Micro Sluice

[lab rat]

Somebody on this forum probably has good experience with the Micro Sluice. I have one, but have yet to be successful with it. Maybe (oh, NO!) I'm digging in a barren area, but would like to know how much water you need to put through this to make it work right. How do you know if it's flowing at the right speed? What is the best rate of introducing material?

Much thanks!

 

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[Dave (Pa)]

Exparament ! Mine is working fine hanging in the floor joices of my basement...... I did use it and found it worked best if I put it in a rain gutter on top of a black mat and run inoff water to just overflow the walls of the funnle end. It's very time consuming to spoon the amount of black sand I get. I converted to clasifying and useing a Keene Bowl. It's also a winter thing! I'll set down there for hours and watch the snow fly while I have time to puts around with buckets of black sand.

 

[lab rat]

Thanks Dave(PA)!

Do you have that at a shallow angle or a steep one? Are you only spooning in black sands? I was using mine in the boondocks to shovel fresh dirt into. Maybe that's why I'm not finding anything. Do I need a bigger sluice?

 

[Dave (Pa)]

6 of one, half a dozon of the other! I looked around and found that I wasn't willing to pay for a small 36" sluice when I could get a good full size for 15.00 more. I wasn't happy with the micro for that purpos either. and I looked and the E-Z Sluice to fill the void but ran into someone a few months back who was so discusted with his when I asked his opinion of it he gave it to me! Something else for the kids to play with!

I ended up reverting back to the one I first built as a primary befor disiding this is a good hobby to spend my money on. It's modled after a dredge sluice the guy that got me started had. I took a section of old above ground pool top rail from work and cut it down to 3 ft. Glued in a floor mat that I found at K-Mart for 1.96 that looked like a sluice mat. I added a section of tan outdoor ribbed carpet I had left over. Then I cut wood dowl to fit tight aganst the sides, act as rifles and hold everything in place.

I clasified my dirt down through a 1/4 rabbit screen from home depot into a bucket and fed it into the sluice with a garden trowle. I've not found a better sluice for testing and workin thigs down to the sand. most of the rocks and roots roll right out and you can watch the tan carpet and tell when it's full of black sand. Gold flacks stay right on the black mat and I pitched it at about 1" of drop to12" of lenth.

 

[Phil(NM)]

Which micro sluice do you guys have? There are so many different units being sold today, ebay, garage shops, etc that all use the name micro sluice when actually there's onlt one authentic Micro-Sluice line that all were sold by McCann Engineering back in the 80's and early 90's. Got a pic of what you're calling a micro sluice to post here? Maybe we can help if we knew which one you had...

Attached is a pic of the one and only authentic Micro-Sluice. IS this the one you guys are referring to?
thanks...

 

[Dave (Pa)]

No' What I have is a smill 10" blue riffle sluice that is only 1.5" wide with a wider top to run your water and black sand through!

 

[lab rat]

Oops, sorry! I'm referring to the 'E Z Sluice' by Tee Dee Company. It is 7.25" wide, 24" long, has a grouping of 3 sets of really small ridges, and 2 removeable riffle racks which hold in place a patch of miner's moss. Actually, I have a Micro-Sluice (as pictured) as well, but the E Z Sluice is what I'm trying to work with for ruff stuff in the field-- not concentrates. Sorry for the confusion.

I'd send a photo but have been having problems with the new format. How'd you do that?

 

[Dave (Pa)]

I've got an EZ-Sluice too. The guy that had it befor me was finding small gold in his pan but not in the EZ-Sluice and said it was worthless and gave it to me..... Figured the kid would play with it. Back to the original question' Might be that it still has some "Release" on it! Dorring the prosess of making plastic molded things they soak the molds with a oily substance. This will alow your small gold to slip away.
I run my new pan through the dish washer for a few weeks befor even useing them and then take sandpaper to the bottoms and riffles. I planed on doing this with the EZ-Sluice but becouse it was used in the area I pan and know there is a good amount of murcury in that area didn't want to put it in with our dishes! I'm also going to take out the top moss and relase it with a ribbed carpet and add some ribbed matting to the top.

 

[Fred]

I had forgotten how tiny those things are! I built a sluice from a sheet of 14 ga. aluminum so that it ended up at 1 ft wide and 3 ft long then lined it with package belting and 1/4 in stucco wire(expanded metal mesh). With that placed in a creek so the water flows through it you can shovel directly into it. I used mine primerily for high volume snipeing and eventually converted it to a 1 1/2 in dredge. Look up designs in various books and make your own if you have time,it can be very satisfying. Fred

 

[Phil(NM)]

photo answer to lab rat...

when you hit the reply buttom, look below the main message box for where it says add an attachment, then just follow the bouncing ball! <G>

This is the Micro-concentrator/Highbanker. THis one you can shovel directly into.... and backpackable! Probably the best unit of it's size and applicability ever made.

 

[wayne]

lab rat - most sluices work best at an angle of1inch rise for every foot of sluice. wayne

 

[Hoser John]

They went bankrupt three times-there is a reason. Phil from NM tried to revive the company recently and got laughed at so much he quit the forums.John

 

[wayne]

hoser john - i built one and it has worked quite well for me. there are ways of collecting gold faster but it is a very handy tool for some people - several guys in the prospecting club have them and use them but we all change to dredges when the season is open. we hope to have a longer dredging season after the next ligislature meets. wayne

 

[cowboy444]

Dick Bentzen currently owns the patent on the Micro Sluice. I talked with him in the grocery store the other day. He is interested in selling for the right price. He has all the molds and instructions. If anyone wants more information, you can e-mail me at: cowboy444@iwon.com

 

[coinshooter]

Seems like a heck of alot of trouble, time and expense for a bunch of micro-gold. I know it all adds up, but why not get a real sluice. They're still not that heavy to carry.

 

[Phil(NM)]

Hoser John said: They went bankrupt three times-there is a reason. Phil from NM tried to revive the company
recently and got laughed at so much he quit the forums.John

Now John you know that's not true. I quit the whole dang internet cause I got tired of al the bullfeathers. I didn't brng back the MS line cause of a lack of interest.

cowboy444 said: Dick Bentzen currently owns the patent on the Micro Sluice. I talked with him in the grocery store the other day. He is interested in selling for the right price. He has all the molds and instructions.

Just to make sure people have a little more info, he told me himself that he lost the patents when he forgot to pay the renewal fees, and wished me luck. I offered to buy the old molds and etc, but the price he quoted me is more (plus a yearly percentage) than it would cost to have all new molds made. He also said the old molds and jigs are pretty much worn out and will need replacing. Just thought you should know.

 

[rharvey3002]

i just want to add a note to this discussion.
http://www.micro-sluice.com/MSW/Micro-Sluice_II.html
is this the one you guys are talking about?
this is meant to be a clean up unit not a unit to do the initial prospecting.
I have heard lots of good about this.

thanks
Rharvey