My Diy Fluid Bed Gold Trap Sluice

[Goodyguy]

Improvements that were later added to both the "Slick Plate Fluid bed Sluice" and to the high banker "Add a Trap"



Before: "slick plate fluid bed sluice"


After: changed to 11/64" dia. punch plate and connected fluid bed tubes at ends to insure a more even fluidization.
Also removed the plexiglas cover which allows even more fines to enter trap through the punch plate.



Before: "Add a Trap"


After: installed 11/64" dia. punch plate and added second overflow discharge port.
*note diverter baffle located inside to prevent floating gold washout.
Also ..Discharge ports are positioned to be level at a 1 inch to 1 foot rate of overall sluice drop.



Found the punch plate to be more effective for classifying out the debris while still allowing the fines to be trapped.

Go for the gold!
GG~

 

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[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

I'M A BIG BELIEVER IN PUNCH PLATE. HERE IN ARKANSAS, THAT'S THE FIRST CLASSIFIER..... IF IT DON'T FALL THRU
A 1/8 INCH HOLE IT MOST LIKELY AINT GOLD.

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

I noticed this at Lowes the other day: 'vinyl gutter drop'





Net search shows one that might attach to round pvc

 

[Ganimead]

I only posted that I had solved the problem, I did not tell how I had solved it.
Actually the solution is easy but the fabrication can be difficult. The problem can be solved in two different ways........

#1. Is by the addition of a 2" drain at the bottom of the trap that can be opened to release the contents of the trap whenever necessary. (even while in operation)
Or........
#2. Would be to increase the water pressure to the trap once the trap is full of black sand. (due to the density of black sand more water pressure is needed to keep the material in suspension)

#1. Is harder to achieve due to the difficulty in fabrication, however it's advantage is being able to inspect the traps contents at any time without shutting down the sluice or disconnecting the trap.

The bottom of the trap needs to incline down toward the drain from all 4 corners and there can be no ridge into the trap around the drain and the shut off valve for the drain needs to be very close to the bottom of the trap and be connected to a discharge hose enabling you to drain the trap into a container.

Hope this helps,
GG~

Hi GG, regarding emptying the heavies from the trap, could you not use a small hand dredge and suck the contents out from the top of the trap? Maybe I have not understood the system properly and am teaching Grandmother to suck eggs.

I am retired and living in the Philippines and decided I would like to try my hand at gold prospecting. I was contemplating building a regular sluicebox until I saw your most excellent project. The only problem here is finding even the commonest of materials. Most hardware stores only carry the basic goods. My first problem was trying to get hold of the CPVC mentioned in your article. The only pipe close to your specs is regular PVC water pipe ID 5/8" & OD 13/16" and that's it! Would this be suitable? I can obtain aluminum sheet, it is quite thin but I can double it up or brace it some way. The rest seems straight forward, although I am not that practical minded, however I have a few tools and a lot of patience.

I have to date made a Miller table and recently a simple Grumpy type underflow using plywood, thin aluminum sheet and scraps of plastic (the inspection holes were made from clear CD cases carefully scribed and snapped to size) Amazingly it seems to recover as well as the original video that I watched. However I had no real gold and so I had to substitute using fine lead filings. Even when I mix them in with 1/4" stones the fine lead remains in the first trap. I also flattened lead and then cut very fine flakes. This time about 70% were caught in trap #1 the remainder appeared in trap #2. I am just wondering if real gold would have performed as well though? I only figured that lead was not as heavy as gold. This project is too small and fragile to use out in the field, but I feel would be excellent for separating concentrates at home. The bonus is that it does not require Jet-Dry (another unobtainable item here) as the material is forced underwater, so no more floating/dancing gold as experienced on my home built but failed miller table project. I should mention the obvious that I am not a handyman, but I do pay attention to you guys in the know and read your posts with great enthusiasm. Thanks to you all I am learning fast. At the moment I am not able to go out in the field until I have a sluice box, as carting buckets of un-sluiced dirt home is tedious and unproductive too. I feel that the GG system would be ideal and would work very well in the virgin & unmined creek that I have recently found.

Thanks again for your article GG it has given me a hope in achieving my first real mining experience

John.

 

[Goodyguy]

Hi GG, regarding emptying the heavies from the trap, could you not use a small hand dredge and suck the contents out from the top of the trap? Maybe I have not understood the system properly and am teaching Grandmother to suck eggs.

It's designed to empty the heavies by submersion into a 5 gal bucket half full of water. Just dunk it up and down a few times and it's clean.

I am retired and living in the Philippines and decided I would like to try my hand at gold prospecting. I was contemplating building a regular sluicebox until I saw your most excellent project. The only problem here is finding even the commonest of materials. Most hardware stores only carry the basic goods. My first problem was trying to get hold of the CPVC mentioned in your article. The only pipe close to your specs is regular PVC water pipe ID 5/8" & OD 13/16" and that's it! Would this be suitable?

5/8" will work fine.

