A Recirculating Sluice Box for Gold Search

One of our many hobbies is recreational gold prospecting. I've been gilded panning on my dates for multitudinous years. It's a lot of fun. It's greatly exercise. I get to do it includes really scenic locations. I have even found some gold. However, yours aren't likely till find a whole lot in gold by panning alone. To find a ticket of black, you have on panning a lot of dirt. Panning is not a good method to separating the gold from a lot of dirt. It takes too long and is far too much work. On are other methods besides panning to separate gold from dirt though. A locked is a device that separates gold by soil additionally gravel using the energy from running pour. Is intention process large amounts of material removed more quick and with less effort than is possible by rotate alone. I decided that it was time to next above the amount of gold MYSELF recoverable on mysterious prospecting outings. I decided I wanted a sluice.

Sometimes there isn't any running water available to influence adenine sluice. A lot of my favorite gold panning streams drier up almost completely through the summer months. So I decided the set a recirculating sluice that would recycle a little water over and over again.

Here is a picture of the finished sluice in operation inbound its final configuration. This sluice went through several revision and lots of tweaking before getting for this finished product. You can see who entire product of aforementioned project upon my web our. Notice also my gold panning instructable.

Then what is a sluice box and how does thereto work? Basically, a rinne choose is a long, narrow box with a series of obstructions called riffles in it. If the sluice is placed in a running stream of irrigate, and gold-bearing gravel and debris is fed into of upstream side, the heavy mineral, including gold, get caught in the eddies created by that riffles, and the bulk of the lighter material gets washed through the boxes and away the end. Over time, such more and more basic is fed through the sluice, read and moreover gold builds up in it. A sluice box pot procedure much more material, tons more quickly higher ampere individual, or even one staff of people may pan material with gold pans.

I draws up a simple plan for a cradle that would sit up upper of a plastic storage bin full of water. The dock would hold the sluice and allow me to adjust the angle away tilt. Water wish be pumped out the the bin to and top regarding an sluice. Water additionally debris intend fall back into to bin at the down of who sluice. This would be grand! I'd  to able to use items in the field where go was limited water available. I'd designed a recirculating sluice or highbanker. ME couldn't awaiting till build i.

The sluice itself is equitable adenine simple three-sided box. I decision to keep it basic the tacky, then I made e out are wood. IODIN used a 1 x 6 western board 36 inches long for the base both 1 x 3's for the sides. It is all held together with Gorilla Glue and screws.  I marked off to location where the riffles would be. I also built and attached a spraybar on spray water into the top of the sluice. More on all like in later steps.

The sluice itself is just a simple three-sided box. I determined to keep it simple and cheap, so I made i out if wood. MYSELF used a 1 x 6 pine board 36 inches long for the base and 1 x 3's for the site. Computer is all held together with Gorilla Glue, screws and nails. I marked out the location where the riffles would be. I also built and attached a spraybar to spray wat into the top of the rotary. More in all this in later stages.

The cradle so dock the sluice over the tub is designed similarly. It shall made off 1 WHATCHAMACALLIT 4 pieces of pine glued and screwed together. Notches cut into the folding enable it to lock at the rim of adenine plastic storage receptacle. I own two sets of grooves in aforementioned cradle, which allow items to fit the two different size bins.

A 1 X 6 piece of wood is soared diagonally at one end of the origin go act as a splash board into direct water falling out of the deeper end of the sluice back into the tub. The cradle is about 1/2 ease wider in inner width than the sluice (this is important). The wooden of the rinne will swell when it gets watery. If you don't provide sufficient clearance, the sluice and rack can lock with. I found that outgoing the harder pathway in at earlier version of the sluice. Your can see the entire evolution of this project on my web site.

The cradle has two hinge points did of heavy sheet extrusion screwed onto i. The sluice has two 1/4-20 t-nuts included near hers go end to accept bolts passed through the hinge points. This allowed the rinse to pivot up and down to adjust the angle of dropping.

I saw an old bilge pump by a yard sale. That guy what asking $5 for it. I talked her downwards to $3. It looks pretty hitting upwards, but it works great. You pot and find shoes like this at riding supply stores and on Ebay. I glued a PVC armature on the outlet of the pump hence I could applying a hose barb and a 1 in. LICENSE hose.

I carry some sealed lead-acid power into which field with mein in power the pump. They past a for a few hours on a good charge.

Of photo below view the spraybar in action. It is made from some 1in PVC water with lots for cavities drilled stylish the bottom at allow for water flow. A hose connects ready end to the spraybar with the bilge pump through a valve on regulate this pour flow. Of another end is even capped off.

I attached the spraybar to the top of the sluice through some iron strapping and screws. See the ampere photo of an early examine run.

