Astrobouncer
Hero Member
- Jun 21, 2009
- 823
- 344
I like to build my own stuff rather then buy it. Half the fun for me is making my own gear, the other half is testing it and then putting it to use. And knowing I have saved hundreds of dollars by doing it myself is nice. My cousin had a scrap power wheel chair he got for free from a buddy. He gave me the frame from it with the wheels (and the electric motor as well which is going to power a small trommel but more on that later) so I used that for the base of my highbanker. I bet a dolly would work good too for the frame.
I made a grizzly with about 12 bucks in lumber from the home depot, the top choice boards that are like 4 feet long, and a couple one by 2s from the same section. I also spent 10 bucks on some 1/2 inch expanded (not raised) metal for the grizzly, but in hindsight I should have made the grizzly out of bars so the gravel would slide down it easier.
I really like the the boiler box series of high bankers made by D'Arcy up in Caribou gold country and wanted to incorporate some of his design into my own. Particularly the inspection tray under the main grizzly. He uses expanded metal and miners moss but I went with vortex matting instead because then I could forgo the expanded metal there. I know the rubber vortex matting will catch and hold most of the gold but just in case I ran raised expanded metal over the grooved carpeting in my 3 foot by 12 inch wide sluice, though with the wood holding the expanded metal down its more like 10 and 1/2 inches wide. I am going to make a better tray to hold the expanded down, but for now the wood sides are fine.
I went with carpeting and expanded metal for the bottom because its really just extra insurance I wont lose any fines. I could have gone with drop riffles and I am sure they would have worked just as good, with easier cleanup, but this way I feel a little better thinking the fines are not getting washed out by too much current.
Here's what I started with, my old blue v matting and grooved carpeting sluice.
Then I worked on the hopper/grizzly.
Thought about putting in some riffles on the inspection mat but decided against it since the vortex matting works great by itself.
Then I added the removable tray inspection mat for the vortex matting.
Once the grizzly/ hopper was somewhat done, I painted it with 6 coats of paint, added some support structure, and water proofed it with the first of many coats of urethane. Here's the top half drying. I test fit the pvc as well and made holders for it.
While that was drying I worked on the bottom sluice of the highbanker. I sanded the blue paint down and used it like a primer, then repainted it a couple coats of black.
I also added the height adjustments, giving it a foot of adjustment. If I need more I can always park it on a slight slope or something like that. But I dont think I will ever need that much sluice drop and in testing this past weekend I only used about half that height in adjustment.
Here's the wheel with the brake, this was part of the original wheel chair setup and it works great.
Then I added the raised expanded metal. And some quick wood hold downs for now, till I get something better (till I get a metal tray welded up) in there. Its some cheap thin raised expanded, but its all I could find locally. I am going to keep searching for better stuff and upgrade it. I got a whole sheet of that stuff for like 10 bucks at home depot, it is called metal lath.
Here it is with the hopper and bottom sluice together now. The hopper has a swivel adjustment so you can change the angle as needed.
Then I added the spray bars for the water. I left them adjustable for further work. After testing this weekend I am going to add another spray bar to the back side of the hopper as well.
Then I added some steel braces all around the top hopper to prevent the wood from getting dinged up. Then I added another couple coats of paint and water proofing.
Lastly I added a bar today to prop the hopper on for cleaning out the lower sluice.
Here's the highbanker the other day on the way to our spot.
Here it is running with the pump just turned on.
And here it is running some material.
Some of the gold from one of the cleanups that day.
Now here's some pics of me using the high banker on memorial day.
Here's washing some quartz through the highbanker, err I mean gravel. Or I guess you could call it quartz gravel, since its almost all quartz with occasionally some hornblende, schist or rhyolite.
1st pan of the inspection tray with vortex matting in the highbanker to see if I should keep digging in that spot I was in or if it was time to move. This pan told me it was time to move.
Switch to another spot nearby and ran about 20 shovelfuls through the highbanker. I then pulled the inspection tray out to go pan it but I seen this staring back at me (there's at least 3 nice size pieces in this pic) :
Here's what was in that vortex matting when I put it in the pan.
Then we switched equipment, and I dredged for a bit with my prospecting buddie's angus mckirk chameleon dredge, while he ran my high banker. He ran around 20 shovel fulls from the spot I was working and this was about half the cleanup from the vortex matting inspection tray (I dumped his first cleanup in the cons bucket without a pic by accident).
Then it was cleanup of the expanded metal section time. I cleaned it out once at the creek and just dumped the lower stuff into the cons bucket. But when I got home I cleaned the carpeting out more throughly and came up with all this:
Magnified with a 10x loupe:
And in a 14 inch gold pan.
I spent 12$ in wood for the hopper and supports, 15$ in paint, 20$ for the 2 expanded metal pieces and about 14$ for the PVC. The rest of the materials (except the base of the highbanker that my cousin gave me) including the old sluice I had around the garage. So I spent about 60$ making this.
And this highbanker is not done, I am going to incorporate a fluidized bed gold trap at the end to make sure I am not losing any values. I have all the parts (even the PVC) to make the trap and the fittings necessary, I just need to get started on it. Also I need to find some kind of durable paint or coating I can apply to the PVC that will help it withstand all that debris flying around in the hopper. The wood paint held up ok but the paint on the PVC came off in flecks and I had to redo it. Also the hopper is made to fit a 5 gallon bucket as well, and the PVC end is removable so you can spray it out.
