Turbopan information and questions

[Redmanti]

I like the pan a lot. Can process quite a lot of material and don't have to worry about losing much. It's really quick.

Great pan for beginners I think as well because it is hard to lose the fine gold.

Just the other day panning with a mate, he wasn't getting specs with a normal pan but was getting colour every pan with the turbo pan.

He was digging in a differant spot?????

How do you go with final recovery?

What is your method?

We had dirt from the same buckets. I think it is just easier with the turbopan. Don't even classify if I am trying to work out highbanker setup and am quickly moving it around for testing.

You can process probably double the volume in the same time as a normal pan or better.

I can rely on the turbopan hardly losing any gold.

On final recovery from black sands from a high banker it works ok.

Still think the best thing about it is that you don't need great skill and it is FAST.

 

[Keen Ken]

I am finally getting the hang of my turbo pan.
For the clean up it seems to be best to use the "corner" of the pan to check the concentrate for heavies missed by the centre trap and don't rely on the groves up the side of the pan at all, they seem to be just for insurance and should not be relied upon like the garret gravity trap pans.(I even manage to lose gold out of them :8 )
I now pan down to a half a cup to a cup of material then check the centre and pick out any pickers or large pieces then swirl the pan again then gently wash the fines off the top of the centre trap and catch them in the corner of the pan then use the back and forth washing action to wash the lighter material over the edge. Seldon do I find any gold has made it to the corner of the pan but is nicely tucked under the inside edge of the centre trap along with any sapphires or other heavies.
I hope this helps, this pan is a great idea and I find the action of the bottom riffles helps break up SOME of the clayey materials.
Much faster than coventional pans, though I do like using the Garret Super Sluice pan.

 

[Ditherer and Son]

I too have a green turbopan in my armoury. However, I tend to think they catch more gold prospectors than gold. I found it difficult to use and damn near impossible to handle fine gold with. I reckon it would work wonderfully if you had a half dozen 1/2 oz nuggets, but flour gold?

Of all the pans I use (and I have 4 different types) by far my favourite is the estwing pan.

I like this one because it has both large and small drop riffles. The small riffles are excellent for finishing.

 

[aushunter]

Hey Ditherer,
Just bought one of those myself, going to give it a bit of a run this weekend.
I have 3 Super Sluice Pans and love em to pieces, and still have my original tin pans when I started out 35yrs ago.
Cheers
Brad

 

[Ditherer and Son]

Looking forward to hearing how you found the Estwing, Aushunter?

 

[jenmal]

Hi All,

I came across a bargain turbopan and was wondering if anyone has one and what they think of it.

It has riffles in every direction, but it is not easy to use.

Has anyone got or used one and what do you think?

 

[elrodeo]

Mine makes a good frisbee

 

[Nugget]

Bugsey has one and with what little use I have given it, I have to say they're difficult to master and I'm not entirely convinced there's any benefit to using one over a regular pan. Just my opinion though.

 

[goldbug]

I have a Turbopan and a Garrett Super sluice and tend to favour the Turbopan. The Turbopan is very easy to use and does a great job. There is no trick to using it, the just load it up and swirl the gravel in one direction and then the other whilst the pan is in the water (with the water level just above the gravel) that helps liquidly the gravels realy well and gravitate the gold to the bottom. Then tilt the back of the pan up (about 30 degrees) still swirling but slower and more gently and allow the lighter material fall out, and continue just as you would like any normal pan. I usually find the gold is sitting in the circular depressed area in the middle of the pan. The Turbopan is much like any normal pan but it has the raised twirling bit in the bottom which helps agitate the gravels and speed up the process.

Cheers James

 

[jenmal]

Mine makes a good frisbee

Lmao

 

[jenmal]

I have a Turbopan and a Garrett Super sluice and tend to favour the Turbopan. The Turbopan is very easy to use and does a great job. There is no trick to using it, the just load it up and swirl the gravel in one direction and then the other whilst the pan is in the water (with the water level just above the gravel) that helps liquidly the gravels realy well and gravitate the gold to the bottom. Then tilt the back of the pan up (about 30 degrees) still swirling but slower and more gently and allow the lighter material fall out, and continue just as you would like any normal pan. I usually find the gold is sitting in the circular depressed area in the middle of the pan. The Turbopan is much like any normal pan but it has the raised twirling bit in the bottom which helps agitate the gravels and speed up the process.

