Drywasher Failure Today

[desertgolddigger]

Today I was out to the claim to drywash 45 1/3 5 gallon buckets. That's just about my limit.

I never made it past 20 buckets. The material started building at the top, and wouldn't move until I kicked the blower motor to high. The sudden rush of so much air made the material lift over the riffles, but I still wasn't getting the normal wavy reaction you see when the washer is shaking, and the air is moving the material.

So I packed up and came home. I think the problem is the counterweight/fan unit. When I turned the unit shaft, it squeaked. So I added 3 in 1 oil to the shaft where things join up. That got rid of the squeak.

I will go back to the claim tomorrow, and load up on some material, and bring it back home to drywash. Hopefully the oil did the trick. If I have the same problem moving the material down the drywasher riffles, I'll switch to my electric blower. If still not moving, then I guess I need to replace the counterweight/fan unit. But if the material is moving, then it has to be my gasoline powered blower motor.

Anyone here ever had this problem with your drywasher not moving material over the riffles?

Wile I'm out there tomorrow, I might as well do some road reclamation. Since I'm going though all the old drywashing piles, I'm getting lots of gravel larger than pea gravel size. I'm hoping that adding this over the sand will help firm up the road. Of course, if we get the off roaders doing snake movement on the road, nothing will help. Why do they love tearing up pristine surfaces, and roads? Never understood how these people think. Or do they?

 

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[Bodfish Mike]

How often are you cleaning out? could be a backup of black sand or other heavies.
I usually clean out after about 15 gallons - depending on ground I'm working.

Cheers Mike

 

[arizau]

Today I was out to the claim to drywash 45 1/3 5 gallon buckets. That's just about my limit.

I never made it past 20 buckets. The material started building at the top, and wouldn't move until I kicked the blower motor to high. The sudden rush of so much air made the material lift over the riffles, but I still wasn't getting the normal wavy reaction you see when the washer is shaking, and the air is moving the material.

So I packed up and came home. I think the problem is the counterweight/fan unit. When I turned the unit shaft, it squeaked. So I added 3 in 1 oil to the shaft where things join up. That got rid of the squeak.

I will go back to the claim tomorrow, and load up on some material, and bring it back home to drywash. Hopefully the oil did the trick. If I have the same problem moving the material down the drywasher riffles, I'll switch to my electric blower. If still not moving, then I guess I need to replace the counterweight/fan unit. But if the material is moving, then it has to be my gasoline powered blower motor.

Anyone here ever had this problem with your drywasher not moving material over the riffles?

Wile I'm out there tomorrow, I might as well do some road reclamation. Since I'm going though all the old drywashing piles, I'm getting lots of gravel larger than pea gravel size. I'm hoping that adding this over the sand will help firm up the road. Of course, if we get the off roaders doing snake movement on the road, nothing will help. Why do they love tearing up pristine surfaces, and roads? Never understood how these people think. Or do they?

If it isn't a mechanical problem then I'm still guessing that the sizing makeup of your feed could be the problem. The feed may be biased to a high proportion of larger, coarser but still less than 1/4" particles. In my puffer the larger coarse pieces ride out of the tray on top of a sandy flow but nothing moves much when little sand is present.

Good luck.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I don't run 1/4 inch material. I tried that, and I never could adjust the flow out of the hopper. Things just got clogged.

And I've never seen any gold larger than 1/8 inch in these drywasher tailing piles. But I do classify the pea gravel sized rock, and bring back two full buckets each time I'm out. I will practise my metal detecting on this material, then use the gravel for my yard.

The most material I run through my drywasher before I do a cleanout is 15 buckets. And those 5 gallon buckets are usually 1/3rd full. I just can't lift much more than that up to the drywasher hopper. I guess total material run is probably about 7-8 full 5 gallon buckets. You guys probably can man handle those full buckets over and over. but if I want to run those 45-50 1/3rd full buckets, I've got to work within my physical limitations.

A couple of days ago I managed 60 1/3rd full buckets from this pile I'm working on, and got lucky, getting just over .2 grams. I rarely have gotten anything over .1 gram in 40 buckets, and consider that a great day.

Anyway, tomorrow I will see what is happening, here at home. Hopefully the counterweight/fan assembly just required lubrication. If it still is the assembly acting up, I have a replacement assembly I can install. Then I will call Royal to tell them my first assembly failed, and see if they will either fix it, or replace it. I would think something like this should last years before needing replacement.

 

[desertgolddigger]

This morning was a busy one. As usual, I arrived at the claim just as the eastern horizon was showing a faint glow.

I first started i n on the road reclamation by making two trips, and laying the coarse gravel atop the sandy soil. Where my tires have compacted the gravel into the soil, it is feeling much firmer. I think I need to propose to the club members how beneficial doing the whole road would be. There's certainly enough gravel for the project, but right now, just one labourer.

I then dug 10 half buckets of drywashing material, and went home to test if my drywasher is fixed. And it is now working again. I think the counterweight/fan shaft just needs to be oiled after every few outings.

Results of the drywashing was 5 little pieces of the yellow stuff. So no skunk. I've never been skunked on that claim. I've always managed at lest one tiny speck, regardless of where I've dug.

So My system is working again, knock on wood.

 

[southfork]

This morning was a busy one. As usual, I arrived at the claim just as the eastern horizon was showing a faint glow.

I first started i n on the road reclamation by making two trips, and laying the coarse gravel atop the sandy soil. Where my tires have compacted the gravel into the soil, it is feeling much firmer. I think I need to propose to the club members how beneficial doing the whole road would be. There's certainly enough gravel for the project, but right now, just one labourer.

I then dug 10 half buckets of drywashing material, and went home to test if my drywasher is fixed. And it is now working again. I think the counterweight/fan shaft just needs to be oiled after every few outings.

Results of the drywashing was 5 little pieces of the yellow stuff. So no skunk. I've never been skunked on that claim. I've always managed at lest one tiny speck, regardless of where I've dug.

So My system is working again, knock on wood.

Glad your back to work and finding gold. So are you filling buckets and carrying? to your dry washer that's a good work out.

 

[southfork]

Glad your back to work and finding gold. So, are you filling buckets and carrying? to your dry washer that's a good work out.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Yes, generally I will fill the buckets (usually 15) about 1/3rd full, and place them near the washer. I place a receiver bucket on the front of the washer to catch the stuff exiting it, and then I tote that to a place, usually a depression in the landscape. So, yes, I get a workout. My interpretation of the rules of mining is to not leave pies all over the place, so I blend the remains into the landscape. Since I sift out the pea gravel into another bucket, and larger rock into another, I have decided to bring some of the pea gravel home for landscaping purposes, and the larger rock is going atop the access road to our claim the is mostly sand right now. My hope is this 200 yard road will eventually get firmed up, so club members can tow their campers to the claim, and people with 2-wheel drive can access the claim, like it used to be back in the early 2000's.

But no more mining work until this weekend, as my cardiologists wants a scan on my new tissue heart valve that makes me say oink. Yes a pigs heart valve. Oink🐷