Highbanker screening

[Shane89]

Hi all,

I received my Sluicy GS16 today. Very impressed with the quality. This is my first Highbanker. I have been panning only.

However, the river gravel Ive been panning contains very fine gravel. I use a 1/8" screen to remove the majority of it (its like fish tank gravel lol).

The highbanker has a 1/2" "grizzly bar" set up. Would it be wise to put a 1/8" screen underneath to prevent the sluice section becoming clogged with the fine gravel? Or will I just have to do clean ups more frequently?

Anyone done this? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,
Shane

 

[mudgee hunter]

1/8th is cutting it back ptetty fine hey. There are advantages, and disadvantage of doing this. Doing so will probably slow your feed ratio somewhat. And you may need elevate the hopper angle to a avoid over burdening the fine mesh. As you wont want it to be accumulating on it, leading to an overflow affect.
It shouldnt affect the clean up intervals either way regardless.
Punched plate dose come in various percentage punched.a high percentage punch (more holes per square x) is always more desirable. Available in alloy, stainless(best choice) and black steel.
the stainless is much stronger than the alloy, and will take a hiding. With little extra weight added.
I like 8mm myself.
I have seen the bars removed on this unit, but I recommend fitting any new punched sheet to the underside leaving a smooth skid action. Some mesh dose tend to jamb, and attract to much grip.
Use the search bar up top and type in you model. This should direct you to many a similar question, and there mods. Good luck dig'n

 

[Shane89]

Yeah underneath is what I was thinking. Fair call on going with punch sheet. Would definitely make life easier then screen/mesh.

Thanks mate

 

[Shane89]

Ran the highbanker today. 3 hour round trip (40mins each way) and learning about how to set up. Cutting hose ect. So not much time on the shovel.
Ran 4 buckets through I reckon.
The cons filled a 20L bucket. Tested about a cup full and got 20+ colours. It catches it!
I did not give the carpet that came with the sluicy a go. Instead opting for miners moss and rubber ribbed matting as per a bit of searching on here using the search function (thanks Mudgee hunter).

Anyway what's everyone doing to process cons? Take me forever with the pan.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[aussiefarmer]

Mate dont be afriad to run 40 buckets through or more before a clean out, it will still catch all the gold and give the same cons as 2 or 4 cleanouts .
Reading you got 20L of cons sound extreem , as a 15 minute run or a 3 hour run a GS 16 should only give you 1.5 to 2.5 ltrs of cons .
So either you need a tune up on setup to get it more efficient or maybe your discription is off.
Dont worry about the carpet :N: as it keeps more gold for itself than it releases for you , moss is the go :Y: unless you can afford dream matt :Y: , dream matt will give you a cup full or maybe two of cons per clean out .
Confidence is key you can run all day without cleaning out if you are confident, i usaully clean out twice a day , you wont loose gold once you get it tuned in .

Once you have panning down packed its nearly as quick as any method , i have a blue bowl , a mini sluice and a pan and they all take about the same time by the time you process it .
The key is reducing the cons in the first place , do test panning off your sluice in sections, say in 1/3rds to see how far gold is travelling down your sluice , to me from your description you are catching way to much crap and from experience you are probly trapping the bulk of gold early anyway , so muck around with angles and flow rates to reduce your cons, as a clean sluice catches gold better than a full one anyway.

 

[Shane89]

Thanks for the response. Thats invaluable information interms of clean-ups.
First time running it I was unsure and cleaned every time I saw the ripples starting to show build up. Will the flow of water clear this as the light materials get washed away?
The ripple matting was very full when cleaning.

What's the best way to make sure you are getting all the Gold from the moss?

Also I ended up with a pretty steep angle. Started at level and adjusted accordingly as it just did not look to be clearing the light material efficietly.
I had a level with me and marked the side so I could repeat the angle if it worked out.

Thanks heaps,
Shane

 

[aussiefarmer]

The basics are
Between 8 and 12 degrees fall
If running riffles you should have between 8 to 15 mm of water over them
Behind the riffle you should see a dead zone of 10 ish mm
When its flowing, put your finger on the riffle to cause a void in the water and you should see the heavies trapped behing the riffle be released .

Search utube , see similar sluices running , dont believe everthing you see , but look for an average between the vids .

I have a similar sluice :Y: , search my posts and threads with the search icon , theres some juicy sluicy tips in there :Y:

Find someone in your area to go with that has experience , it will short cut your trial and error period.

 

[aussiefarmer]

Where abouts are you ??

 

[Shane89]

I'll measure my angle and see where I was at. Ok ill give that a go thanks.
Good day when you learn something and I learnt heaps today. Unfortunately time constraints with other commitments created only a small window for today's trip but it was a good one. Rain over the next week or so should help create some more erosion and flush some fresh pay dirt but can linger at high water levels limiting access.

