Help me Help you Build a low cost Bazooka miner and prospector gold trap for $150

[gqlikeu]

So im not rich but I want a Bazooka miner and Bazooka super prospector! I love the design that the bazooka co. has come up with but there are a few draw backs to the design! The first being the price, and the second being that there is not an easy way to unclog the PVC fluid bed holes when debris enters it and the third is that you must have plenty of flowing water to opperate it with success! So my solution is to build a replica that is almost identical but cost way less!

Ok lets get started

I jumped in with both feet and bought a 4x8 sheet of black ABS thinking that I could easily reproduce this Bazooka miner product that everyone is raving about. I watched all the youtube videos that I could find on fluid bed and these Bazookas. I have decided that the miner and the super prospector will fit my needs if it is modified slightly!

The modifications I see that it needs are 1st the ability to be able to easily clean debris from the PVC fluid bed pipes and 2nd to be able to supply a controlable water flow to the fluid bed in the event I want to use it with a dredge, so my solution is to allow the PVC fluid bed pipes to protrude from the end of the Bazooka and cap them. The fluid bed pipe caps will allow me to A clean the pipes and B pump water to the fluid bed when I use it with a dredge or high banking.

Building the miner only takes slightly more than half of the 4x8 sheet of ABS and all of the pieces have been cut bent and all but welded up.

Here is where the "help me help you" part comes into play!

I need help! Im new to gold prospecting and I found that I like the bazooka miner but I can't afford to pay $300 for one plus shipping. So what I did is I bought a 4x8 sheet of abs plastic in 3/16 size. I have a plastic welder and I have already figured out the the length and width of the unit and have bent the outer shell. I still need some measurements though and I have looked for three days on the net but i have had no luck finding them.

1st measurement i need is the height of the top of the long bed from the bottom of the bazooka.
2nd measurement i need is the height from the top of the short bed to the bottom of the bazooka.
3rd measurement I need is the diameter of the pvc pipe used.
4th measurement I need is the width of the holes in the PVC and also how many holes per pipe. ( also need to know if there are any holes that face down and if so how many )
5th measurement I need is how far off the bottom of the fluid trap is the bottom of the pvc.
6th measurement I need is how high is the dam/over spill wall at the end of the bazooka.

I was assuming I need 3/4" pvc but im not sure?
I also made an assumption that the dam/overspill wall was 3 and 3/8" tall? But im just not sure and I didn't want to start welding the box together because I assumed so. Any help would be greatly rewarded by the Gold karma gods. I am also assuming that there is a vertical support strip in the middle of the long bed between the long bed and the bottom of the bazooka.

I have not welded anything up yet I just used adhesive foam blocks to hold up the beds and get an idea of the position of the beds. ( I only tacked the end dam/over spill wall in place. ( the dam / Over spill wall has holes in it because I am letting the fluid bed pipes protrude so that i can screw on clean out caps.

I have scoured the internet but I have not found pictures of the inside of the miner, so if some one will post them I would be in your debt and everyone else that wants to buy the ABS plastic sheet can make two Bazookas for less than $150

For the hole count in the pvc in the Bazooka miner all you would have to do is stick a flash light in the intake side of the bazooka facing the light towards the pvc ( pictured below ), then use a mechanics mirror in the open slot at the end of the trap and count how many holes are are in the pvc. ( you would really only need the mechanics mirror to view the very last holes closest to the end of the trap) The light should light up the holes nicely and you should be able to see if there are any holes that face down.

To measure the diameter of the holes in the pvc use a piece of putty or clay and place it on the tip of a stick then put the stick in the open slot at the end of the bazooka and lightly press it against one of the holes to leave the impression of the hole in the putty or clay. Remove the stick with putty and measure the diameter of the hole impression.

The rest of the measurements should be easy as pie!

I have enough plastic left over from the 4x8 sheet of abs to make a super prospector too so feel free to count the holes in your prospector if you want I will need those too!

 

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[omnicron]

From my observation you have to many pipes and the pipes may be on the small side, the idea of a fluid bed is to get the lite material to fluidize so that the water/material coming in can wash/replace it out. I ran the prospector as a dredge and I will tell you that you do not need any kind of elaborate setup. Matter fact just some couplers and pipe/fitting and a simple ball valve just cracked open (water just trickling out the end) does the trick, otherwise you blow out gold. I learned the hard way.

If I remember right the prospector had three 1/2" ID pipes.
Good luck and it looks good so far.