I can obtain aluminum sheet, it is quite thin but I can double it up or brace it some way. The rest seems straight forward, although I am not that practical minded, however I have a few tools and a lot of patience.

I have to date made a Miller table and recently a simple Grumpy type underflow using plywood, thin aluminum sheet and scraps of plastic (the inspection holes were made from clear CD cases carefully scribed and snapped to size) Amazingly it seems to recover as well as the original video that I watched. However I had no real gold and so I had to substitute using fine lead filings. Even when I mix them in with 1/4" stones the fine lead remains in the first trap. I also flattened lead and then cut very fine flakes. This time about 70% were caught in trap #1 the remainder appeared in trap #2. I am just wondering if real gold would have performed as well though? I only figured that lead was not as heavy as gold. This project is too small and fragile to use out in the field, but I feel would be excellent for separating concentrates at home. The bonus is that it does not require Jet-Dry (another unobtainable item here) as the material is forced underwater, so no more floating/dancing gold as experienced on my home built but failed miller table project. I should mention the obvious that I am not a handyman, but I do pay attention to you guys in the know and read your posts with great enthusiasm. Thanks to you all I am learning fast. At the moment I am not able to go out in the field until I have a sluice box, as carting buckets of un-sluiced dirt home is tedious and unproductive too. I feel that the GG system would be ideal and would work very well in the virgin & unmined creek that I have recently found.

Thanks again for your article GG it has given me a hope in achieving my first real mining experience

John.

Thank you for your interest in my project
Wishing you much success and good health

GG~

 

[Ganimead]

Thank you GG for your help 5/8" it is then

Much appreciation,
John.

 

[KevinInColorado]

In place of jetdry you can use any low sudsing soap such as for clothes washing or any brand of 'rinse aid' for automatic dishwashers. Just start with a small amount as it usually only takes a little ...too much leads to bubbles which are very bad.

Mine it and recycle it!

 

[Ganimead]

Thank you for the tips, I will certainly give them a try.

 

[Ace2010]

I just found this thread and enjoyed reading the whole thing.I had been thinking about adding a extra foot to the end of my sluice on my 5" dredge with 3 or 4 drop riffles.
But, since I found this thread I think I will try one of these fluid bed traps instead.GG what would you suggest for a 5" dredge? maybe using 8" pvc with 1" flow pipe?I have some 1/8 inch punch plate and 6" pvc here to play with.I guess my main question is would I need the bigger pipe for the amount of material I will be sending through it?
Thanks Chris
Oh yea, I was also wondering if you think I should remove the last couple of riffles off of my riffle tray to allow this flower gold here in alabama to settle to a slick plate before entering this fluid bed box?

 

[Goodyguy]

I haven't tried one on the end of a dredge sluice yet.
Seems to me that it would be worth the effort because it would at least have a chance of trapping any fine gold that otherwise would be discharged off the end.

I think 6" dia pvc would be about right on a 5" dredge but 4" may be plenty, remember it is only needed to catch the heavier fines that make it that far, and I wouldn't think removing any riffles or adding a slick plate in front would be necessary. Adding a fluid bed trap to the end of a dredge is basically uncharted territory though so who knows.

When my 5" river dredge is finished this spring I do intend to install and experiment with the "Add a Trap" to see what happens.
If you try it first let me know how it works out.

I believe one should be added as a fail safe to most any power sluice and especially to the high volume commercial wash plant sluices.

GG~

 

[Ace2010]

OK thanks GG, I've got an appointment to see if I have to get my shoulder operated on monday.Not sure how long I will be out of commission.I will have one built and ready for when I get to hit the river.If I get to dredge before you do I'll let you know how it works.I know I was losing a little flour gold if not alot before I put thin rubber v-mat under the minors moss all the way down sluice.I haven't checked my tailings since to see if I'm losing anything but it never hurts to add on something you know should catch it all. Thanks again, Chris

 

[Goodyguy]

OK thanks GG, I've got an appointment to see if I have to get my shoulder operated on monday.Not sure how long I will be out of commission.I will have one built and ready for when I get to hit the river.If I get to dredge before you do I'll let you know how it works.I know I was losing a little flour gold if not alot before I put thin rubber v-mat under the minors moss all the way down sluice.I haven't checked my tailings since to see if I'm losing anything but it never hurts to add on something you know should catch it all. Thanks again, Chris

That flour gold is hard to hold onto especially in a high volume fast flow environment. Adding that V mat under the miners moss maybe tightened up the seal and prevented gold from traveling under the moss and out the end. (very common for flour gold to do)

Best wishes for a speedy recovery
GG~

 

[Ganimead]

I thought that I should write here regarding the Fluid Bed Gold Trap Sluice that I have just completed, using 'Good Guy's' excellent article. I did encounter a few problems. Here in the Philippines materials other than common every day materials are quite rare. So I was unable to obtain the CPVC fittings or pipe as required in the article, only standard OD 13/16" 5/8" ID water pipe, which I finally opted using on a nod from GG. I wanted to fit the turbo's but this was impossible due to the water pipe elbows and T's amounting to 13" in width, so I had to go with just the normal setup. The only aluminum sheet that I could obtain was quite thin .032 the same too for the angle. But at least the cutting was made easy. I figured that I would have to reinforce as required, but I was actually amazed at how strong it became as I progressed.



