Need some advice on 4" dredge sluice

[omnicron]

the trick here is determining what classifies as cold water

Easy, anything that makes the 'boys' shrivel.

 

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[roadrunner]

I have been Googleing it all afternoon. Cant find anything. ActuallyBing,suppose to be more specefic).Am going to Google now.
I went to 2 major websites to learn about suits first. 1 was a surfing site, and then the second one was called wetsuit ware house or something like that.
All kinds of videos, and info and videos on suits,buying,selection,water temp,thickness,how to put on,ect.
I wonder if they went out of business. There where a few for sale on ebay, so I am going to message the people and ask a question about them.

I guess the only way to see now would be see if I can get into our public pool and see what shrivels and does not shrivel.
And use a thermometer to see what the temp is.
If I go in at 65 degrees, and I lose teeth fillings, and shrivel to nothing its not warm enough.

 

[G1sammons]

I have been Googleing it all afternoon. Cant find anything. ActuallyBing,suppose to be more specefic).Am going to Google now. I went to 2 major websites to learn about suits first. 1 was a surfing site, and then the second one was called wetsuit ware house or something like that. All kinds of videos, and info and videos on suits,buying,selection,water temp,thickness,how to put on,ect. I wonder if they went out of business. There where a few for sale on ebay, so I am going to message the people and ask a question about them. I guess the only way to see now would be see if I can get into our public pool and see what shrivels and does not shrivel. And use a thermometer to see what the temp is. If I go in at 65 degrees, and I lose teeth fillings, and shrivel to nothing its not warm enough.

There's not a specific suite for a specific temp .. It kind of like asking what's comfortable....
65 and a suite heater I'm pretty comfy in a 5 mil and a tunic but not all divers like that some want a 7 mil and no heater some want a 7 mil and a heater some want a dry suite .. There's not a right and a wrong here it what you like ! The heavier suite the more it will squizzzze ya ...

I can tell ya this the suite should be snug ! Not looses ! It works by trapping water against your body so if it's loose it won't work
And you need to expect a shock when ya first get in, you should warm from there .. I prefer to work some and get hot in the suite first befor getting in , then the cool fells good instead of a shock .... You will also find a tunic is just as important if not more important as freeze brane sucks ....

I prefer a good heater and a lighter suite as it does not restrict your movement as much and the heater keeps ya warm...
I use a camp shower heater piped,off your dredge pump.. Not all of these heaters will work I use a triton, some others will only run a short time befor they shut down Cost about 120 off internet ...

Also watch craigslist and grage sales as you can get loads of used wet suite and other dive gear for cheap....very cheap

 

[roadrunner]

Thanks, I will play with this suit first at the public pool.
I wiull start looking at craigslist for deals on gear.
That looks like the small marey water heater running off of propane.
Just installed a larger version on one of my customers homes. Natural gas. Have my own construction company.

Would the smallest pump that I could use on a dredge be a 100 GPM?
And, do they have to be high pressure, or just volume?
My boy wants me and him to build one, thinks it might be cheaper. We have a 4 foot sluice already. Gold king.
Going to make it into a high banker by adding a header box.
Would use same pump for both. Maybe.

 

[G1sammons]

Thanks, I will play with this suit first at the public pool. I wiull start looking at craigslist for deals on gear. That looks like the small marey water heater running off of propane. Just installed a larger version on one of my customers homes. Natural gas. Have my own construction company. Would the smallest pump that I could use on a dredge be a 100 GPM? And, do they have to be high pressure, or just volume? My boy wants me and him to build one, thinks it might be cheaper. We have a 4 foot sluice already. Gold king. Going to make it into a high banker by adding a header box. Would use same pump for both. Maybe.

Best advice I can give ya is to buy a used one.. Unless you have a lot of experience running a dredge it wont save ya any money... Most of he time it will cost ya more and you'll end up with something that won't work the way ya want.. And understand I'm not trying to insult your capability it's just there's so much to learn and so difficult when ya start that you'll end up miss understanding what you think you need.. Plus your engine and pump are the most expensive parts you will need and you rarely find then used and a new one cost as much as a used dredge plus there many other things you Need like a hookah regulators air hoses dive gear dive weights cleanup sluice ect.. And usally you get all this stuff free when you buy a used dredge...

