DRYWASHER USING A DC BLOWER INSTEAD OF A GAS BLOWER

AzViper

AzViper

Bronze Member
Sep 30, 2012
2,038
2,251
Arizona - Is there any other state worth visiting
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug Pro, Nokta FORS Gold, Garrett ATX, Sun Ray Gold Pro Headphones, Royal Pick, Etc.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I really like the quality in workmanship in the Royal Drywasher. What I do not like is using a gas powered blower. Gas, Oil, Noise and Environmental Impact , but mainly the noise. Has anyone tried using a 12 DC blower such as this blower below? This blower is rated at 550CFM, 1600 RPM, at 9 Amps. Most gas blowers are in the 450CFM. The entire unit is less than 10”x10”x10”. Would be very easy to adapt a 3” output pipe to the blower.

Those that operate a DW and use a gas blower I am wondering if you use it full throttle, half throttle, etc? If I can lower the CFM this will lower the Amp draw.. Would be very easy to make a rheostat to control the RPM to lower the Amp draw as well.




View attachment 713861

The Royal Drywasher,

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roy3n.jpg

roy4.jpg

roy5.jpg

roy6.jpg
 

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A setup like that could definitely work. The key thing would be controlling the dust around the blower. 12v blowers can be expensive so that would be one drawback.

One benefit gas engines have is the heat they give off can help in removing any moisture in the material your tossing in.

That vid is interesting, although I wonder why they decided to use two conveyor belts in their design. Too many moving parts to worry about IMO.
 

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You can easily use an 18v cordless leaf blower to supply your DW.
You will also need a couple of deep cycle 12v batteries wired in parallel for a long lasting power supply.

The leaf blower will run slower on 12v but still should produce enough air velocity to power the DW.
If it still blows too hard your rheostat idea should take care of that.



Happy GP!

GG~
 

How about a puffer? As far as noise, you can't beat them.


 

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Oakview2 said:
How about a puffer? As far as noise, you can't beat them.
Click to expand...

But will they process the dirt that a gas / electric power drywasher will process? From what I read they will not.
 

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i run my dry washer at about half throttle, maybe less, depends on soil conditions.
the best part of using a gas powered blower is that you can make it into a mack vac.
its a very handy tool. almost always the best gold is on bed rock or in the crevices.
many areas i go to i vacuum up the bed rock and find more gold that way than digging all day.
 

Does Royal make a puffer?
 

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AzViper said:
I believe I will pursue the 120v blower using a small ultra quiet Honda generator I already own. With the Royal having the largest hopper of drywashers that I have seen and made to last is hard to ignore. I have watched many videos of the puffer style drywasher and the blower type drywasher, it only make sense to go with the unit that can process much more. With the blower motor being a shaded pole motor controling the RPM is very easy with a rheostat.

This is the 120v blower motor, looks like a gas blower housing.

View attachment 714772
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Where did you find that blower? I've been looking for something similar for a project I'm working on.

GG~
 

Goodyguy said:
Where did you find that blower? I've been looking for something similar for a project I'm working on.

GG~
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GoodyGuy, here you go. You will need to seach the entire site as they have many styles of, CFM, RPM, Voltages, $$$, Etc. If you plan to be able to contriol the speed with a rheostat you want to look for a Shaded Pole motor, Stay away from capacitor start motors. Search Results - GlobalIndustrial.com
 

Saw this on the Arizona nuggett shooter forum, this would increase production


i have a large industrial dry wash for sale $300
this is big & heavy & eats material at a very good rate
i just re clothed the trays ( theres 4 of them)
the trays are 5 feet long by 2 feet wide
she will need some finishing touches like more welding on the legs & set up
it works great on a small trailer to heavy to move around,,,
& you will have to decide on the power drive ether a 110 motor or a briggs & possibly a feed conveyor would be the cats meow ..
i do have a 5 hp briggs i would toss in for $40
you must be able to pick this up in golden valley az by kingman & will need a pickup or trailer
feel free to give me a call for more info 928-200-9446

this would work great for someone with a claim
thanks for looking
walt







 

AzViper said:
GoodyGuy, here you go. You will need to seach the entire site as they have many styles of, CFM, RPM, Voltages, $$$, Etc. If you plan to be able to contriol the speed with a rheostat you want to look for a Shaded Pole motor, Stay away from capacitor start motors. Search Results - GlobalIndustrial.com
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Could not find the blower pictured :icon_scratch:
 

AzViper said:
Dang the Chinese will copy anything. Whats the price of that at HF? As you know I went a different direction with my blower / vac.
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$99
 

Wow. I had no idea that anyone was crazy enough to get gold without water. Makes sense though. Good gold where rivers used to run. So when running 12v you guys are usually where there is A LOT of sun. It might be a pain but the energy could be free. I make these the one on the right makes 150 watts at almost 10 amps. A few of these and a couple batteries and you could produce power all day long....... Tempered glass along with wood frames absorbs impacts very well.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vptai4od368tj53/2013-02-24 15.07.24.jpg
 

jeffs drywasher 005.JPG
ran with harborfreight blower and small generator and bobcat
 

trusty ole hand crank

I started out 18 years back with the big keene drywasher, vac pack, small size portable alluminum drywasher with blower.
1 year later after lugging all the extras that go with with power tools, arcross the mnt and back. and dealing with break downs.

I packed my power tools away in the shed where they are today. and got a hand crank drywasher( keene ) my first one lasted 15 years i ran a heaping pile of material through
that little dude. it gave up a couple years back. I got a new one its just as good it has some improvments so i dont have to carry a tool kit.
My point is they get the gold just fine and i dont have to carry a bunch of extra weight across the mnt. as most of our dig sites are a fair piece from the truck.View attachment 748970View attachment 748971

Just my take on drywashing, its actually a very important tool for hardrock prospectors arsenal, some times i find gold with no trace of surface material, i
break out my trusty hand crank dry washer even after its set out in the weather for 6 months with no use, hit the crank yep it works every time.
no fouled gas or whatever problems you could have with a power tool. Im able to get my samples proccessed right there on the spot within minutes, i take a pan with me and test
my cons right on the mnt, so im able to zone in on my target site with ease, hopefully its a vein that pays. We can run on the average 130 rake classified 1/2 to 2/3 full buckets a
day, most places dont have much more than a few days worth of pay in them so a hand crank is a very wise choice or tools.

Heres a crumb pic, no where as nice as what you guys find up north but it all weighs the same in the bottle.
not trying to change the whole blower subject, but with most places even further out in the bush the hand crank makes good sense.
Good luck
 

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