3" dredge build

[GarySluicie]

Hey all, first post in a long time

I've had a dredge build in the works for some time, just recently got a pump and got to finishing it up. I have a couple questions:

What kind of angle should I be looking at between the sluice and flare? (I have it set at about 40° because I am running gold hog matting.)

Any good ideas for fabricating a flare? (I have a traffic cone but it's flimsy)

I'm using gold hog matting and I am setting up for shallow water until I can test it. 12"*4' sluice.

 

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[N-Lionberger]

I have been thinking about making a flare for my 4", it has the old crashbox style header and want my hose to come in at a shallower angle. I have seen a home made flare made out of ABS plastic, the flare itself was made of a piece of pipe cut in half length wise to form the sides and two triangular pieces.

 

[russau]

Well to me if your dredging shallow water , I'd keep the angle of the flair flat to a slight angle. Otherwise (IMHO) you would be giving up on bottom clearance . Most dredges I've seen had a pivot point for the flair to change for dredging at depths BUT if to much of a angle you'll have ski jump for your water / material and that would disrupt your stratification of the material you just sucked up. BUT you don't want to have a sever angle of the hose at your flair that will cause material jam ups!!

 

[russau]

I have been thinking about making a flare for my 4", it has the old crashbox style header and want my hose to come in at a shallower angle. I have seen a home made flare made out of ABS plastic, the flare itself was made of a piece of pipe cut in half length wise to form the sides and two triangular pieces.

Maybe instead of modifying your sluice to a flair , why not keep it as-is and make another sluice with a flair. This is what I did for one of my dredges. I'm big on using ABS plastic on sluices ! Lite weight , fairly inexpensive , EZ to work with compared to aluminum.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Might be the way to go, I want to go over under on the sluice but I worry it doesnt have enough side wall height, its an old as the hills keene box.

 

[russau]

Then now is the time to up-grade your sluice.

 

[GarySluicie]

Russau, good point, I was having trouble with it jamming on my first test run. I'm thinking​ of going with a crash box style to allow more clearance in shallow water. If I was going to build a flare, I'd use exhaust piping. I may redesign the flare/sluice meeting point.

 

[GarySluicie]

I'll try and get some better photos this week

 

[russau]

I also used ABS to form my flairs by heating it and forming it over a pipe depending on the size of the dredge in question. The ABS adhesive I used is great. once I apply it to the ABS plastic and clamp it , once cured it'll NEVER come apart again!

 

[GarySluicie]

ABS? Like sheets of it? 3/16" thick? Sounds like an awesome idea, I have only seen it in pipe similar to PVC.

 

[SunshineMiner]

If you can find a plastic supplier near you such as https://www.tapplastics.com/ they have all sorts of thicknesses to choose from. I'm currently working on a small flare/jet for a 2". Have the pieces cut, just gluing them at the moment is giving me some trouble :P

 

[russau]

If you can find a plastic supplier near you such as https://www.tapplastics.com/ they have all sorts of thicknesses to choose from. I'm currently working on a small flare/jet for a 2". Have the pieces cut, just gluing them at the moment is giving me some trouble :P

Thanks for posting this site! I saved it to my favorites for future reference!! Gary glue 1 joint at a time to make it EZ on your self !!

 

[SunshineMiner]

Sorry rus.. Gary glue? Part of my problem is trying to get a 1/8th thick piece glued to a 1/4 in piece but the 1/8th is unfortunately the sidewall i need to glue in place along the length of it. Just need to jig/clamp it in place. Still at it

 

[russau]

Gary glue Heat will help any fit up on ABS plastic and clamp it if you need to .........

 

[russau]

OHHHHHHHHHHHH Gary glue........ I see what Ive done now!! I missed the comma ! it should read : Gary , glue 1 joint at a time....SORRY for the fat fingers approach!

 

[GarySluicie]

It's quite alright, russau, I built it out of a 3" OD exhaust pipe and 16 gauge sheet. I will have to set that up for my future 4". My pump will finally be here tomorrow!!!!!!! Can't wait to test it out.

 

[GarySluicie]

Got my pump today, looks great.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Is there enough room to mount a pulley in there for a compressor?

 

[GarySluicie]

I'm pretty sure I can lion, it's a little tight, but I believe I can.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Long arming the nozzle gets old fast its hard on the back and you get a lot more plug ups in the hose as you cant see what not to suck up.