5 Gal Bucket Hopper for Highbanker

[Goodyguy]

After seeing trommels made from 5-gallon buckets..................
It gave me the idea to make a hopper from one to convert a 10" X 48" sluice into a highbanker.

Already had a free (from the local bakery) 5-gallon bucket with lid. Went to bulldog recycling and spent $1 for a grizzly.
Used my oscillating multifunction tool (from harbor freight) to make the necessary cuts.

Used a heat gun to soften the plastic so it was easy to bend into place for the hopper opening.

Pop riveted the grizzly through the bucket and into a 9" long 3/4" corner aluminum so the bottom edge of the exit port would be flat.

Removed the handle from the bucket and drilled a 1/4" hole through where the wire was attached then used a 1/4" X 1-1/2" bolt on each side for the supports to attach.

Added the spray bar and used the same 1/4" x 1-1/2" support bolts to also hold the clamps in place. Clamps are 3/4" used to hold conduit.
Of course there are many ways to construct the spray bar, including just aiming the water into the bucket from a single tube like the gold hog piglet.
Much easier and simpler than the route I chose.

Also I could have used the same diamond plate aluminum that I scavenged at Bulldog recycling for $1 a pound that I built the sluice box with but I just wanted to try a 5 gallon bucket for the hopper.

Works fine and will take a full unclassified #2 shovel load at a time.
After this build I'm pretty sure that I could make a decent 10" X 48" flat bottom sluice box from 5-gallon buckets.





GG~

 

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[mike(swWash)]

Zesty!

 

[John-Edmonton]

Great job on the hopper! Due to it's shape, size and plastic, it could easily be attached to another highbanker and field repaired if necessary. Is that matting in it the bottom "Trimmable Riffled TPR Light Weight Sluice Box Matting?" I am holding off purchasing some Owl Matting pending your results.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Looks a lot better than my 5 gallon bucket hopper!

 

[Goodyguy]

Great job on the hopper! Due to it's shape, size and plastic, it could easily be attached to another highbanker and field repaired if necessary. Is that matting in it the bottom "Trimmable Riffled TPR Light Weight Sluice Box Matting?" I am holding off purchasing some Owl Matting pending your results.

You are absolutely right John!

I actually built the hopper for my plastic drop riffle sluice with the long slick plate that the mat was purchased for. Problem was the plastic sluice had sides that are at an angle not the 90 degrees necessary to seal the mat against the sides. Plus the mat is 10 inches wide and the plastic sluice had a 9" bottom.

Well I wanted to take advantage of the full size of the mat so I put together the sluice shown above. In the meantime I came down with the flu and have not tested the mat as yet. I had already tested the hopper on the plastic sluice before the mat came in.

Dont worry as soon as I'm able I will test the mat and let you know the result. Just so you know, when I do a test, I do it with a known quantity of gold of different sizes and shapes. The gold seeded paydirt is not introduced to the hopper until after the mat is completely loaded with sterile (containing No Gold) dirt. Then after the gold laden paydirt has been introduced I will run at least a couple more gallons of sterile dirt before doing a clean up.

I've seen tests on youtube that run gold only with no dirt at all to evaluate a mat and to me that is not the best way to test a mat that is going to be loaded with black sand and gravels while being used in the field.

One test that stands out in my mind was a side by side test between Dream Mat, Miracle Mat and Gold Hog Mats performed at a gold show. Of course the dream mat won hands down. Which meant absolutely nothing to me knowing that I would not be running gold by itself down any sluice.
Just to prove my point I think I will first run my test gold by itself and then compare those results with those using my normal testing procedure.

Here is that video............





GG~

 

[Vance in AK]

GG, I too am anxiously awaiting your test��. Get well soon!

 

[John-Edmonton]

You are absolutely right John!

I actually built the hopper for my plastic drop riffle sluice with the long slick plate that the mat was purchased for. Problem was the plastic sluice had sides that are at an angle not the 90 degrees necessary to seal the mat against the sides. Plus the mat is 10 inches wide and the plastic sluice had a 9" bottom.

Well I wanted to take advantage of the full size of the mat so I put together the sluice shown above. In the meantime I came down with the flu and have not tested the mat as yet. I had already tested the hopper on the plastic sluice before the mat came in.

Dont worry as soon as I'm able I will test the mat and let you know the result. Just so you know, when I do a test, I do it with a known quantity of gold of different sizes and shapes. The gold seeded paydirt is not introduced to the hopper until after the mat is completely loaded with sterile (containing No Gold) dirt. Then after the gold laden paydirt has been introduced I will run at least a couple more gallons of sterile dirt before doing a clean up.

