Made a small recirculating miller table

[Astrobouncer]

So lately I been wanting some kind of cleanup machine to pickup the small gold I know I been missing with panning when doing my cleanups at home. I was looking through a bunch of designs on here and on the internet and I figured I would try a recirculating slate miller table because it seemed really easy and cost effective (ie cheap to build!). Plus its very portable if I want to set it up somewhere outdoors, its runs off any 12 battery.

I got the 800 pump from wal mart, its one of those cartridge deals, it was around 25 dollars (Thanks SCBuzz for the idea). The tubing came from lowes for a couple bucks. I used pvc pipe with a manual valve to adjust the water flow and that was like 6 dollars for tubing + valve. The wood was some scrap I had laying around the house. The slate board for the base came from hobby lobby. I think it was 4 dollars.

I built it yesterday and then today tried it out on 2 pans worth of cons from Friday's gold. Stuff I had already panned really carefully and got out all the visible gold that I seen.

Here is some pics of it. Its nothing super fancy to look at, but boy does it work. It caught gold so fine you cant see it in the picture, and it got more then I thought it would for just 2 pans worth of already panned cons. I have so many cons still to go through that its gonna take me awhile, but at least it gives me something to do when I cant get out in the field.

I have it setup next to my mustang to use the car battery for a test, till I get a small boat battery to use instead. I also installed a 5 amp fuse just in case.






Here's the cleanup, there's some specs in there so small you cant see them in the picture!

 

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[russau]

i may have just messed up! my table is big. so i cut it into 4 peices (9 1/2 x 21) and i plan to make 1 complete recycling setup, and have it up-n-running for sale at our club meeting on 11-19.if i can sell it and make anything on it(make it worth my while), ill make another and so on! what do you think a fair price would be for one of these(3/8 thick slate Miller table/adjustable stand/storage tank/hoses/1000 GPH 12 vdc bilge pump.ill bring a power source but they will need their own with this).i formed some ABS plastic to craddel the 3/8 in. slate.and that cradel will have a seperat sponge filled compartment where the recycled water will enter. and itll have a valve on the water supply.

 

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[ohiochris]

Chris you need to screen your material finer and keep all of your settings the same!that will eliminate your black sand problem. and a autofeeder will work on all of the fine gold if you screen it all to the same size and run each screening seperatly! trust me on this!

Oh , ok I will look into that. I already have everything screened down to a size that is smaller than a standard window screen and thought that should be small enough , but will look into finding some smaller mesh size classifiers. It will also help when I get a better magnet for removing the magnetics.

 

[russau]

but getting that photo or ANY photo uploaded is the problem for this ole goat!

if youll look in the ICMJ they have been advertising a autofeeder for years. mine looks similar but i made mine from alum.and mine adjusts up/down and adjusts for tilt . plenty versitile for any cleanup equipment. heck if $$$ is tight like for most of us, you can use any ole plastic bucket for the cons container/hopper!

 

[Gramps43]

Chris,

I have something that would work perfect only my wifey-poo would ring my neck if I took it. It's a splatter shield that you put over a frying pan, it's about 12" in dia. and shaped like a cone with the point rounded over. Any fine mesh collender would do the trick as long as the mesh was fine, I feel a shopping trip coming on.

Gramps

 

[ohiochris]

Chris,

I have something that would work perfect only my wifey-poo would ring my neck if I took it. It's a splatter shield that you put over a frying pan, it's about 12" in dia. and shaped like a cone with the point rounded over. Any fine mesh collender would do the trick as long as the mesh was fine, I feel a shopping trip coming on.

Gramps

I have one of those , its what Ive been using. The mesh is tighter than window screen so it classifys stuff down pretty well. I bought it at a kitchen store at the mall. But I guess they make smaller mesh sizes than that even.

