My Diy Fluid Bed Gold Trap Sluice

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

I hope you have better luck next time at the creek.
#/;0)~

 

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[AUT_Fraggle]

Tinker stand

Hi all,
a small update from my side.
As I faced issues by the creeks before to set up the box properly (built up a stone pyramid, taring the box, ...) I decided to use my stand from my bigger diy sluice box for the fluid bed also.


For testing purposes I put my small prospecting sluice on top of the slick plate because I wanted to test the sluice for losses with the fluid bed behind.
Could also work for real digging

As I had only 2x 1100 GPH pumps I had to feed the sluice with only 1100GPH. Worked well, but I had to increase the pitch up do 8-9°.
So the fluid bed had that pitch too and even worse: as the outlet of the box is below the inlet, the resulting pitch of the moving sand is so steep that the bottom of the entry is higher than the upper output level.
That means, that at the entry of the box everything gets scoured down.
The same problem occurs when the box is in the creek. I need a steeper pitch for the slick plate to get the bigger gravel moved over the grizzly.

Currently I just have one possible solution for that:
Introducing a partition wall to get two chambers, reducing the scour effect at the top.
But I don't know if that will work.
I need an endoscope for viewing

Happy digging,
Michael

 

[Goodyguy]

What a contraption!

I mean it in a good way. As a tinkerer I've found that half the fun is in having an idea and then building an apparatus to see how well the idea pans out. (trial and error)

"Keep on keepin' on"
Don't give up and down the road you may stumble on to something that will be great! "There is always more than one way to skin a cat"

While you may come to the ultimate conclusion that the commercially produced fluid bed gold trap is tough to improve upon (because it has already achieved a high level of perfection) however, the knowledge you gain through tinkering is worth it's weight in gold.

GG~

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

What a contraption!

I mean it in a good way. As a tinkerer I've found that half the fun is in having an idea and then building an apparatus to see how well the idea pans out. (trial and error)

"Keep on keepin' on"
Don't give up and down the road you may stumble on to something that will be great! "There is always more than one way to skin a cat"

While you may come to the ultimate conclusion that the commercially produced fluid bed gold trap is tough to improve upon (because it has already achieved a high level of perfection) the learning experience you gain through tinkering is worth it's weight in gold.

GG~

Absolutely true. This is pure "learning by doing". And once there will be a time that the exchange rates EUR/USD are better for me then I will be able to buy a Sniper
But the main scope of that project was to build a "simple" fluid bed..... Evolution works

Michael

 

[arizau]

A feature change that I incorporated on one of the gold traps that I made was to make a vee diverter that sits on top of the chamber roof and starts just after the grizzly. Of course there are no side extentions after the vee starts and the diverter has the effect of directing the oversize material to exit off to the sides rather than the end of the box. I figured that there should be less buildup of waste material at the end of the sluice that eventually requires clearing especially when using the gold trap in shallower water.

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

A feature change that I incorporated on one of the gold traps that I made was to make a vee diverter that sits on top of the chamber roof and starts just after the grizzly. Of course there are no side extentions after the vee starts and the diverter has the effect of directing the oversize material to exit off to the sides rather than the end of the box. I figured that there should be less buildup of waste material at the end of the sluice that eventually requires clearing especially when using the gold trap in shallower water.

I think you have mentioned that some time before. I had an extreme diverter before in the middle of the chamber. As I mounted the new grizzly bar I removed it and I am using now a smaller diverter right at the beginning (have no picture yet). So in the creek the slurry flow is better now.
But as written, it seems that the upper part of the box is scoured because of the pitch of the box. The best would be to remount the slick plate and cut the walls so that the chamber would be more or less levelled and still having enough pitch for the slick plate.

Or, as it would be a minor change, adding a wall the material has to "climb". Like a multi-chamber fluid bed.
So I'm gonna try this first.

Michael

 

[Goodyguy]

This is basically what happens to the fluid bed chamber when it's angled too steep, The steeper the angle the worse it becomes.

Here is level (preferred) ..........and below at about 45 degrees.
It's not so much scouring as it is just physics.........

I like the premise of the multi chamber idea although I have yet to experiment with one.
GG~

 

[arizau]

This is basically what happens to the fluid bed chamber when it's angled too steep, The steeper the angle the worse it becomes.

Here is level (preferred) and at about 45 degrees. It's not so much scouring as it is just physics.........
View attachment 1274009

GG~

Yep and when the tube holes are not buried into the materials they are not helping in material exchange and since there is less resistance through those holes there is less flow through the holes that are buried. Still physics.

 

[Goodyguy]

Yep and when the tube holes are not buried into the materials they are not helping in material exchange and since there is less resistance through those holes there is less flow through the holes that are buried. Still physics.

Exactly right! Great observation arizau

When building a chambered design dedicated for use only at a steep angle make sure the fluidizing holes are close enough to each partition to remain covered by material and make sure to not place any holes into the tubes that would not be covered by material.


GG~

 

[rivets]

Good stuff and I see where u r at as I am building a hi banker sniper dredge combination that actually merge together .. besides tinkering about in ones man cave has many benefits

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

Thanks for the drawing, Goodyguy. That brings my problem to the point. And the cpmment from arizau would explain, why I am loosing gold. The tiny flakes would not make not make it to the ground at the end. And further washed down at the inlet.

So I will try a partitioning wall, probably with an additional diverter behind.
I hope this will not clog the chamber. But better starting too big as one can always cut parts off

Great input from you, thanks.

Michael

 

[johnedoe]

Exactly right! Great observation arizau GG~

Yup...... that arizau is a pretty smart feller......

 

[motohed]

I was just wondering if they were in production yet , I would like one at the end of my high banker ?

 

[No gold in NY]

I am using 1/4" punch plate for a grizzly because I have a dread fear of large stones in the bed. On the other hand, I read where large stones or marbles should be placed in the bed to prevent black sand lock-up. My thought is that these materials will take up space and cause earlier lock-up. Please set me straight.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I am using 1/4" punch plate for a grizzly because I have a dread fear of large stones in the bed. On the other hand, I read where large stones or marbles should be placed in the bed to prevent black sand lock-up. My thought is that these materials will take up space and cause earlier lock-up. Please set me straight.

Large rocks in the base is wasted space and loss of efficiency. The water jets should be adjusted to keep the material in the base in a liquefied state. over-sized rocks will interfere.

 

[arizau]

I am using 1/4" punch plate for a grizzly because I have a dread fear of large stones in the bed. On the other hand, I read where large stones or marbles should be placed in the bed to prevent black sand lock-up. My thought is that these materials will take up space and cause earlier lock-up. Please set me straight.

I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to but....Take a bazooka gold trap as an example. The BGT grizzly allows material of up to about 1/4" to enter and it works perfectly well. Now if you are feeding a BGT exclusively with material smaller than the grizzly opening and maybe mostly sand I have read that it is a good idea to preload the the trap with 1/4" stones. From that I assume that what happens is the trap equalizes to it's best mix of material sizes and traps the gold better than if the sizes were all much smaller(?). I don't think anyone recommends loading the trap with stones larger than the grizzly opening though some have either tried it or thought about trying it.

 

[No gold in NY]

Thanks for the advice guys. You're the best.

I won't be adding rocks or marbles to the bed. Only used it once for a short time and caught gold. Had enough water for the spray tubes but not enough through the box. I'll set it a little deeper the next time.

Richard