Building a find gold sluice for my dredge

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

I have a 2" suction dredge that uses around 1.7 gallons per minute to suck up 55 gallons. So the total output is approximately 56.7gpm, but the pressure is high and the velocity of the water is also high. My 2" discharge hose will hook up to a 180 bend then exit into a sluice. I am thinking about making it in the 6" wide range, and maybe 24-36" long. I'll have a fluidization section at the start, but after that I need to figure out what matting I will be using. Iowa is mostly flour gold, but I do know of one place where there's vein gold and nearby placers. So it'll mostly be small stuff, even micro fine. The fluidizing section will break the water tension, but what's my best bet after that? What's the ideal design? I'm going to make my own silicone mats because I can't imagine paying someone for something I can make so easily, but I do need to decide what style to go with. What do you guys consider the ideal color? I've been leaning toward dark blue, but I could see some arguments for going with black.

 

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[russau]

A 2 in pump on a dredge will only work in shallow water several feet deep ,then it's just not enough ! Plus I've found that to help prevent plug up's you need to keep the hose as short and straight as you can ! what brand pump are you using ? Using the 180 degree bend is asking for a plug up there! I like the idea of the fluidized section at the head of your sluice and I'd mix up the riffle section design's. On your silicone mat's color will clay discolor these mat's over time ? I also like the over / under design for my sluice's to give you a assortment of trap area's for the fine gold IF you have enough water flow to keep it all fluid and make sure NO WATER / MATERIAL goes to either side only ! It needs to be spread out evenly across the sluice. Miner's moss should work fine for your set up . BUT then as you learn to dredge and not hog the material , you can keep experimenting on the matting of choice (design your own ) as you enjoy getting out dredging ! If you travel around our Country dredging you see that there isn't one set up that' works in all streams. That's why I made up several set up's for my 4 inch dredge that I used to use. BUT that's what I like to do ! GOOD LUCK with your project !

 

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

A 2 in pump on a dredge will only work in shallow water several feet deep ,then it's just not enough ! Plus I've found that to help prevent plug up's you need to keep the hose as short and straight as you can ! what brand pump are you using ? Using the 180 degree bend is asking for a plug up there! I like the idea of the fluidized section at the head of your sluice and I'd mix up the riffle section design's. On your silicone mat's color will clay discolor these mat's over time ? I also like the over / under design for my sluice's to give you a assortment of trap area's for the fine gold IF you have enough water flow to keep it all fluid and make sure NO WATER / MATERIAL goes to either side only ! It needs to be spread out evenly across the sluice. Miner's moss should work fine for your set up . BUT then as you learn to dredge and not hog the material , you can keep experimenting on the matting of choice (design your own ) as you enjoy getting out dredging ! If you travel around our Country dredging you see that there isn't one set up that' works in all streams. That's why I made up several set up's for my 4 inch dredge that I used to use. BUT that's what I like to do ! GOOD LUCK with your project !

This is not a conventional dredge at all. I'm not using a conventional pump at all. My dredge can pump clean water 8 feet in the air no problem. It probably could pump higher than that. The dredge itself classifies the material so the 180 bend won't be able to clog. Think of the bend being just like the catchment area at the start of a typical highbanker. I just don't need the classifying part of that stage. Basically it greatly outperforms other dredges in almost every way except noise. Its a bit like a jet engine sometimes.....

 

[russau]

AFP could you post a picture of this dredge ?

 

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

AFP could you post a picture of this dredge ?

No problem. Here's a picture of the venturi itself

 

[russau]

To many "widjets" for me to see how this would be applied to dredge of any size . Will you be using this in a larger suction dredge or am I missing something ?

 

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

To many "widjets" for me to see how this would be applied to dredge of any size . Will you be using this in a larger suction dredge or am I missing something ?

This system is much more intense suction than a traditional suction dredge, and material is classified at the venturi itself; so there's really no need to make it bigger. I hadn't realized nobody would understand what I am doing here. The gold dredging community is incredibly out-of-date compared to every other field of ejector pumps. There's absolutely no good reason to use the massive amounts of water that gold dredges currently use. It's just wasting energy.

