thankyou for info wal much appreciated. I will send pic for you. Slick section i guess is the boiler part? and yes mine is about 350mm which means i need to shorten either bread crate or the expanded mesh at the end ? and to atomrat i agree but it was not just the walbanker it was also wal and liz clips on youtube that got me and my wife into it. Totally hooked on fossicking now. cheers to wal and liz
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Wals' Hi-banker Specifications
- Thread starter WalnLiz
- Start date
Help Support Prospecting Australia:
WalnLiz
In remembrance, April 2024
KEZZ said:
The "boiler" section is the expanded under which there is no matting. The slick is the bare section above the expanded and this needs to be 500mm long. In a 1200 long sluice I'd run 350mm sloped expanded and 350mm crate. 95% of the gold will stay in the boiler and only a small amount, which will always be flour gold will get onto the crate.
A few minor mods will certainly show a great improvement on your next trip out. Best of luck on the gold.
Wal.
WalnLiz
In remembrance, April 2024
Couple of problems there Kezz. With the box being only 1200 long you can't run two sets of expanded, as your slick is far to short to gather water speed. Id run a slick section of 500 with a mesh section of 350 and a crate section of 350 similar to the gold version shown below. Try to re-cut a crate with the layout shown below, as you have to eliminate as many squares as you can. I'd suggest cutting both a catwalk section and a sloped section the same sizes as this way you can just interchange them depending on the location you prospect.
Use the catwalk in areas where there are sapphires in the wash, but remember to shake the sluice with some sideways action to sink the sapphires to the bottom of the mesh at least every 10 shovels of wash. The Catwalk will still trap 100% of the gold, but will trap a far larger proportion of the ironstone as well, and this is vital in catching sapphires as they have a similar SG. Sloped will let a lot more ironstone through and give you less of a clean-out, but in doing so will also let many more sapphires through. It's unfortunately a compromise and that's why I like to have both meshes cut and interchangeable.
Use the catwalk in areas where there are sapphires in the wash, but remember to shake the sluice with some sideways action to sink the sapphires to the bottom of the mesh at least every 10 shovels of wash. The Catwalk will still trap 100% of the gold, but will trap a far larger proportion of the ironstone as well, and this is vital in catching sapphires as they have a similar SG. Sloped will let a lot more ironstone through and give you less of a clean-out, but in doing so will also let many more sapphires through. It's unfortunately a compromise and that's why I like to have both meshes cut and interchangeable.
Wal,
Just watched your video on river sluicing. Since I now have plenty of the aluminum catwalk mesh, do you have info and specs on building
a river sluice like yours? Does it require a FAST water flow? And how did you get away with such a short slick plate? Is it triangular shaped for a reason?
Looking like winter here in the USA in another month.
-Tom V.
Just watched your video on river sluicing. Since I now have plenty of the aluminum catwalk mesh, do you have info and specs on building
a river sluice like yours? Does it require a FAST water flow? And how did you get away with such a short slick plate? Is it triangular shaped for a reason?
Looking like winter here in the USA in another month.
-Tom V.
WalnLiz
In remembrance, April 2024
That particular sluice is only useful in fast flowing rivers Tom and the catwalk in moderate flowing streams wouldn't be the most efficient. We only used this one here as a test sluice looking for suitable highbanking locations, and not as an example of efficient river sluicing in general. The sluice we use is 1000mm long, 300mm at the top and 250mm at the bottom. Tapering certainly helps with water speed if that is lacking where you prospect.
I generally run a sloped expanded without matting of 300 and a crate of 300, same config as my bankers in this sluice under normal circumstances.
By running the expanded as a boiler section all the gold gets trapped here and almost zero gets into the crate. Flow is also not as critical in this scenario, as when the flow is low the gold only makes it under the first 50mm of the expanded and the lights flow over it from that point on. The gold will all trap here in a single line across the sluice.
I certainly would only recommend sloped expanded when running a river sluice, especially if in Australia, as we don't have many streams with significant flow. The expanded is far better in my opinion to any versions of Hungarian Riffles when river sluicing.
Wal.
I generally run a sloped expanded without matting of 300 and a crate of 300, same config as my bankers in this sluice under normal circumstances.
By running the expanded as a boiler section all the gold gets trapped here and almost zero gets into the crate. Flow is also not as critical in this scenario, as when the flow is low the gold only makes it under the first 50mm of the expanded and the lights flow over it from that point on. The gold will all trap here in a single line across the sluice.
I certainly would only recommend sloped expanded when running a river sluice, especially if in Australia, as we don't have many streams with significant flow. The expanded is far better in my opinion to any versions of Hungarian Riffles when river sluicing.
Wal.
WalnLiz
In remembrance, April 2024
I use a 16mm wall height with the expanded opening 100mm x 40mm. This marries perfectly with the crate/mat combo I use. Expanded varies a few mils depending on the thickness of the expanded you get. I use aluminium mesh for transport ability, but steel works just as well. In your case steel would be ok as you only need a short piece.
Wal
Wal
DirtyBob
Robert
Just back from the Eldorado meetup - Walbanker maiden voyage. Few lessons learned...
Make sure you get the Heavy Duty cable tray. Although being assured what I purchased was heavy duty... It's just not. Held up for the weekend but that's about it. Looking sideways at other Walbankers, I definitely have the wrong stuff.
My wire mesh support wasn't really up to the job. Will need to get the angle supports in.
Would benefit from something on the bottom of the legs. I was using catwalk so giving a good shake tended to settle the rear legs in and put out the alignment. Note to self... Buy a spirit level that measures degrees.
