6/03/12 THE BAZOOKA GOLD TRAP DOES IT AGAIN!

[tvanwho]

I sure wish AstroBouncer would post a photo or video of a Bazooka with Highbanker attachment, especially the bottom side for the fluid bed? I built a header out of 3, 1 inch pvc pipes, terminating in a garden hose nozzle, and held in place with a chunk of waterproof foam for my BGT fluid bed and attached to a garden hose coming off the flusher port on my water pump. BUT my Honda WX15 pump refused to run all day down at Salt Creek in Indiana 3 weekends ago, so I could not test it. Turns out ,my Honda was a victim of my poor winter storage maintenance and bad gas this year. Cost me 140 bucks for a new carb, installation, and tuneup. Hmm, I have my BGT Prospector setup with 4 adjustable legs, works great in fast water, caught several BB size nuggets in brown clay down at Gold creek in Indiana.
Wonder if it could be mounted on a float to use in fast water and a couple anchors to hold it in place? You can sluice in Wisconsin nowadays and I have a spot in mind but it is a river a couple feet deep.

-Tom V.

 

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[russau]

tsk,tsk,tsk!! Tom always use either Sta-bil or Seafoam in your fuel to prevent these kinds of problems. man someone soaked you for $140. on that carb,when some spray carb cleaner and compressed air would have worked just fine for <$5.00.

 

[tvanwho]

I always seem to get stuck at the schoool of hard knocks Russ..oh well...live and learn hopefully... and to top it off, I lost the aircleaner element,1/2 the housing ,and the attachment bolts I had removed , plumb fergot where I set them, another 20 bucks shot for replacements..are you interested in a Gatesville trip? Robin has 2 miles of creek we can dredge now. Primitive camp is $5 a nite. There is a caretaker guy for afterhours who lives in a tiny cabin by the store. I need to test my machines again after I get the WX15 back on its feet.

-Tom

 

[gqlikeu]

I need help! Im new to gold prospecting and I found that I like the bazooka miner but I can't afford to pay $300 for one plus shipping. So what I did is I bought a 4x8 sheet of abs plastic in 3/16 size. I have a plastic welder and I have already figured out the the length and width of the unit and have bent the outer shell. I still need some measurements though and I have looked for three days on the net but i have had no luck finding them.

1st measurement i need is the height of the top of the long bed from the bottom of the bazooka.
2nd measurement i need is the height from the top of the short bed to the bottom of the bazooka.
3rd measurement I need is the diameter of the pvc pipe used.
4th measurement I need is the with of the holes in the pvc and also how many holes per pipe. ( also need to know if there are any holes that face down and if so how many )
5th measurement I need is how far off the bottom of the fluid trap is the bottom of the pvc.
6th measurement I need is how high is the dam/over spill wall at the end of the bazooka.

I was assuming I need 3/4" pvc but im not sure?
I also made an assumption that the dam/overspill wall was 3 and 3/8" tall? But im just not sure and I didn't want to start welding the box together because I assumed so. Any help would be greatly rewarded by the Gold karma gods. I am also assuming that there is a vertical support strip in the middle of the long bed between the long bed and the bottom of the bazooka.

I have not welded anything up yet I just used adhesive foam blocks to hold up the beds and get an idea of the position of the beds. ( I only tacked the end dam/over spill wall in place. ( the dam / Over spill wall has holes in it because I am letting the fluid bed pipes protrude so that i can screw on clean out caps.

I have scoured the internet but I have not found pictures of the inside of the miner, so if some one will post them I would be in your debt.

 

[Hoshnasi]

Hey guys, I think I'm going to make the move to the bazooka. I'm currently using the Angus McKirk Explorer and I'm confident I'm not missing much, what I am tired of is classifying with bucket classifiers. Its almost as much work as digging!

With that said, I'm not sure what size to go for. The super mini or the prospector. I usually work by myself or with a friend. We hike in everything with frame packs, if any of that helps.

Thanks!