 

[Goodyguy]

they are so simple! a aluminum tray(with 2-3 inch deep sides) in a triangle shape except long on one side and open on the end of that corner. i have mine on a adjustable stand, where i can raise/lower/tilt for the application i need. i use it on all of my cleanup equipment. it is used in my recycleing recovery setup. i use Claygone and jet dry in the water. i use 2 750GPH 12vdc bilge pumps and 3/4 inch poly tubing to each device. as the water is pumped up to the autofeeder it conects to a ball valve and from there it splits in two directions along the sides inside the autofeeder using 1/4 inch poly tubeing again. there are lots of 3/16 holes drilled in the tubeing inside the autofeeder to go over the screened cons to wash/move them down the tray to feed whatever equiment your using.you can controll the feed by several means. 1) adjust the water stream. 2) adjust the height or angle of the autofeeder. once this is up-n-running for the feed you want, you can walk away and let it do its thing.remeber evertyhing is recycling so you can readjust this and run it again to see if youve lost antyhing back into the tub. i use this on my Miller table , blue bowl,wheel (sold it). now im decideing to make my Miller table smaller. my slate is big!i didnt want to cut it. but using my circular saw and a masonary blade it shouldnt be a proble. it looks like i could make 4 tables out of what i have now. this autofeeder is so simple, even i could make/use it!

Does it look like this?

 

[russau]

very similar! thats McQuirks, isnt it? except mine is in a triangular shape and all alum.shape dont matter except for where it adds the cons, it needs tobe pinched down to keep from any clumps of cons rolling into your device,and to better aim the cons. and my water feed to it comes in at the rear and "Ts" (with 1/4 inch poly tubing)off to go along the sides to lightly sprinkel water on the cons to feed them slowly into my device(sluice/miller table/wheel whatever!)i drilled a lot of 1/8 inch holes into this poly tubeing and i have a valve on this to controll my water. yep that device pictured would work perfect. like mine, it has a height adjustment and tilt to help controll the cons flow.

 

[Goodyguy]

very similar! thats McQuirks, isnt it? except mine is in a triangular shape and all alum.shape dont matter except for where it adds the cons, it needs tobe pinched down to keep from any clumps of cons rolling into your device,and to better aim the cons. and my water feed to it comes in at the rear and "Ts" (with 1/4 inch poly tubing)off to go along the sides to lightly sprinkel water on the cons to feed them slowly into my device(sluice/miller table/wheel whatever!)i drilled a lot of 1/8 inch holes into this poly tubeing and i have a valve on this to controll my water. yep that device pictured would work perfect. like mine, it has a height adjustment and tilt to help controll the cons flow.

Thanks Russ,

I think I have enough scrap leftover from some other projects to build one.
Right now I'm in the process of constructing a unique style Miller table and I'm anxious to get it finished and try it out on my latest batch of cons.

GG~

 

[craftime78]

Thanks for all the info here guys. I have been using a similar set up for years but mainly using it as a way to get my concentrates down to under 1/16" and using other tedious methods to do the final gold separation. I made several new troughs using old furnace ducts with different bottom surfaces after reading most of the comments here and instantly cut out several hours of work. I have a set up with a plastic tub about 6 feet off the ground that is my supply water with a 1 1/2" pipe that drops 3 feet vertical to a reducer and 1/2" valve just above the spray bar so that the water pressure can be controlled in addition to the gravity pressure which is multiplied because of the reduction of the diameter of the pipe. After going through the adjustable and changeable trough the slurry goes into a bucket that sets in a 100 gallon water tank. The bucket catches most of the waste for easy removal, with the water overflowing into the tank. I have an electric sump pump in the tank that I switch on periodically to keep the supply tub filled since the pump is too powerful for direct use. I also use a coffee filter at the top of the tub to keep the water as clean as possible going into the process. I use a cake pan below the trough when I flush it out to retrieve the gold-rich material and can re-run that much reduced amount through again with a more refined trough surface. I know it is a primitive setup but it one that my wife actually approves of when I bring it into the basement from the garage for the winter months. Thanks again guys for all the info.

