I'm developing a new suction dredge system

Amish_Fighter_Pilot

Amish_Fighter_Pilot

Jr. Member
Jun 23, 2024
22
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Hello everyone! I am new here, but I have been interested in prospecting for a very long time now. I live in Eastern Iowa, and there's not a lot of good places here(but there are a few!). I am autistic, and I get obsessions sometimes that come and go. Rock hounding and prospecting is one of those interests that has really stuck with me though. I used to collect geodes when I was a boy. I have an almost magical gift for finding them wherever I go. Doing the research on a place and then going and finding treasure is really rewarding. I love the challenge and the results! I'm not really enough of a team player for traditional work anyway.

I wanted to develop a system that is good for catching fine gold since that is mostly what we have here. I did a lot of studying about venturi dredge systems and discovered that the way gold dedges are designed is outdated and inefficient. I am disabled and have extremely limited resources, but using mostly plumbing parts I have put a dredge together. Unlike regular dredges, this venturi moves about 33 times as much water as it uses. Hopefully I will find some gold on my next trip and be able to invest in a more powerful pump/motor.

I'm hoping to get out and test all this in the field soon. I have been having some health issues, so we'll see how soon that can happen. I have a few different sluice ideas that I am going to discharge this into. All my gear is home made so I don't really have a normal sluice just yet. I think I am going to make a highbanker with a fluidizing section followed by a traditional slope.

Anyway, here's my video of the prototype in action:

 

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Amish_Fighter_Pilot said:
Hello everyone! I am new here, but I have been interested in prospecting for a very long time now. I live in Eastern Iowa, and there's not a lot of good places here(but there are a few!). I am autistic, and I get obsessions sometimes that come and go. Rock hounding and prospecting is one of those interests that has really stuck with me though. I used to collect geodes when I was a boy. I have an almost magical gift for finding them wherever I go. Doing the research on a place and then going and finding treasure is really rewarding. I love the challenge and the results! I'm not really enough of a team player for traditional work anyway.

I wanted to develop a system that is good for catching fine gold since that is mostly what we have here. I did a lot of studying about venturi dredge systems and discovered that the way gold dedges are designed is outdated and inefficient. I am disabled and have extremely limited resources, but using mostly plumbing parts I have put a dredge together. Unlike regular dredges, this venturi moves about 33 times as much water as it uses. Hopefully I will find some gold on my next trip and be able to invest in a more powerful pump/motor.

I'm hoping to get out and test all this in the field soon. I have been having some health issues, so we'll see how soon that can happen. I have a few different sluice ideas that I am going to discharge this into. All my gear is home made so I don't really have a normal sluice just yet. I think I am going to make a highbanker with a fluidizing section followed by a traditional slope.

Anyway, here's my video of the prototype in action:

Click to expand...

Not able to view the youtube. Can you repost?
 

I understand high pressure , BUT I don't see how you classify at the venturi with your video ? High pressure only works good at the nozzle and when the material gets to the Flair it needs to further slow down as well as in the suction tube to help in the slow down to classify the material and then also to further slow down the material as it's going over the sluice configuration to get the gold to settle in and hopefully stay put . Constant high pressure water throughout the entire system WILL BLOW OUT your fine gold and probably ALL the gold and rocks ! Unless I'm not seeing something.
 

The ability to move overburden to make higher concentrations of gold accessible is why gold dredges are designed for high volume flows.

A standard 2" dredge/highbanker is going to produce a lot more gold than using a high pressure venturi pump with a spaghetti strainer.
 

Azure said:
The ability to move overburden to make higher concentrations of gold accessible is why gold dredges are designed for high volume flows.

A standard 2" dredge/highbanker is going to produce a lot more gold than using a high pressure venturi pump with a spaghetti strainer.
Click to expand...
Does not the strainer cut the over all flow?
 

Azure said:
The ability to move overburden to make higher concentrations of gold accessible is why gold dredges are designed for high volume flows.

A standard 2" dredge/highbanker is going to produce a lot more gold than using a high pressure venturi pump with a spaghetti strainer.
Click to expand...

Moving all that overburden is a huge waste of energy though. There are better ways of stirring it up. This thing CAN move larger rocks, but this is a SMALL SYSTEM. It seems like you are trying to compare my 190cc motor to people using 15,000 GPH semi-trash pumps with a 400cc or bigger motor on it.

I have a video of it without the strainer and it just takes longer but it still empties it. Not sure why all the negativity here.
 

Assembler said:
Does not the strainer cut the over all flow?
Click to expand...

Complete opposite. It reduces the weight of the material in the line so it works easier. I have a video of it without the screen and it takes longer because of the weight of the material in the line and the fact that all the material first goes down and then up 8 feet. That made it take about 2 minutes.
 

russau said:
I understand high pressure , BUT I don't see how you classify at the venturi with your video ? High pressure only works good at the nozzle and when the material gets to the Flair it needs to further slow down as well as in the suction tube to help in the slow down to classify the material and then also to further slow down the material as it's going over the sluice configuration to get the gold to settle in and hopefully stay put . Constant high pressure water throughout the entire system WILL BLOW OUT your fine gold and probably ALL the gold and rocks ! Unless I'm not seeing something.
Click to expand...

You're immensely overestimating how much pressure the output has for one thing, but the material also changes direction at the sluice 180 degrees much like how some highbankers do at their input. Then the sluice has a narrower section with one profile followed by a wider section. I think of things believe it or not.
 

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