Tips for sluice build

[GodsEarth]

Hey everyone I’m looking for some tips on a cheaper high bank sluice build I’m putting together. My thoughts as of right now (Keep in mind I’m keeping it very budget friendly), is going 10” wide 36”-48” long with Gold Owl matting. I’m making everything out of wood and I’ll have a little 72cc gas powered water pump and 3/4” pvc piping for water delivery. I’ll have the jet holes in pvc shooting up as well as in from the sides.

I’m looking for tips on how much water flow I should aim to have. The pump does about 2300 GPH.

roughly what angle should I have it at? I’ve heard 1” drop per foot.

Is 10” too wide?

I’m building it all out of wood to save some money.

ALL TIPS APPRECIATED! I plan on building it tonight.

Thanks,

Adam

 

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[russau]

Go to any metal fabrication business and have one bent up to your spec's . This is the cheapest you will get UNLESS you bend it yourself!

 

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[Jason in Enid]

There are companies that make sluice blanks https://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/customsluice.html

That website brings back memories from all the research and sourcing I did to build my 3 inch dredge.

 

[Goodyguy]

I would also recommend https://www.hecklerfabrication.com/
Their 10" x 5' sluice blank is $15 cheaper than goldfever prospecting.

Aluminum is the preferred way to go, Wood will work if you so choose plus you cant beat the satisfaction of creating something yourself.
Here are some examples an acquaintance of mine here on t-net created over 10 years ago that he was quite proud of.
Would take two men and a boy to handle one of those puppies




Personally I like this one



GG~

 

[Jason in Enid]

I would also recommend https://www.hecklerfabrication.com/
Their 10" x 5' sluice blank is $15 cheaper than goldfever prospecting.

GG~

He does great work, but hes out of stock of almost all the small bits. You can call and ask him about having one made, BUT BE PREPARED TO WAIT. He only does the small stuff in between building his big units.

 

[Goodyguy]

He does great work, but hes out of stock of almost all the small bits. You can call and ask him about having one made, BUT BE PREPARED TO WAIT. He only does the small stuff in between building his big units.

Goldfever Prospecting is also out of stock on the 10" x 5'
Perhaps they source it from Heckler.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Don't let anybody deter you from using wood. MANY men provided for their families during the depression using wooden sluice boxes.

May not be as durable...but truth be told..there are MANY people that have put more ($$) into their modern durable sluice than they have recovered shoveling gravel. Although they will never admit it.

Sometimes this is a multi step process...prove it is worth the time and effort, then sink the capital into your project.

It's really not rocket science..water washing material across a surface prone to catching gold.

If it's not about profit and just about the experience..I guess buy the best and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

[Goldwasher]

Don't let anybody deter you from using wood. MANY men provided for their families during the depression using wooden sluice boxes.

May not be as durable...but truth be told..there are MANY people that have put more ($$) into their modern durable sluice than they have recovered shoveling gravel. Although they will never admit it.

Sometimes this is a multi step process...prove it is worth the time and effort, then sink the capital into your project.

It's really not rocket science..water washing material across a surface prone to catching gold.

If it's not about profit and just about the experience..I guess buy the best and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Meh.....

 

[Goldwasher]

every one is out of stock due to actual demand...get in touch some one will make you one..

there are things called craigslist and Harbor freight (brake)

Wood actually sucks .145% more now than when I started this post.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

It was going to be built out of wood because of budget.
Easy, fast and cheap.

There are better options.

If it doesn't work out..use it for a warming fire and make something better..your out a couple boards and a handful of screws.

 

[Gambrinus]

40 gpm min. for a 10" box unless you classify to 1/4 inch.

Punch plate is a great idea an "undercurrent' is good for your situation.

Wood sucks. You will put more money in your cursing jar over time. Versus buying a cheap bending brake and a sheet of aluminum.

Gold hog/ owl matting has weight with +plus wood (SUCKS) = curse jar.

There are companies that make sluice blanks https://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/customsluice.html

Thanks for using the word "undercurrent" I was racking my brain trying to remember that term.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

You could have bought a cheap plastic sluice for hardly anything and been catching gold since this thread started.
Building stuff doesnt help if it never gets done. Just buy what you need and get to it.
The old timers built stuff cuz they had to. Not cuz they wanted to or didnt have anything else to do. They didnt have Angus sluices.

 

[Gambrinus]

Hey everyone I’m looking for some tips on a cheaper high bank sluice build I’m putting together. My thoughts as of right now (Keep in mind I’m keeping it very budget friendly), is going 10” wide 36”-48” long with Gold Owl matting. I’m making everything out of wood and I’ll have a little 72cc gas powered water pump and 3/4” pvc piping for water delivery. I’ll have the jet holes in pvc shooting up as well as in from the sides.

I’m looking for tips on how much water flow I should aim to have. The pump does about 2300 GPH.

roughly what angle should I have it at? I’ve heard 1” drop per foot.

Is 10” too wide?

I’m building it all out of wood to save some money.

ALL TIPS APPRECIATED! I plan on building it tonight.

