Sluice To Highbanker Home Conversion

[Syndyne]

Hey Syndyne, do you have any further thoughts after using this configuration for a little while now and is there anything you would go back and change?

Cheers,
Nugget

G'day Nugget,

I'm in the process of making one change right now. It's yet to be thoroughly tested out in the field but, fingers crossed the idea should be sound. I've got the new Aluminum section bent up and ready to go underneath the boiler box. That should direct all water and wash material to the rear centre of the slick plate. This should improve the water flow rate as I dump a pretty large shovel full in at a time and prevent the water cutting out and flushing out the riffles once it regains full flow.
I've noticed the water can cut off and then flush rather dramatically across the sluice riffles previously. I've yet to see gold go out the front as yet but, I will always have a pan catching all gravels coming out regardless. I don't like taking any chances. Better to be safe than sorry, even with the super fine flakes and dust.

Here's a couple iPhone pics from a few angles with the section in place. Still need to cut it down on the sides and drill holes to attach it with a few little wing nuts so it's fully adjustable angle-wise.

I will only attach it loosely but have it highly adjustable at first, that way if it doesn't work as expected then I will simply remove it. Always interesting to do tests on these little ideas.

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[Syndyne]

Had the same idea here for a 3 in one sluice

as per photo for use with a pump

remove the end plate held on with nutserts and 3 machine screws and use it in the river when you have enough flow

or use it in a highbanker with a grizzly on top , the 10 inch aluminium extension protects the plastic sluice from being hammered too much with rocks and gives the water more time to break down clay and allow turbulence to settle while the rubber deadens the noise a bit .

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/414/1370499134_am_sluice_extension.jpg

That is an awesome piece of gear HeadsUp! Very nicely made.

Love that rubber lining. I'll be it cuts the noise dramatically! I was just wondering that if you put in a rough-sided rubber whether it would help break up any clays a bit easier, possibly even catch ay super fine gold given the flow rate isn't too severe?

I would definitely like to have one of those handy

Cheers,
Shauno.

 

[Syndyne]

Hi all,

While I'm here, I have a photo of the pieces that were simply sitting on the slick plate at the back of the sluice on the very first morning of testing in April 2012. They didn't budge at all at the back of that AM sluice. Dad and I, with great excitement and slight bewilderment, simply lifted the boiler box up (while still running) and picked them out then went straight back to feeding the HB. There was also around a gram of flakes and finer gold in the riffles for the full day. I saw nothing in the catch pan at the front of the sluice at the end of the day which was a great relief. Didn't get a chance to take a shot of the finer gold as we usually just mix it into the alluvial gold jar.

The larger nugget weighs exactly one gram. Haven't weighed the other pieces as yet, but even they are twice the size of the piece I detected at Stuart Town with the GPX5000! :lol:

Cheers,
Shauno.

 

[grasshoppernt]

You really can't imagine how happy I was to see this post, I just got my au boss a week ago, used it in a creek after an afternoon of crevicing on the weekend and was stoked with the results.
I came home and looked at my dodgily made home made sluice folded from a sheet of ally, decided that it was time for its retirement and began trying to work out how to use the boss as a recirculating sluice at home in the shed.
Given that I only have a 500 gallons per hour bilge pump I messed with angles and left it all alone very frustrated, I could get water flowing down it pretty well but had water splashing back and making a mess, and to be honest, I haven't touched it since. You have now given me hope! If only I could weld. Would you mind if I asked you some questions as I blunder along trying to work it all out. Measurements and step by step instructions for a moron would be appreciated! lol
thanks again,
Em

 

[Tommtb7]

Nice mod mate, looks pro as!

 

[HeadsUp]

Had the same idea here for a 3 in one sluice

as per photo for use with a pump

remove the end plate held on with nutserts and 3 machine screws and use it in the river when you have enough flow

or use it in a highbanker with a grizzly on top , the 10 inch aluminium extension protects the plastic sluice from being hammered too much with rocks and gives the water more time to break down clay and allow turbulence to settle while the rubber deadens the noise a bit .

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/414/1370499134_am_sluice_extension.jpg

That is an awesome piece of gear HeadsUp! Very nicely made.

Love that rubber lining. I'll be it cuts the noise dramatically! I was just wondering that if you put in a rough-sided rubber whether it would help break up any clays a bit easier, possibly even catch ay super fine gold given the flow rate isn't too severe?

I would definitely like to have one of those handy

Cheers,
Shauno.

Thankyou

I will try to just change one thing at a time then test it if i experiment more , i think however if i need to break up clay i will try to change the spray bars so the water pressure keeps it up there longer , after all , that water was doing nuthin anyway lol might as well put it to work on its day off.

nice bit of work in yours by the way , are you a sheety or boilermaker by trade ?

best wishes mate

 

[Syndyne]

Hi grasshoppernt,

By all means, if I can help out feel free to ask anything you need to know.

I only use a small 1" Tanaka two stroke pump -around 110L p/min. It seems to be enough for the moment even at 3/4 throttle.

I am extremely fortunate that the brothers I grew up with are both first class ally/stainless welders in Albury so that side of the job was all covered with little to no effort on my behalf other than drawing up the plans and buying the materials needed. Most stuff we just built and changed on the fly, like adding the simple clip locks for the boiler box. That was just Aluminum shelving rack I believe.
I cut and welded all the frame sections myself in a few hours from half inch box steel. That was very basic stick welding work. I just laid it in the sluice, bent it to hug the inner sides and tacked it up ready to weld, making sure the sluice lifted in and out of the frame nicely but was still rigid enough to take some punishment.

