Got a little Sluice cheap.

[ozziii]

Decided to get some rubber backed matting from Bunnings to try out, will eventually get some of the non backed matting & some ribbed rubber stuff like the gold hog rubber mats as well but will be interesting to see how this stuff goes compared top the ribbed carpet.

Bunning had a few different types, I got the soft rubber backed type with what looked to be a medium type weave & holes.

 

[Sniffy]

possibly a good idea to leave the very front section clear of matting/expanded mesh - will act as a boiler area. just shift what you have down 1 section and start it at the first angle.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Sound advice sniffy

 

[ozziii]

possibly a good idea to leave the very front section clear of matting/expanded mesh - will act as a boiler area. just shift what you have down 1 section and start it at the first angle.

Thanks Sniffy, just a question though, because I don't know much about this stuff, but if I move the matting down to the first riffle, then wouldn't there be a chance fine gold could go underneath the matting & maybe be washed out the end.
It might not but I just thought it was worth asking.

I was also going to try some ribbed rubber like some of the gold hog rubber underneath but using similar matting to what I have now but the non rubber backed stuff like the minors moss. Won't be doing that just yet but when I do would that still be better to start it at the first riffle as well.
Thanks, sorry about confusing newbie questions.

 

[ozziii]

Got a battery today, should be good to run an electric pump for a few hours hopefully, brand new & only cost a 6 pack of VB stubbies, good mate of my brothers didn't need it.

 

[Sniffy]

possibly a good idea to leave the very front section clear of matting/expanded mesh - will act as a boiler area. just shift what you have down 1 section and start it at the first angle.

Thanks Sniffy, just a question though, because I don't know much about this stuff, but if I move the matting down to the first riffle, then wouldn't there be a chance fine gold could go underneath the matting & maybe be washed out the end.
It might not but I just thought it was worth asking.

I was also going to try some ribbed rubber like some of the gold hog rubber underneath but using similar matting to what I have now but the non rubber backed stuff like the minors moss. Won't be doing that just yet but when I do would that still be better to start it at the first riffle as well.
Thanks, sorry about confusing newbie questions.

Re the matting location: Nope. You will have some pressure on the matting from above with the angle section sitting over it. chances of any fine gold making it all the way under the mat and out the back about zero.

You need the 'boil' area at the front or you will just find your whole box clogging up all the time. It acts to start seperating the fine soil so it can get washed out quickly and getting the gold down into the bottom of the box.

I use miners moss and the fine v-ribbed matting too. Discussions with Geoff from prospecting supplies and his opinion was that I could probably do away with the miners moss all-together and just run the v matting. I'm a bit cautious to try though! hahah Maybe when I have some time and I will put a tarp under the back and do a careful check if im losing anything out the back running it that way. would have some advantages in being easier to cleanup.

 

[Sniffy]

Got a battery today, should be good to run an electric pump for a few hours hopefully, brand new & only cost a 6 pack of VB stubbies, good mate of my brothers didn't need it.

You could get a 12v solar panel fairly cheap, would help keeping the battery tickled up and running for longer.

 

[ozziii]

Got a battery today, should be good to run an electric pump for a few hours hopefully, brand new & only cost a 6 pack of VB stubbies, good mate of my brothers didn't need it.

You could get a 12v solar panel fairly cheap, would help keeping the battery tickled up and running for longer.

Thanks for explaining that Sniffy, I'll definitely look into that & try it out, sounds like its a good thing to do.
I'm looking into getting some pipe, joins & elbows so I can run a spray bar just above the grizzly bars that will spray water back up into the hopper which will hopefully help break up any clumps, & will put in a couple of valves to adjust flow. Not sure how that would go while using electric pump though but I did check out some petrol pumps yesterday, just have to wait a bit before I can get one.
Have also thought about a solar panel but putting the $$ towards a petrol pump would probably be better.
The electric pump set up is pretty much just a cheaper way to get started for now, then I want to get a petrol pump when I can & make some mods, maybe even a small detachable extension to the lower sluice might be on the card, will see what happens, it just takes me time to get things done with a tight budget. I like experimenting & making things though.haha.

 

[Nightjar]

Ozziii,
You mention a reverse spray bar above the grizzly.
Why not a riffle across grizzly to slow down the traffic.
Have not had any experience with your device but it baffles me that there is no interruption in material flow, like you say, to break up clay and roll the rocks to wash them clean before skating over the grizzly?