Thanks,

Adam

The punch plate idea I suggested in post #19 could be made from wood as well. I don't think wood is an ideal material choice for a sluice box mainly due to weight but I understand your reason. But if you decide to upgrade to metal I recommend going to a metal recycler first you might find something in their yard that is bent in the shape you need and is cheap, it is the first place I go to when I am going to build a project out of metal.

 

[Goodyguy]

I love Wood, Wood is great!
The more Wood the better, Where would we all be without Wood?

 

[Goldwasher]

The punch plate idea I suggested in post #19 could be made from wood as well. I don't think wood is an ideal material choice for a sluice box mainly due to weight but I understand your reason. But if you decide to upgrade to metal I recommend going to a metal recycler first you might find something in their yard that is bent in the shape you need and is cheap, it is the first place I go to when I am going to build a project out of metal.

big problems. I tried to make an abs punchplate. Wood will have the same issue.

It is not as hard as the material passing over and through it. The holes quickly clog with pebbles not big enough to make it they dig in.. larger material doesn't help pass it through by impact like with steel or aluminum.

 

[GodsEarth]

Man I’m glad I joined this forum. Great tips and advice, it couldn’t be better. Thanks everyone. I decided to go the aluminum route. After looking around for cheap aluminum I just went to home depo and picked up some and I’ll bend it myself. I’ve been running around panning here and there at the river that my property buts up to and I wanted to see if you guys think this is gold. I’m real new to prospecting so I can’t tell. I know there was a lot of pyrite in the pan floating and bouncing all over the place but this one tiny flake was at the bottom and was hard to separate from the black sand. I singled it out in the picture so hopefully you can see it.

Just want to make sure I’m doing it right and looking for the right thing when chasing gold. Don’t want to end up with a handful of pyrite.

 

[GodsEarth]

Picture looks like crap I give up lol. Looks a lot better in person

 

[Jason in Enid]

I recommend buying a bag of "paydirt" online. Dont waste your time with anything that calls itself "unsearched" or other nonesense. Buy one that tells you how much gold you are getting. Practice panning it over, and over. I recommend getting a plastic cement mixing tub to use as a panning tub. Panning is a skill that needs practice. Big gold is simple, its the flour-gold that is so freakin hard and slow to pan out.

 

[arizau]

Man I’m glad I joined this forum. Great tips and advice, it couldn’t be better. Thanks everyone. I decided to go the aluminum route. After looking around for cheap aluminum I just went to home depo and picked up some and I’ll bend it myself. I’ve been running around panning here and there at the river that my property buts up to and I wanted to see if you guys think this is gold. I’m real new to prospecting so I can’t tell. I know there was a lot of pyrite in the pan floating and bouncing all over the place but this one tiny flake was at the bottom and was hard to separate from the black sand. I singled it out in the picture so hopefully you can see it.

Just want to make sure I’m doing it right and looking for the right thing when chasing gold. Don’t want to end up with a handful of pyrite.
View attachment 1784562
View attachment 1784563

Here is one thing that I always do when I am not sure what I am looking at is gold. Gold has a golden yellow hue in full AND shaded/indirect light.....even tiny pieces. Virtually every thing else that looks like gold/has a golden color in full light loses it's color when shaded. Do that test and see what happens.

Good luck.

 

[seafox]

one of the rules of thumb I think I got from doc at gold hog is 10 gallons per minute per inch of sluice width. I have made my grizzlies out of drilled plate I like room to work the material back and forth so my grizzilly is 5 feet long their are mats in both the distruction chamber and under the grizilly and then I have a stack of expanded metal to help meter the flow of gravels and sand down the rest of the mats. most of my matts are home made with some gold hog mats. my latest idea is cutting drop slots 1/4 inch wide and 1/4th inch deep in conveyor matting with a router. have also tried making silicone mats and like all the hiding spots lego blocks give ( not to mention you get to play with legos. I am going to try drop slots with sluice gates in them to see if I can get more fine gold. idea from a beach sand miner in new zealand who posted a paper on his design on the internet. my sluice set up was 35 feet over all last year ran a set up of 20 or 25 feet found gold all the way down both times . when you talk about your spray bars I like staying dry and have found the best ( IMHO) is a 5/8 inch nozzel blasting up into the distruction chamber where the gravel is dumped or shoveled in. shooting acrost at an angle it swerls around and really liquifies the pay dirt. also it does not splash as much and at the very top of the chamber it tends to concentrate the biggest gold. the 5/8th stream of water shoots under thwe pay gravel and churns it and since it is crossing sometimes the material curcles around two or three times before dropping out on the grizzily and therefore it gets reqally waashed so no dirt chings to the rocks. I built my first sluice out of steel from top of a torn down brick wall ( the kind that seperateas factory areas for keeping fire from spreading to fast the brick goes abover the roofing) heavy though alumian I got from an uncle in law that makes roll cages for side b6y side off road vehicles

 

[mike(swWash)]

If you use 1/4" screen as a grisly, you'll get the best of almost all worlds. Pickers over 1/4" are rare, finer gold will wash through and the bigger rocks will slide away