New Header Box

[DigginForGold]

Hello.

Ive had a really busy few days but finally got a few hours to myself and so I got around to making myself a new header box for my highbanker...and here it is Tis not quite finished yet but Im pretty happy with how it has turned out thus far. Its 300mm wide, and 500mm long.

I didnt have anything to bend the 2mm aluminum with so I went with cutting and riveting. So maybe its not as pretty as it could be, but I think it has a nice interesting look to it as is. I did try to bend the end piece though since it was small and it turns out that was a mistake. I didnt bend it straight and now theres a gap on one side which most certainly is not pretty. Oh well.

And it wouldnt have hurt to make it a little wider, but I only had a 650550mm piece of aluminium so I had to make do. It is a bit wider than my last set up, and that is what I wanted so cant really complain.

Anyways not really sure how this design is going to turn out but we'll find out soon enough. I'll get it finished tomorrow (because of course the drill ran out of batteries) but theres not a lot left to do. I'll rivet that angle around the bottom, attach the grate, join the flared corners, glue the pipes, and do a bit of siliconing. Then once the new pump arrives I can do some testing. Just in time for the start of the prospecting season

A few overview shots. You can see the gap in the top due to the bad bend in the first pic.

Close up of the spray bar set up made from 40mm PVC pipe and fittings with 2 25mm sprayers. Im happy with how I got the pipes to fit the cutouts. Its really a great tight fit. Nice and sturdy.

 

[Jaydo108]

That looks very nice indeed

 

[ken2m]

Exceptionally well done at home. If you need bends done you will find small sheetmetal workshops will do the bending for a small fee even some of the larger ones will help when they find out what they are bending up. Do the marking out clearly and it will be done in a few minutes and let them know that you don't need a reciept. I used to have access to a large workshop but dont anymore. Also make sure that you mark cuts differently to bends. I mark X on cuts, and semicircle on bends with permanent marker even for my own work and use scribed lines to mark the cut or fold. Ken.

 

[DigginForGold]

That looks very nice indeed

Thanks

Exceptionally well done at home. If you need bends done you will find small sheetmetal workshops will do the bending for a small fee even some of the larger ones will help when they find out what they are bending up. Do the marking out clearly and it will be done in a few minutes and let them know that you don't need a reciept. I used to have access to a large workshop but dont anymore. Also make sure that you mark cuts differently to bends. I mark X on cuts, and semicircle on bends with permanent marker even for my own work and use scribed lines to mark the cut or fold. Ken.

Thanks mate. I did look up a couple of local sheetmetal places but decided against it because of my anxiety and all. I'll take the less than perfection most of the time if it means I can avoid interaction with people haha Im the worst.

 

[cecc]

Mate that is a nice job, and doing it at home, you have some great skills that's for sure, can't wait to see it going out in the field. You do what you gotta do, that anxiety thing is a pain, know a lot of people with it. Love the way you have a go at things, it's a credit to you.

 

[DigginForGold]

Finished well, mostly.

Glued the T sections and the nozzles together. The rest should hold together as is without glue. It'll allow me to swap which side the pump comes in from depending on the situation and where Im shoveling from.

The corners worked out really well in the end. Its only 2mm aluminum so a bit of light hammering got it to where it needed to be.

I also attached an angled piece under the grate ro direct the water towards the end of the sluice. Not sure if it was necessary but I figure it cant hurt.

Just need to figure out how I'm going to connect it to the sluice part now.

 

[Occasional_panner]

Nice work mate.

 

[cecc]

That looks super cobber.

 

[brendomac]

I really like what you have done

Can i ask, have you done all of this using tin snips and rivets? I'm guessing you just bent it just using some wood and a hammer?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm going to have to rig up some sort of feeder for my angus mackirk sluice . the feeder is just for water when water is low and I need to pump it. At the moment I'm just using a plastic container with bits cut out. It works fine, but it's ready to break at any moment!

Thanks for posting the pics.

 

[DigginForGold]

Thanks.

I used a jigsaw with an appropriate blade to make all the cuts. And I bent it by sticking it in between the floor boards on the decking out the back haha but for the piece sticking out the bottom I just popped it on the corner of the concrete stairs out front and hit it with a hammer.

Definitely make a thread when you make it as I'd love to see it.

 

[brendomac]

Haha, that's good in itself! goes to show you don't need a mountain of gear to get something good up and running.

Thanks for sharing. I'll definitely post something when i figure it out. The plastic container and duct tape setup i have works, but definitely could be better!

 

[G0lddigg@]

Well done DFG thats inpressive bending skills with a floorboard crack. Looks the goods.