Bellows puffer style drywasher plans

[gcause]

From my research into the subject most people seem to recommend the bellows over the blower, noise and the amount of dust generated being a big part of that. Mostly reading the American forums.

I just wanted to make the bellows type because I love the history and it is closer to the way they used to do it out on the goldfields. Call me old school but the bellows unit just appeals to me

I also wanted a quieter unit and I am only considering using the leaf blower motor to run it because my brother had one available (someone was going to toss it out) and he spent time on it getting it going for me. I like to use what I have to hand and then improve on it over time if needs be. Also I was considering making a blower version later so I could compare how effective each is. So there is potential for reuse of the blower motor. If I can get my hands on a wiper motor I will try that as it should be a lot quieter.

The cost of a new Keene unit $2000 - $2500 is just way out of my reach right now.

I'm building the drywasher unit as a lot of the places I go only have water for a limited amount of time each year and it cuts the gold getting season short for me. Hopefully with this I can go out all year round.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Hi All
This is just a comment I want to throw out to you!!
I am planning on building a Dry Blower it will be a puffer style (bellows)

Think about when you are panning! do you continue to agitate the pan side to side, when tipping it forward to wash the dirt off? "NO YOU DON'T" you stop & then lift it further then wash off.
To me the stop & lift method is what the Bellows type Dryblower does & the opposite can be said for the constant blower as it constantly agitates the fines across the top, this is my opinion & others may disagree, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on what I have described.
cheers
Lee

sorry mate I hear what your saying but i think this is more of an argument for the blower style, what a bellows does is pus all of the material up at once and its not as effective as the vibration method of a blower style. This is something that been proven with extensive testing in the USA. The benefit of the blower is the constant cushion of air that keeps light material moving about and constantly exchanging. This is done by using a counterbalance that creates a side to side motion.

Personally i "DO" continue to stratify when panning all the way down to a very fine concentrate and allow the weight of gold to settle, i thought this was how everyone panned? I used to wash back and forth when i got started but after a while panning every day you get confident in your mineral separation.

anyway i'm not to say whats better for one bloke or another the point really is that a blower will work more efficiently in that you can process more material in a shorter time compared to a bellows unit and of course there is always an acception to the rule when doing comparisons however that doesn't mean its more fun or easy to use. Its an indicvidual thing.

Put it this way, Ive just had Cortisone and steroid injections in my shoulder due to long term damage if this fix doesn't work out for me do you think i'll be using a pull start engine? hell no i'll be using a bellows system for sure. all these things need to be taken into account. like a car i guess decide what few things are important to you and get the best you can for the amount of money your willing to spend.

I tell you whats another great benefit to bellows style is the fact you can charge your battery with the sun free power!

 

[G0lddigg@]

well i had a little dig this arvo ran about 3 buckets out of one of the caves ive been playing around in didn't' get much colour but got it out of my system for a bit. screened down to 3mm as the gold here is tiny.

 

[Teemore]

That must have been manna from heaven after all the talk ....like a good caffeine or nicotine hit when you've been deprived.

Bellow V Blower .... to me the bellows are a lighter volume option, I'm getting to old/unfit to keep up with a decent sized blower unit, the bellows require a slower feed, process less but do seem to do the job, the blowers definitely move much more material.

A few vids I recall show both styles moving dry wash/sand as though it was 'fluid' ..... personal choice in the end I suppose.

 

[MJB]

Nice Goldigga...very nice. Looks like a good spot. Is that an old mine or a really fat wombat hole?? I was at Reedy creek at Beechworth a week ago and while panning I noticed a large fresh wombat hole in the side of a hill the old timers left behind and I thought maybe..just maybe there might be something in all the spoil he had dug out. But NO...not even a speck. Still, If I had not of tried I would have been forever wondering What If?

Gcause, I like your idea with the bellows. Doing things the old fashioned way appeals to me too. I have even thought about building a cradle or even giving Banjoing a go just so I can get a better feel of how it used to be done. The only reason I am going with the blower type is as I don't get out much I want to try an make the most of the limited time I have out in the field. I know the noise will be annoying but hopefully the colour will more than compensate for the hearing loss...

Cheers,

 

[G0lddigg@]

Lol your spot on Tom only takes a little colour to satisfy.

Mjb was an old mine it's a wash layer on bedrock with a thin layer of pipeclay not muxh gold there as such they eventually hydraulically flooded it and pushed the wash into a sluice run. The gold is flat amd fine but ive crawled in about 25 metres now theres at least 9 different ways to go just haven't found tge right layer yet

I found one of those wombat holes you just have to test it

 

[rc62burke]

Hi All
This is just a comment I want to throw out to you!!
I am planning on building a Dry Blower it will be a puffer style (bellows)

Think about when you are panning! do you continue to agitate the pan side to side, when tipping it forward to wash the dirt off? "NO YOU DON'T" you stop & then lift it further then wash off.
To me the stop & lift method is what the Bellows type Dryblower does & the opposite can be said for the constant blower as it constantly agitates the fines across the top, this is my opinion & others may disagree, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on what I have described.
cheers
Lee

sorry mate I hear what your saying but i think this is more of an argument for the blower style, what a bellows does is pus all of the material up at once and its not as effective as the vibration method of a blower style. This is something that been proven with extensive testing in the USA. The benefit of the blower is the constant cushion of air that keeps light material moving about and constantly exchanging. This is done by using a counterbalance that creates a side to side motion.