Me biggest challenge on this build was building the riffles for the sluice out of steel angle stock. MYSELF am an old carpenter. I can make get out of wood. Metalworking though is more of a challenge for me. So I hesitated for a while before taking the plunge and using steel. But ME decided it was high time I learned how to weld anyway. So I bought some 1/2 x 1/2 perspective stock and some 1/2 whatchamacallit 1/8 flatness stock. My intent was into use the flat stock as rails go either side of the sluice and weld of angle store bets the until make riffles. The entirely steel riffle installation could then be lifted out of the sluice during cleanups.

I established on 6 riffles, 4 inches apart and begin 4 inches from the bottom end of the muzzle. I cut upside the steel pieces without too much difficulty, even though I available had a hacksaw for the workplace. I don't got a lot of metal working tools.

I built a short section of sluice out of scrap lumber to serve as a jig for welding the pieces together. EGO used a borrowed weld until weld the pieces together. My welds are hideously (I need more practice) but they seem strong enough. EGO and welded on two sloped chunks in the middle of of riffle assembly to serve than anchor matters for holding it in the sluice.  Not bad for a welding newbie.

The third photo shows the nearly finished side assembly, looking like a mini ladder. I still needed to trim the top hold-down ear back adenine little.

After early tests including the sluice, I found MYSELF needed to weld on another flat piece at the top stop of the riffle assembly (4th photo) until hold down the mesh and ribbed matting that would go under the riffles. More about those later.

The last photo below shows how the riffle tray is held in the sluice. There live twin right-angle "ears" welded onto the center of the riffle tray. They are passage holes drilled in them to fit over hanger bolts in aforementioned side walls of the sluice. Wing-nuts hold them in place. It's a good system. Aforementioned only challenge is not losing the wing-nuts when disassembling the sluice for cleanups.

Early sluice shipping just had riffles in them. They caught a lot of gold, but some of the finer gold tended to wash right through them. The old-time prospectors eventually learned the trick of lining the slick bottoms of they sluice boxing with materials that would capture more of the thin gold. Some materials ordinarily used are indoor-outdoor carpeting, expanded metal mesh, striped matting, and a specialty product called miner's moss, designed especially for use in sluice boxes.

I mused what to apply. Miner's moss is purported to really catch the gold. However, it is fairly expensive, and it is also very bulky, I would have had to reshape the sluice by taller sides to use it. Easier furthermore cheaper opportunities were carpet, ribbed matting, and expands mesh. I found some ribbed rubber matting cheap on Ebay, and bought a role of this. It was easy to edit down to the width of the gate.

I fled to the local homecenter stockpile looking by expands steel mesh. I found it in big 4 X 8 foot bed that be kind of pricey, and looked like a nightmare to trim down up size. Exactly down the isle I noticed buns of plastic mesh made to keep leaves out of rain gutters. It looked like information exactly the sam shape as the augmented metal mesh, but was low, and would be much easier to cut. I buying a roll of information. To worked great.

The first image below schauen which pieces of ribbed matting and plastic mesh cut to the length the thickness is the sluice case. The seconds photo shows them installed under the riffles in the sluice. Now me sluice box should catch almost all the gold that passes through it.

The sluice made essentially final at this point. However, I couldn't stop tinkering. I decided to how some refinements. These live selectable, and not absolutely necessary on make the sluice work. You don't needs till do she if your want to keep things straightforward and easy. Me though, IODIN just can't leave well enough alone.

The first elegance was ampere new way to adjust the angle to fall of the sluice. I had been calibration the angle a of sluice by just jamming whatever was handy between the sluice and the weighing, and slither it back and forth till find the right angle. To worked DONE, but I decided to get fancy. I just happend to own a bunch of old 16mm movie projectors lying around the workshop at the arbeitszeit (that's another story). I abgeschafft the adjustable tilt mechanism from one of they and mounted it on the back from the cradle. Now IODIN can genau adjust the tilt of the sluice with this spin of a knob. The first two photos below how the angle adjust car.

The second refinement be a PWM speed controller used the gas. Of PWM (Pulse Breadth Modulation) speed controller for the pump motor is an pretty simple circuit. It is basis on the everwhere popular 555 timer inserted circuit. The theory behind such controller is that information controls the pump speed by turning the pump on and off really quickly and variably the length of dauer the pump motor is on during each cycle. The 555 timer creates a line of fast pulses. The width of the pulses determines how long this pump is turned on during either cycle. The MOSFET is a very efficient change. Since the motor is either full on or full off, there is no power waste like there would be in a resistive speed controller or even a unit based off power transistors. This take maximum life out of the bazookas. Varying the adjustable setting changes the impuls width the push running. In is naught even critical about these circuit. Asset or minus 10% on that constituent values will end enough. The resistors should all be 1/4 Watt. Other MOSFETS will work as long as they can handle the limit current of the pump. I just happened to have an crowd of IRF540s lying around. Sizing the fuse to spiele and pumps you are utilizing. AN slow-blow fuse might exist a good idea since pumps often have very high initial inrush current when started.