 

[gqlikeu]

so far It's been confirmed that the miner has 5 pipes in it. The pipes I used were schedule 80 with an ID of 3/4 and I feel very confident that you are right about the size being 1/2 but it is still just an assumption at this point and would really like some one with a miner to measure them for my peace of mind so that I will be able to sleep at night . Yes I do realize the the fluid trap needs little pressure and that is why if I use it as a highbanker or dredge and have to pump water into the pipes (it will not be in the water while in use) I will use a valve to control flow and pressure. The biggest reason why I want to have the ends protruding is to be able to clean out the pipes. At this stage in the game I can certainly switch to the 1/2 pipes as I have not welded anything up yet. ( i would like to confirm that the miner does for a fact have 1/2" pipes though)

Yes the prospector has three 1/2" pipes and I need the hole count for them along with the hole diameter, if you would be so kind as to get me a hole count for the prospector and see if there are any holes that point to the bottom of the fluid bed and also look to see if the holes are staggered then everyone that reads this post would be thankful of your help

Thank you for your reply to this post Im going to get the 1/2 inch pipes today for the prospector.

 

[omnicron]

I sold it a few months back as it really didn't work all that good for dredging/highbanking.

 

[greenerlumber]

Hey GQ,
First off, take it from my experience, build yourself a prototype out of cheap plywood. That's what I did and it just happened to work very well and I now plan to build a GT out of 16ga aluminum in the near future. (and yes, there are some changes I'm going to make as a result of using my prototype).
Go to this link, http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/263238-my-diy-fluid-bed-gold-trap-sluice.html, to see a very long thread by "GoodyGuy" on building a gold trap sluice. Don't depend too much on the Bazooka design. It is decent, (yet overpriced), and there are a lot of upgrades that need to be worked into it that would make it a "Super Sluice". My first GT, (not near as large as your's), worked like a champ and helped me figure out, (with the help of GoodyGuy and all his cohorts in the link I posted here), what I need to do when I build my "final" version.

Good luck, quit frettin', and get some sleep...

 

[russau]

id forget about the hotair welder and just use the ABS adhesive sold at Home Depot or lowes hardware stores. cheaper and easier, plus the ABS adhesive when cured/dried, itll never come apart! plus if you bend this 3/16 ABS cold, do it very slowly,because itll form small cracks in the edge. if you see some cracks forming, slow down your bending and once bent, apply a small amount of the ABS adhesive along the crack on both sides to prevent further cracking.ans use clamps or weights to hold the 2 peices together untill the ABS adhesive cures. itll never come apart!

 

[gqlikeu]

id forget about the hotair welder and just use the ABS adhesive sold at Home Depot or lowes hardware stores. cheaper and easier, plus the ABS adhesive when cured/dried, itll never come apart! plus if you bend this 3/16 ABS cold, do it very slowly,because itll form small cracks in the edge. if you see some cracks forming, slow down your bending and once bent, apply a small amount of the ABS adhesive along the crack on both sides to prevent further cracking.ans use clamps or weights to hold the 2 peices together untill the ABS adhesive cures. itll never come apart!

Thats good to know about the PVC adhesive from Home Depot because I was not looking forward to using the plastic welder on it! However the plastic welder allowed me to evenly heat the area that was to be bent before I bent it.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thats good to know about the PVC adhesive from Home Depot because I was not looking forward to using the plastic welder on it! However the plastic welder allowed me to evenly heat the area that was to be bent before I bent it.

Uh, no, not PVC adhesive...gotta, just gotta, use the right glue for the job when it comes to plastic!

 

[gqlikeu]

Ok ill call piedmont plastics in the morning to have them advise me on their recommended commercial adhesive. Im just not looking foreword to heat welding it with the gun that I have. I know that the proper adhesive will melt the plastic together.

 

[BGTMnr]

Hey gqlikeu,

Awesome looking sluice you've got going! Did you ever figure out the rest of the dimensions? I'm thinking about maybe doing a DIY BGT 48" Miner as well.

How did it perform?

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

Just thought I'd suggest that you might want to make a removable trap. I've seen one a guy made one out of plexiglass to see how the fluid bed was doing and he built a removable trap. It would be a lot nicer for a larger bazooka type sluice so you don't have to remove it and setup again if you wanted to do a cleanout and check how you were doing.

 

[Thurman]

Hey gqlikeu,

Really? Believe it or not this is a POSITIVE post - and of course is only my humble suggestion. Save your time and plastic for other projects. Just go find the money to buy the Bazooka you want. It will be the cheapest and BEST alternative in the short and long run. Save your creative juices for other prospecting projects. I am all for trying to make the next conceptual leap beyond the Bazooka. But why just make an inferior copy of a proven, well executed design. One that belongs in a design and manufacturing museum!

