector plate in front of the hose where it feeds in to the sluice to spread out the water flow , i did the same thing on mine 2.5 yonks ago

 

[Nugget]

Now that's an idea, how did you find the flow, nice and even?

 

[HeadsUp]

Now that's an idea, how did you find the flow, nice and even?

bottom pic type was 90 % even , top pic would work better