 

[Tathradj]

A reverse punch plate at a medium angle.
Thinking hat is on.

Ozziii,
You mention a reverse spray bar above the grizzly.
Why not a riffle across grizzly to slow down the traffic.
Have not had any experience with your device but it baffles me that there is no interruption in material flow, like you say, to break up clay and roll the rocks to wash them clean before skating over the grizzly?

 

[G0lddigg@]

100% cant beat slowing the flow with classification prior to grizzly thats exactly what i do on my large high volume banker. i use fine expanded over moss under that before all the big stuff hits the sluice. If working clay its very easy to drill a few hoes into your hopper and add a piece of moss covered in expanded metal to further "boil" the slurry.

sorry about the crappy photo but this is an easy solution that works well for me.

 

[Tathradj]

Great minds do work alike. LOL
Sometimes.

 

[ozziii]

Thanks for the great ideas, I can see I will end up spending a good amount of time trying to do some of this stuff, can't help myself, I like making & trying different things & being new to sluicing I will enjoy it more.
Going to take time though but thats ok.
Thanks again.

 

[aussiefarmer]

There good ideas, but with that sluice just lower the angle of the top run so the gravel stays under the spray bars longer until its broken down and mixes with the water , sure you will have to help a few larger stones to move down and will probably have to sweep the pebbles off the grizzly bars every second shovel but it will give a more even feed of material and will brake clay balls up and the stone pile at the grizzly end will look perfectly clean .
In real crappy clay i sit a large lumpy rock above the grizzly to hold the material under the spray bars and if you get the right lumpy rock the water and finer material flows past it while the clay balls get hammered in a spray bath .

My tip is just get out and have a crack you may be perfectly happy with it stock bog standard

 

[ozziii]

Got some pipes, joins & stuff to make a spray bar type set up, not quite what I wanted as pipe is sitting to far out from hopper, need a less bulky ball valve or something, should be ok for a start though hopefully. Just need to drill some holes & still need a pump but getting there,haha.

 

[Sniffy]

I think you want the spraybar further up on the top of the sluice - over the hardplate rather than the grizzly bars?

by the time it hits the grizzly bars you already want washed rocks with all the gold bearing slurry disappearing down through the slots with the water.

 

[G0lddigg@]

second Sniffy's point, you do want material being smashed and washed into a slurry before it gets to the bars and with correct placement your bar also works as a rest for your shovel to feed the hopper. slots with spread the spray as deep as you cut. looking good mate

 

[dwt]

GD and sniffy are onto it, bimetal hole saw and you would have the spray bar set up in no time

 

[ozziii]

Thanks very much for the help fella's, very much appreciated.
Yeah the spray bar will be a bit more forward than it shows in the pic, that was just to get an idea on set up, just need some shorter pipes.
If I use the pipe on top to go along the side of hopper then it will position spray bar just over top of where the grizzly's start, that way I can angle jets to help keep dirt/clay clumps in the hopper longer as the top pipe only has 1 outlet & pushes dirt down to fast, so hoping a spray bar will hold dirt in hopper longer where it can be broken down better by hand if needed.
I gkt some other corner bends for the ball valve so now I don't have to use joiners, now the side pipe doesn't stick out so far.
One we get a pump & have it running I will look into either an extension for the sluice section or maybe get some alloy cut & folded so I can put together a longer sluice section, maybe 1000mm would be good, just depends on cost.
In the meantime though I found a spot on a creek & have tried some more panning, only tried panning a couple times before with no luck, but in the last couple days I have found a fair few little bits of gold, might even be getting close to a gram, so pretty happy about that.

 

[Sluicingoose]

Thanks NJ, I try to have the right attitude, I like doing the research as well & like to learn & thats needed in this hobby. Its great that there's places like this forum with good helpful people as well, I've learnt alot here.

I'm not sure on the correct angles myself but I think it also depends on water flow, but I did notice today, even with low water flow, when the sluice was tilted more causing the riffles to be laying nearly flat, they didn't seem to work that well, so I guess there is a limit to how steep the sluice should be.
We got a spirit level from Bunnings yesterday, it has a rotating level with angles written on it, its a good little unit & works well.
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii524/ozziii4/Detecting%20Stuff/10267_10208503676732212_6966482753133728145_n_zpssqbz7brg.jpg

Hey Ozzii, great little spirit level we set ours at 13 degrees. We found we weren't loosing any yellow in the tailings