Rube Goldburg Doodads

[Needle]

Rube Goldburg Doodads

Sometimes when a person has time on their hands and enjoys experimenting with different techniques of accumulating micron Gold from a hard rock, they will look at all the different things on the market to help in this endeavor, some work on certain ores and some do not.

Micron Gold is very small and minus micron even smaller and yet most of the Gold mines have this type of ore, it is not even visible to the naked eye, yet be a valuable mine - especially as the price of Gold keeps raising in value.

It takes several thousand individual pieces of this tiny micron Gold to even make a sheen in the bottom of a Gold pan.



I have been experimenting with different things to get a concentrate out of hard rock ore If you were to just set up a sluice box and run water over it then add the ground up ore, it will trap some of the micron Gold, but a great percentage of it will just go right over the end of the sluice and be back in your tailing pile.

So here it comes " The Rube Goldburg Doodad swing thinge " …

Without spending thousands of dollars I have simply taken a 36” X 10” sluice box and suspended it from a frame with four ratchet clamps attached to eyebolts.

Springs are attached at the top end bottom of the sluice, for back pressure.

Then I attached a reciprocating saw at the upper end of the sluice and using PVC pipe to create a tapping of the box when the saw is running (approximately 200 taps per minute.)



This bumping or tapping helps to drive those tiny particles of Gold down into the carpet of the sluice before they are carried over the end into the tailing pile.

The amount of water used is just enough to keep the ore in a state of fluidity (very small amount).



Once you capture a high-grade concentrate then you can use other methods to capture the fine Gold particles.

Here is a list of things that do not work on my particular ore concentrate…
1. A Gold Genie spiral wheel.
2. The Gold Exorcist

The Gold is too fine!

I purchased a Model M4 micron wave table and have ran this concentrate over the table. The Gold is so fine you can not see it when it is vacuumed off the table - but it is there.



This piece of equipment works!

 

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[boogeyman]

Hi Needle,

Saw that you've tried the gold exorcist. Have seen the ads. I've seen one in the shop, but have yet to find anyone who's actually tried one. I don't place a lot of weight on product reviews since I've never read a review that said a piece of junk was a piece of junk. Hey, send me a pie pan & I bet I can make it out to be a wonder pan! Can you give a little information on this machine. Is it worth the money, is recovery as good as advertized, etc. etc. Thanks!

 

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[Old Dog]

Hey needle,

Glad to hear your new set up works.
now you can add that final step to your process a.d feel pretty good about tossing what is left.

sounds like you won't have much wasted gold when you are done.

Congrats,
Thom

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HIO Old Dog: Interesting, more. Incidentally go to ---> http://www.timminsgold.com/s/LasColoradas.asp

I set this mill operation up for my friend. we were getting good gold, then the owner, my friend, became bored and sold it to look for another one that was better, still looking hehehe... Look at the poor thing now, sigh. The floatation set up is all rusted. the Cyanide tanks prob. leak, and the table which we rebuilt is all warped. The mills are caked solid. the cone crusher is still workable. The tailing pond is now covered with pines which I planted to control erosion and to reclaim the area. It is at 6000 ft very pretty up there. When it rained we had 20 different colored waterfalls I also built the assay lab and taught the assayer how to use the AA.

This is where we were holed up for 5 days by the bandits. They had the guns, but we had short fused Torvex heheh

Side thingie, we caught most of the gold in a jig just off of the primary mill.

Sorry for the runoff, but I am definitely interested in this product, so please post more..

I have two suggestions, a hydroulic tapper with infinite variable control can easily be added, and most important, float a light piece of plastic over the full length and width of your box, it is fastened only at the head of the box, the rest is free floating on the surface of the water flow. It will force ALL micron gold under the surface for greatly increased recovery

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[boogeyman]

Tayopa,

Thank you for that! You just made a problem for me 1000 times simpler! Thanks again!

 

[Needle]

Hi Needle,

Saw that you've tried the gold exorcist. Have seen the ads. I've seen one in the shop, but have yet to find anyone who's actually tried one. I don't place a lot of weight on product reviews since I've never read a review that said a piece of junk was a piece of junk. Hey, send me a pie pan & I bet I can make it out to be a wonder pan! Can you give a little information on this machine. Is it worth the money, is recovery as good as advertised, etc. etc. Thanks!

I used the Gold Exorcist on my fine ground up Ore, I had 2 buckets and it was Bone Dry.
I ran one bucket and tested the riffles with a gold pan - results... 2 or 3 specks.

I ran the other bucket, but this time I sat a Gold pan out where the dust was blowing to catch the dust blowing away and I panned that - results... My Gold is so fine it was blowing away in the wind. The Exorcist does not work on my particular ORE!

Now let me tell you this, I can tell you that the Gold Exorcist does work on other ores with larger gold and it is impressive.

What I did was, I purchased a Motherlode Case of placer dirt from Alaska. I ran this material through a 30 mesh screen and hand picked about 15 nuggets off the screen.

I had about 22 pounds of material in a bucket and I ran it over the Gold Exorcist, it took about one minute total time, then I panned out the material it had collected in the riffles, this is a picture of what I got in one pass over the exorcist.



I ran the material a couple of more times over the Exorcist and panned out the cons each time and from what I saw it collected 98% of the Gold the first pass.

This is the amount recovered on the second pass over the Exorcist...



