New sluice :)

Hi guys, Picked up my new sluice from Brad @ Aussie detecting on Sat in Bendigo.
Headed into the depths of Castlemaine after. No water anywhere would be a graphic understatement so slogged down a valley and brought back a bucket of classified dirt for processing at home. When I got home realized I left the pump hose in Bendigo!
got some fittings and tube from bunnings so all good.
About 6 ltrs of classified material from a heavily dug area by the old timers I have 3 tiny tiny specks. Didn't expect much from that ground but was good to try out the sluice. I didn't pan the tailings, was too tired so may have missed alittle.
Runs very well, I used the Garrett classifier thing which I think is 9/16's?? was a bit big and clogged the front 2 riffles a bit but went to 2 bunnings and none had sifters or classifiers of ANY kind
Next time I go out I'll go to a proven area of mine and bring back 2 buckets worth.
Any constructive suggestions appreciated

A pic of the item - i put too much dish liquid so freshed most of the water. this was just when I was setting it up

Don't take dirt classified or not from the goldfields !!! Yeah I know you are all sick of me saying it!!! Why do I keep saying it because I know in Vic it is illegal to take any thing except heavy minerals ie.concentrates !
I was lucky with a warning !!

G'day Jerry
The water running down your sluice is all over the place! Looken at the hight difference in the legs, the angle seems way too steep or it's just the pic??
you need to flatten out the water flow at the start, so it flows more uniformly across the width of the sluice!

Well thats what I see

Good luck man.

Ark wrote:Don't take dirt classified or not from the goldfields !!! Yeah I know you are all sick of me saying it!!! Why do I keep saying it because I know in Vic it is illegal to take any thing except heavy minerals ie.concentrates !
I was lucky with a warning !!

LOL o oops!
Will save my legs from carrying out then and process more out there next time!
I took sum vid of it running so will upload tonight and let u see the angle. Any shallower angle and the bigger stones wouldn't have gone through. I moved it around quite alot while I was processing trying to get the flow as good as possible... trickier than it seems I must say! I found when I had finished a good way to get the flow centered is to run it with the riffles up and the carpets etc out then level it that way with the flow perfectly down the middle. All about learning I guess

Itis always hard to do that with a bilge pump! To do as you say someday the sluice would almost be flat and if the wash is any bigger than 2 mm it will bog ! I stand to be corrected because it has been 20 yrs since I played around with a 12 v pump and unless they have increased the volume and pressure of these things you will battle with trying to get the ribbon effect on the sluice .

Can I suggest you use this set up as a cons washer at home and get yourself a petrol pump for doing some ral work in the field!
Use the sluice by all means in the two ways ,at home and in the field and perhaps a top hopper to break up and primary classify the wash!

Yeah it's a tad hard to see in the pic, looks like the water is exiting the top section from under something??
If you put another something in front of the other something, you should be able to achieve a more uniform flow!
Even the broom idea works quite well in flattening the flow??

think of this as a cut away view...



So water goes in and hits the front angle part to spray it evenly across before it drops down.
This pump is 800GPH. I think a bigger pump like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12V-Submersible-Fishing-Boat-Bilge-Water-Pump-2000GPH-/260896253160?pt=AU_Boat_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cbea0e4e8&_uhb=1#ht_3759wt_1139 would suit better and to keep the sluice at a much flatter angle but a petrol pump even the smallest would need to be dialed to almost nothing. This is only 6in wide sluice so very skinny and doesn't need much flow i guess. It comes with a river attachment too so in winter can use direct in the river
What's the "broom idea"? something like a rubber flap smoothing the flow like on huge industrial units?
First off my mission is to find a smaller classifier!

Ah piss the diagram didn't work... i'll upload it .....

Ok whatever floats yer sluice

Most bilge pumps quote US gallons that are much smaller tham Imp gallons....

check gph at a given head.........as most drop 15 to 30o/o at 600 to 900mm which

is a common used height in reticulation......so a larger pump than you think

may be required.

