The "Gold Drum"

[Gold-drum]

Yes, Home Depot mixer and I make the basket and drum ring

 

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[Gold-drum]

 

[Gold-drum]

Harbor Freight Mixer on a welding cart.

 

[Gold-drum]

 

[Gold-drum]

 

[Gold-drum]

 

[Gold-drum]

 

[Gold-drum]

 

[Joanne]

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Nicely done! Simple to make one if you have a few key tools. Do you have your own roller or did you have the top band and bottom ring rolled out of house? Is the lower ring 1/4 .095?

Joanne

 

[Hard Prospector]

I tried contacting Gold drum via PM to see if he's in the business of fabricating these things (I'm at least interested in the center basket classifier) anyways that was a few days ago and no reply. Could be he's in the diggins and out of cell service or struck it rich and moved on in life..... I'm sure he'l show up around here some day

 

[AzViper]

Hard Prospector, you can go to most metal shops that have a CNC plasma cutter and have the outer ring cut from 1/4" plate cause this edge is going to take a beating. Once you remove the cone from the drum measure the ID of the drum and have the ring cut to the ID, then have the next cut 1" smaller so that you have a ring. Tack weld the ring in a number of locations around the ring.

 

[Hard Prospector]

Thanks for that Keith and BTW, hope the shoulder over-haul is still holding up the way it should.
Take care and good to hear from you.....Rob

 

[johnedoe]

I know this is an old thread but I was just looking around and came across it and thought I would add my 2 dwt.

I would put a classifying sluice like a high banker at the outfall of this thing..... The amount of fine gold loss is astonishing....

 

[Mcromano20]

cool idea

Just a crazy thought....I was thinking about how the gold would settle or would it walk up the side of the material on the bottom. Made me think of how a spiral gold wheel works. All the gold settles to the bottom, and only walks up due to the spirals catching it. Which led me to further think....what if,,,WHAT IF....the back of this drum instead of being smooth, had spirals just like the spiral wheel concentrator? The combination of the classifying action and a spiral gold wheel is what I see here. Would take a bit of tweeking, but Ill bet it would work.

 

[Hard Prospector]

Last year I bought a portable electric cement mixer from Home depot. The only time I use it is when I need to break down lots of caliche before drywashing. The 110v-1/2hp motor runs well on a small generator and one guy can move in around with out the assistance of 3 well fed gorillas. Tossing in a couple of bowling ball sized chunks of iron stone or granite really does a number on the caliche. When the consistency looks right, I just dump the drum of reduced material into a mortar tub (sometimes a wheel barrow) and drag or push it over to the drywasher and start a run.

 

[Reed Lukens]

It would be better if it agitated left and right 1/3 of a turn like a clothes washing machine I believe, because the gold could just settle to the bottom instead of being constantly churned up to the top. Looks like a good idea but his new one using the washer into a sluice looks great
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=X-MLlI_MIY8