I've seen tests on youtube that run gold only with no dirt at all to evaluate a mat and to me that is not the best way to test a mat that is going to be loaded with black sand and gravels while being used in the field.

One test that stands out in my mind was a side by side test between Dream Mat, Miracle Mat and Gold Hog Mats performed at a gold show. Of course the dream mat won hands down. Which meant absolutely nothing to me knowing that I would not be running gold by itself down any sluice.
Just to prove my point I think I will first run my test gold by itself and then compare those results with those using my normal testing procedure.






GG~

I don't give much credence with that test either. Without starting any arguments about that dream mat, I will say that I am much more comfortable with 4 cups of black sand from my 4' highbanker, (without dream mat ) then 1 cup of black sand with a dream mat. My own ratios - mathematical calculations indicate that there is a ratio between black sand and fine gold. The more black sand, the more gold. And there will always be a loss of gold, no matter how minuscule. Our job as prospectors is to get that loss to a low percentage as possible. And that is the reason highbanking is so much fun!

 

[mike(swWash)]

I too have reservations about the "derby" test since all mats are not created equal.

1. Not all mats work their best at the same angle and water flow as others.
2. Clean gold will behave a lot differently than running fine black beach sand mixed with .0001% super fine gold.

Had it been run under more realistic conditions one mat at a time, feeding at the same speed, with each at it's optimum angle and water flow rate, mixed in with 10 buckets or more per gram, the final results might be a lot different.

Just my opinion and I know doing something like that would take to long to be practical for a live public demonstration.

 

[Goodyguy]

I too have reservations about the "derby" test since all mats are not created equal.

1. Not all mats work their best at the same angle and water flow as others.
2. Clean gold will behave a lot differently than running fine black beach sand mixed with .0001% super fine gold.

Had it been run under more realistic conditions one mat at a time, feeding at the same speed, with each at it's optimum angle and water flow rate, mixed in with 10 buckets or more per gram, the final results might be a lot different.

Just my opinion and I know doing something like that would take to long to be practical for a live public demonstration.

Good points Mike

Running beach sand is on my bucket list of gold recovery techniques that I haven't yet tried. It sounds challenging and no doubt requires specialized equipment and know how, looking forward to getting my feet wet at the beach some day and trying my hand at taking on the challenge.

As far as my simple test for the tpr mat goes it probably wont meet the beach sand standard but here in Arizona I'm stuck with desert sand and gravels with some slimy dirt (when wet) thrown in just to make it interesting.

Since I'm new to this particular tpr mat I will first have to find the optimum angle, flow and feed rate for the material I'll be running to give it a fair test.
Also the material being run will be classified to 3/8" and less. With that being said I'm not doing this as a complete evaluation with all the variables included.

If I had the funding and the time I would love to do a comprehensive study and comparison evaluation of all the leading mats on the market.
In simplest terms it all boils down to finding a medium compatible with using fluid dynamics to best sort and capture particles based upon specific gravity.

However, in my opinion there is no one size fits all recovery medium due to the considerable amount of variables involved, such as the non constant degree of fluid viscosity encountered when running a re-circulating system vs a system with a constant fresh water supply, or a full scale wash plant vs a small scale sluice box, or non classified material vs 1/8" material, and the list goes on.




Go for the Gold,
GG~

 

[Oregon Viking]

Nice! I need to build that. Years ago I was going to build this one... Mike's hand trommel. T-net member I believe?
Mike's Hand Trommel

 

[akflyer]

optimum angle and flow for one mat will not be the same for another. Hence the need to tune YOUR sluice to YOUR conditions.

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Here a pic of my Hillbilly Highbanker.
Keene a51 fits perfect in a walker and the square bucket fits perfect in the a51.
Walker and bucket found in dumpster -- Keene at a garage sale.

Cheers Mike

 

[Goodyguy]

Here a pic of my Hillbilly Highbanker.
Keene a51 fits perfect in a walker and the square bucket fits perfect in the a51.
Walker and bucket found in dumpster -- Keene at a garage sale.

Cheers Mike

Love it!

 

[russau]

I only wish my ole bod would have held out for a couple more years.................I sure would have liked to build this & USE IT !!!!! Great build GG !

 

[mike(swWash)]

It all boils down to doing your homework and trying different and sometimes expensive failures to learn.

Rules of thumb.....
1. Match the sluice capture mediums properties to the gold you have available!
2. Listen to many others and go with the best constant info for your type of gold.
3. Go for the small gold, the big stuff will take care of itself.
4. Do not fold, spindle, mutilate or remove this tag under penatly of law

 

[John-Edmonton]

Here a pic of my Hillbilly Highbanker.
Keene a51 fits perfect in a walker and the square bucket fits perfect in the a51.
Walker and bucket found in dumpster -- Keene at a garage sale.