Cheers James

Thanks James,

Maybe we just need to practise a bit more and be patient, before we also use ours as a frisbee...

So used to working a normal pan.

Thanks for the advice

 

[G0lddigg@]

I used one for three months you will find its good when you have a lot of chunky flat slate like rock but generally make a better frisbee not recommended by me go drop riffles anyday but that's just my oppinion

 

[Colin&Lee]

Loved ours to start with as you can process a fair bit of material then realized they kick a lot of the fines out

Cheers

C&L

 

[goldbug]

I have a Turbopan and a Garrett Super sluice and tend to favour the Turbopan. The Turbopan is very easy to use and does a great job. There is no trick to using it, the just load it up and swirl the gravel in one direction and then the other whilst the pan is in the water (with the water level just above the gravel) that helps liquidly the gravels realy well and gravitate the gold to the bottom. Then tilt the back of the pan up (about 30 degrees) still swirling but slower and more gently and allow the lighter material fall out, and continue just as you would like any normal pan. I usually find the gold is sitting in the circular depressed area in the middle of the pan. The Turbopan is much like any normal pan but it has the raised twirling bit in the bottom which helps agitate the gravels and speed up the process.

Cheers James

Thanks James,

Maybe we just need to practise a bit more and be patient, before we also use ours as a frisbee...

So used to working a normal pan.

Thanks for the advice

No worries, I should have added the Super Sluice is better than the Turbopan for gems.
There are some good videos on how to use the Turbopan here:

http://turbopan.com/videos.html#.UZSo0ysY2K0

 

[Highlanderchris]

This pan seem good for pickers but how does anyone know how it goes on flour gold????

Thinking of using a turbo pan for speedy classifying and finishing off with a garrett super sluice pan, any thoughts

 

[Prospector steve]

I just received a Turbopan in the mail that I ordered for my brother in law and I got to say its interesting bit of gear, has anyone here had any experience good or bad with this type of pan? and is there any special technique required?

Hi, guys thought a few might have 1, got 1 and tested it -yes you will generally use specified technique that come on the leaflet ,but aquire your own technique as you play with it I don't mind them they are fast.
I got a green one and the instruction sheet shows a black one looks the same?
Finish off in standard pan because its too hard to get trapped flour gold out so I wash the small amount of black sand and gold into a standard pan works still a lot quicker.

Cheers Steve.

 

[Highlanderchris]

I just received a Turbopan in the mail that I ordered for my brother in law and I got to say its interesting bit of gear, has anyone here had any experience good or bad with this type of pan? and is there any special technique required?

Hi, guys thought a few might have 1, got 1 and tested it -yes you will generally use specified technique that come on the leaflet ,but aquire your own technique as you play with it I don't mind them they are fast.
I got a green one and the instruction sheet shows a black one looks the same?

Cheers Steve.

Steve how did the pan go with flour gold???

 

[Greglz86]

As a newbie I got the turbopan after seeing a vid on YouTube. I have only taken it out once but I found it easy to use. I didn't get any colour that day but when I would finish I had plenty of black sand each time. By watching a Video of that speed pan I would be to paranoid about losing to much gold.

 

[hereskip]

After using quite a few different pans I ended up with a quanta speed pan after using GR's one weekend it's by far the quickest and great for clean ups from the highbanker and one of the best tools for test panning the creek but it does look radical when using it and there not cheap. The second pan I have is the super sluice it's a good all round pan and handy for placing at the end of the highbanker to see if ya losing any gold. I use the cheap black 10 inch pans for final clean up and drying the gold and my turbo pan has become my dogs favourite water bowl it was just to hard to use for me but the dog luvs it.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Cheers
Skip

 

[Nic103]

I have used the Turbopan, and I love it! Have only been out using it 4 or 5 times and find it really easy to use.

I didn't find the instructions that can with the pan very easy to follow, thank god for utube!