Ive deciced that im going to build a 4in dredge to play around with here in northeast ohio. Unfortunately sourcing good used equipment in my region is extremely scarce and i just cannot jusify spending 4gs on a new rig. So for my dredge i plan on using a 6.5 hp engine with a keene p180 pump. The frame and floats arent an issue for me. Its the sluicebox and jetlog/flair im going to need some help with. I think id like to use the over/under design. So if anyone wouldnt mind sharing youre thoughts on this type of sluice would be great! How did you build yours? What material did you use? How well does it perform? And as for the jet log, what size pipes did you use and what angle is best for the venturi? Is there a restricter ring on the inside diameter ofte pipe? Thats all for now. Im sure ill have many more questions later.
building a 4in dredge
- Thread starter blichney
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omnicron
Bronze Member
Several questions for you.
Have you ever ran a sluice?
How is your gold panning skills?
Have you ever dredged?
If you have never ran a sluice, then how are you going to run a dredge let alone build one?
It's way more complicated then just slapping parts together to build a dredge.
Expect to spend between 1000 to 2000 bucks building a dredge and then months and months tweeking things to get it working right...not counting the gas and time going out testing and the gold you WILL lose.
Honestly buying a used one will save you so much time, effort and money. Craigslist or Backpages is a good place to start.
With this said...
O/U sluice is one of the best designs on a dredge there is...it has one issue for me and that's checking values... They catch the finest of fine gold. As for building...raised expanded over small v-ribbed matting or veranda carpet in the underflow. For the gap, you need to figure out how much water flow you will have first..too much gap and you wont clear rocks...too little gap and you'll pug up the underflow. For your upper riffles, you can use grating. Build your riffles based on the size of gold your after. If your gold is all in the -20 size then you don't need big riffles. Big riffles are for big gold.
Look up some of my threads as I've built just about everything...I just build a 6" dredge and while I save a lot of money if I had to do it again, I would of just bought used...it would of save me lots of time and gas and time working the bugs out.
Have you ever ran a sluice?
How is your gold panning skills?
Have you ever dredged?
If you have never ran a sluice, then how are you going to run a dredge let alone build one?
It's way more complicated then just slapping parts together to build a dredge.
Expect to spend between 1000 to 2000 bucks building a dredge and then months and months tweeking things to get it working right...not counting the gas and time going out testing and the gold you WILL lose.
Honestly buying a used one will save you so much time, effort and money. Craigslist or Backpages is a good place to start.
With this said...
O/U sluice is one of the best designs on a dredge there is...it has one issue for me and that's checking values... They catch the finest of fine gold. As for building...raised expanded over small v-ribbed matting or veranda carpet in the underflow. For the gap, you need to figure out how much water flow you will have first..too much gap and you wont clear rocks...too little gap and you'll pug up the underflow. For your upper riffles, you can use grating. Build your riffles based on the size of gold your after. If your gold is all in the -20 size then you don't need big riffles. Big riffles are for big gold.
Look up some of my threads as I've built just about everything...I just build a 6" dredge and while I save a lot of money if I had to do it again, I would of just bought used...it would of save me lots of time and gas and time working the bugs out.
omnicron
Bronze Member
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I still have my old articles from the 49erMike site before it went down. I will post how to build an over under into a new thread for you.
- Thread starter
- #5
Omnicron i appreciate you trying to save me time and money and i knew someone was going to say exactly that. Yes ive been using pans sluices hi bankers and even have a small non floating 2" dredge so im not a complete noob. Im an industrial electrician also so i have the fabricating skills to build it. Like i said you wont find a good used dredge here in northeast ohio since theres barely any gold at all here but I know i can build one for less than 1500.
omnicron
Bronze Member
You can make it any size you want. If you make it with taller sides you wont have "splash over"
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