 

[Assembler]

This system is much more intense suction than a traditional suction dredge, and material is classified at the venturi itself; so there's really no need to make it bigger. I hadn't realized nobody would understand what I am doing here. The gold dredging community is incredibly out-of-date compared to every other field of ejector pumps. There's absolutely no good reason to use the massive amounts of water that gold dredges currently use. It's just wasting energy.

It appears that there is the use of very high pressure at or near the venturi itself is this the basic concept here?

 

[russau]

AFP could you educate us on why we are out of date with our dredges? Can your device pull gold and rocks from 10 to 20 feet up to your sluice ? What size of gravels / gold is your device able to handle ? I'm all for making my own equipment and I like new idea's , SO we want to know ! EDUCATE us !

 

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

AFP could you educate us on why we are out of date with our dredges? Can your device pull gold and rocks from 10 to 20 feet up to your sluice ? What size of gravels / gold is your device able to handle ? I'm all for making my own equipment and I like new idea's , SO we want to know ! EDUCATE us !

Let me be perfectly clear: before I was even born back in the 70s; the suction venturi designs used in dredge barges were very old fashioned. It's not even a matter of just my device. Mine is only meant for small work. Mostly under 1/2" when classified at the suction nozzle.

Yes my device can definitely pump 10-20 feet in the air with sediments if a large enough engine were running the pump. With my current pressure pump I can reliably reach those heights as long as the material is small enough. In math terms it's literally about having adequate horsepower to lift whatever weight of material is in your discharge lines. That's the case regardless of what type of pump you're using.

 

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

It appears that there is the use of very high pressure at or near the venturi itself is this the basic concept here?

Yes. It's a lot like a sludge sucker tool, but with a better design for this purpose. Entraining capacity for fluids is about the energy involved, not the flow rate. All industries other than gold dredging have completely different ejector pump designs. I had no idea how antiquated the thinking in the gold business really is when it comes to ejector pumps. It's all about velocity, and pressure. Dan from Gold Hog is right when he goes on about pressure. He did a video recently using a 2" system to run his highbanker and it was plenty of flow for what I'm doing. Most of the gold in my state is small glacial gold.

 

[russau]

The way I see and understand this picture of your set up , you have 1 main water line in that is high pressure and it is divided into two lines through 2 separate valves to tune the system . This system looks a lot like Chuck Lassiter's nozzle ( I can't remember the name that Chuck has for it .....SORRY ! ) that is for sale Same principle , BUT you do have your version ............. AND another man has a version up in Oregon that I've had dealing with and meet at a" Dredge EARTH First" outing about 15 years back and is also a member here (I haven't seen him post here in awhile) His nozzle was for sale also BUT a different version also ! Like I said before , I like idea's of new equipment BUT I'm failing to see what is making your idea better / different / new ?? Help me understand this ! Your original post was asking about a sluice for this? well since you are using high pressure you'll (for 1 ) slow down that water stream to utilize the gold's specific gravity to drop out of suspension ,or it will just blow out of any trap's you devise ! there are several ways to slow down the water in your sluice depending on width / type of carpet or go to a under / over sluice. well that's my .02 cents

 

[Amish_Fighter_Pilot]

The way I see and understand this picture of your set up , you have 1 main water line in that is high pressure and it is divided into two lines through 2 separate valves to tune the system . This system looks a lot like Chuck Lassiter's nozzle ( I can't remember the name that Chuck has for it .....SORRY ! ) that is for sale Same principle , BUT you do have your version ............. AND another man has a version up in Oregon that I've had dealing with and meet at a" Dredge First" outing about 15 years back and is also a member here (I haven't seen him post here in awhile) His nozzle was for sale also BUT a different version also ! Like I said before , I like idea's of new equipment BUT I'm failing to see what is making your idea better / different / new ?? Help me understand this ! Your original post was asking about a sluice for this? well since you are using high pressure you'll (for 1 ) slow down that water stream to utilize the gold's specific gravity to drop out of suspension ,or it will just blow out of any trap's you devise ! there are several ways to slow down the water in your sluice depending on width / type of carpet or go to a under / over sluice. well that's my .02 cents

The suction system only has one valve. The other valve is for other things I no longer feel inclined to discuss.

The output flow is not high pressure. I guess I can see why people think that, but the venturi is just created by high pressure. It's not about creating high pressure output. It's about producing the same venturi effect with less gas.