Wooden Dry washer

[trashmagnet]

sounds good mate
I reckon your counter balance set up will work a treat, it looks just like the keene ones, it should get things wobbling nicely and if it don't you should be able to add another nut for weight.
when I said about losing your static, I meant I don't think the static will travel through the wood to your mesh, I realise it won't dissipate but it will stay in the hose unless it can travel through something to the mesh as static won't travel through wood, saying you would lose it was a bad choice of words.
still I reckon your got a great looking unit there and apart from the dust and back breaking digging, you should have a ball using it
thanks for sharing your project
regards tm

 

[G0lddigg@]

are you saying the keene ones have a wire between the counterbalance and the mesh?

 

[Outback]

Well done ' heaps of gold out there that can only be found with dry washers , unfortunately any form of power assisted help is banned in most States .

Think about a hand operated system that works well and you will make a fortune !!

 

[trashmagnet]

are you saying the keene ones have a wire between the counterbalance and the mesh?

no mate they have a wire that goes the full length of the hose then the charge goes into the bottom box of the keene 151 and charges the WHOLE bottom box including the catch area.

since your bottom box is wood the charge will stay in the hose with no where to go, it can't jump that far from the hose past the wood to you mesh as it needs something to travel on/in and we both know it won't travel thru wood.

the wire just makes it easer for the static to travel like an earth strap on a fuel tanker to put the charge that builds up in a truck while traveling to the above ground tank your filling to stop from blowing your self up. you don't get rid of the static, you just control it

don't get me wrong, I think you have done a great job with your blower, just trying to help with the static.
regards tm

 

[trashmagnet]

Well done ' heaps of gold out there that can only be found with dry washers , unfortunately any form of power assisted help is banned in most States .

Think about a hand operated system that works well and you will make a fortune !!

hi outback
goldigg and myself are both in vic so where ok with the mechanical blowers,.

did you get your dry sieving contraption working?
regards tm

 

[G0lddigg@]

Well done ' heaps of gold out there that can only be found with dry washers , unfortunately any form of power assisted help is banned in most States .

Think about a hand operated system that works well and you will make a fortune !!

drywashers aren't banned in victoria mate

 

[G0lddigg@]

are you saying the keene ones have a wire between the counterbalance and the mesh?

no mate they have a wire that goes the full length of the hose then the charge goes into the bottom box of the keene 151 and charges the WHOLE bottom box including the catch area.

since your bottom box is wood the charge will stay in the hose with no where to go, it can't jump that far from the hose past the wood to you mesh as it needs something to travel on/in and we both know it won't travel thru wood.

the wire just makes it easer for the static to travel like an earth strap on a fuel tanker to put the charge that builds up in a truck while traveling to the above ground tank your filling to stop from blowing your self up. you don't get rid of the static, you just control it

don't get me wrong, I think you have done a great job with your blower, just trying to help with the static.
regards tm

im a bit slow today but I get it

 

[Outback]

hi outback
goldigg and myself are both in vic so where ok with the mechanical blowers,.

did you get your dry sieving contraption working?
regards tm

Hi also , the powered unit works well but is heavy & not allowed in most other states being powered by a motor .
Working on a smaller hand operated unit that's light weight as we speak , could be a market in California USA as they have similar laws about motorized gear

Cheers
Outback .

 

[trashmagnet]

hi outback
goldigg and myself are both in vic so where ok with the mechanical blowers,.

did you get your dry sieving contraption working?
regards tm

Hi also , the powered unit works well but is heavy & not allowed in most other states being powered by a motor .
Working on a smaller hand operated unit that's light weight as we speak , could be a market in California USA as they have similar laws about motorized gear

Cheers
Outback .

sounds good mate, if you perfect it I'd be keen to see it.
regards

 

[G0lddigg@]

hey mate ive seen quite a few hand operated units in the states as well as peddle power they cant process much material thought at the rate required of 200 puffs pm. look forward to seeing your version.

personally I built this to see if I like drywashing if so I may just go big with a 151 or similar the leaf blower is light compared with my highbanker pump hoses and such.

 

[trashmagnet]

hey mate ive seen quite a few hand operated units in the states as well as peddle power they cant process much material thought at the rate required of 200 puffs pm. look forward to seeing your version.

personally I built this to see if I like drywashing if so I may just go big with a 151 or similar the leaf blower is light compared with my highbanker pump hoses and such.

hey golddig
if you want we could meet up down your way when this bit of rain dries up and you can try my 151 if you wish, I only live 200 k's west of you, could even hook the 151 blower up to yours and see what happens.
regards tm

 

[Outback]

Guys my unit works on Gold's high gravity alone , the motorized heavy unit does not lose any after fitting the sweepbacks .
Also you can feed it non stop as it self empties the lighter material , the only way the gold can escape is when there is more gold then other material ~ one can only hope for this scenario :lol:

 

[trashmagnet]

Guys my unit works on Gold's high gravity alone , the motorized heavy unit does not lose any after fitting the sweepbacks .
Also you can feed it non stop as it self empties the lighter material , the only way the gold can escape is when there is more gold then other material ~ one can only hope for this scenario :lol:

I liked the look of it in the video you put up on the other site, I thought it was a fantastic idea.
should work a treat out your way (if you were allowed to use it that is )
regards

 

[Outback]

Guys my unit works on Gold's high gravity alone , the motorized heavy unit does not lose any after fitting the sweepbacks .
Also you can feed it non stop as it self empties the lighter material , the only way the gold can escape is when there is more gold then other material ~ one can only hope for this scenario :lol:

I liked the look of it in the video you put up on the other site, I thought it was a fantastic idea.
should work a treat out your way (if you were allowed to use it that is )
regards

Hi ' as the unit size is reduced for hand only operation there is the scrubbing factor of the trommel that must be considered ~ regarding area per turn , have decided that is not viable as size gets smaller , therefore will be using an octagon to solve .