Going to change clamp setup. Worked ok but is a bit wide and could lose material down the sides. Thinking I'll get some offcuts folded to 45 degrees rather than using 90 degree angle - this will still clamp but not allow material to be lost.
That being said, with some help and guidance setting up from from other forum members (thanks docjohnson and bundyjd) results look really promising from the couple of small pans I've done. Will take a while to cleanup due to lots of black sand. The design works really well.
So a few problems to fix but that's down to my build
. Pretty happy overall and think everyone should get out there and build or buy a Walbanker - just keep away from my spots
Make sure you get the Heavy Duty cable tray. Although being assured what I purchased was heavy duty... It's just not. Held up for the weekend but that's about it. Looking sideways at other Walbankers, I definitely have the wrong stuff.
My wire mesh support wasn't really up to the job. Will need to get the angle supports in.
Would benefit from something on the bottom of the legs. I was using catwalk so giving a good shake tended to settle the rear legs in and put out the alignment. Note to self... Buy a spirit level that measures degrees.
Going to change clamp setup. Worked ok but is a bit wide and could lose material down the sides. Thinking I'll get some offcuts folded to 45 degrees rather than using 90 degree angle - this will still clamp but not allow material to be lost.
That being said, with some help and guidance setting up from from other forum members (thanks docjohnson and bundyjd) results look really promising from the couple of small pans I've done. Will take a while to cleanup due to lots of black sand. The design works really well.
So a few problems to fix but that's down to my build
. Pretty happy overall and think everyone should get out there and build or buy a Walbanker - just keep away from my spots 
mdv
Martin
Hi DirtyBob,
Looking at your original photos, I was wondering about your wire mesh support - why not just do it the same as a Walbanker i.e. a lip on the back end of the cable tray with a bolt (and wingnut) through the back wall of the hopper, especially seeing that you think you'll need to replace your under-strength cable tray
If you have a smart phone, get a free inclinometer app - no need for a spirit level. With experience you'll probably be able to do it by eye anyhow.
Looking at your original photos, I was wondering about your wire mesh support - why not just do it the same as a Walbanker i.e. a lip on the back end of the cable tray with a bolt (and wingnut) through the back wall of the hopper, especially seeing that you think you'll need to replace your under-strength cable tray
If you have a smart phone, get a free inclinometer app - no need for a spirit level. With experience you'll probably be able to do it by eye anyhow.
DirtyBob
Robert
Hi mdv
Used the mesh because I ran out of angle (and time). Mesh was leftover from a chicken coop project. Seemed surprisingly strong but in combination with light grade cable tray didn't work so well. Will put angle, tray support and a new heavy duty cable tray on before the next outing.
Good news is I have an iPhone. Bad news is it's pretty new and I have butter fingers and don't want to see it floating downstream. Thinking about attaching some mini-levels or I'll just grab a gauge from Bunnings - I won't mind so much if that goes down the creek. Agree you can pretty much do it by eye, but I'd like the reference for starters.
Can see tinkering in my future. Thanks for your feedback
Used the mesh because I ran out of angle (and time). Mesh was leftover from a chicken coop project. Seemed surprisingly strong but in combination with light grade cable tray didn't work so well. Will put angle, tray support and a new heavy duty cable tray on before the next outing.
Good news is I have an iPhone. Bad news is it's pretty new and I have butter fingers and don't want to see it floating downstream
. Thinking about attaching some mini-levels or I'll just grab a gauge from Bunnings - I won't mind so much if that goes down the creek. Agree you can pretty much do it by eye, but I'd like the reference for starters.Can see tinkering in my future
. Thanks for your feedbackWal,
Can you possibly post a photo of your river sluice set up for gold and for gold/gems?
I get confused on your metric measurements since we still use inches in USA? Is it 25 mm per inch, so 1000 mm = approx. 40 inches?
Thanks,
-Tom V.
Can you possibly post a photo of your river sluice set up for gold and for gold/gems?
I get confused on your metric measurements since we still use inches in USA? Is it 25 mm per inch, so 1000 mm = approx. 40 inches?
Thanks,
-Tom V.
25mm =1 in; 100mm = 4 in; 300mm = 1ft.
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Hey everyone, just thought id share a video of my attempt at a Walbanker.. i still need to finish off some legs, supports and cut out the bread crate.
Im hoping to have it all done by the weekend so i can give it a run at Eldorado
Any faults or problems you might notice please let me know. Id rather rectify them now than find out when i get there.
Cheers!
It seems i cant post links just yet but if you type in ' Firing up my Walbanker inspired Highbanker ' into youtube it will come up.
Im hoping to have it all done by the weekend so i can give it a run at Eldorado
Any faults or problems you might notice please let me know. Id rather rectify them now than find out when i get there.
Cheers!
It seems i cant post links just yet but if you type in ' Firing up my Walbanker inspired Highbanker ' into youtube it will come up.
Only question I have is, what slope/angle should I aim for 20 degrees ??
Looks bout right to me though I use the waterflow and samples to tell me what angle to setup on for sluices. I recon the walbanker could be upside-down in a gravity free environment and still catch gold n gems.
Did you cut slits or drill holes for the spraybar?
Did you cut slits or drill holes for the spraybar?
Thanks AR
I cut slits on the spray bar. Wal explained in detail how to do it in a previous post, and I just followed his formular.
I cut slits on the spray bar. Wal explained in detail how to do it in a previous post, and I just followed his formular.
