I Love Sluicy

dreamsofgold · Aug 11, 2014

I built this double trap sluice myself using UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight Plastic) and It catches even the smallest of gold particles. The tiny nugget pictured is under an 80X microscope. The two negatives are that it's a tad heavy at just under 25 lbs and it requires fast moving water to function properly. The plastic was free out of a scrap pile and it's super durable so, in this case the positives out weigh the negatives.

Aufisher · Aug 11, 2014

Is it fastened, glued or welded? Looks like a gold catcher!

ALewis · Aug 12, 2014

How about some more pics ? :icon_thumleft:

Looks good ! Double Trap you say ? I like the grizzly bar to the mesh...Close up of that ?

Armchair prospector · Aug 13, 2014

"I love Sluicy", may make a great reality mining show, throw in a little comedy. Walla!

Goodyguy · Aug 13, 2014

Looks good :icon_thumleft:

show more details of the sluice please.

GG~

russau · Aug 13, 2014

yep im really interested in how you secured the sides. ive use a lot of UHMW projects and everything ive read says that no adhesive will attach to it. fortunately my projects were of the thicker UHMW 1 1/4 inchs thick. so I routed a indentation into the sides and use a butyl rubber "o" ring to seal it and 1/4-20 S.S allen bolts with Nylock nuts.

dreamsofgold · Aug 14, 2014

Aufisher said:
Is it fastened, glued or welded? Looks like a gold catcher!

It's fastened with sheet metal screws, UHMW is super strong so the screws hold tight. The pressure on the thick plastic makes it's own seal so you dont have to spend a lot of time gooping it up with sealant.

dreamsofgold · Aug 14, 2014

russau said:
yep im really interested in how you secured the sides. ive use a lot of UHMW projects and everything ive read says that no adhesive will attach to it. fortunately my projects were of the thicker UHMW 1 1/4 inchs thick. so I routed a indentation into the sides and use a butyl rubber "o" ring to seal it and 1/4-20 S.S allen bolts with Nylock nuts.

russau, I find that to be true that adhesive won't stick to it. I use 1/2" UHMW, what I do is first plane all edges to make sure a perfect contact surface. Then I heat the mating surface slightly with a hand torch, clamp tight, drill pilot holes and then fasten. This way it seals and there really is no need for sealant.

dreamsofgold · Aug 14, 2014

Goodyguy said:
Looks good
show more details of the sluice please.

GG~

Thank you Goodguy. Here are couple more pics of sluicy.

dreamsofgold · Aug 14, 2014

ALewis said:
How about some more pics ?

Looks good ! Double Trap you say ? I like the grizzly bar to the mesh...Close up of that ?

Thank you! I didn't really know what to call it other then Sluicy lol so double trap was the next thing that came to mind. My goal was to create a simple way to eliminate classifying because truthfully it's a pain in the ass and slows you down. Originally I only put the small patch of miners moss at the end to see if I was losing anything that wasn't making it into the fluid bed. I found that when loading it with loose gravel the fluid bed works super with no classification needed but when loading it with clumpy clay pack type gravels the end with the miners moss becomes important. When the clay pack hits that first grate it is being sucked down into the fluid bed and the overflow is dissolving it into the miners moss at the same time. Hence double trap. I needed a good sluice and figured why spend hundreds of dollars when I can make one myself and I eliminated the need to classify :-)

Goodyguy · Aug 14, 2014

Is there a scoop to supply pressure to the fluidizing tubes?
Not sure how your fluid bed works :icon_scratch:

GG~

AzViper · Aug 15, 2014

I use UHMW many projects. If you have straight sides and drill the proper hole and use stainless steel screws you can build anything from Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene that will be used in water. I build many jigs I use in the wood shop using UHMW, also on my gold projects. The UHMW is very slippery and used as synthetic ice in ice rinks, body armor, snow skis, bow strings, fishing line, etc.

Industry producers of UHMW generally report it cannot be bonded without special surface conditioning, due to the high degree of polymer chain alignment and hydrogen pairing on the surface. However, UHMW CAN be bonded to itself and to other substrates without significant preparations, light abrasion is usually recommended using Bondit adhesives by Reltek.