Cheers Mike
View attachment 1809725[/QUOTE

I love that design! Perfect for us silver haired guys. It will gradually walk us into our senior years (pun intended)........there ain't no place that we can not get to. Those 2 wheeled walkers have many uses.

 

[Goodyguy]

Great job on the hopper! Due to it's shape, size and plastic, it could easily be attached to another highbanker and field repaired if necessary. Is that matting in it the bottom "Trimmable Riffled TPR Light Weight Sluice Box Matting?" I am holding off purchasing some Owl Matting pending your results.

View attachment 1809116

Hi John,

Just finished my test on the mat you have pictured above.

The first thing I noticed after turning the water on before running any material was that the mat traps a lot of air bubbles.
A hand spanking of the mat took care of all the air bubbles (something I learned to do with the vortex mat/rough top conveyor belt)

Another issue that I wanted to address was the transition from the sluice bottom to the beginning of the mat.
I found that a thin piece of aluminum flashing 2-3/4" x 10" held to the sluice with waterproof double sided carpet tape worked great.

The first 2" were in front of the mat and then 3/4" was bent up and over the leading edge of the mat.
Made a smooth transition and held the mat down as well.

At the foot end of the sluice across the bottom I attached a 1/4 tall aluminum molding to serve as a stop for the mat and to do double duty as an anti migration baffle to stop any gold that made it's way underneath the mat from washing off the end. Very important.

Ok, now to my test results.
First, out of curiosity I wanted to see what would happen if I just ran my 2 gram sample of assorted shape and size gold by itself.
The gold consisted of large pickers down to fly poop size, some was coarse some was fine, some flat, some round.

I sprinkled it into the hopper and waited 5 minutes before shutting the water off.
NO gold went past the first 3" of mat.

I cleaned the mat, dried and re weighed the gold to make sure I had it all.
Then I re-started the water, spanked the mat, and ran 2 gallons of regular desert material classified to 1/4" that contained no gold to load the mat.

Without stopping I then ran two gallons of the same type material but with the 2 grams of gold mixed in.
Then ran another 2 gallons of sterile desert material before shutting down to do a clean up.

I also had placed a tub at the end of the sluice to catch all the tailings from when the gold was introduced until shut down.
Could see that a lot of gold was trapped in the first 3" of mat. Before removing the mat to clean it I adjusted the legs on the sluice frame to level.

Then I used my long tweezers to check the mat riffles to see if I could tell how far down the mat that the gold had traveled.
The best I could tell was that no gold made it past about 12"

After panning the material in the mat by hand and then drying it before weighing, the 2 grams of gold was all accounted for.
I felt there was no need to pan the tailings.

I know this test was just my one experience with my setup and my material and gold. Your results will most likely vary.
My opinion of this mat so far is that for what I am going to use it for, it does a great job!

Hope this helps.
GG~

 

[John-Edmonton]

Well, that sounds promising. Did you screen all your test material to 3/8"? I was planning to run mine using my 1/4" grizzly. I also have a 3/8 in mesh which I sometimes use. Trial & error I guess.

Tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, I am going to go down to the river, screen some river gravel to 3/8 inch, maybe a 5 gallon bucket, then run it through my fluid bed concentrator, discharging it on my cleanup sluice, then save the all the total concentrates from cleanup sluice plus concentrator.

I still need to prep my highbanker hoses and service my water pump for this year. Last year we had the river breakup already at this time of year. The river is still frozen over, except for the odd spot, where gravel is exposed.

 

[Goodyguy]

Well, that sounds promising. Did you screen all your test material to 3/8"? I was planning to run mine using my 1/4" grizzly. I also have a 3/8 in mesh which I sometimes use. Trial & error I guess.

My bad, for the test the material was classified to 1/4". The grizzly bars on my hopper are spaced at 3/8" for running unclassified material.
I edited my post to correct the error.

GG~

 

[iso9001]

Awesome to find this information guys! I built a beach box that runs exclusively vortex conveyor matting that captures North Saskatchewan River gold as good as I could ever ask for, but the box is 24" wide to keep up with sandy material at the slow flow rate required. I'm very interested in the new mats out there for NSR gold.
I'm interested if any of the mats you've tried do any better than the other when it comes to 'less than ideal' setup and flow.
Something that can handle imperfect water flow and maybe a tilt in the box here and there any better than the others? I've never actually used real miners moss under expanded, but do like the newer style mats for easy cleanup.
Anyways, Hello to all, looking forward to going back and reading some more posts!