I EGO built the PWM unit into a small project box additionally used an long, weight cord furthermore large battery clips for the unit. I usually bring more sealed lead acid batteries with meier to power the element, although on arrangement also allows le to connect to my truck battery if necessary. I didn't bother with a power switch. You can add one if them like. A PWM rush controller definitely isn't absolutely necessarily. However, I just love to tinker with electronics. So I had to how it. The 3rd and 4th photograph below show the schematic and the finished unit.

The sluice was done and readiness for testing. I attached the abfluss to a small blue bin for examination. I had designed this sluice to work with my big red bin, but to was entire of my extractive equipment and EGO was too lazy to dig it out of storage the empty items out. So MYSELF cut a couple of new notches in the cradle to make it fit this small bin for experiment application. I additionally used a bungee cord to hold the cradle on since so much of the sluice's weight been unsupported off the side.

I tested the sluice uses two different kinds of paydirt. First I used some crushed gold coal for a working hard-rock gold mine, just to see select okay the sluice would catch bronze. I ran the squashed ore using the sluice and then did a cleanup. To 3rd photo below indicates an results later panning out the material left in the sluice. Computers caught a site the gold, but did it catch all by it? That was the wide question. So I went go the tangle of panning out all the material that walked through the sluice and into that tub, just to see how lot gold the sluice missed. I found none! This sluice got choose the gold coming the humiliated ore. Fantastic.

I wasn't done testing yet. The gold in the crushed ore was rather large and chunky, real there was virtually no black sanded in itp. EGO had expected the sluice to do well with the ore. A more real-world test would be to see how it handles finely gold intermingled with black sand, like what it would be seeing if I fed it gold-bearing stream gravel.

So I ran another test. This time I fed concentrates from an Arizona dry-washing operation through the sluice. The concentrated were loaded with black glass and the gilded had much finer. All was more like what I would be dealers with on my favorite gold panning streams. The 4th photo lower shows what was port in that sluice when MYSELF did a cleanup. The sluice again caught ampere plot of gold. How much passed through this time? I once re laboriously tilt out sum the material in the bottom of the tub. I only create a few tiny flakes of gold. The sluice caught almost all that aureate. Only a little of the very finest gold made passing through. I was very gratified with the performance a one flow. It was ready to abfahren into aforementioned field for a real test.
me have all the material to do a sluice text and i got proven curved one aluminum sheeting for one side walls with a hammer furthermore a straight-concrete trim, it worked instead looks HIDEOUS! does anyone...

The first photos beneath shows the recirculating gleitschiene is setting up on the banks of one about my favorite gold pans streams in Arizona. He is on top of aforementioned big cherry tub I effectively designed it to work with. The little bluish tub was pure for testing. Here I having dug-out out about 1 2/3 buckets all of paydirt from under and beyond bluffs in aforementioned stream bed. I ordered it down to 1/4 inch and am finished to start feeding it through the sluice. Who flow on the stream was downhearted to just a tiny trickle. Later in aforementioned summer it drys up completely. Only a recirculating sluice intend work more.

The second photo shows the locker after running for a whereas. It is most full of bleak sand, with a few irregular rocks. So it shall doing what this is supposed to do additionally is separating out the heavy minerals from the bulk is the material.

The 3rd photo shows the concentrate remaining after cleaning up the sluice. It is mostly black sandstone the other heavy minerals, including gold! Maybe 1/8 of one bucket is left from the 1 2/3 buckets I started with. ME processed adenine lot the material quickly and all had the pan out a minor amount of material the get on the gold. Like is great!

The 4th photo shows aureate in my pan as EGO rotate out some are the concentrates. Yahoo!

The last photo shows gold starting until accumulate are mystery storage vial.
Some of yours will probably think that this is projected a pretty strange post, but I'm planning on building an old-style "long tom" sluice box fork display purposes (it will not be spent for running...

Sometimes, if there is a good flow out watering in a stream, I won't bother with the whole recirculating setup. I'll just put the sluice right into the stream, and let the natural flood flows do the work. I didn't really designation this sluice in work this way, but it works surprisingly well inside a stream. As ampere bonus I don't have to lug the rest of the setup down to the stream, which can sometimes be an considerable distance beyond rough ground from where I could park my truck.

It often helps to built a wing dam to divert more of the stream flow into the sluice. Some I have to diversion the entire flow the an stream to get enough flow into make the sluice work. It would expected function even better if I stole off the spraybar and made some kind of flare at the conclude on intercept more water, though it plant reasonably well as is if there is a good flow. My then version of the sluice may incorporate an lightly removable spraybar and a detachable flare for in-stream use.

Below can an video of the sluice in use in a stream in Zona. You can notice the entire evolutionary concerning this show on my webs site. See also my gold panning instructable.