My Quick Clean Up Sluice Build

[DigginForGold]

So I've built this little clean up sluice for use at home to clean up the cons from highbanking. Just want to show it off, and of course Im looking for any constructive feedback

I made it out of PVC downpipe, ribbed mat, and just a few rivets and brackets. Took me maybe 2 hours, including the trip to bunnings (Sp forgive the roughness of it...I really just rushed it out haha). And total cost was about $30.

It's 100mm wide, and its overall length is 1400mm of which 1000mm is ribbed mat, 300mm slick plate, 100mm water intake area. And I'll be using a 1100gph bilge pump (about ~69lpm).

I had something similar in the past which had a 600mm ribbed mat section and that set up caught maybe 95% of the gold. I had to run the material twice the get the 99% minimum that I'd be happy with. That's the reason I went with a 1000mm ribbed mat section this time. Im hoping it'll save that extra few percent? I know on the previous model it caught 90% of the gold in the first few inches, but I did see the occasional spec all the way down the length so again I'm hoping the extra 400mm with take care of that. That's what I thought when I was dreaming it up. Now it's built it seems rather long, but I don't know...

The connecting sections paling the top have been left there because if you cut the entire top out it tends to bow inward, making the bottom ribbed section take on a U shape. Leaving those supporting sections in allows it to keep its shape. Each of the supporting sections are 100mm, but I could probably halve that if I wanted...but I'm not too fussed.

I don't know why I made the water inlet in the top like I did. The previous models inlet came in from the back and it worked fine, so I'll just see how it goes. Easily fixed and changed if need be.

I suppose this kind of set up is only really good for fine gold due to only having fine ribbed matting and no nugget traps or anything. But that suits me fine for now. I still haven't found my first picker let alone a full blown nugget. I've got a bunch of Reedy Creek cons to run through it so I'm not expecting any big gold in there...

I might endeavour to take a little video of it in action when I run some material through it later today if anyone's interested...

Well here it is:

 

[joao garimpeiro]

Nice work mate!

 

[DigginForGold]

Nice work mate!

Thanks Joao! Hopefully it works though...I'll soon find out. Cross your fingers for me haha

 

[Guest]

Yep that will work.

 

[rotor]

Great - Had been looking for an alternative to the Bunnings Easy Drain to build a lightweight sliuce and hadn't thought of PVC downpipe ........ nice!!!

You could halve the length for carrying by using the joiner in the middle ......... or alternatively make it length adjustable using 2 or 3 smaller lengths that way too!

 

[ballarat_gold]

that'l work. Similar to what i use mate. Try taping the sides of the matting like gold hog mats, makes for a snug fit and saves loosing any fines off or under the sides

 

[AtomRat]

Looks like a beaut mate! Sieving / classifying out the rock will give all the black sand plenty of time to work. I get a lot more yield doing it this way with our sands.

 

[DigginForGold]

Cool thanks. Seems like I've done an okay job then

I glued the mat in there using that blue pvc pipe stuff, and cut the mat at an angle so its mostly hard up again the sides, with a small rise as it move towards the sides so I am hoping no gold will get down there. And I also made a silicon ramp at the start of the mat, just to make sure nothing gets under from the beginning. Hopefully it works.

And yeah the sands are what made me want this. Bugger spending hours panning when I can just run it through the sluice, saving time and having more fun.

Just about to get underway with my Reedy Creek cons...

 

[AtomRat]

You never really want to stick / glue the mats down. For easy cleanups think of a clamp system that holds it in. The clamp can have a bar that runs down each side to hold the edges down too. I'd like to see how the cleanup goes anyway as I've never stuck it down

Gold will sit ontop, half way through and everywhere in the amount of heavies we get. I've watched gold slide right off the pan plenty of times from black sands.

I havnt found a 'great' solution yet.. shaker table or rod mill and sieve

 

[DigginForGold]

For clean up I just put a pan down, lean the sluice up against a wall or railing or something and just pour water down. A few pans of water and the mat is clear. That's what I like about the ribbed mat as opposed to miners moss or the like...it cleans out really easily.

If that's the case re gold sliding off then I could be in trouble lol. It was quite packed out when I'd run the material through. I plan on running the material again in the next few days to see what I missed. Hopefully not too much. Time will tell I suppose...

I cleaned the top and bottom 50cm of the matting separately, with ~98% of the gold being in the top 50cm, and maybe 10 tiny pieces in the go bottom section.

 

[ozziii]

Thats a good idea & set up with the PVC pipe, might be worth me getting some gear to make something similar, would save me a fair bit of time with the highbanker, I'm slow with a pan so could just fill a couple buckets with cons & finish at home on a clean up sluice.
Thank for posting pics.

 

[DigginForGold]

Yeah its a lot nicer finishing up at home that's for sure. The PVC pipe was the best thing I could find at Bunnings that would work as a sluice...I've seen other people use other stuff to make a bunnings sluice in the past and I personally think this is better.