Really, if you must, take Greenerlumber's advice and make a simple wood prototype - while you wait for the real thing in the mail.

But.......I know you are going to do it anyway. This advice is really for the next guy who thinks he can build a less expensive Bazooka; ....and end up with a Bazooka.

Good luck, best regards, Thurman

 

[Bonaro]

Old School Bazooka

 

[BGTMnr]

Coming along nicely in SolidWorks!

 

[DizzyDigger]

gqlikeu: WHY are you trying to make money off of someone else's hard work?

This is more typical of what the Chinese do...they take a product that someone
else has invested their time, money and effort into in order to make it successful,
and then they just copy it with perhaps a very minor difference so they can call
it their own..that, or they just label it as the original and sell it to unsuspecting
buyers.

When I saw the title of this I have to say I was a bit shocked...to come right
out and say you're going to copy a proven design and then try to make money
off it...well...there is no honor in that whatsoever.

Bazooka designed, engineered, built and marketed a damn near perfect fluid bed
sluice, and it honestly chaps my arse to see others try and capitalize on their efforts to
make money for themselves.

Thurman nailed it...go buy yourself a Bazooka.

No doubt some would disagree; it's just my humble opinion.

 

[Bonaro]

gqlikeu: WHY are you trying to make money off of someone else's hard work?

This is more typical of what the Chinese do...they take a product that someone
else has invested their time, money and effort into in order to make it successful,
and then they just copy it with perhaps a very minor difference so they can call
it their own..that, or they just label it as the original and sell it to unsuspecting
buyers.

When I saw the title of this I have to say I was a bit shocked...to come right
out and say you're going to copy a proven design and then try to make money
off it...well...there is no honor in that whatsoever.

Bazooka designed, engineered, built and marketed a damn near perfect fluid bed
sluice, and it honestly chaps my arse to see others try and capitalize on their efforts to
make money for themselves.

Thurman nailed it...go buy yourself a Bazooka.

No doubt some would disagree; it's just my humble opinion.

I would add this... Now that you have publicly announced your intent to infringe on someone elses patent by knocking it off and taking it to the marketplace, you might was to shop for a good attorney. You phone will probably be ringing soon

 

[BGTMnr]

gqlikeu: WHY are you trying to make money off of someone else's hard work?

This is more typical of what the Chinese do...they take a product that someone
else has invested their time, money and effort into in order to make it successful,
and then they just copy it with perhaps a very minor difference so they can call
it their own..that, or they just label it as the original and sell it to unsuspecting
buyers.

When I saw the title of this I have to say I was a bit shocked...to come right
out and say you're going to copy a proven design and then try to make money
off it...well...there is no honor in that whatsoever.

Bazooka designed, engineered, built and marketed a damn near perfect fluid bed
sluice, and it honestly chaps my arse to see others try and capitalize on their efforts to
make money for themselves.

Thurman nailed it...go buy yourself a Bazooka.

No doubt some would disagree; it's just my humble opinion.

No one is trying to sell Bazooka sluices here... if you have a problem with people duplicating sluices on their own for their own personal use then you have a pretty loose grasp on the history of sluice design. Your comment is doubly ironic considering bazooka incorporated many old concepts in the design of their sluice.

If anything, BGT stands to benefit from the community adapting and modifying their design; potentially thousands upon thousands of community sponsored R&D hours that they don't have to pay for but could easily incorporate into their future designs.

 

[BGTMnr]

LOL. No one is infringing on patent rights in any context. You might want to do some internet sleuthing and polish up your knowledge of patent law.

 

[DizzyDigger]

No one is trying to sell Bazooka sluices here... if you have a problem with
people duplicating sluices on their own for their own personal use then you have a pretty loose grasp
on the history of sluice design. Your comment is doubly ironic considering bazooka incorporated many
old concepts in the design of their sluice.

Perhaps you failed to read the TITLE of this thread?

" Help me Help you Build a low cost Bazooka miner and prospector gold trap for $150"

I have no problem with someone making their own modified version, FOR THEIR OWN USE.

LOL. No one is infringing on patent rights in any context. You might want to do some internet
sleuthing and polish up your knowledge of patent law.

No need to, and "patent" has nothing to do with it IMO. It's a matter of right and wrong,
and lame attempts at rationalizing producing an item yourself that another person did
all the work of designing and building, and then marketing that product.

Said my peace. You're gonna do what you want to do, anyway, and without regard
or compensation to those that designed the thing.

 

[Goldwasher]

Lol....it's gonna be difficult to build it as good as it is already.....let alone improve it.... but, what would I know