Personally i "DO" continue to stratify when panning all the way down to a very fine concentrate and allow the weight of gold to settle, i thought this was how everyone panned? I used to wash back and forth when i got started but after a while panning every day you get confident in your mineral separation.

anyway i'm not to say whats better for one bloke or another the point really is that a blower will work more efficiently in that you can process more material in a shorter time compared to a bellows unit and of course there is always an acception to the rule when doing comparisons however that doesn't mean its more fun or easy to use. Its an indicvidual thing.

Put it this way, Ive just had Cortisone and steroid injections in my shoulder due to long term damage if this fix doesn't work out for me do you think i'll be using a pull start engine? hell no i'll be using a bellows system for sure. all these things need to be taken into account. like a car i guess decide what few things are important to you and get the best you can for the amount of money your willing to spend.

I tell you whats another great benefit to bellows style is the fact you can charge your battery with the sun free power!

Mate you have misunderstood my description of panning.
Of course you stratify all the way through the panning procedure, BUT you stop any motion when tipping the pan forward to wash off the top layer before flattening the pan off then starting again DON'T you??? I liken the constant motion of the Blower to continuing to stratify as you tip the pan forward!!! This is my opinion.
Lee

 

[MJB]

I hear what your saying Lee....but!

The process of dry blowing uses a slightly different principle than the usual wet processing methods. The main difference I can think of is the fact that the riffles are slanting the opposite direction from what you would find in a water sluice . They slope back towards the feed end so that they form a trap that once something nice and heavy gets right down in there, there is very little chance of it coming up and over the lip again. The heavies get trapped in front of the riffles instead of behind. In theory, the constant vibes and air cushion effect of the blower style should really help those heavy bits get trapped easier while allowing the lighter stuff to keep flowing down over the riffles and out of the tray. The vibes we are talking about are very small and is just enough to keep things agitated......they are not an aggressive side to side motion like what we do when panning.

Having said all that, the only way to know for certain which system is better at fine gold recovery is to have one of each and process the same material through them and see which one wins..

Cheers,

 

[G0lddigg@]

mate I don't stop any motion of side to side at all, I understand what your saying and I think your missing my point, I don't pan like that right or wrong that's my way....
I continue to shuffle the pan and use the water force to move the lighter material out of the pan. I never tip the pan forward i simply agitate the material up into the flow of water moving backwards and out on the forward movement always keeping the pan submerged. I find in areas I work if you let the water get slack sometimes those fines will float right up and out of the pan.

I'm sure it depends on what pan you are using, personally i use the supersluice it has deep reverse riffles (similar to drywashing designed for drypanning) to hold the gold in place and if you stop agitating it the heavies will pack up on you.

when i used to use a black pan from aussie disposals I did have to slow right down and allow the material to rest before panning off.

this is the pan i use mate [video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02vz-486kv0[/video]

Mate you have misunderstood my description of panning.
Of course you stratify all the way through the panning procedure, BUT you stop any motion when tipping the pan forward to wash off the top layer before flattening the pan off then starting again DON'T you??? I liken the constant motion of the Blower to continuing to stratify as you tip the pan forward!!! This is my opinion.
Lee

 

[PipeclayJim]

Interesting hey!

 

[G0lddigg@]

Havent seen this before guess it never really took off. There were certainly many scanmers about in that time. Interesting concep though looks like a spinning system to throw lighter material outwards

 

[PipeclayJim]

Yep i think your right, i cant find any info about it. But it dose look interesting. cheers

 

[flashinthepan]

Hi all ,I've been collecting some gear together for a 12volt powered bellows style drywasher/blower
and had a basic plan in mind , until I saw the older one that gcause has picked up
I like the design of the metal frame with leg mounts and the bellows connected below and riffle box above both attached to the one solid frame, so I will go with this myself
But , noticing that there is very little "air" space in this unit between the top of the bellows and the bottom of the riffle tray ,it has a diffuser of sorts I guess to distribute the air more evenly up to the riffles , do you guys think this acceptable or would it be better to have a larger gap to let the air circulate more evenly to the riffles?
also the board under the riffles has the slots located to direct air to the right place in relation to each riffle ,I;m guessing that this slot would stop short behind (topside) of each riffle to help create the "dead air" space that some people create with tape?
hope this makes sense , any thoughts greatly appreciated before I hook into it
cheers, flash

 

[gcause]

Hey Flash hope the build goes well for you.

I am happy to take any additional photos of that unit you may want just let me know.

I just got the Lanolin to treat the leather, got a real strange look from the Pharmacist at the local chemist when I asked if they had a bigger container of it so I could treat my bellows with it. :lol:

Now looking for some square pipe to make some legs for it.

 

[flashinthepan]

HI thanks for the offer gcause , I reckon I can see enough from the pics you have up , what would you estimate the gap to be between the top of bellows and bottom of riffle box please?

 

[gcause]

No need to guess I can get accurate dimensions off a photo using a handy dandy iPad app.

 

[flashinthepan]

holy cow 8) the bleeden app gadgets out there boggles me brain

 

[gcause]

 

[gcause]

Was that what you needed?

 

[flashinthepan]

thats awsome thanks for all the trouble you have gone to I will be able to build off those specs ,

so it seems the area for the air to circulate is only the thickness of the metal frame between the bellows and the riffle box, which seems a fair bit less than commercial models ive looked at ,but it must have worked for them