Finally building a "Bad Boy" "Someday Sluice"

Hi All
Thats right I have finally commenced my project to build a "Rip Off" of "Someday's Sluice", thanks for the information Someday, I cut out the alloy sections according to the plan I drew up of this sluice.
Today I went to a workshop and bent up the components for this bad boy, started the welding this arvo, this project will be on fast forward so I can get out & get some yellow, the test panning is done & the spot is already picked for the first production run.
I will post some pic's soon.
cheers
Lee.

Hi All
Here are a couple of pic's of the project so far, had a slow day today I woke up a bit rugged after an allergic reaction to something I ate yesterday, first pic shows the sluice tray & the top section that creates the drop into the main tray, then the hopper you can see the chute under it.

this one shows the drop a bit better.
this shows the start of the first catch tray.

Now I am just bragging this is my home workshop that I finished building 18 months ago.
Im back to work for a 2 day break then I'll be back into it.
cheers
Lee.

Looks pretty good there Lee can't wait to see the finished product, should work well too.

Cheers.

Mike.

Good project Lee. Great size shed too. Could do with a bit of a tidy up, or maybe it's just had one. cheers Pete.

Hi Guy's
Thanks I can't wait to get this project done.
Hey Pete, your right mate it has just had a clean up, there is a camper trailer under the stuff at the far end which takes up a bit off room.
cheers
Lee

looks good lee should work a treat, ever thought about patent it or is it a copy, id buy one for sure i own a mig but my welds still look like pelican **** great work. cheers glenn

Hey Lee,
Great project but you better brush up a bit on your aluminium welding, should be smooth and with out the the soot?
Maybe too much out of the beer keg you got there?

Peter

Hi All
Here are a few more pics showing progress of this project.
Peter, my welding is getting a bit better, can you give some advice on how to stop the soot???


the first couple of pic's show how the catch trays fit together


other pics show the trays and my improved welds,



showing the hopper sitting in place,

shed porn,

These show the fridge box on the front of my camper trailer , I had the box made, the I mounted it & built the fridge slide mounts.


this is the view from my back patio.
cheers
Lee

Hey Lee,

The sluice is looking good and I am getting shed envy

Regards,

Grant

Hey Lee,
I'm just envious I don't have a workshop and wide open spaces like you see from your patio.
Aluminium welding takes some practice to get it right, really you are doing very well.
Very neat project you have on the go there.
The best way to explain the soot is for you to take a look at these sites, the info is limited but you can purchase a book of your choice. Richard Finch has some excellent publications.
From memory about $25.00?

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=GcPRgMcex8EC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=Why+does+aluminium+welding+burn+black&source=bl&ots=Ayb5swDekm&sig=ssCswH_Rx7XV2lY-qAE1PLu_2dY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Cs6TT4reGeufmQW-3oDyAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Why%20does%20aluminium%20welding%20burn%20black&f=false


http://books.google.com.au/books?id=cza_74dTBnMC&dq=Aluminium+Mig+Welding+Handbook&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2dGTT7PQIKyamQXg9cXpAQ&ved=0CEsQ6AEwAQ

Peter

Hey Lee, I'm enjoying this project of yours. Do you live in a semi rural area? cheers Pete.

Hey Pete
Thanks mate I'm enjoying it too, can't wait to find some gold with it, It gives me more satisfaction fining even a small bit of colour with something I have made.
Yes I live 30k's north of Townsville on 5 acres.
cheers
Lee

Thats coming along nicely Lee, it should be a very usefull piece of gear when finished.

As for soot on the weld, it looks like you are using a mig welder for the job and this will get more soot than a tig welder, with pratice a tig weld will be a better looking weld, but a mig welder is quicker to do the job with. To much gas flow will give more soot, gas flow should be about 15 to 18 l/m and the area to be welded should be clean, even new aluminium will have a "film" of aluminium oxide on it, use a stainless steel brush to give it a clean before running the weld.

Lee it will be good to see the finished product in action.

cheers dave

Apart from the correct gas flow with the mig the common cause for soot is splatter build up in nozzle restricting the gas flow from surrounding the wire feed. Air on weld joint will cause soot.
Great project Lee.

Peter

Thanks guy's
I have talked to few people & like you say I think I have the gas flow to high & the tip/ shroud may be a bit grubby, It's coming along nice I think, I will take a video of it in action, But I don't know how to do the utube thing.
cheers
Lee

Hi All
Here is the next step part done on the hopper, I picked up the punch plate today it has 9mm holes and is alloy, as you can see in the pic I am bolting the puch plate and shute underneath the hopper with a cross brace to handle the load of wash I'll be throwing at it, I am bolting it together so that it can be replace with ease as this will be an area of wear, I paid $10 for the punch plate & there was enough for 2 bits.


