Fluid bed sluice plan

V

Vagadero

Jr. Member
Dec 3, 2009
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Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Please post your request, idea or drawing here to make a free fluid bed sluice plan. The goal is a high quality, bazooka prospector sized sluice. So people could make their own or order from a local sheet metal/abs company. Such as plasticproductsinc.com for example. (I don't know them)
I'm not sure with licensing but the CERN Open Hardware License looks good.
Here is an idea with a telescopic top:
idea.png

It's just a concept yet.
 

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I would bend/break that telescopic slick plate on day 1.

Cool idea though, is that Sketchup?
 

Probably you're right. I don't know. But it's overcomplicated and uneconomical to build for sure. So does anyone have a better idea willing to share?

No Sketchup but Freecad
 

BGT Prospector.jpg

Here is a drawing I made on SketchUp of my take on a BGT Prospector clone. The exploded parts show all the dimensions. I used 1/2" schedule 40 PVC conduit for fluidization tubes, and the tubes passed all the way through the front of the trap, where I have PVC Female adapters installed, with pipe plugs, so that the tubes could be flushed out if needed.
 

Thanks for posting mofugly. I've been working up a design to make an aluminum prospector-type trap. Hoping to get working on it here soon. Do you have any other diagrams? or would you be willing to share the sketchup file?
 

Sockeye1730 said:
Thanks for posting mofugly. I've been working up a design to make an aluminum prospector-type trap. Hoping to get working on it here soon. Do you have any other diagrams? or would you be willing to share the sketchup file?
Click to expand...

Heres one with more dimensions visible. The only parts not shown are the diverter baffle and grizzlies. For the diverter baffle, I just took a 10" long x 1/2" wide piece of the 3/16 ABS I used for the sluice and glued it to the bottom of the back edge of the upper deck.

BGT Prospector.2.jpg
 

One (2) more thing. It seems on mine there is a 3" strip attached to the walls in the lower deck. This adds support for the top deck. Without these it would be difficult to assemble properly.
 

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mofugly13 said:
Heres one with more dimensions visible. The only parts not shown are the diverter baffle and grizzlies. For the diverter baffle, I just took a 10" long x 1/2" wide piece of the 3/16 ABS I used for the sluice and glued it to the bottom of the back edge of the upper deck.

View attachment 1413028
Click to expand...

Great diagram with specs!

The only tweak that I would suggest which is minor but has an effect on gold recovery is the length of the trap.
I see you have designed it to be 7" long which is fine.

Through testing I have found that a longer trap (front to back) gives the gold a little more time to settle into the trap once it's loaded. Especially flat gold that has a hard time dropping out of the laminar flow.

My advice would be to add just one more inch and make the trap at least 8" long. Too long and you run into fluidizing trouble from lack of scoop velocity which would require re design of many of the dimensions.

My 2 cents :tongue3:

GG~
 

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goldog said:
One (2) more thing. It seems on mine there is a 3" strip attached to the walls in the lower deck. This adds support for the top deck. Without these it would be difficult to assemble properly.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is something I did as well. I just didnt add it to the sketch.
 

Vagadero said:
Probably you're right. I don't know. But it's overcomplicated and uneconomical to build for sure. So does anyone have a better idea willing to share?

No Sketchup but Freecad
Click to expand...

I tried Freecad....But it's way beyond my skill level. Too complicated.

Been playing around with the preview of Microsoft Paint 3D for my project. Only thing I don't like about it is it doesn't seem to have grid lines. Got to kind of guess on the dimensions in the end. It not too complicated but can be challenging putting a part together with multiple pieces. Once I got the hang of it the results are good enough for me. Learning curve was pretty quick in the end.

Sample of 1 part of what I'm going to build.

Tray_1a.PNG

Kind of fun to make something and then be able to rotate it and see how it looks from all angles.
 

The original bazooka design has the following issues:
-No visibility to the fluid bed.
-Huge water needs.
-Sensible to clay
-Impossible to clean out the PVC pipes if they clog up.
Anything else?
 

Than the CERN's licence woudn't be a smart choice.
 

The original bazooka design has the following issues:
-No visibility to the fluid bed.
...why would this help? Not needed. Just watch how the material flows past the grizzly into the bed to assess fluidity.
-Huge water needs.
...hope you find a way to feed raw material with less water!
-Sensible to clay
...huh??
-Impossible to clean out the PVC pipes if they clog up.
...just stick the empty sluice into a bucket of water fluid bed end first. The water flows backward and clears anything out. That said, after years of using multiple models I can say I've NEVER had the holes in the tubes plug up!
Anything else?
- sure, a nugget trap for +1/4 inch nuggets! (A kid can dream right?!)
 

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Odds are a 1/4" nugget would stay put on the grizzly long enough to be seen . Maybe !LOL
 

russau said:
Kev I wish I had that problem of a +1/4 inch nugget plugging up anything I have! That would make my day!:occasion14:
Click to expand...

Your "day" Russ? It'd make my month for sure!!
 

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