(remember - the material must be bone dry and should be screened to 30 mesh)

Let me make a correction here... The material does not have to be 30 mesh only,
actually you could run a batch of 1/4" screened material if you so desired, you would have to make an adjustment on the pitch of the exorcist so the larger material would not pack on the riffles. A steeper grade would be achieved by raising the back of the exorcist. Play it by ear and adjust accordingly. Needle

 

[boogeyman]

Interesting. Thanks! First time I've been able to get any kind of an unbiased opinion, or any opinion at all.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Hey Needle! I have a modded highbanker to get that fine stuff even if it ain't really that fine like you have I think.



Can you see the 'fine expanded' that I did show of earlier? It's towards the top of the black expanded metal.
I have recovered -100 mesh gold with this beauty (smaller then 100 mesh that is) and that was in the river nothing to reduce surface tension...
I'm still experimenting for finer gold and still getting the big stuff to.(big stuff=10 millimeter nuggets)

Cheers,
Eu

 

[Needle]

That is a nice looking Highbanker EU... getting that fine Gold to stay in the sluice, once you go through the trouble to run it through your sluice has been a challenge.

I'm glad you are capturing some of it!

I think I can see that "fine expanded" That must be helping to collect the small stuff.

If it works, use it, I say!
Get that fine Stuff

 

[Eu_citzen]

Needle separating the stuff form the black sand is quite hard to I need a blue bowl for this job nothing else is efficient enough for getting the fine stuff is.
I have used that one to get some moraine gold to which is very fine to.

I notice most material is collected ON the fine expanded it works like a screen separating big and small material and ALSO increasing friction aka the material slows down which is what I want it to do.

Haha I sold that one working on a home made highbanker to accompany my big Honcoop...

It does get it and it does so quite easy I'm only pre screening to approx 1cm.

Regards,
Eu

 

[Needle]

Eu, you mentioned you need a Blue Bowl, I came across this site and thought you might be interested in it. (you may already have good detailed instructions in the use of this Blue Bowl, but if not - for fine Gold recovery , this is very important info).

http://www.pioneermining.com/bb_si.htm

 

[Eu_citzen]

Needle I got some good instructions from the lad I bought from. And a lot of interesting info.

http://www.iowagold.com/HOWTOPAGES/how_to_run_a_blue_bowl.htm

Getting gold out of the black sand is super and improved my fine gold recovery with more then 400%!
You might wanna consider trying it to I think?

Regards,
Eu

 

[boogeyman]

Eu_citizen,

What's the mesh on the fine expanede metal you're using?

I'm messing with using 1/16" (holes spaced 3/32" apart) punch plate in the head of the box about 1" up above the carpet. Wanna see if it'll work without loading up with clay. Hopefully I can get it finished up later this week. Hopefully get a few test runs in before summer dries everything up.

Needle,
Thank you for putting up the link. Still using the green bowl, bought it at a garage sale for $4! Lady didn't know what it was for. Was gonna tell her it was a proto type for a self watering flower pot, but I was nice. Good tips setting up!

 

[Eu_citzen]

Boog I use 3 expanded metal types:
1. Is the 'big' on the tops of the sluice I got that one when I orderd the highbanker
2. The black one is used to styling cars
3. Is some fine screen rather or something got it for free when i bought something can't remember exactly what is was.





Also ever seen this stuff? It is very (3-5mm high maybe?) flat going to test it next time I can get out. 8)

 

[boogeyman]

Great pictures! Explains a lot. Got a couple of pieces at the shop, but haven't put any to use yet. Just picked them up where I get my square tube steel. They have a "drop" pile & I always check it for goodies for upcoming projects. Also like the use of the air cleaner wing nut! looks as though it'd hold better & be easier to spot when dropped. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Eu_citzen]

Well Boog. The Wing nut was with when I ordered the highbanker it is a modified Gold Buddy V1250.
For the lower end I use a aluminum piece and a smaller wing nut to similar effect the aluminum piece gives a wider bottom for better holding. Also most of the expanded it aluminum to so I can use a magnet if needed.



Another pic for you satisfaction. Though note that this is not in a set up condition I took the pics in a hurry.
Did you note the really fine screen under the black expanded? the holes are 1mm.
I donno the mesh size for the expanded...I'm still in Sweden...

 

[boogeyman]

I'll have to make a trip to the junk yard & see if I can get a bunch. Thoughht I had some in my bins. Yes the last pictures explained it perfectly. Looks like 1/4" hardware cloth, at least that's what they call it here. Again thanks for clarifying with the pictures!!!!

 

[Eu_citzen]

It is very possible I honestly don't have a clue. lol
I used that expanded because I could buy it locally. :P
No problem I have had the pics for quite a while.

 

[boogeyman]

Cool! Keep us informed! Be interested in seeing how it works out for you!

 

[Eu_citzen]

Cool! Keep us informed! Be interested in seeing how it works out for you!

Huh?? What post are you referring to?

 

[Needle]

Needle thanks for putting up our Rube Goldburg Doodads again.

Your welcome EU, Here is another example of RGD's.

I don't know what other people use to save their backs when spending a day with a Gold pan, but this is what I use and it is useful to me!


(Notice the black band at the top of the bucket, that is 1/2" strapping pulled tight to prevent the bucket from splitting under the weight of the water.)

This cone holds 17 1/2 gallons of water when full of water, plus you can add a little soap or Jet Dry to the water to help drop the float gold in the pan.
(When using the panning station I have a large pan that always stays floating in the water, I pan into this larger pan with a smaller pan, then I can discard the tailing's on the ground or if they have good Gold I throw the tailing's into a bucket for later working.)

I have one at home and have one to take with me if I spend a day at the river bank or a creek bank.

When we were Dredging we set this Panning Station up in the creek and it was a back saver when clean up time came or anytime someone needed to make a quick check for values in a crevice.

Needle