 

[omnicron]

A dredge really needs a pump that can do both pressure and volume. If its only 100gpm then you may be able to run a small 2" dredge but depending on the acual size of the sluice you have, it may not be enough pump. How wide is the box?
Also it may not be enough to run a suction nozzle, depending on the length of the hose. Honestly you should learn to walk before you run. It'll save you lots of money and time. Do you know how to setup and run a sluice box in a stream or river? How about gold pan?
You should check craigslist for used dredges. It will save you money in the long run if you have no knowledge of how a dredge works. Get something wrong, you blow gold...or a pump or your mind! I'm not trying to persuade you from dredging, on the contrary, I am building a 6" dredge, it's going to cost me about $2500 when it's all said and done and I'll tell you, it takes lots of time and planning. Good luck.

 

[Oakview2]

It may not be bearing sea cold, but working at elevation with snow on the ground is plenty cold for me

the trick here is determining what classifies as cold water

 

[G1sammons]

It may not be bearing sea cold, but working at elevation with snow on the ground is plenty cold for me

just the though makes me shiver...

 

[roadrunner]

Thanks all. No offense taken from any ones posts either. The truth is best. I built my first sluice from this guy,mygoldpanning from youtube. Its called the Progressive Sluice Box.. Not that its right, but it sure collects lots of black sands, ect. I have Garrett and Keene pans. My sluice is the Gold Kind, 4' by 9.5 inches. Ribbed carpet, expanded metal and riffles. Here is a pic of my miller table I made to get Doc's small gold from concentrates I received for free on the give away for Thanksgiving. And a pic of his small gold. I have videos of it working also.


I have been telling him it would probably be better to buy a used one. I have also downloaded Dave McCrackens start dredging pdf.
Just trying to get all the info I can before making any decision which you guys are helping a lot.Thanks.
Oh yeah, the pic with the gold in it, that piece of white in with it is a small 1/16th (or smaller)size of quartz that came through the screen. Maybe a grain of sand.

 

[omnicron]

Thanks all. No offense taken from any ones posts either. The truth is best. I built my first sluice from this guy,mygoldpanning from youtube. Its called the Progressive Sluice Box.. Not that its right, but it sure collects lots of black sands, ect. I have Garrett and Keene pans. My sluice is the Gold Kind, 4' by 9.5 inches. Ribbed carpet, expanded metal and riffles. Here is a pic of my miller table I made to get Doc's small gold from concentrates I received for free on the give away for Thanksgiving. And a pic of his small gold. I have videos of it working also.
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I have been telling him it would probably be better to buy a used one. I have also downloaded Dave McCrackens start dredging pdf.
Just trying to get all the info I can before making any decision which you guys are helping a lot.Thanks.
Oh yeah, the pic with the gold in it, that piece of white in with it is a small 1/16th (or smaller)size of quartz that came through the screen. Maybe a grain of sand.

Just keep in mind that there are many many parts of a dredge, they all have to work together like a well oil machine. You pump needs to be sized to you nozzle or jet. You can have to much hose for your pump or you kill your suction. This all has to work together with your sluice. If you don't have enough water through your box you wont flush large rocks or have enough water to clear your riffles. Many things to consider. Good idea is to look at the specs of pre built dredges, see the components they have, price it all out and go from there. Once again buy a used one and save your self some coin and grey hair. As for your son, whose the parent? LOL I'm kind of teasing of course.

 

[roadrunner]

No problem. Hes 26, but wants my help to build it since I am the carpenter,plumber,welder, and metal bender. I have all the tools but a metal break.Even have a metal lathe.
And like you said, I am checking keenes website for sizes of items, and what they cost. But I can get lower priced versions of items, and build my own sluice.
But I am not going to make the thing for him. Hes building a trommel right now. I am not helping much because I want him to do it. He needs to learn if he cant afford something, and he wants it,then he needs to build it.

It is his money, but my time. And my time is worth money.
I am looking at everything. And, I already have a head of grey hair from raising our 2 sons. The other is 24. So no worry in that part.
Actually, silver hair, the sign of wisdom.

 

[omnicron]

I'm 43 and have 5 children from the ages of 19yrs to 2 weeks! You can compare Proline Mining also. Lets put this in perspective for you. You could build a 2 or 2.5" dredge for lets say under $1000 (guessing) with mostly new parts and fabing stuff. I look on craigslist in my area and I see dredges selling for $600 on up. These are almost a guarantee to recover the greater part of all the gold sucked up from day one, being a factory dredge (assuming the previous owner didn't "F" it up. Lets say you build one, and make a trip, lets say you spend $100 in gas and food for the trip. With bought dredge you recover $20 in gold, with home built you only recover $5 in gold as something isn't working right. So back home you mod it to try and fix the issue. You go back up and it's still not right....can you see how this is turning out?