I'm sure there are quite a few people around that could TIG weld the small Aluminum parts if needed, not too sure of the cost though? It's pretty minimal work. The bulk of the boiler box corners can probably be done with only 90 angle pieces, a few rivets and some silicon sealant.

Sing out if there's a particular part you need better photos of too. I can throw those up at anytime along with my rough old plans or with something for scale etc.

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[Syndyne]

Thankyou

I will try to just change one thing at a time then test it if i experiment more , i think however if i need to break up clay i will try to change the spray bars so the water pressure keeps it up there longer , after all , that water was doing nuthin anyway lol might as well put it to work on its day off.

nice bit of work in yours by the way , are you a sheety or boilermaker by trade ?

best wishes mate

Cheers for the kind words!

Not a welder by trade, but I can do okay. It's all part and parcel of opal mining out here. You can't rely on others when jobs need doing immediately if something needs repair, otherwise inevitably everything grinds to a halt for weeks on end
I did the white main frame section myself and the bulk of the boiler box work was done by brothers I grew up with. They are both first class welders that, luckily enough work in large ally and stainless production factories. Just a rough job by there usual high standards, but it was more than good enough for me however. Nice to have access to ally through them for trade cost also. That was a real nice bonus. It would've cost me an arm and a leg to get it done professionally out here!

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Looks awsome Shauno. gives me some inspiration to work on a hb set up sittin in the back of my head..

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Looks awsome Shauno. gives me some inspiration to work on a hb set up sittin in the back of my head..

 

[grasshoppernt]

Hi grasshoppernt,

By all means, if I can help out feel free to ask anything you need to know.

I only use a small 1" Tanaka two stroke pump -around 110L p/min. It seems to be enough for the moment even at 3/4 throttle.

I am extremely fortunate that the brothers I grew up with are both first class ally/stainless welders in Albury so that side of the job was all covered with little to no effort on my behalf other than drawing up the plans and buying the materials needed. Most stuff we just built and changed on the fly, like adding the simple clip locks for the boiler box. That was just Aluminum shelving rack I believe.
I cut and welded all the frame sections myself in a few hours from half inch box steel. That was very basic stick welding work. I just laid it in the sluice, bent it to hug the inner sides and tacked it up ready to weld, making sure the sluice lifted in and out of the frame nicely but was still rigid enough to take some punishment.

I'm sure there are quite a few people around that could TIG weld the small Aluminum parts if needed, not too sure of the cost though? It's pretty minimal work. The bulk of the boiler box corners can probably be done with only 90 angle pieces, a few rivets and some silicon sealant.

Sing out if there's a particular part you need better photos of too. I can throw those up at anytime along with my rough old plans or with something for scale etc.

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

I'm trying to make use of the bilge pump and a 12 volt set up and recirculate the water so I hope that I can get enough flow from it.

thanks again Shauno

 

[Syndyne]

Looks awsome Shauno. gives me some inspiration to work on a hb set up sittin in the back of my head..

My pleasure Tone.

Thinking things out thoroughly and drawing out rough sketches is a real plus with these projects. I had this HB idea in my head and partially down on paper for a couple of years before finally building.

Looking forward to seeing your HB come to life mate!

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[grasshoppernt]

Well, I've made a start, missus has lost her ironing board, took to it with the angle grinder, angle is perfect, bend is in the right spot,and the box section is the right size to fit just inside the handles. Cheaper than Bunnings! Work in progress, thanks Syndyne
She will have to find another way to iron though

 

[Syndyne]

Hi Em,

Very glad to hear! Anything laying about that can be used to make gold prospecting gear is fair game by my ruling
Looking forward to seeing it. Hope the email was helpful.

When you start getting it together make a new topic post for it here in the equipment section for comments/suggestion etc.
Have you looked into the 12v pump flow rate as yet? I'm certain two 12v pumps will be just perfect -provided you don't eventually go to a small two stroke 1" pump as they are pretty cheap now.

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[grasshoppernt]

Shauno, I think that it will need to be 2 of them like you said, I did a quick calc and it will add up close to 3/4 strength like you run yours.
It's not going to be pretty, but if it works as well as I suspect it will, I can get it made properly with welds etc. For now it will be rivets, bits of anlgle, and whatever else I can scrounge around the shed. Missus hates ironing anyway, too hot in Darwin to do ironing, so I'm doing her a favour!
Thanks again,
Em

 

[Danielkrupski]

Hi would love to see a vid of the highbanker working if you got one also noticed your from LR . Where bouts in LR ? Do you mine? Just asking cos I have a residential plot up near the walk in mine. About 300 meters walk from it. Cheers

 

[Syndyne]

Hi Danielkrupski,

Great to see another Ridgey on here!

I have a video of the initial setup run we did to make sure the AM sluice/HB idea was sound, though it doesn't demonstrate it working as far as catching any gold. I'll definitely remedy that once we get a prospecting trip in later this year and take some decent video of it in action. I can show you a photo that I took of a few pieces of gold still sitting in the riffles (most of it was still buried under the black sands) from down Adelong way. I marked the few visible ones just on the right side of the red lines.

Yep, I do live in the LR town area up near the water towers. My family have been part of the furniture here since 64. I started mining straight out of school with my father and mining partner full time back in 93 right up to 2010 when we finally had to pull the pin due to the DPI's OH&S red tape and rising costs simply getting too out of hand. Bit of a sad end to what used to be a decent way to make a dollar at times for us.

All the best,
Shauno.

 

[G0lddigg@]

thats some nice gold mate