Fluid bed dredge conpared to standard sluice..

[425jesse]

Anyone have advice on ups and downs of using a fluid bed sluice on a dredge as compared to a standard riffle/moss setup? When I have used a fluid bed sluice, the box was able to keep the gold even in surging water and side waves, both of which will wash gold out of a standard sluice. Any thoughts? JB

 

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[Goodyguy]

The trick will be supplying the stratification tubes in the trap with the proper flow while not overwhelming the trap with incoming material.
I think it could be done with the right design concept modified for dredge use.

Trying to adapt a stock bazooka would be very problematic in my opinion. A bazooka miner may have a chance but would require some modification and fine tuning to get it dialed in.

Would try it on my 4" dredge if I had a Bazooka miner to experiment with.

I have a 3" suction nozzle that I use to dredge into what I call a super fluid bed sluice with 26 stratification tubes that I designed as a highbanker. It works pretty good for recovering the fine glacial gold here in Indiana.













GG~

 

[425jesse]

The miner series was what I was referring to as far as using a fluid bed. You could modify the supply to the fluid bed spray bars to work at the same pressure always using a regulator. Then I would imagine if you used a nozzle that would let you just fed the sluice at a regular rate, you could be successful. Just a thought, but I would love to do some testing with a 2" dredge onto maybe a 36" prospector....

 

[Goodyguy]

The miner series was what I was referring to as far as using a fluid bed. You could modify the supply to the fluid bed spray bars to work at the same pressure always using a regulator. Then I would imagine if you used a nozzle that would let you just fed the sluice at a regular rate, you could be successful. Just a thought, but I would love to do some testing with a 2" dredge onto maybe a 36" prospector....

I would be interested in hearing your results, sounds like a fun project.

GG~

 

[425jesse]

GG! That is an amazing HB/FB super hybrid! Awesome. That fluid bed must be crazy to watch materials just float down and drop all their gold for you! Nice build.

 

[Goodyguy]

GG! That is an amazing HB/FB super hybrid! Awesome. That fluid bed must be crazy to watch materials just float down and drop all their gold for you! Nice build.

Thanks for the props Jesse,

I've made some minor improvements since those photos were taken. You're right it's quite interesting to watch the material as it makes it's way down the fluid bed and with it open like that it's easy to monitor the fluidization to make sure that the material is staying fluidized as it fills with heavies. Sometimes I have to crank up the flow to the tubes when the bed gets completely filled with black sand.

I also learned that it's much easier to maintain fluidization when the overflow gate is no more than a 1/2 inch above the top of the tubes. I found that when the overflow gate was more than an inch higher than the tubes it became much harder to maintain fluidization.

At the end of the day I run the concentrates through the folded vortex gate trap sluice that I built and it only takes about 3 minutes to reduce the 3.5 gallons of cons into about a quart of super cons.

 

[Goodyguy]

Jesse It looks like I'll have a 48" Bazooka miner coming soon to experiment with on my 4" dredge
I'll start a new thread when I get started with the build.

I'm looking forward to the project and cant wait to see how well it will perform on the glacial gold here in Indiana. If it works out I'll be taking it on the road to see how well it works on the gold found in North Carolina and Georgia.

Go for the Gold,
GG~

 

[Hoser John]

A simple over under as in Reeds post on the forums are just fine for fines recovery down past -200. Convalutions are never the solutions,have a ball-John

 

[Goodyguy]

A simple over under as in Reeds post on the forums are just fine for fines recovery down past -200. Convalutions are never the solutions,have a ball-John

Thanks John,

I know what you mean about convolutions, simpler is usually best and you cant get much simpler than a Bazooka gold trap.

I've been running an over/under on the dredge for a few years now and It works just fine especially with my "add a trap" at the end to catch any strays, but now I want to see how the bazooka compares. Plus I love to tinker and this sounds like a fun project, I also have an idea that will make a total clean out take less than 10 seconds, you cant do that with an over/under or any dredge sluice that I know of (too many convolutions) lol

Have a good un,
GG~

 

[mxer47]

I was hoping to try this with my 3" and a 30" miner this season. My thoughts are a pressure regulator for the tubes and a 3/16 p. p. to replace the grizzly bars. The plate would run more than 1/2 the way up the slick plate. Idk I think it is worth trying.

 

[omnicron]

I'll chime in on this thread as I used the BGT 30" miner as a dredge.
First thing I can tell you is a pressure regulator would possibly work if you could find one that would work that low ~ 3 to 5 pounds. All I used was a good quality ball valve just cracked open. The use of a tiny tach is recommended to set your engine RPM's the same every time. Before you start dredging, take your nozzle out of the water so your not pumping water across the sluice, you just want to see water trickling out of the trap. Once you have the trap set right then you can start dredging. Keep in mind you need to check the sluice all the time to make sure you don't have rock jams. The angle is very important...to steep and you'll flush gold, not steep enough and you'll have a parking lot... It's a balancing act but even if you get it perfect you'll still have rocks that want to hang. I believe its because the plastic isn't as slick as alum.
I tried the BGT as the primary recovery device with a Keene A52 sluice processing the tailing. Out of 13 runs like this, only 4 times did I not find gold in my keene. I built a hopper to classify the material being fed and that helped a bunch...reason? Because if you didn't check it every 5 minutes for rock jams they would build up and gold would just float by. I also noticed that a 2.5" dredge would not supply enough water to help flush the larger rocks, the spray bar was needed to give it a extra boost of water.
Personally I would not put a punch plate over the grizzly. You need the water velocity into the trap to help flush material out. 3/16 even half way up is going to kill the needed velocity. If I was to even consider something like that, 3/8 or better yet 1/2" would be the choice. Why are you wanting to replace the grizzly anyway. The BGT are all about speed of processing ie" no classifying, virtually unlimited feed rate and such. To change anything would hinder it.
Also I would recommend a filter to be installed on the line feeding the trap. Get them pluged with sand or other material and you'll have a very bad day.