Thanks for your interest , the days of using a detector to pay for a trip & make a good profit are now history

 

[G0lddigg@]

hey mate ive seen quite a few hand operated units in the states as well as peddle power they cant process much material thought at the rate required of 200 puffs pm. look forward to seeing your version.

personally I built this to see if I like drywashing if so I may just go big with a 151 or similar the leaf blower is light compared with my highbanker pump hoses and such.

hey golddig
if you want we could meet up down your way when this bit of rain dries up and you can try my 151 if you wish, I only live 200 k's west of you, could even hook the 151 blower up to yours and see what happens.
regards tm

that would cool mate id love to have a dig with you

 

[G0lddigg@]

Bout time i put some pics up explaining things a bit,
this is a counterbalance it creates the washing effect like panning in a side to site motion, by putting this fan inline with the air discharge you create a propelled effect which distributes the air more evenly around the catch box. The wobble is caused by using a weight in the fan blade this can be adjusted by adding or removing bolts and by moving it inwards and outwards to get a more aggressive or smooth flow. the idea being when your feeding material into the hopper the dry material moves over the riffles like water flow.
I made this by cutting out a circle in some tin, bending up the corners and welded some washers and bolts together to form a solid shaft, the addition (messy)_ weld is to get enough weight above the fan as below so as to spin without jamming. Its then mounted as below.

this is the cloth designed to allow gold to settle in and lights to blow away, i used muslin because thats what i had an apparently that what the old 49ers used

underneath 2.5 mm expanded mesh

\after dumping a bucket through i realized that i need something to divert the material downwards not backwards this is a piece of whiteboard shelf

few side-rails to keep material in the centre

fitted looks the goods

the chain is required to suspend the catchbox from the hopper, this way the box can wobble freely, its important to isolate the center to be even or the catchbox will never sit level. I just cut chain lengths to suit and each length is adjustable by clipping to a different link.

this is the slider to adjust the feed rate of classified material from the hopper, pretty basic but functional, you dont need this you could just vary your hopper feed rate.

and i did make new legs that are alot longer which will save alot of clearing time

now for the bad news, the blower i bought doesn't ahve the balls for the job......... the counterbalance spins and i get a bit of shake but it really doesn't have the power it needs I was trying to avoid spending $250 on a blower so i have to decide now whether to build bellows and a 12v motor or build a much smaller catch box. After looking at some commercial units most are only 6 inches wide and mines nearly 10
I think i will probably build a smaller box as i dont really want to build bellows

heres a pic of it all setup finished anyway

 

[MJB]

Hi Golddigg,
That dry blower looks bloody good, well done. I have thought about making one myself after going out with Diggerdude recently and using his. I found the exact impellor/counterbalance rotor for sale from the US for $49. This is the same one used in the Keene 140 dry blower. But give yours a go first, it looks pretty good and will probably work.

One more thing, I see in the pics the bottom box is a close fit in between the legs. As the whole efficiency of the dry blower depends on air and vibration, if there is not enough clearance it may not allow the bottom box to vibrate enough. Maybe the legs need to be widened slightly. Any way, its just a thought. I look forward to see how it runs.

Well done,
Matt

 

[slowflow]

Still looks great & I sure you will find a solution. inspiring build.
Anybody around the neighborhood with a big grunty leaf blower.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Hi Golddigg,
That dry blower looks bloody good, well done. I have thought about making one myself after going out with Diggerdude recently and using his. I found the exact impellor/counterbalance rotor for sale from the US for $49. This is the same one used in the Keene 140 dry blower. But give yours a go first, it looks pretty good and will probably work.

One more thing, I see in the pics the bottom box is a close fit in between the legs. As the whole efficiency of the dry blower depends on air and vibration, if there is not enough clearance it may not allow the bottom box to vibrate enough. Maybe the legs need to be widened slightly. Any way, its just a thought. I look forward to see how it runs.

Well done,
Matt

I nearly bought a counterbalance from ebay but thought id have a crack first. it spins just fine so not worried about it really.
I did allow im the design for opening the gap its currently 25mm I would think it'll be enought but unless I get a huge blower I wont know. might even rent one

 

[thedigger]

Hi Golddigg
I think you find that your hose might be a bit small,that will restrict the amount of air to your box,check to see what type of motor they use and amount of air they deliver,and look up what yours will delivers,that might steer you in the right direction,your might be o.k you just have be careful,little things can make a big difference.
I build a small ball mill and it took a bit of tweeting to just get it right.

Regards Thedigger