Mark

 

[russau]

GG ive just finished makeing another Miller Table (from my bigger table)and im going to take pictures of it and have my daughter send them to this forum but i need to have a address for this forum, or how do i do this?? someone said to use photo shop and i think i have this but never used it.

 

[Goodyguy]

GG ive just finished makeing another Miller Table (from my bigger table)and im going to take pictures of it and have my daughter send them to this forum but i need to have a address for this forum, or how do i do this?? someone said to use photo shop and i think i have this but never used it.

Have your daughter show you how to upload your photos to your desktop and re-size them.

Then go to t-net click on "Reply to this Topic" and type your message. Wherever you want the photo pasted into your t-net message type

 

[Goodyguy]

Important Advice concerning the use of a miller table for newbies;

Believe it or not flour gold can and will float right off the end of your table!
Use a wetting agent or other surfactant such as "Jet dry" to allow the fine, fly speck, flour, and micro gold, to break the surface tension of the water so it can settle to the table surface. Most prospectors use "Jet Dry" dishwasher rinse due to it's no suds/low foam formula, other brands work as well. (only takes a few drops)

Actually a surfactant is needed anytime you are using water to separate gold from your concentrates, no matter what device you utilize, such as a gold pan, blue bowl, spiral wheel, miller table, etc.

You also may have to add more surfactant after the water gets dirty.
Here in Indiana most of the gold bearing creeks have a lot of salt content, increasing the need for a surfactant. Not to mention the fact that our water has elevated lime content making it even more necessary.

I know Jack Hamilton mentioned surface tension in one of his above posts but I wanted to make sure the use of a surfactant didn't get overlooked by any newcomers.

Go for the gold,
GG~

 

[russau]

very good point GG! also never add dry cons to any wet device or vice versa!! doing so will cause the fine stuff to float also. i always use Jet Dry and Clay-Gone in my devices. it really seems to help a lot!

 

[leadhead2]

A good friend and I made a Miller table a few years back for our fine gold recovery.
We found out after our trial process or after our first table , we preferred the dark green color
of the chalk board paint as it would show the extremely small dark spec's of sand better to separate for the final clean up .... loved the Miller table , green horns would watch with a "deer in the head lights" glare ....
digger

 

[OKIE]

Would vibration help or hurt this setup?

 

[Astrobouncer]

Here's my prospecting buddies miller table setup:



Vibration actually helps if you setup for it, check out this video:



I will probably be working on my own table soon, I have the slate to do 2 just sitting idle in the garage.

 

[OKIE]

I was thinking about using the vibrator motor out of a seat vibrator that u can get from Walgreen's or Walmart, they have diff. speed settings.
Thanks OKIE

 

[OKIE]

Thanks for the video's, I think I like the first set up better with the pan flow versus the spray bar straight onto the table, it gives a smoother and more even water flow.
RT if you are still on Tnet I would like to hear from an "OLD" friend and get your in put.
Thanks and God bless,
OKIE

 

[russau]

Here's my prospecting buddies miller table setup:



Vibration actually helps if you setup for it, check out this video:



Astro your buddys miller setup is nice! all self contained and all you gota do is plug it in! im suprised with all his work he didnt place drain valves in his tanks. my table is stored in its own plastic tank and i set it up each time i use it,so his setup is very conveinent if you have room to store it when not in use! plus nobodys asked about the finer gold that they miss on the first pass. all you goto do is slow the water down and possibly reduce the angle of the table and let the water do the work, not your fingers! if the table is loading up, slow your feed down.

 

[Ganimead]

I have built a Miller Table, but I have a problem. Could anyone advise me of an alternative or a homemade substitution of Jet Dry? as I am unable to obtain Jet Dry anywhere here in the Philippines. I have tried normal washing liquid, but this generates a lot of bubbles :_) Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I am new to all of this.

Many thanks in advance