Personally, you would be smarter to use a regular type of sluice and use GoodGuys fluid bed trap at the end of your sluice to catch the gold loss if any.
Or even better yet, get some GoldHog mat and have one of the highest recovery rates on the market and be able to process material very fast and have much less material to clean up.

I've been down the road your going to travel. Been there, done that, spent lots of money for pieces and parts to put together. Lots of time wasted testing, reconfiging, testing again, lost gold...
Your going to try to make a sluice designed for hand feeding to work for dredging...your in for lots of pain and spent money. For the cost of the Miner, you can get GH mats, the aluminum to build the sluice and money left over.

It's up to you to decide. You asked for advice, I gave.

Have fun.

 

[Goodyguy]

Thanks for the 411 Omnicron.,
Just wondering if you were using a crash box or flair to supply the Bazooka?

I have lots of experience with FB technology and I feel confident that I can solve both the rock jamb problem as well as the gold loss situation that you experienced.

The 48" Bazooka miner should perform better than a stock sluice once I'm through tweaking it to perform at the end of a dredge. When I'm done I believe it will be worth all the effort to have a sluice that catches all the gold with none of the clean up hassles associated with a conventional sluice and also will not be susceptible to gold loss due to blow outs.

"No mats, no riffles, no worries............ Just Gold!"

GG~

 

[mngold]

GG, Looking for self classifying sluice box for glacial gold. I don't have the tools to build one, so need to purchase. It will be used in Wi, where most the creeks an rivers move slow...........with your experience building sluice boxes.....hoping you could give a recommendation ......thx

 

[425jesse]

MN, is there any other choice other than a BAZOOKA!!

 

[Goodyguy]

GG, Looking for self classifying sluice box for glacial gold. I don't have the tools to build one, so need to purchase. It will be used in Wi, where most the creeks an rivers move slow...........with your experience building sluice boxes.....hoping you could give a recommendation ......thx

Slow moving water is a tough one coupled with glacial gold being hard to capture. Classification is the key in that case.
I have the same problem as you here in Indiana.

To overcome the classification issue I use a fluid bed gold trap when I can get enough flow or else convert it over to a highbanker when I cant.

As a highbanker I can regulate the flow both to the grizzly as well as to the fluidizing tubes in the trap by using a pump and ball valves eliminating any need for pre-classification.

Check out the Bazooka fluid bed gold traps with the new highbanker conversion kit. The highbanker conversion kit should be available any day now, call them to order. http://www.bazookagoldtrap.com/
I would recommend either the 30" sniper or the 30" prospector with the kit.



GG~

 

[mngold]

Thanks for the quick response, much appreciated. Here in MN. we can only use a pan and WI. pan or sluice but nothing motorized. Most of my prospecting is in WI.

Been looking at the Bazooka, now I'll purchase one.

Thanks again

MN

Slow moving water is a tough one coupled with glacial gold being hard to capture. Classification is the key in that case.
I have the same problem as you here in Indiana.

To overcome the classification issue I use a fluid bed gold trap when I can get enough flow or else convert it over to a highbanker when I cant.

As a highbanker I can regulate the flow both to the grizzly as well as to the fluidizing tubes in the trap by using a pump and ball valves eliminating any need for pre-classification.

Check out the Bazooka fluid bed gold traps with the new highbanker conversion kit. The highbanker conversion kit should be available any day now, call them to order. The Bazooka Gold Company - Home of the Original Bazooka Gold Trap
I would recommend either the 30" sniper or the 30" prospector with the kit.



GG~

 

[Gold Rover]

Goodyguy,
If you would be so kind, how are the discharge holes situated on the tubes on your high banker?

 

[Goodyguy]

Goodyguy,
If you would be so kind, how are the discharge holes situated on the tubes on your high banker?

Are you talking about the tubes on the super fluid bed highbanker posted above or the ones on the smaller one pictured below?.......


The hole pattern I use goes like this:
On the sides of each of the tubes a hole every 1". On the bottom of the tubes a hole every 1". No holes on top of the tubes.
The holes are staggered so that the fluidizing jet is between the jet on the tube opposite ( see diagram below) creating a fluidization jet every 1/2"

The arrows indicate the jets out the sides of the tubes and the dots indicate the jets along the bottom of the tubes.



Hole size depends upon trap size and tube size.
Tube size (dia. and length) and how many tubes depends upon trap size.
Trap size depends upon sluice size.

Hope this helps,
GG~

 

[Gold Rover]

I was referring to the super fluid bed high banker and your illustrated explanation was great. Thanks.

 

[dredgeman]

A few fun projects