Just as most ladies will say, size matters. A 2 or 2.5" dredge will only move as much material as a man can shovel. When you jump to a 3", that changes. Moving to a 4" now your talking moving some good material. How much gold you can recover is directly related to how much material you can move. Size matters. Now if your building, just as everything else in the world, price increases as you go bigger. Going back to what I said about buying used on craigslist. looking at my area I see some 4" dredges including the one I'm going to be selling for around 1300 and up. That's about what it would cost to build one minus floats. Just food for thought. I'm trying to save you guys money and time.

Good luck in what ever you decide!

 

[roadrunner]

Congrats on your newborn.
I would not even try and build anything lower than a 3. For starters.
Second, we are in Az.I tell my son really,where ya gonna go. We use waterless dredges called drywashers.
I will keep checking craigslist for him, but not very hard.

Our first born, the one that wants to dredge, almost died in childbirth. Marconium baby.
Went with out proper oxygen, and some times is a little slow. ICU for 30 days.
Hope your wife and child do great by the way. We are blessed to have them all.
Thanks for all the help guys. Good luck to ya all.

 

[okbasspro]

I used to run a 4 in Arizona but only had snow run off to do it and no heater burrr. Ran a drywasher when water dried up. Good luck and heavy pans.

 

[Oakview2]

I will chime in, buy a factory dredge first, get some hose time, learn to tune the machine to the ground you are working, and recover some gold. If you can make money with your factory unit, you can use your considerable fab skills and cashflow to design your ultimate rig. JMHO

 

[G1sammons]

I will chime in, buy a factory dredge first, get some hose time, learn to tune the machine to the ground you are working, and recover some gold. If you can make money with your factory unit, you can use your considerable fab skills and cashflow to design your ultimate rig. JMHO

right on there ...

 

[roadrunner]

Will do.He can buy from craigslist. Now what to do with a 6 HP,4-stroke champion engine, and a 10-14HP Briggs, 4-stroke. Both where given to me. The Briggs is on a gen set,but I was told was not working right, so carb parts first. Champion on a pressure washer that pump tore itself up.But runs perfect. Good luck guys, talk later after he gets one.

Craigslist: Hows This For price, nothing else is included.Maybe a 2-3 inch. Went to the Pacer pump website and I think the pump outlets are 3inch.
Max flow rate up to 290gpm.

 

[omnicron]

Will do.He can buy from craigslist. Now what to do with a 6 HP,4-stroke champion engine, and a 10-14HP Briggs, 4-stroke. Both where given to me. The Briggs is on a gen set,but I was told was not working right, so carb parts first. Champion on a pressure washer that pump tore itself up.But runs perfect. Good luck guys, talk later after he gets one.

Craigslist: Hows This For price, nothing else is included.Maybe a 2-3 inch. Went to the Pacer pump website and I think the pump outlets are 3inch.
Max flow rate up to 290gpm.

IMO the pump is a little on the light side depending on the dredge size. It have to be ran wot (wide open throttle). I see the pump listed as 8700gph (145gpm). That's at 0 head, you need to look at the performance curve as you need both volume and pressure. Feel free to ask any questions. I really want to help you not waste money and buy the right gear the first time. The rest of the kit looks good.. just concerned about the pump.

 

[roadrunner]

If it is a Keene unit, would not the pump and motor be matched to the sluice, and to the power jet?
Or does it look like the engine and pump might be home made and not work right, that is why he is selling it.
Maybe hes keeping the floats and good stuff for himself.

 

[omnicron]

Keene, proline, Dahlke, Golddredge builders, Percision Dredge all use high pressure pumps. Any pump you buy off the shelf is not considered high pressure. These pumps by dredge manufactures are designed for high pressure and high volume. Take a Keene P180 pump, It can pump up to 300gpm at 0 head pressure. It can lift water (called head pressure) 180'or 180 psi at 0gpm. (may have terms wrong) I believe most pumps are listed as the max pressure and flow. There is a performance curve...as psi (head preasure) increases, flow decreases. It's the happy medium that we work with on dredges.

As for that dredge kit, he may of bought the pieces and put it together which is ok they will work together, but that pump,while it may work will not create the suction on the jet that a dredge pump would. IF he bought it you would still need to either make a frame with floats or a stand to sit it on...a floating dredge is much easier to work with then a stationary one IMO. Does it include a foot valve and nozzle? As for floats, check out my 6" build http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/dredging-hi-banking/399942-started-my-6-build.html, and you may get some ideas.