I made a grizzly with about 12 bucks in lumber from the home depot, the top choice boards that are like 4 feet long, and a couple one by 2s from the same section. I also spent 10 bucks on some 1/2 inch expanded (not raised) metal for the grizzly, but in hindsight I should have made the grizzly out of bars so the gravel would slide down it easier.
I really like the the boiler box series of high bankers made by D'Arcy up in Caribou gold country and wanted to incorporate some of his design into my own. Particularly the inspection tray under the main grizzly. He uses expanded metal and miners moss but I went with vortex matting instead because then I could forgo the expanded metal there. I know the rubber vortex matting will catch and hold most of the gold but just in case I ran raised expanded metal over the grooved carpeting in my 3 foot by 12 inch wide sluice, though with the wood holding the expanded metal down its more like 10 and 1/2 inches wide. I am going to make a better tray to hold the expanded down, but for now the wood sides are fine.
I went with carpeting and expanded metal for the bottom because its really just extra insurance I wont lose any fines. I could have gone with drop riffles and I am sure they would have worked just as good, with easier cleanup, but this way I feel a little better thinking the fines are not getting washed out by too much current.
Here's what I started with, my old blue v matting and grooved carpeting sluice.
Then I worked on the hopper/grizzly.
Thought about putting in some riffles on the inspection mat but decided against it since the vortex matting works great by itself.
Then I added the removable tray inspection mat for the vortex matting.
Once the grizzly/ hopper was somewhat done, I painted it with 6 coats of paint, added some support structure, and water proofed it with the first of many coats of urethane. Here's the top half drying. I test fit the pvc as well and made holders for it.
While that was drying I worked on the bottom sluice of the highbanker. I sanded the blue paint down and used it like a primer, then repainted it a couple coats of black.
I also added the height adjustments, giving it a foot of adjustment. If I need more I can always park it on a slight slope or something like that. But I dont think I will ever need that much sluice drop and in testing this past weekend I only used about half that height in adjustment.
Here's the wheel with the brake, this was part of the original wheel chair setup and it works great.
Then I added the raised expanded metal. And some quick wood hold downs for now, till I get something better (till I get a metal tray welded up) in there. Its some cheap thin raised expanded, but its all I could find locally. I am going to keep searching for better stuff and upgrade it. I got a whole sheet of that stuff for like 10 bucks at home depot, it is called metal lath.
Here it is with the hopper and bottom sluice together now. The hopper has a swivel adjustment so you can change the angle as needed.
Then I added the spray bars for the water. I left them adjustable for further work. After testing this weekend I am going to add another spray bar to the back side of the hopper as well.
Then I added some steel braces all around the top hopper to prevent the wood from getting dinged up. Then I added another couple coats of paint and water proofing.
Lastly I added a bar today to prop the hopper on for cleaning out the lower sluice.
Here's the highbanker the other day on the way to our spot.
Here it is running with the pump just turned on.
And here it is running some material.
Some of the gold from one of the cleanups that day.
Now here's some pics of me using the high banker on memorial day.
Here's washing some quartz through the highbanker, err I mean gravel. Or I guess you could call it quartz gravel, since its almost all quartz with occasionally some hornblende, schist or rhyolite.
1st pan of the inspection tray with vortex matting in the highbanker to see if I should keep digging in that spot I was in or if it was time to move. This pan told me it was time to move.
Switch to another spot nearby and ran about 20 shovelfuls through the highbanker. I then pulled the inspection tray out to go pan it but I seen this staring back at me (there's at least 3 nice size pieces in this pic) :
Here's what was in that vortex matting when I put it in the pan.
Then we switched equipment, and I dredged for a bit with my prospecting buddie's angus mckirk chameleon dredge, while he ran my high banker. He ran around 20 shovel fulls from the spot I was working and this was about half the cleanup from the vortex matting inspection tray (I dumped his first cleanup in the cons bucket without a pic by accident).
Then it was cleanup of the expanded metal section time. I cleaned it out once at the creek and just dumped the lower stuff into the cons bucket. But when I got home I cleaned the carpeting out more throughly and came up with all this:
Magnified with a 10x loupe:
And in a 14 inch gold pan.
I spent 12$ in wood for the hopper and supports, 15$ in paint, 20$ for the 2 expanded metal pieces and about 14$ for the PVC. The rest of the materials (except the base of the highbanker that my cousin gave me) including the old sluice I had around the garage. So I spent about 60$ making this.
And this highbanker is not done, I am going to incorporate a fluidized bed gold trap at the end to make sure I am not losing any values. I have all the parts (even the PVC) to make the trap and the fittings necessary, I just need to get started on it. Also I need to find some kind of durable paint or coating I can apply to the PVC that will help it withstand all that debris flying around in the hopper. The wood paint held up ok but the paint on the PVC came off in flecks and I had to redo it. Also the hopper is made to fit a 5 gallon bucket as well, and the PVC end is removable so you can spray it out.