Check how many Amps they draw at max....... as most better pumps draw

less amps for = gph......this = better battery life if used in the field.

Move the expanded mesh down under the last two riffles where it needs to be working. The upper riffles will stop the big stuff.

Hi Jerry
A rubber flap attached to the water outlet should level out your flow, looks to me like you need more water & less angle 1" per foot works well as I made a sluice very similar to this & it worked well, as stated before clasify, classify & classify, you need the water level constantly higher than the riffles & you need to stop the water from snakeing it's way down the sluice, it pay's to play with it alot to get it sorted.


.

800gph (assuming US not imperial) is only 60l/min even on a little 150 wide sluice i'd be thinking you need 90-120+l/min minimum depending on material feed rates.

Genquip make a top notch little 4 stroke pump puts out a max of 200l/min I think they're around the $299 mark and only 12kg. I've got two I use for stock water points easy to carry around on the quad, they've both being going strong for about 2 - 2.5 years now.

Your 2000gph bilge pump would suffice, but on paper they are inferior pumps.

But I agree with the above posters comments, 5 degree slope, move your expanded mesh, and add a plastic dampener.

Move to a petrol pump and forget about the damper ! Won't be needed but you do as you want ! As I said whatever floats your sluice !

thanks tons guys.
I bought the 2000gph pump off ebay last night. I inquired to one of the petrol pump sellers but as stated above 12kg was the average weight and there's no way in hell I can carry all the gear plus pump 3-6km up the river alone.
I will give this 2000gph a whirl and drop the angle. I have a 900A jumper pack that would keep the 800gph going all day so 2000gph with heavier draw should be fine. The head height is less than half a metre so there isn't much worry about performance loss hopefully.
Any ideas where to get a classifier? I know bunnings don't have em so maybe if I try masters and mitre 10, doesn't need to be too strong as I will use the heavy plastic garret one first. When I was at bunnings I noticed there hand baskets have nice little meshy holes about the right size
The plastic/rubber flap I will investigate as there's limited options of mounting such things without heavy modification lol
The mesh I shall move down that's easy

12 kg!!! Geez man you are only 27 yrs old ,in good health I hope ?

Ark wrote:12 kg!!! Geez man you are only 27 yrs old ,in good health I hope ?

I can easily run 3kms.
When I was 18 I was in the RNZAF and carried a 38-42kg battlepack while I am (still) only 65-70kg and marched 15kms lol however now it's more awkward to strap all this stuff to me then get over fallen trees and similar alone.
Besides this is meant to be a hobby/fun. Carrying 30odd kg of bulky crap up a river and steep valley in 30deg heat isn't fun lol!
at least when the rivers are up I can drop the pump and heavy bits and throw the river attachment on

how much does the battery pack weigh?????



Oleo-Mac SA 18 around $450

MODEL DETAILS
Power 1.4hp
Displacement 30.5cc
Max Flow Rate 150l/min
Suction/Delivery 1"/25.4mm diameter
Pump Type Centrifugal
Fuel Tank 0.70 Litres
Total Dry Weight 3.7kg
Noise 7 db

The truth is out there !!! All the best Jerryx4

When you've got material and water close to each other then the lill electric pump will do the job i'm sure, however if you need a transfer water over any sort of distance (or have moderate head) this pump wont cut it. It's always easier to move water then to move dirt.

I was almost going to say no-body likes a two stroke Ark, then I remembered what great little pumps they are. I use to leave one sitting for months at a time at one of the dams with nothing but a 20L tin over it all wet season, fuel her up and away she's go.
I just think that noise should read more like 97 decibels :p

Love the weight idea. not the price sheesh!
7dB??? I've heard mouse farts louder than that!

Here's the vid from the other day. Watching it I can learn alot. At the end u see the angle it was at.

Getten better mate

6" wide makes it a fine line for levelling?? I'm guessen one side of your sluice was working better than the other
Just remember, the greater the angle, the less chance your riffles are gonu have to suck back the gold/black sands/heavy stuff if you move the expando forward
"More water" Less slop'y = more gold/black sands/an heavy stuff