I also posted a video on YouTube where you can see this recirculating sluice in action for the first time. I think it's shown at just over half way through the video or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uajsoavq_Sg

 

[Tathradj]

For the clamps I would use a piece of 10 x 10 x 1.5 Aluminum angle.
fix the rear of it with a bolt and nut plus a few washers an on the front have a bolt with a wing nut..
Same system I use for my banker setups over matting and expanded.

 

[cecc]

So I've built this little clean up sluice for use at home to clean up the cons from highbanking. Just want to show it off, and of course Im looking for any constructive feedback

I made it out of PVC downpipe, ribbed mat, and just a few rivets and brackets. Took me maybe 2 hours, including the trip to bunnings (Sp forgive the roughness of it...I really just rushed it out haha). And total cost was about $30.

It's 100mm wide, and its overall length is 1400mm of which 1000mm is ribbed mat, 300mm slick plate, 100mm water intake area. And I'll be using a 1100gph bilge pump (about ~69lpm).

I had something similar in the past which had a 600mm ribbed mat section and that set up caught maybe 95% of the gold. I had to run the material twice the get the 99% minimum that I'd be happy with. That's the reason I went with a 1000mm ribbed mat section this time. Im hoping it'll save that extra few percent? I know on the previous model it caught 90% of the gold in the first few inches, but I did see the occasional spec all the way down the length so again I'm hoping the extra 400mm with take care of that. That's what I thought when I was dreaming it up. Now it's built it seems rather long, but I don't know...

The connecting sections paling the top have been left there because if you cut the entire top out it tends to bow inward, making the bottom ribbed section take on a U shape. Leaving those supporting sections in allows it to keep its shape. Each of the supporting sections are 100mm, but I could probably halve that if I wanted...but I'm not too fussed.

I don't know why I made the water inlet in the top like I did. The previous models inlet came in from the back and it worked fine, so I'll just see how it goes. Easily fixed and changed if need be.

I suppose this kind of set up is only really good for fine gold due to only having fine ribbed matting and no nugget traps or anything. But that suits me fine for now. I still haven't found my first picker let alone a full blown nugget. I've got a bunch of Reedy Creek cons to run through it so I'm not expecting any big gold in there...

I might endeavour to take a little video of it in action when I run some material through it later today if anyone's interested...

Well here it is:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456432682_imag11391.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456432886_imag11421.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456433031_imag11431.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456433072_imag11441.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456433104_imag11451.jpg

Where did u get your ribbed matting mate?

 

[Westy]

Ive just made one very similar to this. Was wondering what sort of water flow is optimum. Ive got plenty of exchange happening over the ripples and am getting gold caught up. Just dont want to be losing too much out the back end

 

[cecc]

So I've built this little clean up sluice for use at home to clean up the cons from highbanking. Just want to show it off, and of course Im looking for any constructive feedback

I made it out of PVC downpipe, ribbed mat, and just a few rivets and brackets. Took me maybe 2 hours, including the trip to bunnings (Sp forgive the roughness of it...I really just rushed it out haha). And total cost was about $30.

It's 100mm wide, and its overall length is 1400mm of which 1000mm is ribbed mat, 300mm slick plate, 100mm water intake area. And I'll be using a 1100gph bilge pump (about ~69lpm).

I had something similar in the past which had a 600mm ribbed mat section and that set up caught maybe 95% of the gold. I had to run the material twice the get the 99% minimum that I'd be happy with. That's the reason I went with a 1000mm ribbed mat section this time. Im hoping it'll save that extra few percent? I know on the previous model it caught 90% of the gold in the first few inches, but I did see the occasional spec all the way down the length so again I'm hoping the extra 400mm with take care of that. That's what I thought when I was dreaming it up. Now it's built it seems rather long, but I don't know...

The connecting sections paling the top have been left there because if you cut the entire top out it tends to bow inward, making the bottom ribbed section take on a U shape. Leaving those supporting sections in allows it to keep its shape. Each of the supporting sections are 100mm, but I could probably halve that if I wanted...but I'm not too fussed.

I don't know why I made the water inlet in the top like I did. The previous models inlet came in from the back and it worked fine, so I'll just see how it goes. Easily fixed and changed if need be.

I suppose this kind of set up is only really good for fine gold due to only having fine ribbed matting and no nugget traps or anything. But that suits me fine for now. I still haven't found my first picker let alone a full blown nugget. I've got a bunch of Reedy Creek cons to run through it so I'm not expecting any big gold in there...

I might endeavour to take a little video of it in action when I run some material through it later today if anyone's interested...

Well here it is:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456432682_imag11391.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456432886_imag11421.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456433031_imag11431.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456433072_imag11441.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/4298/1456433104_imag11451.jpg

Where did u get your ribbed matting?

 

[Occasional_panner]

Cecc, I think it's the bunnings matting.

 

[cecc]

Thanks Occasional panner, but I haven't seen ribbed that deep, just been there actually, and got some but the depth of the ribs are not as deep as diggingforgold.

 

[brendomac]

I was talking to a bloke ou at Oallen who said the smaller depth mats from Bunnings are fine for the clean-up sluice. I dunno if that is right since I haven't tested it yet.

I hope so, because I just bought some!

 

[cecc]

ok brendo thanks for that.