I'm in Corowa, NSW mate.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[Shane89]

For the record I'm using my highbanker in VIC as I'm on the border I have many options.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[mudgee hunter]

Andy, Adventure Gold has just put out another video that has great demo of correct angle importance.
Aussifarmer nailed it. Understand that if your unit is getting choked up, it isnt self cleaning, compaction takes place, and new added material, along with your gold will skip straight over the top.
All materials trapped are meant to be loose. This allows the heavier materials gold, black sand etc to EASILY muscle their way in, pushing the lighter stuff out. Its a fight between then them to stay, and the heavies should always win.
This is usually most obvious at the very top end, where sand dosent stand a chance to stay. But the bulk of you gold collected will be up here.
It will all come to you in time with experience and this this forum.
Setting the correct angle in some positions can be harder to read on sloped ground situations. I do recommend the dial in compass level fitted. Once fitted, start with an angle that looks correct. Then dial in (turn) the level to have the bubble between the lines. Then if you adjust your banker to a better angle, adjust the level again to suit.
This allows you to collapse you banker, and set it back to the exact same angle again.

 

[Rusty_G]

...

What's the best way to make sure you are getting all the Gold from the moss?
...
Shane

Hey Shane, I find with my backed moss that simply submerging the mat upside down in a tub with water that has had some surfactant added does the trick.
At least all the Gold normally falls out.

However I usually use warm-hot water, this helps make the mat ALOT more flexible and aids removal of fine pebbles from the weave.
All the best with your banking adventures, :Y:
Rusty

 

[Shane89]

That makes sense Mudgee Hunter. If compacting is occurring what would be the first step to rectify? If water is flowing over the ripples correctly then I would assume the angle is next in line? Which would in return effect that flow over the ripples?

Thanks for that Rusty. Ill give it a go.

Been doing a bit more searching and I must not be using the right wording as Im not getting the answers Im after. Man Ive spent some time googling this stuff.

It truly is an illness this gold fever lol.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[mudgee hunter]

Yes, this true to some extent if we are on the same page. Best to see in person sometimes. After a few shovels, say 10, put one in, then go straight to the front, watch . There usually is a loaded point of most bankers the run at. Loaded say, after this point its basically a shovel load goes in and a shovel load comes out. The more you shovel into it, the concentrate of heavies accumulate. Pushing the semi heavies out. After a full day running at some spots, you might just black sand and gold. As the black sand will push the lighter gravel out to make room for it.
either more angle, more water, or a bit of both if your choking.
if I had my banker at loaded stage, and walked away for 5mins, it would probably self clean 35% of loaded point. Mostly fine sand.

 

[Shane89]

So you don't have to keep a steady flow of dirt going through the ripples? You can leave it a bit to self clean?

Any links to videos showing proper techniques?

Finished going through my cons. 0.02 grams.

Need to get more time on the highbanker to nut it out I guess.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[mudgee hunter]

Yeah, it should be safe to leave running, so long as you keep everything running as is. Even if you have a short smoko break, its best to keep it running than shutting a unit down, and restarting it, as the new wave of water at start up can blow gold out in situations hey.

 

[Shane89]

Ok. I ran the highbanker again yesterday.

Running ribbed matting on bottom, miners moss on top of that, expanded mesh on top of that then clamped down with the ripple stripped section. Pretty busy I know.

I played with the angle and ended very steep. Did not seem to make much difference in terms of build up in the ribbed matting. Not self cleaning like you would want it to be. Still catching cold. Not much but might have to do with the pay dirt more then the setup.

Anyone got photos of the angle they run there sluicy?

Thanks,
Shane

 

[Shane89]

Certainly not a cup of cons after each 4 bucket test run. Enough to 3/4 fill a garret gold trap pan. Regardless of angle.

 

[mudgee hunter]

There can be many differet factors that come into play of how much con you end up with. And I beleive the more you try to refine it (generally) the greater the chance of loosing gold to an extent.
And when I start a new large crevice, say a days digging... the material can change with depth. I have dug really sandy soil, with very little cons left, it can make one think things are out of tune, but being sandy and light it just washes away easily. Your situation might be not enough water volume over angle formula. Possibly the mods made to your sluice will generally always trap that much.
One way is to try 10 buckets of dirt. If you still have the same amount of cons, things are ok, providing that there is no jambing/caking happening.
For instance I am personally not fond of bread create that has not been cut out like wals design etc. The standard small squares left as is will fill quickly and jamb below the waters flow capability to let it work. Once full, 100 buckets later, and the original jam is still there.
If you where to cut 4 squares out to make 1 square, in a diamond formation. This will allow water to enter much easier , thus new material to enter as well.
It comes back to a formula of HEIGHT of the bread crate, over SIZE of the diamond cut out, and PRE-CLASSIFICATION. And ANGLE over WATER VOLUME.
The trapping principal like of the bread Crate design must enable room for a heavier material to muscle its way in and sink, pushing a lighter trapped material out.
This should be set up (volume over angle) that lighter material like sand and quartz chip temporary trapped are near bordering of being washed out/flushed. Then if say a heavier peice falls in that one square, it easily pushes the lighter peice out over the top and then moves on to the next diamond and so on again and again till its washed out. The heavies win, and the heaviest of all should be at the very top, unbeaten.
This principal nearly applies to all trapping methods.
Shale/slate chip can pack very tight in a standard size bread crate square. Once full, and packed tight, your gold is going to skip straight over the top.
Never let this situation happen in any sluice.

 

[Bobcat_66]

Hi All,
Excuse the interruption, slightly off topic.
Does anyone know where I could hire out a Highbanker??
Would like to try before I buy!!

BC