 

[3029heavy]

I'd be careful about spilling secrets about how to exactly duplicate something that probably already is patented. You could run into trouble there. I've been happy as a pig in poop with my off-brand drop riffle sluice. At the end I just put a large pan with several big rocks in it to catch anything that may slip out. Only found flakes in the pan once, immediately shallowed the angle a bit and never missed a flake again. I've even ran unclassified material thru it a time or 2 and still caught everything in the sluice.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hey guys, I think I'm going to make the move to the bazooka. I'm currently using the Angus McKirk Explorer and I'm confident I'm not missing much, what I am tired of is classifying with bucket classifiers. Its almost as much work as digging!

With that said, I'm not sure what size to go for. The super mini or the prospector. I usually work by myself or with a friend. We hike in everything with frame packs, if any of that helps.

Thanks!

With the super mini you'll still want to classify, to avoid that, go with the Prospector. That's what I have and it's pretty lightweight for carrying in :-)

 

[Hoshnasi]

With the super mini you'll still want to classify, to avoid that, go with the Prospector. That's what I have and it's pretty lightweight for carrying in :-)

Excellent! That is what I needed to know! The ability to skip classifying is going to speed up moving material.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Excellent! That is what I needed to know! The ability to skip classifying is going to speed up moving material.

It speeds up the work so much you'll have to choose to slow down a bit or work yourself silly...great sluice!

Still you'll want to use the MacKirk when water flows are too low for a bazooka. Very nice to have the pair of them :-)

 

[sidvail]

Exactly what I had to do at my spot. The river is so low and slow that I put my bazooka away and have been using my Angus Mackirk. Also getting tired of classifying.

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

Hey guys, I think I'm going to make the move to the bazooka. I'm currently using the Angus McKirk Explorer and I'm confident I'm not missing much, what I am tired of is classifying with bucket classifiers. Its almost as much work as digging!

With that said, I'm not sure what size to go for. The super mini or the prospector. I usually work by myself or with a friend. We hike in everything with frame packs, if any of that helps.

Thanks!

Have you seen this thread? http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/295896-angus-classifier.html

 

[Hoshnasi]

Have you seen this thread? http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/295896-angus-classifier.html

There is some ingenuity! You wouldn't happen to have a video of this in action would you? I'd like to see how the tailings fall down (or back up stream).

 

[okla. prospector]

Wow after reading this forum it makes me want to buy a bgt. I have seen them but wasn't sure how they worked, after watching some of the videos very helpful. I think it's time to start saving my money for one thanks guys for the info. Great forum!
Okla. prospector

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

There is some ingenuity! You wouldn't happen to have a video of this in action would you? I'd like to see how the tailings fall down (or back up stream).

Actually, I don't recalling seeing any add-on classifiers running in a video. I found 1 that had a 1/4" screen over the sluice, but the material just collected and he had to pour water over it then manually dump rocks.

Angus has a bucket classifier which if used over a sluice would pile off the side:



But I don't like any of these designs. You need to be able to wash the rocks and rolling off the side or front I don't believe is going to cut it.

So how do you get bazooka like classification convinence in a standard open top sluice?


Keene Sluice box - A52 Sluice - A51 Mini Sluice - Sluce SALE - APTSgold
I can't say I recall seeing these premade for the drop riffle sluices, but either way I'd hit up the steel store, grab some perf and bend my own.


Much like



This guy sells plans (I believe) for either the sluice or the classifier, seems like a lot to carry

 

[KevinInColorado]

That last one is a nice design but:

- a lot to carry
- lack of rock washing means he is losing a LOT of gold...would be even more to carry if he added a pump and hose

I'm sure the inventor would say his higher volume of material processed more than makes up for any losses due to lack of rock washing...and that could be true. However, I don't have to haul all that gear or accept the gold losses if I use my Bazooka! All I can say is ditch the riffles and make the change

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

That last one is a nice design but:

- a lot to carry
- lack of rock washing means he is losing a LOT of gold...would be even more to carry if he added a pump and hose

I'm sure the inventor would say his higher volume of material processed more than makes up for any losses due to lack of rock washing...and that could be true. However, I don't have to haul all that gear or accept the gold losses if I use my Bazooka! All I can say is ditch the riffles and make the change

Yeah, I said that would be a lot to carry. Especially being a wood design.

