Quick build trommel

[Rambling rude]

Hi Tone and GM, just having a read of your posts, great looking trommel GM. A good little motor you might find laying around the place is the wiper motor from an old bomb car.. Holden or Ford, your choice. I used to use one driving a fairly good sized spit, they are already geared and the drive shaft may need to be modified for a drive belt..but I don't think that would be a problem buy the looks of it GM.

Good to here you've been getting out for a look Tone, I haven't been out as yet. To busy duck hunting. I caught up with JohnL as well, he told me folks have been sluicing in the river at the bottom of his block... So looks like ill be heading up to Logan pub again.lol

Cheers Rudy

 

[shivan]

What a great simplistic build, cant wait to see the finished product.

 

[Gold miner]

Looked everwhere for an abandoned/wrecked car but cant find one anywhere
The wreckers wanted $80 for a wiper motor off anything??!!
Anyway in my searching I found a 12v electric scooter! So its been wrecked and I have a motor!
Gonna have a crack at modding it and see how we go!
Will take photos and update y'all soon!

 

[heavymetal]

I built one and used a 12v toy car that my kids grew too big for. It worked really good and I just used the wheel on it as a direct drive but after 40 hours of use the little plastic gearbox filled up with rocks and chewed out the gears. I am currently building a bigger one with 2 sluices running off it. One has really fine mesh and the second one has 25mm mesh. fingers crossed it might last a bit longer.

 

[Gold miner]

Good one HM!!
25 mm mesh is just enough for the one ounce pieces eh?!

Well the motor I pulled out of the scooter is a goer! Got the sprocket off, and a with little bit of help, shimmed it, bushed it and fitted a pulley...
A bit of temporary fixing, and the trommel is running!!!!
I'll get some photo's soon....
Then the water, then some finishing touches, testing, painting.....
DIRT!!!!

 

[Gold miner]

Ok, no power here this morning so decided to have the day off and continue with the build!
Firstly the motor.....

The drive belt....

The water jets......

Turned the water on and it went everywhere!! I used one off the offcuts of drum to make a 'screen'....

The other side....
I actually modified this side and put the tin on the inside of the timber, making it closer to the barrel...

Nothing I hate more than bloody water everywhere, turning everything to mud!!
More mods, the angle is picking up the water and throwing it everywhere! The screen helped but I am still getting too much water out... and not going where its 'sposed too.

I cut part of the angle away and make a 'deflector'...

All done!!!!

I had a half bucket of dirt here that I brought home for the kids last trip, my youngest shovels it into their trommel...
Guess what? It works!!!!

Now to put the cons in my home made 'blue bowl'.....

'home made? I hear you say???? Yep, for $12.... Another DIY 'tutorial' coming up!!!

 

[ChrisM]

Talk about a fun build. Coming together great.
Keep the pics coming. Need to see it playing in the dirt !!!!
Cheers
Chris

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Great news GM, good to see it doing what its supposed to do instead of turning your frustration levels .. Nice bit of pocket money for the kids there too.. well done mate

 

[aushunter]

Hey GM,
Electric scooter motor as in a kids scooter?
Brad...

 

[Gold miner]

Yeah Brad
Like this one....

 

[Rambling rude]

Great job GM, can you use the throttle control to adjust the revs?
Also, does it rly to roll up/down on the rollers off the support?
Looks pretty stable set up..
Cheers Rudy

 

[aushunter]

I saw a similar motor on Flea bay that is 24v and it looks identical to yours.
mmm Nw I gotta find me a scooter...
Cheers
Brad....

 

[Gold miner]

Great job GM, can you use the throttle control to adjust the revs?
Also, does it rly to roll up/down on the rollers off the support?
Looks pretty stable set up..
Cheers Rudy

Hi m8,
Nah the throttle control was stuffed. What it does (or used to do!) is use a DC-DC converter and a 12volt battery, to drive a 24v motor. I think the throttle control might have been just on and off? Even though it was a twist grip like on a motor bike, when I pulled it apart it was simply a hall-effect sensor, so I dont think it had a speed control?
I actually had a DC motor speed controller here, so have added that in the circuit and can choose the speed of the barrel.

I have contradicted myself with the way the rolers run because I remember recommending to someone else that it should have that 'limit' roller. However, these paint tins are awesome if you buy the right roller, they have the solid end lip, and then the shaped 'ridge' in the tin.
I'm really happy with it, it seems to just trundle away really well!!!

 

[Rambling rude]

You have really nailed this one down GM..

DC/DC converter = step up transformer, can be induction coil similar to ignition coil in car.

Hall effect controller usually drives an SCR power cap which when at mutual inductance ie 1:1 allows
Full volts to flow at full throttle.
The SCR is the thing that blows usually.

If my memory serves me right...

Will have to go to the books otherwise.

 

[Gold miner]

Haha, you're spot on mate, the converter is/was solid state and uses the smps method (switch mode power supply)
yeah, the hall effect sensor is basically a 'modern' magnetic reed switch!...
You are right too about blowing front end SCR's!
The dc motor controller I had to limit current to a hydrogen generator I built last year, it looks like this:

 

[Rambling rude]

Remote area ingenuity at its best..lol
I won't ask what the hydrogen generator is for, last time I used one of those was back in my Air line days.
It gave the smallest gas flame you ever seen.

 

[Gold miner]

It gave the smallest gas flame you ever seen.

HUH??!!! I nearly blew my frikkin house up!!
But thats another story, and, and.....umm......nah, the next thing I'll post is how to build a blue bowl....
Then when back at the lease, I'll do some photos of the petrol vacuum and go from there!!!
No tutorial on hydrogen engines....I promise..... 8) :8

 

[Ben78]

Hey Gold Miner, How well does the large expanded mesh work on the miners moss? Do you lose much fine gold?

 

[Gold miner]

Hey Gold Miner, How well does the large expanded mesh work on the miners moss? Do you lose much fine gold?

Good question Ben,
Look, the original idea of hungarian riffles was brilliant... and early riffles were good, but new-found ideas such as walkway mesh or cut up bread trays etc create more ummm....places for the high /low pressure area's to occur....

Like there's a riffle in every direction??!!

I believe that, with the right combo of flow, launder angle, and riffle design is paramount in Gold recovery.

I have a mate, with a BIG operation, and his reports show a 12% loss over the end of the launder.......
If you do 500 yards a morning,( 8) ) in 1 in a 100 ground, you just chucked out an ounce over the end before lunch!!!!

I dunno??? I am crazy!! I feel like a piece of gold, and wonder where I'd wanna be!!!! hmmm I'm seeking treatment!!

So, back to the chase, when a significant low pressure event happens to a heavy, it needs to be caught and retained where it is...
This loop mat stuff, call it miners moss or what ever, is a great idea and works very well...
It would be very difficult for a heavy to be dislodged, even with the 'displacment theory'...
I believe, it is a very good combo.
We use it on our plant, as do others in our area, putting through a shoot load more dirt!!
We clean up with nuggets an fine gold that I dont even bother to separate, it just goes in the poverty pot to be smelted later...
I think it works mate!!!

GM

Its simple and pre made....give it a go?

 

[Rambling rude]

Wow!! Blew your house up.. Must of been some sort of generator,
The one I used was bout size of your 1985 model CRT 14in television, it had a water tank bout 1 liter
And a .060 nib torch, it was the only thing we could use to repair/replace the power diodes in the rectifier
Unit on generator rotors, it was small but very intense heat for the high antimony solder.

Hydrogen does rise so you had to have the ventilation on at all times.

Cheers rudy