Grizzly bars setup question

[Goldtarget]

Putting it out there to all the alluvial chasers I've had a few ideas kicking around in my head and looked at more than a few pics with different types but if anyone has any advice or a hands down sure fire best setup I'm paying attention. Thanks.

 

[AtomRat]

Having the parallel bars on the sluice can be great but you would want them on a hinge to be able to shake and flick the rocks out that get stuck. Eventually they will get a rock or piece of quartz that will jam in them real good and bend the bars out of shape. I have seen it done to them even with 6mm stainless steel bars which seems kind of impossible for a sluice. Putting three bars horizontally under the vertical bars can help strengthen and hold that shape.

Both me and a mate have been using a stainless steel square mesh, 1/2" size, with horizontal bars as mentioned above, and for some reason the quartz and stone have not been getting caught up in it at all. He has been using it for 5 months now with no rock jams, still having to flick the mesh to jolt out the ones that try to get through, but they have not jammed. I have no explanation as to why apart from it doesnt have the 'long' gaps as the bars do above. The mesh works as a great break for the gravel as well and stops it falling off so quick, so you can flick it back up the sluice or leave clay there to clean.

 

[Goldtarget]

Haha I've played with mesh just about every type available. Unless I'm going to pre wash or add a few feet of slick plate it's not going to be suitable. The top half of the banker is hinged allowing nearly a 180 turn, after a few builds I was a wake up to this for access purposes. But as we are all in a learning curve it would be great to see a few pics mate maybe I'm missing something that a picture would explain better.

 

[AtomRat]

I think the part we may be getting confused on is that there have been that many terms with 'grizzly' on sluices and am not sure if we are talking about the same thing possibly.

The bars:

My sluice with 1/4" mesh:

Hope this helps. Hopefully were on about the same thing. Sorry for the photo of my sluice, I just had to drag it inside and take it quickly. I hadnt posted mine yet, it was a very quick 24 hour build in a hurry, no measurements were made, all done by eye and bent using a block of wood and a step out the back door

 

[Beagleboy]

I find the cable tray works really well on my high banker. It never gets jammed with rocks unlike the mash I used before. If you using the grizzly bars they should only be welded on one side so you can flick the rocks out.

 

[Beagleboy]

I think the part we may be getting confused on is that there have been that many terms with 'grizzly' on sluices and am not sure if we are talking about the same thing possibly.

The bars:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3111/1412340515_griz.jpg

My sluice with 1/4" mesh:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3111/1412341269_sluice.jpg

Hope this helps. Hopefully were on about the same thing. Sorry for the photo of my sluice, I just had to drag it inside and take it quickly. I hadnt posted mine yet, it was a very quick 24 hour build in a hurry, no measurements were made, all done by eye and bent using a block of wood and a step out the back door

That's a pretty good job for making it without proper tools.

 

[AtomRat]

That's a pretty good job for making it without proper tools.

Haha cheers mate! I do get a few strange looks and shock a few mates with things i've made. I'm a McGyver of cheap! It comes down to the amount of books I have read, mostly old 50's - 70's books that teaches you to use what is sitting about the home. I love the bush craft as well, last thing I made was a 4 meter rope out of the hair growing from a palm tree in his back garden :lol: Those legs will be changed though, they were a bad idea using PVC. Will be welding steel base and legs for it shortly.

 

[dwt]

Tough question GT, ive had more fails than success's, ive found the worst to be angle, it seems to direct the rock into the side of the angle, which is great for stone seperation, but shocking if you have shaley ground, those flat buggers just seem to fit inbetween everything.
It seems nearly everything that directs the rock down (off of its leading edge) manages to eventually block up.
Mesh i havnt botherd with as you only know to well of the difficulties that has with the soils around this area, and cable tray i havnt tried yet, punch plate tends to block quickly, woven mesh forget about it.
Im not sure if a lot of people realise the type of soil your digging mate, if its anything like what im digging then the smoothest and roundest thing out there is your shovel handle, or my shaved head.
Pop up a pick of the soil your digging, and then lets build a trommel :lol:

 

[Beagleboy]

That's a pretty good job for making it without proper tools.

Haha cheers mate! I do get a few strange looks and shock a few mates with things i've made. I'm a McGyver of cheap! It comes down to the amount of books I have read, mostly old 50's - 70's books that teaches you to use what is sitting about the home. I love the bush craft as well, last thing I made was a 4 meter rope out of the hair growing from a palm tree in his back garden :lol: Those legs will be changed though, they were a bad idea using PVC. Will be welding steel base and legs for it shortly.

Use aluminium rather than steel. You want to make it as light as possible. I used aluminium pipe from Bunnings for few dollars and a bit of aluminium angle for the brackets. Works well.

