Mgumby16
Full Member
I finally got my dahlke micro 4b in and had the chance to run it some over this past weekend.
A few pieces of info: I did not by the entire dredge from Erich who is the current owner of Dahlke in Sealy Tx. I bought the mono body, the DP150 pump, the dual venturi powerjet, the riffle tray, the miners moss and the frame. I did it this way because I had at least two engines sitting around that would work, and I have enough hose of various types. And partly from Reeds old thread about the Micro 4B and his recommendations in that.
So I got everything in and started assembling it and I decided to put the pump on a Honda GC190 engine that I found non the side of the road and got running. (Yes this was a poor decision lol). I should have put it in the Honda gc160 that I had laying around that was in good running order. More on engines later.
I built my own foot valve out using a 2” check valve and a galvinized foot valve cage from Tractor supply. It made it nice and heavy so that it won’t float to the surface. For the suction hose I’m using 12’ of flexaust PV hose which is super flexible and lightweight and fits the application of the micro 4b perfectly. Time will tell on its longevity.
One thing that i immediately changed was the dampener as the dahlke still comes with a super lightweight dampener that serves almost no purpose. I replaced it with a piece of .25 inch rubber mat that I have used on my 5 inch dredge before. Much heavier and should do great at spreading out the slurry from the tiny flare into the 20 inch box. I did ask Erich about his use of the lightweight dampener and he said that heavier ones caused larger rocks to stick in the box and that it only served to break the surface tension. I disagree on that and the dredge had no problem clearing larger rocks with the heavier dampener.
The micro 4b no longer comes with any carpet but instead with black miners moss. While I love miners moss in dredges the stuff in the dahlke is almost a half inch thick. Not sure how I feel about that yet as most miners moss in dredges is about half that. I may play around with some different miners moss as some point.
The powerjet is a single input dual venturi design and mounts directly to the flare. No more mid jet or other types. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t the famous dahlke tri-jet but oh well. The jet performed well and I had zero clogs in the jet while running. Only in the suction hose when the hose had tight S bends in it. My fault on that lol. I will say that the powerjet is only about 1 foot to maybe 18 inches long. It makes me wonder that if it had a longer barrel that it may provide better suction based off of what I know of how powerjets operate. I may experiment with this idea in the future.
At 3/4 throttle the micro 4b had decent suction. No as good as my proline 4’inch at 3/4 throttle which rips but good enough for its purposes. But thing that hampered me the most was the lack of a high pressure blaster. But no dredge proline, Keene or otherwise comes stock with a high pressure blaster. I will be adding one before my next trip out.
The engine i put on it started dying after and hour or so of running which is completely my fault for using a questionable motor in the first place. I’m thinking that I may switch to a Honda gx160 or I may use the spare Honda gc160 that I have sitting at home. Not sure yet.
Overall I like the dahlke. I will be making some modifications to have it suits my preferences better but as a new stock one would come it would be a serviceable micro 4 inch for most dredgers. And honestly I believe it is a perfect dredge for most prospectors in the South east US area who are mostly in little streams and creeks and mostly doing day trip outings. I find that I hate lugging the full size proline into a spot to only dredge with it for a single day, and that the 20’ hose of the proline is generally too long and too stiff for most of the small creeks.
More to come as i use the dahlke more and get a better handle on its quirks and operation.
A few pieces of info: I did not by the entire dredge from Erich who is the current owner of Dahlke in Sealy Tx. I bought the mono body, the DP150 pump, the dual venturi powerjet, the riffle tray, the miners moss and the frame. I did it this way because I had at least two engines sitting around that would work, and I have enough hose of various types. And partly from Reeds old thread about the Micro 4B and his recommendations in that.
So I got everything in and started assembling it and I decided to put the pump on a Honda GC190 engine that I found non the side of the road and got running. (Yes this was a poor decision lol). I should have put it in the Honda gc160 that I had laying around that was in good running order. More on engines later.
I built my own foot valve out using a 2” check valve and a galvinized foot valve cage from Tractor supply. It made it nice and heavy so that it won’t float to the surface. For the suction hose I’m using 12’ of flexaust PV hose which is super flexible and lightweight and fits the application of the micro 4b perfectly. Time will tell on its longevity.
One thing that i immediately changed was the dampener as the dahlke still comes with a super lightweight dampener that serves almost no purpose. I replaced it with a piece of .25 inch rubber mat that I have used on my 5 inch dredge before. Much heavier and should do great at spreading out the slurry from the tiny flare into the 20 inch box. I did ask Erich about his use of the lightweight dampener and he said that heavier ones caused larger rocks to stick in the box and that it only served to break the surface tension. I disagree on that and the dredge had no problem clearing larger rocks with the heavier dampener.
The micro 4b no longer comes with any carpet but instead with black miners moss. While I love miners moss in dredges the stuff in the dahlke is almost a half inch thick. Not sure how I feel about that yet as most miners moss in dredges is about half that. I may play around with some different miners moss as some point.
The powerjet is a single input dual venturi design and mounts directly to the flare. No more mid jet or other types. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t the famous dahlke tri-jet but oh well. The jet performed well and I had zero clogs in the jet while running. Only in the suction hose when the hose had tight S bends in it. My fault on that lol. I will say that the powerjet is only about 1 foot to maybe 18 inches long. It makes me wonder that if it had a longer barrel that it may provide better suction based off of what I know of how powerjets operate. I may experiment with this idea in the future.
At 3/4 throttle the micro 4b had decent suction. No as good as my proline 4’inch at 3/4 throttle which rips but good enough for its purposes. But thing that hampered me the most was the lack of a high pressure blaster. But no dredge proline, Keene or otherwise comes stock with a high pressure blaster. I will be adding one before my next trip out.
The engine i put on it started dying after and hour or so of running which is completely my fault for using a questionable motor in the first place. I’m thinking that I may switch to a Honda gx160 or I may use the spare Honda gc160 that I have sitting at home. Not sure yet.
Overall I like the dahlke. I will be making some modifications to have it suits my preferences better but as a new stock one would come it would be a serviceable micro 4 inch for most dredgers. And honestly I believe it is a perfect dredge for most prospectors in the South east US area who are mostly in little streams and creeks and mostly doing day trip outings. I find that I hate lugging the full size proline into a spot to only dredge with it for a single day, and that the 20’ hose of the proline is generally too long and too stiff for most of the small creeks.
More to come as i use the dahlke more and get a better handle on its quirks and operation.
Attachments
-
8448CABD-CC92-43CC-8993-F99527062A3A.jpeg -
E5D0B689-C62F-42D7-AC25-54C72795FCDC.jpeg -
097C9C4C-8DB5-46F4-9C51-C13F85A02EC6.jpeg -
FB754C34-9C53-4036-8CF5-DADCE6DEC450.jpeg -
C2901696-A423-45F0-B73D-AD80234CD8F5.jpeg -
9B0C265C-4458-4148-95A5-40409DBEF853.jpeg -
45CFB7B0-28EB-49D3-B106-28872A30B0F0.jpeg -
C7E8AFDC-6E2D-4A4B-BB8A-2B6D6040A988.jpeg -
2A7942AF-24F3-4EDF-8ABF-59168A0495FC.jpeg -
1EE3F9AE-5CFF-4014-AABE-420316803272.jpeg -
89AD2363-D031-4AFC-8A62-705D36DB00C9.jpeg -
F900D81C-D1A9-4DAC-A5CA-123191B82CC4.jpeg -
C06741D2-6459-495F-8939-29BA27326BBE.jpeg -
1FD99DD3-0C0D-44D0-9B43-902B49ADB8A2.jpeg
