How much to build a sluice ?

How cheap do you reckon i could build a basic mobile sluice ?

I don`t know whether to pay a couple of hundred bucks or bang one together myself.  What i want is an aluminium or stainless steel lightweight sluice about 3 or 4 feet long by about 1 1/2 feet wide with the angle iron riffles or something similar and mesh under that. I already have plenty of matting for the base ,so i don`t need to buy it. I will attach a handle on the side to carry it. This is just a simple sluice. No pipes,motors,sprayers or anything like that .
I saw one where the riffles are attached to the mesh and unscrew with one bolt to get to the matting underneath and that looked like a good set up.

Any better ideas and a ball park figure on what it is worth to build one would be much appreciated .


 I just want something to throw in the car and go .

  Thanks in advance .

You can build one for very little , I used to wander round industrial scrap yards when I needed materials , apart from that if you intend to bend the sides a large vice , blocks of wood and a lump hammer will help , if not lengths of angle ali and a pop rivet gun should do it , I would look at a few commercial ones and make something near for a starter, , but if its not right its no problem to alter .
I built mine just because I like to build stuff , and Ive been using it now for over ten years ,

Hi TMD,
A very simple and cost efficient sluice can be made from a length of PVC pipe. (Actually from one length you an make two)
Cut the pipe length ways and then glue your riffles and place mat of your choice.
Below is one I made for cleaning up dry blower fines. recycling the precious water with 12V pump. (100mm PVC)
We made a 2metre one out of 150mm PVC rarely used, not a lot of water in WA creeks, when they do run you can't get near them without getting bogged.

Thanks ,Nightjar. I have got plenty of that PVC pipe laying around,but not sure if it is as big as 6 " . You have given me the idea of connecting 3 lengths of these pipes side by side and working something out from there .

I like to build stuff ,too , Mogy . I might look at the commercial ones and possibly integrate the traditional style sluice and the pvc pipes into one contraption ,but still keep it simple to build and use .

Thanks, Fellas .

Just another thought  I'm guessing     you have large wheelie bins  for  your  house hold rubbish in oz  ?    I  was thinking of  cutting one up  , theres  four  large  sheets of  a very  heavy durable  plastic  could be gotten out of one .  Making stuff and being a  gold panner is a dangerous pastime  you  start to look at everything and wonder how it  could be put to better  use .

Nice thought on the bins , Mogy ,but i need the recycled and regular bins because i live in the sticks and we don`t get weekly rubbish collection . And they are worth $200 for the council to replace ,at my cost !!!! But i get what you are saying. A cut up car bonnet welded into a sluice would be another option. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The endless possibilities .

Not recommended  to use wheelie bins in Aus.    The plastic cracks  after  some time .  Not sure how long  but we have had plenty replaced in our  block of units.   Good for business .......

If weight is not a big problem , you could make it out of form workers ply. It is cheap , easy to work and water proof to a good degree.

If you don't care how it looks, I hammered flat a stainless steel microwave oven cover. Made a sluice from it, nice and light.
Lined it with door mat rubber.

You might pick one up cheap on E-bay . Then change it to suit yourself . Might be cheaper than buying the materials .

A mate made his sluice out of an old metal framed kids slide he picked up on the verge collection, it will probably rust up after awhile but you may be able to lay your hands on one of the plastic ones and you can just stick the riffles into place.

I like the one you have made nightjar, looks like a good summertime project for me to make one for myself, am also going to have a crack at making a small portable rock crusher as well.

au-fever

au-fever wrote:
am also going to have a crack at making a small portable rock crusher as well.

au-fever

The wheels in my head are grinding away working on an idea for one of these.


Cheers