 

[AtomRat]

Yeah I got an alloy one in the making as well, that one in the photo was just pure scrap sitting about and I needed a sluice the next day. It worked pretty well actually, and I only had to carry it a few meters so the weight wasnt an issue But yeah, alloy is much lighter haha

 

[Guest]

I think the part we may be getting confused on is that there have been that many terms with 'grizzly' on sluices and am not sure if we are talking about the same thing possibly.

The bars:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3111/1412340515_griz.jpg

My sluice with 1/4" mesh:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/3111/1412341269_sluice.jpg

Hope this helps. Hopefully were on about the same thing. Sorry for the photo of my sluice, I just had to drag it inside and take it quickly. I hadnt posted mine yet, it was a very quick 24 hour build in a hurry, no measurements were made, all done by eye and bent using a block of wood and a step out the back door

i had massive problems with the vertical bar setup im going to weld some horizontal bars to hopefully fix it,

my problem was flat large rocks getting into the sluice and blocking up the riffles

originally i had larger mesh 25mm squares and same problem, nothing worse than knowing ur blowing gold out of the sluice

if i was to start over i would use smaller mesh

 

[G0lddigg@]

trick with grizzlies is to only weld/secure the top side the bottom needs ot be free to move s rocks can come out easily and you can bend then in and out of place to suit

 

[cracka]

I use angled punch plate a mate makes for me. One piece has 5mm holes and one has 8mm holes, just swap them out when dirt size requires.

 

[Goldtarget]

Thank you for reminding me. I was discussing Grizzly setups with a mate (not a prospector) the other day and I think we've conceptualised the near perfect design. I'll put something up when I'm done building it, thinking I'll give a free kick to the wider community by doing a DIY thread one we are done for a simple conversion on any Highbanker. I really do think we have nailed it but I want to do some real workdays testing it out. The bloke is sheer genius.

 

[backcreek]

trick with grizzlies is to only weld/secure the top side the bottom needs ot be free to move s rocks can come out easily and you can bend then in and out of place to suit

I agree with Golddigga,
Secure at the top only so the bars can rattle and vibrate and make the angle of the grizzly steeper than the slick plate so the rocks can accelerate off the end.
I had a flat bar across the bottom of my grizzly welded to every second bar and it caused endless clogs so I cut it off.

My hopper is based on the G1 highbanker and is 16" or 410mm wide, the grizzly has 6mm MS rod @ 8mm spacing and there is about 9m of rod in it.

I also have a large flat blade screw driver handy when operating to flick any stuck rocks out. I find if I just run it across the bars most of the lightly stuck rocks will clear.

Cracka,
That punch plate looks awesome,I estimated the one in the pic has approximately 200+ holes in it.
How does your mate manage to punch so many holes and get it so neat? must be CNC.

 

[Ryan27]

Grizzly bars are tough to perfect. What I found that steel grizzly bars or punched plate have too much friction preventing oversize material to move freely off the grizzly. They also tend to jam up with rocks and weeds.
I decided to construct my grizzly out of HDPE which has fantastic impact and wear properties. They are organised vertically in strips (see picture below) this is so they flex when a rock jams. All I do is throw another shovel load on top which usually dislodges the rock. Failing that, I simple hit with the shovel which helps keep the grizzly clear. I can also remove the grizzly as it rests on hooks in the hopper.
I found HDPE is the best material to use.
The mining industry use this material to line Buckets and truck bodies to increase longevity to the parent metal. Clay tends to slide off the plastic also. In fact you will have trouble finding anything that sticks to it.

 

[Guest]

Ryan,

What is the additional water bottle taped to top of your banker?

 

[Ryan27]

Ryan,

What is the additional water bottle taped to top of your banker?

Magic gold juice

I was in an area that had super fine flake gold. I put some biodegradable shampoo in the bottle to help break the surface tension of the water. It was an experiment. I use is at home to recycle whilst cleaning concentrates. It is very safe for the environment. I read the MSDS prior to selecting the right shampoo. Safe enough to drink no harmful effects. ( although my wife seems to disagree )

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I thought as much. Was the experiment a success?

I ve often wondered how much gold floats out of the box. I always pan at home in soapy water to keep the gold on the bottom.

Great idea.

Thanks

 

[Ryan27]

I would say it was successful. The ground I was working had been worked previously by the old timers. I also processed an old cradle patch and retrieved gold. However it would be better in a recycling set up, you would be more economical.
You will always lose gold that floats out the sluice box. Most gold is small micron gold. The idea is to process volume to capture enough to make your efforts worthwhile.
Which leads me back to my grizzly design, the less time cleaning my Highbanker the more production I achieve.