Flared sluice extensions

[PicknShovels]

Hi all,

Ive been toying for some time on how i can up my throughout of material while highbanking and increase my catch rates.

My current banker is 350 wide 900 long, hungarian riffles, miners moss, v ribbed matting down the length with a 6" section of expanded metal over the moss/v mat at the top of the sluice.

My question is , will getting an extension for my sluice increase my throughput by allowing me to run for longer or will it only improve my catch rates? Is there any benefit to running an extension at all?

I was eyeing off something similar to what they have done with the monster hogs and super hogs in that they have flared out their extensions to slow the flow and allow the material to drop out.

Ill also contact some people in the US that run similar systems too.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Ben

 

[aussiefarmer]

My advise would be to pan off your material in sections so you can track how far down your sluice the gold is travelling , if theres no gold below half way the extensoin eill only catch more cons to sort through without much gold. In my sluices case it catches 95% of the gold inthe first six inches i actually made a extension and pan it seperately but it is rare to find more than one flek in it but its a good way to check the efficiency.

 

[XIV]

I would have to agree with aussiefarmer.
pan out your last quarter, if you find no gold or only a speck or 2, then the extension isn't needed.
if you still find a bunch of gold, then add to your length, but I don't think you will need it

 

[PicknShovels]

My main reasoning was to improve my running times, as it currently stands im having to clean up every hour or as my mats are filling with black sand to the point i can see the gold sitting on top. Longer sluice - longer run time.

Not sure as to how to improve this without going bigger.

Cheers

 

[XIV]

You need to change something.
More angle on the banker. Or more water.
Or your overloading it . Give it some time to clear.
350mm wide, thats going to need some water over it.
Try running it a bit steeper with a little more water.
What pump are you running? How many L/per minute? That could be your problem
Have you tried panning out the last %20 of your mat?

I can run mine for hours without having to clean it out.
300mm x1080mm at about 180L +per minute
Not saying I'm right. This is what I run mine at. And it works for me.

 

[PicknShovels]

Sorry , banker is 300 wide. Running 200lpm through 1.5" thornado. I probably am overloading it whilst running . I am getting plenty of material in the black v ribbed matting down the length and finding enough gold down further to warrant the extension.

 

[aussiefarmer]

Without seeing your set up its hard to judge , the black ribbed should be mostly darker material so heavies , if its filling with blonde sand it will not have effiencent vortexes to efficiently trap gold and heavies ,
running more water or even more slope in some cases can cause better vortexes or dead spots behind riffles, i personal like plenty of water on a not so steep sluice i like to see the dead spots working , placing a obstruction breifly on a riffle should expose good heavies trapped in the void. Its a tuff one but playing around with setup is enjoyable and educational .

My guess is a 1.5 inch pump should be running at 3/4 to flat throttle for that size sluice and it mostly depends on material type to how quick it will clear on the sluice ,
some layers i cant keep up digging and feeding and other layers i need to ease off , if your matt just looks full of blonde sand just give it time to run the water clean between shovels.

Play around with it and pan off in sections each time you change something its all fun.
Maybe building a cheap extension thats easy to fit or remove will help with fine tuning the setup. With the setup finely tuned the only way to increase capicity is to widen the sluice.

Personslly i am not a fan of the small pumps , i like the big heavy hard to shift ones but i like them about 1/3 rd throttle just running smooth .

Dont take any of this as gospel as every sluice and operator are chalk and cheese as with the dirt thats feed into them.

If you want to veiw my extension i am happy to repost pictures or just search my posts ,i have made many mods and i still am as i think its one of the most satisfying parts of alluvial gold.

 

[PicknShovels]

Cheers AF , i run my banker at arouns 6 degrees falls give or take , when i mentioned that my mats are full its roughly about the first foot that is filled with black sand that you can see it whilst letting clean water run over it. Depending on material i can throw anywhere from 1-3 shovels into the hopper and it will chew through it within 30-40 seconds, due to my hopper design ( banker was made by hardyakka ) i dont get any fluctuations in water flow which allows me to process high volumes. The only issue im currently having is my miners moss is filling with black sand to the point im either having to stop and clean up ( 10-15 minutes to pan down to black sand) or consider getting an extension so i can run for longer.

I only set up once when im out so the extra time to set up and pack up isnt really an issue as i dont move around too much, less moving means more shovelling lol.

Ive ordered 2 dream mats to trial as well as an extension to try on my current banker, i think my main issue might be water volume as pointed out by a few others but only time will tell. If worse comes to worse i can get a higher volume 1.5" pump and make up another set of spraybars to provide extra volume.

Cheers

 

[hardyakka]

G'day Ben,
Sounds like you could run that a bit steeper with a bit more water, but in saying that 3 shovels full in 30 seconds is a lot of material especially with the amount of black sand in the Eldorado area. It needs time to clear.

 

[PicknShovels]

Hi HY , took it out again yesterday to Reedy Ck for the day, ran about 10 degrees fall and slowed to abour 1 shovel every 20 seconds or so as i postioned my banker away from where i was working to avoid flooding the hole i was working. Seemed to clear alright while doing this , even tried a few times to overload it with a few shovels at a time but i ran a le trap at the end and wasnt blowing anything out. So i think im catching everything i put in regardless if i overload it or not. Which brings in my original topic of the extension lol. Im thinking of re-doing the spraybar assembly with more holes for more flow to aid with everything.

Is there anything else you would reccomend to help with this?

Cheers

 

[hardyakka]

You could drill the holes out bigger.
Pretty sure they will be 5mm holes atm.
Whats the main problem with it?
Are the riffles filling with black sand?

 

[PicknShovels]

Only issue im having is the moss is clogging with black sand about a foot down the sluice, im having to clean up so i dont run the risk of blowing stuff out the end of it. Thats why ive entertained the idea of the extension . It might be a quicker alternative to just make the holes bigger but i cant pull the SB apart to get a drill in because they are glued on one end :|

 

[hardyakka]

Pull the end off that's not glued and slide the whole lot out.
Either the end caps arnt glued in or the other end of the spray bar at the top of the hopper.
Either way you will get them off.

 

[PicknShovels]

Cheers mate , what size hole wouls you reccomend that will provide more flow but cause me more headache than necessary?

Sorry for the questions lol

 

[hardyakka]

Give me a call if you still have my number, otherwise pm me yours and I'll call ya

 

[hardyakka]

They should be a 5mm hole atm. I'd go up .5 of a mm at a time until you find what works for you and your pump.
Take a cordless drill and a few drill bits with you next time you go out. Only takes a minute to take them off and drill the holes.
I've never encountered this problem before.
That black sand up there is ***** stuff but are you sure your pump is pumping as it should and not full of sh*t.

You could still try a bit more angle on your sluice too. Have a bit of a play with it.
Put the other sluice behind it to see if your losing anything.
If not then load it up and keep digging.

I might get up there in a couple of weeks.
I'll send you a msg if I do and we can catch up and have a look at it.

 

[aussiefarmer]

Sounds like you are digging a good spot if you are getting that much black sand that quick

 

[PicknShovels]

Been working the same area and just cracked through a foot thick layer of grey clay , underneath this layer in a few inches of black/purple clay that wont break up in the spray bars AND finally underneath this ive found a layer of hard pack gravels with fist sized rocks and very rusty gravels. The amount of lead shot and old shells we are finding in this layer is leading us to think we are on to a decent spot.

Will keep everyone posted on the extension and what ive found