Hey, Any of you guy's experienced it wet prospecting got any input for me on this project? Anything?
cheers
Lee

Hi All
Here is the next progress report and photo's on the sluice build.
As you can see the hopper is mounted to the main tray, the spray bar is fitted to the hopper. I have made up the support legs & finished the catch trays, I have to finish the latch down points on the trays, as you can see in the one pic the method to hold in the catch trays, I have a 1/2 " ball valve mounted on the water supply to the manifold I will attach a short length of hose here to aid in the clean up of the hopper & final rinse of the tray, enjoy.
cheers
Lee

Wow, that is huge .. just the way i like em.. i use the same rubber matt in mine.. works great :-) well done.. inspirational

Hey rc62burke ... as Poss said "that is Inspirational" ... amazing!! I cannot believe how clever some of you boys are

I'm still learning my detector, so I'm going to be spending all of my time involved in this side of prospecting ... but your sluice really fires up the imagination!!

rc62burke wrote:Hi All
Here is the next step part done on the hopper, I picked up the punch plate today it has 9mm holes and is alloy, as you can see in the pic I am bolting the puch plate and shute underneath the hopper with a cross brace to handle the load of wash I'll be throwing at it, I am bolting it together so that it can be replace with ease as this will be an area of wear, I paid $10 for the punch plate & there was enough for 2 bits.


Hey, Any of you guy's experienced it wet prospecting got any input for me on this project? Anything?
cheers
Lee

Hi Lee, Can I suggest you get rid of the punch plate. It will slow you down. Put in a bear grill with a spacing of 1/2" between the bars. And put it pretty steep. On mine I can shovel as fast as I want and it never blocks. Or at least keep it in mind, if the punch plate doesn't empty fast enough. Harry
PS. Just noticed it's an old post,

lee , i use a banjo aka highbanker and have done for a few years now and 2 of my mates have been using them longer.
first of all replace the bolts that hold the plate in with rivets as you will get your shovel caught on them.
as for the comment of getting rid of the punch plate i would not.
mine has a similar plate and its is great for breaking up clay as well as other stuff that is stuck together.
the only thing you need to look out for is any gold larger than the holes.

Hi Kate, Shiraz & Rusty
Thanks for your comments, I am really happy the way it has turned out, although it will be a work in constant state of evollution for a while.
Yeah it is an old post but who cares, I have given it a short field test due to the fact that when I was able to finally get out the water was dry at my pre-determined honey hole but did get some good colour & it all stayed in the top catch tray bar 3 specks.
I can't wait for march next year when the water is plentifull.

Hi Lee, great looking unit..! It is massive mate.....just wondering what size pump you are using for this...must be a decent sized firepump? Looking at the set up I tend to agree with Harry, you will find the holes are far too small and you need more angle on the Hopper box to keep the waste moving, in the past we have used many styles of boxes and usually never went longer than 3 foot by 1 foot wide...that way if you have 1 inch waterflow over the riffles you will need to set it up at 3 inch drop , 1 inch drop per foot length of sluice, ...you should be able to have a screen size of about 3/4 inch in the hopper, but you will need to have enough waterflow....when we set up like you, up on the bank, then we used a 2 " firepump to get enough flow over the riffles.....you can't use a spray bar in that case and will need to add a difuser , you want a large volume of water flowing at gravity rate, not pressure from pump, for best separation....with that angle all your gold will stay within the the first foot of the sluice...as for the clayballs, if you get any then pick them out, dont waste to much time with them,dump them into a bucket of water with a fair bit of salt, leave overnight and the next day they should be easy to break up.....cheers SS

mine has the same punch plate with 10mm holes but is on top and not under neath , but in saying this you do not get any clay balls this way so no need to leave stuff sit in a bucket over night.
as for water , all i use is a 3hp motor with a 2 inch 510lpm pump at about 1/4 revs and it pushes out more than ample water to clear the whole system with out losing gold.

so his set up really has nothing wrong with is like a few seem to think so , only issue is any nugget or speci that is bigger than 10 mm you will have to watch out for when working

Hi SS & Rusty
Thanks for the comments.
I have made some minor changes, larger hole diameter for the spraybar & some slight adjustment on the top horizontal sections of the riffle's they were a bit long, on the test I did in the link below which was in a barren creek????? I actually got 7 tiny specks WOW!!!!
https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t9088-sluice-test-run.

This next link I gave it a bit of a run & was really happy with what it caught the only problem was not enough water at this spot, still need to do a bit more testing & refining, I will be making another hopper that has a chute instead of spray bars, more testing = more options = better outcome = more profitable time in the bush.
https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t10027-2-weeks-in-the-bush?highlight=2+weeks+in+the+bush

Struff has Chris given up the amber fluids to get all the info on that mother of a machine-- would have kept him up for a week trying to recollect all that information stored away in that grey matter.

Looks good

Might have to buy a gas welder and have a go myself..

regards
oneday69