Issues with highbanker

[northern_sierras]

I got my highbanker all setup today and have a couple issues. I use the jobe hopper attached to a 38" yellow jacket stream sluice and a 7.5hp 2" pump. First, because the water drops from the top into the sluice it does not generate the same push that a sluice in the stream does. The rocks that make it through the hopper dont get pushed down very well. It seems that when i make the angle of the sluice more steep, the riffles do not hold very much black sand, and the miners carpet and hungarian riffles do not hold any black sand either. For the amount of dirt im puting through it, i would think there would be much larger build ups of black sand.

How do you guys deal with these issues? I ran a bucket of dirt through my steam sluice in this spot and got a nice bit of gold, so for as many buckets of dirt i run through the highbanker, i know i should be getting more gold. Im also thinking about putting a classification screen inside the hopper to filter out the rocks the jobe screen does not. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

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[Oakview2]

Hard to say without seeing, i would flatten out the box, and increase the amount of water. Keep a magnetic level with the box, and make sure you are running true.

 

[okbasspro]

I have the Jobe 2" combo I put a sheetmetal baffle that directs everything to the back of the sluice it works great. It is mounted under the grizzly bars.

 

[goldhog]

Any highbanker that "drops" from the header box will have this issue.
It's best not to worry about it, and just tune the rest of your sluice.
You can also do as okbasspro has and rig a deflector so water has "energy" entering the sluice.
The "pile" under your header box will be slightly fluidized so larger gold will be held there often too.
Also....
The jobe uses a grizzly bar system that has about 3/4" spacing if I remember correctly.
If you know someone that can weld, double up on the bars and bring the classification down to about 1/4"
Doc

 

[northern_sierras]

awesome, great ideas, thanks a lot. Also, is there an indicator to look for that tells me when to do a clean out? It seem like from the first couple shovels the riffles stay just as full as after 40 shovels full of dirt.

 

[goldhog]

awesome, great ideas, thanks a lot. Also, is there an indicator to look for that tells me when to do a clean out? It seem like from the first couple shovels the riffles stay just as full as after 40 shovels full of dirt.

As long as the space behind your riffles looks "active", you should be fine.
The whole idea is that heavier material will replace lighter material as it falls behind the riffle.
This is an "active exchange" process.
if very active, this process can go on for days.
Most people like to do clean outs however every 1-2 hours.
Doc

 

[russau]

also id pan every so often the material that drops off the sluice to check how your doing.

 

[Goodyguy]

also id pan every so often the material that drops off the sluice to check how your doing.

Exactly, place a small plastic mortar mixing tub (or 5 gallon bucket if it will fit) at the end of the sluice to catch the tailings and test pan from there as Russ Au suggested.
Great way to see if you are loosing gold off the end of the sluice.

GG~

 

[northern_sierras]

great idea I will definitely give that a try. Also, how full should the riffles be? From the edge of my riffle, the material only goes back about 1". Seems like when i was using it for a stream sluice the material would go back farther. What do you guys think?

 

[Goodyguy]

great idea I will definitely give that a try. Also, how full should the riffles be? From the edge of my riffle, the material only goes back about 1". Seems like when i was using it for a stream sluice the material would go back farther. What do you guys think?

Sounds about right.

GG~

 

[Hoser John]

If the unit was built properly you'd not have all them problems. Tub to catch all the gold grizzlys lose is mandatory. When highbankers are run it pays to put box in the creek with a wide mouth sluice under it to catch all the oversize and missed gold that spill forth from the lousy grizzly bars. Anchor it in place inbetween the legs of the highbanker so ez to clean at the end a the day and good to go. Beats shoveling the contents of a big ol'tub into a sluicebox at the end a the day when your all tuckered out. Work smarter and NOT harder-John