My 2nd drywasher turned out pro-ish =)

[Jack Hamilton]

I made this for one of our club members. He bought his material and gave me the pay I asked for...beer lol. We made this in 16 hours with a homemade sheetmetal brake, tin snips, a drill. Some files and sandpaper and a rivet gun. A few nuts and bolts and one Keene drywasher shaker fan. I know how to make a homemade version, but we were going pro this time, had to have the keene fan. The metal brackets the chain hangs from is 1/8" thick aluminum angle. The sheet metal is 60 thousandths. I might have that wrong. It was a full 1/16" of an inch thick, and thicker than my first model that was 50 thousandths. Anyways. The grizzly is supported by 1/2" aluminum angle and is approx 1/2" x 1/2". The stand is 1/2 electrical conduit bent to fit. We used the RV quick connect waste cleanout for the air hose to the blower. The air tray is built out of lexan, which is very crack resistant and holds up well to drilling. We covered it in a combination of polyester/nylon and linen. Two sheets that will hopefully cause static. My first drywasher will catch micron gold, hardly big enough to see. We did a quick test run with a sandbag I had already gone through twice and after panning it out I found a couple more 50 mesh specs. So, it works and got the factory (garage) approval Check it out and let me know what you think.



Here is a few pics of the new washer we just made and me posing my farmers tan,...yee haw!

 

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[desertfox]

Pro it is! Tell us how well it works once you get it out in the field. Congrats on making a nice drywasher.............. HH

 

[Jack Hamilton]

This unit is an improvement on the first one I made. We already ran a sand bag of material that had been gone through 2x already and it found more gold, 50 mesh specs. It isn't in my posession anymore, I built it for a friend. I am 100% positive it will work just as well as my own drywasher and I'm real pleased with mine. A couple improvements were made to the stand, by bending it out of solid conduit, I made it sturdier. The grizzly was improved by using a thicker gauge metal and adding L channel for support. Also we used the keene drywasher fan. These are copied from another unit so they are not for sale. When I get my own custom design fine tuned I plan on offering my own product. This is just practice along the way...

 

[Hoser John]

Nice lookn' homie and have a single question--flow control,what ya utilizing?? There are so called commercially built units that don't look that good John

 

[jbarker52]

Jack!! Great looking piece of equipment. I traded my keene 151 for a smaller drywasher and I would rather have one like you built!!! Excellent work!!!!!! John B

 

[ingot]

jack outdid himself on this build. proish is an understatement. tried it at bigbear claim last wk & got xlnt results. plenty of fines & 2 mini pickers. me & jack worked on this unit together,of course jack did more work and i did more observing. i'm the culprit that got the beer, but they did taste good on a sizzelin afternoon. thanks to good freinds,good health,& good prospecting. pictures will follow next post. ingot...........

 

[boogeyman]

What the heck are you talking about PROish? Your unit looks yards ahead of the "PRO" units! And considering you put it together with a home made brake in your garage?!?! Wish the pro companies had their expectations half as high as yours.

 

[Gravelwasher]

Just checking out new things, never used or seen a drywasher run but wow that looks incredible!!! Great Job, love to see some colors it found. Beer you say, I got some beer...lol Thanks for the pics Gravelwasher

 

[applevalleyjoe]

Jack, email sent.

 

[godigit1]

Really nice job there, I like how the grizzly is suspended from chain. Seems like this would help to transmit some vibration from the fans to the box rather than a firm mount that would deaden some of the vibration. I made one using the old beck design with the mod of using a blower instead of a billows. It was all out of wood and worked well. What did you use for the grizzly screen if you don't mind me asking. When I made mine I had a hard time finding muslin cloth so I used a nylon screen and cotton combo. I
read that air passing through the nylon created a static charge that helped pull fine gold out.
Good luck out there.

 

[Jack Hamilton]

Joe I think I created this account with an old email that has recently expired. If you want to contact me privately message me with the personal message option. I've been going to the San Gabriel a lot lately, but have a real itch to go find some chunky desert gold.

Still like my machine. I find gold, good gold every time I run it. Guy I built this one for paid $100 in material and gave me beer. Don't think he had the patience, if any to learn how to use and went and blew big $$ on a Keene 151. To each their own. Wonder if that machine is doing any better. Takes patience this hobby.

 

[Jack Hamilton]

Here is a video of my personal, and first drywasher in action out in Barstow. Vid is a little loud, be warned. Turn your volume down half way or more. Leaf blower of mine screams. Got my beer on later that evening and didn't do as good video taping my clean up but you will get the gist. ......

 

[russau]

yep! very nicely done!