Im back with a 6" Build

[oragonads]

It's been a few years but I'm back and currently building a new 6" dredge. I'm using a 16hp motor with a keene p350 pump and 263 compressor. I've got 30' of new 6" hose. The floats are made by D&K, as well as the flare. Im running a 6'x20" sluice. The frame is made of 1"x1" .065 steel, plenty stout enough but still easy to carry. Im hoping to finish it up within the next week or two as I'll be running it all season long in my claim in southern oregon.

 

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[oragonads]

Also, is there an exact angle that the flare is supposed enter the sluice at or is it just a "well that looks about right" type of adjustment.

 

[burlbark]

Also, is there an exact angle that the flare is supposed enter the sluice at or is it just a "well that looks about right" type of adjustment.

My advice to you is to lower everything. Try to make sure your jet is at least a foot under the water or more. The problems I ran into was when clearing rock jambs or shutting down for lunch was upon start up and and throttle up was water blasting out of the jets and causing gold to move down the box. Its really important to have a good drop area right after the flare. The next box I buy or make will be modified to have a much deeper drop area under a 1/2" screen. I want 3-4" of drop as I found most of my gold in that first stage, ribbed rubber and miners moss was good but that are is really turbulent and I want the gold staying in the front of my box.

 

[oragonads]

The sluice and flare wont be sitting up as high as in the picture. It's just sitting on crossbars that are keeping everything squared up for mock up. They will be removed and the sluice and flare will sit lower between the floats.

 

[specksandflecks]

Nice project there oragonads.

I assume you are going to make an undercurrent section for fines? Dono what size gold you are mostly after, so I'll guess all of it.

I could see a inexpensive above ground pool coming in handy to give some idea of flotation, unless you are close to water or have a pond.

I only have limited experience running a 4" 3 stage FWIW. That said I would try to allow enough room under the front crossbar to set your flair as near flat as you can. Reason being is it helps preserve energy, allowing you to run the box at a more shallow angle, without having to tilt the box so much to keep the material flowing and keep it from loading up. Basically a slightly elevated motor/pump platform. That might cost you some pump efficiency since your pump will be a little higher, but I don't think it will be much and IMO is a worthwhile trade off for being able to run your flare at a more shallow angle.

If you can find some simple way to allow for elevation adjustment of the entire box (independent from slope) that would go a long way in helping you keep that undercurrent just above the water without being unnecessarily high above the water. As burlbark said you want that jet log under the surface. I have considered adding 12-16" to the trailing end of my stock Keene jet log to allow it to be a little further under water while still running my flare at as shallow angle as possible I also envision other benefits, just a theory though.

The top of my flare hits the bottom of the motor/pump platform and my jets are just barely under the surface. I don't recall having any problems with jet blast on startup, though I always throttle down before starting.

 

[russau]

on startups I always keep the motors RPM low and SLOWLY increase the speed of the motor to prevent migration of the gold in the sluice and when stopping the motor I again slowly decrease the speed to any problems. this has helped me in saveing the fine gold ive been getting over the years. just stopping the motor or starting up and rasing the motors speed moves material down the sluice!

 

[Hoser John]

Man alive where are you gonna put that big engine/compressor on that little frame,sure is small,more 4"-5" as 6' more than double water/gravel and full box weight?? Finish box and float with all attached asap as nothing worse than a submarine John

 

[winners58]

are those the 77 in. floats I'm building a new dredge too I ended up with 4 of the keene 6" mini floats comes to 95 in.
I was going to get 4 of these Brawn Dredge Floats : Cabela's
I'm getting my flare from D&K and building my own box just going to be a single like the proline looking for a 20" set of riffles

 

[oragonads]

Man alive where are you gonna put that big engine/compressor on that little frame,sure is small,more 4"-5" as 6' more than double water/gravel and full box weight?? Finish box and float with all attached asap as nothing worse than a submarine John

I've got a creek in my back yard 30' from my shop that has a large enough pool in it to float test it. I've also got an old 5" Keene without a motor and pump that I can use for extra flotation of needed. If not I'll be selling the old 5"

 

[oragonads]

are those the 77 in. floats I'm building a new dredge too I ended up with 4 of the keene 6" mini floats comes to 95 in.
I was going to get 4 of these Brawn Dredge Floats : Cabela's
I'm getting my flare from D&K and building my own box just going to be a single like the proline looking for a 20" set of riffles

Yep, they are the same floats D&K uses on their 5" triple sluice dredge. They shouldn't have a problem floating a 6" with a single sluice.

 

[oragonads]

For some reason, the angle I took that picture makes the flare and sluice look huge compared to the frame and floats. That ratio really doesn't look that off.

 

[winners58]

the ones I have are 15x14, shows on their website yours are 14x14 so you shouldn't have a problem,
lower the sluice, mount the end of engine up aganst the top of the flair should work great

 

[Hoser John]

I have that ol' school 5" too but converted to over/under and on barrels. Amazing that them bullet nosed 70s era floats are still intact. Lotza luck-John

 

[oragonads]

Update:

The frame should be all finished up and painted by the end of tomorrow. On friday I'll be setting it up in the creek in my back yard and float/run testing it. Perfect timing as it will be warming up to 73 and sunny! I'll post some more pictures tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I won't be needing my keene 5" dredge so it's up for sale. First $500 takes it, comes with everything but a motor, pump, and dive pump.

 

[oragonads]

Progress:

Adjustable sluice position for leveling out floatation.

 

[oragonads]

Well, I'm not 100% satisfied with the frame so today I'll be starting from scratch. 3rd times the charm right?

 

[oragonads]

Took the sluice into D&K in Gresham OR today. They are currently fabricating the custom riffle system for my entire 6'x20" sluice box for such a surprisingly low cost that I have absolutely no desire to fab up my own.

I'll begin working on my new frame this weekend or possibly not until monday. Depends on when I'll have access to a welder again. Or maybe I'll girl up the cash for my own, havnt exactly decided yet.

 

[winners58]

Nice look forward to seeing what your riffle's look like I still need to have some made for my box might have to call them up.
best way to make the frame is to look at other dredges this is a photo of the keene 6
.

 

[SHoward]

I wish my welds looked good enough to do close ups like you did ! LOL

 

[oragonads]

Well, I've got little to no work done on the dredge frame. Im a perfectionist and have a little bit of OCD that is holding me back. To cut right down to it, these D&K floats just are not cutting it. Each float has 3 mounting points. For some reason D&K decided each mounting point should be of a different size. Front fits a 1"x1" square tube, middle fits a 7/8"x1" tube, and the rear fits a 3/4"x1" tube. I don't know if it just my OCD or what but that annoys the hell out of me. Also none of the mounting surfaces are level to one another, so no matter how straight and square of a frame I build, it won't sit flat... I also never received the plates that clamp the frame down to the pontoon mounts (as shown on their website).

Needless to say, I'll be returning these floats to D&K tomorrow morning. I just ordered 4 of the 48"x14" Brawn Dredge Floats off Cabelas. Figure I'd give those a shot. I like the look of the frame mount setup a lot better. It should be a lot simpler and cleaner looking of a set up.