Making the 13/16" holes in the intake and output from the trap box posed a problem at first. However, I accomplished this by drawing a 13/16" circle then drilling tiny holes inside and finally punching out the centers and making good with a round file. I don't have many tools, but managed ok with a hand drill, metal shears and a pop rivet gun. I had to make the bends by inserting into the crack of my back door which worked out fine. Due to the thinness of the aluminum I reinforced the slick plate by doubling the thickness to be on the safe side.

I included a removable bottom service plate so that I could attach a high banker manifold to test the gold trap at home.




I now also have easy access to the intake tubes if they should become clogged.




I have now tested the sluice using the high banker manifold. I fed it two five gallons buckets of yard gravel with 10 very small pieces of lead mixed in (I don't have any real gold samples yet!) Anyway all of the lead was recovered from the trap.



Here you can see the trap cover which I can hinge forward, so that I can suck out the heavies with a hand dredge, without ever having to remove the trap from the creek, and it works fine. I just have to block the water intakes first. [This is from an idea that I mentioned here in an earlier post] Anyway, after the cleanout, it is then locked back in position with two thumb screws.

Making this project has been a very interesting and rewarding experience for me, especially since I am a retired musician, never a handyman. Had not Bazooka refused to ship to the Philippines I might never have found this out.

Lastly, I would just like to extend by thanks to GG not only for his excellent project, but also for having the patience in answering my numerous questions. Without him I would probably have given up early and missed out on a really great piece of gold recovery equipment.

Thank you 'Good Guy' ~ a very appropriate title I think!

John.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Very impressive work, well done. What a great example of international cooperation and brotherhood. GG you really are admirable

Mine it and recycle it!

 

[419GottaMinute]

Ganimead: using door hinge as sheet metal brake is effing genius! Smacking my self for not thinkung if it before

 

[Goodyguy]

Excellent build Ganimead!
I am proud of you, I like the way you hinged the top, that was a sweet piece of engineering on your part

Now go fill that trap with some GOLD!

GG~

 

[dash riprock]

My DIY aluminium Fluid bed sluices from newbie, Dash

Hi Guys ,
I am new to Treasurenet , although followed the posts here by Goodguy and astrobouncers work on You tube with interest, thought you might like to see some of my efforts of Bazooka type fluid beds , a prospector super mini and mini, made three so my buddy could use one with the mini for quick sampling, I can move much more material and they seem to work well, I really like GG's drop down slick plate and plan to use that in my propsector as a mod soon,

Glad to be aboard , and hope you like my pics, I kept it brief as I 'm new ...the top of the traps are stainless mesh with a kind of drop riffle thing going on , I'm still building!
All the best from a chilly Scotland, Dash

 

[Goodyguy]

Hi Guys ,
I am new to Treasurenet , although followed the posts here by Goodguy and astrobouncers work on You tube with interest, thought you might like to see some of my efforts of Bazooka type fluid beds , a prospector super mini and mini, made three so my buddy could use one with the mini for quick sampling, I can move much more material and they seem to work well, I really like GG's drop down slick plate and plan to use that in my propsector as a mod soon,

Glad to be aboard , and hope you like my pics, I kept it brief as I 'm new ...the top of the traps are stainless mesh with a kind of drop riffle thing going on , I'm still building!
All the best from a chilly Scotland, Dash

Welcome to T-Net
Great to have you aboard.

Like your builds and hope you find lots of gold with them.
GG~

 

[Goodyguy]

I just realized that I haven't added my wing dam mod to this thread.


One of the problems with the fluid bed traps is having enough water flow to keep the unit operating at maximum efficiency.
More flow helps clear the grizzly and helps keep the material in the trap fluidized.

The fold out wings should create an instant flow without the need to spend time effort and energy creating a wing dam by gathering gravel and rocks to build one.

*FAIL without a bottom between the wings the increase in flow is negligible. Also the wings stick up out of the water when the sluice is at an angle. of course with further modification those problems can be fixed but then it would be nothing more than a large flair with adjustable angle.

GG~

 

[Ganimead]

I just realized that I haven't added my wing dam mod to this thread.
Works too well to keep it a secret
View attachment 736314View attachment 736315

One of the problems with the fluid bed traps is having enough water flow to keep the unit operating at maximum efficiency.
More flow helps clear the grizzly and helps keep the material in the trap fluidized, especially once it starts getting compacted with black sand and gold.

The fold out wings create an instant flow without the need to spend time effort and energy creating a wing dam by gathering enough gravel and rocks to build one.

GG~

A really great addition GG,
I am right on it, and I think I can manage this extra without pestering you
John.