I would put punch plate 1/2 way down a Le Trap. Light weight, washes rocks, simple. I'm still considering how you might add one to an Angus. You'd probably have to remove and reconfigure the rock straps.

[edit]ran across this thread by ebuyc over on gpex:
Au Trap 'Boss' sluice from AngusMackirk.com specifications and review
With these shots of the angus and the bucket classifier:

 

[team sidewinder]

Love seeing just how the Bazooka works in the plexi-glass models but my questions is what happens when the black sand ( I don't seen any in his material ) and not the material which he demonstrates with ( which we have plenty of around black sand here ) fills up the area where the gold drops out ? It seems hard to imagine how gold would penetrate the black sand which is so much less likely to stay liquefied in that area than the demo material he is putting in. I am using the A52 which may not be perfect but at least I can see what is going on in the sluice. Just curious.

 

[bazookagoldtrap]

Love seeing just how the Bazooka works in the plexi-glass models but my questions is what happens when the black sand ( I don't seen any in his material ) and not the material which he demonstrates with ( which we have plenty of around black sand here ) fills up the area where the gold drops out ? It seems hard to imagine how gold would penetrate the black sand which is so much less likely to stay liquefied in that area than the demo material he is putting in. I am using the A52 which may not be perfect but at least I can see what is going on in the sluice. Just curious.

The Fluid bed operates on fairly difficult math, I wish i could summarize it for you. It comes down to trap pressure provided by the water scoop and spray tubes, the traps require a minimum pressure (dependent on the model) to liquify the fluid bed. You can actually feel the stratification of the lights vs heavies by placing your finger into the trap while its operating.. because the spray tubes eject water toward the bottom of the trap from a low height the black sands are in a constant state of suspension below the upper layers of lighter sediment which are in the process of being ejected from the trap exit. Not sure how clear that came out but I hope it helps.

Thx GoodyGuy.. That's what I get for reading this on my phone.. completely missed the part about the trap being completely full of black sand.. definitely time for a clean out.

Chris
Bazooka Gold Co

 

[Goodyguy]

Love seeing just how the Bazooka works in the plexi-glass models but my questions is what happens when the black sand ( I don't seen any in his material ) and not the material which he demonstrates with ( which we have plenty of around black sand here ) fills up the area where the gold drops out ? It seems hard to imagine how gold would penetrate the black sand which is so much less likely to stay liquefied in that area than the demo material he is putting in. I am using the A52 which may not be perfect but at least I can see what is going on in the sluice. Just curious.

In my experience it takes awhile, however eventually the trap can become packed with black sand/garnet especially if the water flow is not sufficient.

Once the trap is packed with black sand it's time for a clean up. Just dunk the sluice into a 5 gal bucket a few times and you're back in business.
Of course knowing when the trap is packed will take a little trial and error.

If you're working material with a great deal of black sand/garnet then clean up more often. Same as you should do on any sluice.
Since it's so easy and fast I'll usually do a cleanup every 2 hours or so especially if there is lots of black sand, otherwise every 4-5 hours or so depending upon the water flow.

Some go all day between cleanups but I don't take any chances here in Indiana because there is so much black sand and the gold is mostly flour gold.

With that being said, the fluid bed gold trap is my equipment of choice because it gets all the gold that my Keene A-52 has been known to lose plus I can run 3 times the material by not having to classify.

In times of slow water I just convert it into a highbanker and then I can easily regulate the flow to the tubes by increasing the flow from the pump when the trap gets filled with black sand.

GG~

 

[KevinInColorado]

What GG said goes for me too. If the tails coming out of my Prospector shows a line of black sand, I take the three minutes to pull it for a clean out.

The Supermini on the other hand seems to have a trap that behaves quite differently. It gets a stationary gravel bed which the gold drops thru (the bed is very, very loose due to the water from the tubes). The other odd part is that it ejects almost all of the black sand almost from the beginning...usually without losing any gold, although once when I set it up on an aggressive slant and dropped some larger rocks on it (unwelcome vibration?) I lost my -50 and smaller gold - lesson learned!

I would love some manufacturer/expert commentary on that Supermini experience since it does seem quite different than the larger model. Comments?