May somebody post some pictures of their gold trap box "Bazooka"

go4thegold

Greenie
May 14, 2014
12
9
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I'm currently building a gold trap box.
My only problem has been that I haven't been able to get a picture of the end of the box itself. (where the trap is)
I've been wanting to see a picture of the overflow cutout/ exit side. If you've made your own or have a bazooka I would love a picture. :notworthy:

My box is made of sheet metal and it's turning out pretty good. I will be adding pvc pipes to the gold trap to keep a steady stream of water coming in to keep the material in a liquefied state.
Pictures to come of it soon.

Thanks!
 

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ALewis

Sr. Member
Aug 20, 2013
331
568
East Bay, Northern Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I would say the # one complaint I have heard when I show someone my homemade fluid bed is that "you can't see the gold?"

I just recently painted my skid w/ some chalk board paint, just to test it out. ( liked how an OG bazooka held it up ion the ABS plastic) Did see a few more pieces hangin up, then getting knocked towards the trap.....BUT, I have already sampled this area with my pan already. I know there is gold there. Therefore, I shovel more, watch the skid less.....

One of my thoughts to try & get the fines is to try and hook up a shaker / agitator ? No, go4gold, not a vibrator.....I keep thinking of a counter-weight attached to an impellor, or something like that, utilizing the water flow to give the trap side a little tap / shake / agitation....Have Wondered how that would affect the heavies settling, and lighter material ejecting...either for the better or worse ???
 

KevinInColorado

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2012
7,037
11,369
Summit County, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Grizzly Goldtrap Explorer & Motherlode, Gold Cube with trommel or Banker on top, Angus Mackirk Expedition, Gold-n-Sand Xtream Hand pump
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I would say the # one complaint I have heard when I show someone my homemade fluid bed is that "you can't see the gold?" I just recently painted my skid w/ some chalk board paint, just to test it out. ( liked how an OG bazooka held it up ion the ABS plastic) Did see a few more pieces hangin up, then getting knocked towards the trap.....BUT, I have already sampled this area with my pan already. I know there is gold there. Therefore, I shovel more, watch the skid less..... One of my thoughts to try & get the fines is to try and hook up a shaker / agitator ? No, go4gold, not a vibrator.....I keep thinking of a counter-weight attached to an impellor, or something like that, utilizing the water flow to give the trap side a little tap / shake / agitation....Have Wondered how that would affect the heavies settling, and lighter material ejecting...either for the better or worse ???

Hey there...the shaking would make things worse. The bgt is great down to -100 but as weak as most other sluices below that. This is due to the trade off on needing to throw 1/4" gravel out. To fix the -100 retention issue you'd have to:
-add finer mesh to the grizzly
- constrict flow into the fluidization tubes
- maybe constrain speed of flow on the skid plate (not sure)
...we are describing a whole diff fluid bed although it could be easily done via a Bazooka with a highbanker setup. Someone with access to looks of -100 paydirt should try this maybe?!
 

tridge800

Jr. Member
Sep 4, 2012
89
13
Jamestown nc
Detector(s) used
Garrett at gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I regularly catch -100 in my stock setup 48" Prospector BGT. I have tested many times with placing an extra sluice, whether it be a Keene, or Angus Mackirk, the BGT doesn't lose much if any 99% of the time as long as its set up correctly, and setting it up correctly is much more forgiving than any traditional Hungarian or Drop Riffle that i have ever used. As far as the complaints about not being able to see the gold or knowing u are in a good spot. I solved this by adding a piece of RRM to the slickplate. Adding this has in no way "that I can tell" affected the performance of the BGT, except for the fact that I can NOW see if the material I'm working is good or not. Here are some pics of the "baffle" that I believe uvare referring to. Hope this helps!!

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benny

Full Member
Sep 15, 2012
189
169
Oregon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hi, Go4,

This is the end of my mini-BGT. I put a piece of wood flooring (aluminum) channel on the end to raise the exit just a bit because I wanted a little deeper trap. It closed the exhaust about 1/16". Inside you can see the baffle. Seems to be about 1/4". I think you should contact the manufacturer to see what they say about it.

BGT_baffle.JPG
 

OP
OP
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go4thegold

Greenie
May 14, 2014
12
9
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
@Alewis
oh come on!

Just use the vibrator already! hahaha:laughing7:
 

OP
OP
G

go4thegold

Greenie
May 14, 2014
12
9
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hi, Go4,

This is the end of my mini-BGT. I put a piece of wood flooring (aluminum) channel on the end to raise the exit just a bit because I wanted a little deeper trap. It closed the exhaust about 1/16". Inside you can see the baffle. Seems to be about 1/4". I think you should contact the manufacturer to see what they say about it.

View attachment 1001530

That's a nice looking box. I finally finished mine.

I was considering raising the wall of the overflow myself. I get paranoid to losing small flakes even though my sample run went well and my box was able to collect some very very fine gold.
Thanks all for the posts.
If it wasn't for all of you, I wouldn't have finished it.
Thanks again all!
 

arizau

Bronze Member
May 2, 2014
2,479
3,854
AZ
Detector(s) used
Beach High Banker, Sweep Jig, Whippet Dry Washer, Lobo ST, 1/2 width 2 tray Gold Cube, numerous pans, rocker box, and home made fluid bed and stream sluices.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hi, Go4,

This is the end of my mini-BGT. I put a piece of wood flooring (aluminum) channel on the end to raise the exit just a bit because I wanted a little deeper trap. It closed the exhaust about 1/16". Inside you can see the baffle. Seems to be about 1/4". I think you should contact the manufacturer to see what they say about it.

View attachment 1001530

If the pictured baffle is perpendicular to the lip of the slick plate then, in my opinion, it serves two purposes. First it sort of acts like a nozzle and restricts but accelerates the flow into the box. Second, but most importantly, it then effectively increases the volume of the box, after the pinch point, which quickly reduces the flow through speed and also allows room for tube introduced water. The somewhat slower flow allows some of the smaller, or maybe flatter pieces of gold a better chance to settle and not be swept out of the box. This info is food for thought and may be useful to DIY'ers and to those who may want to know, what I think is, a little of the science involved.
 

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benny

Full Member
Sep 15, 2012
189
169
Oregon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If the pictured baffle is perpendicular to the lip of the slick plate then, in my opinion, it serves two purposes. First it sort of acts like a nozzle and restricts but accelerates the flow into the box. Second, but most importantly, it then effectively increases the volume of the box, after the pinch point, which quickly reduces the flow through speed and also allows room for tube introduced water. The somewhat slower flow allows some of the smaller, or maybe flatter pieces of gold a better chance to settle and not be swept out of the box. This info is food for thought and may be useful to DIY'ers and to those who may want to know, what I think is, a little of the science involved.

Pretty much my thinking. Not only is the trap a bit deeper, but it's also going to add some restriction and back pressure to slow the water going through. Don't know how to do any real testing though.

There's some other pictures in this link:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/417234-mini-bgt-ideas.html
 

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Goodyguy

Gold Member
Mar 10, 2007
6,489
6,895
Arizona
Detector(s) used
Whites TM 808, Whites GMT, Tesoro Lobo Super Traq, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Suction Dredges, Trommels, Gold Vacs, High Bankers, Fluid bed Gold Traps, Rock Crushers, Sluices, Dry Washers, Miller Tables, Rp4
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Careful when making the trap deeper.
The extra weight of the material above the fluidizing tubes diminishes their ability to keep the material in the trap fluidized.

After running for awhile the slurry in the trap will begin to become denser creating more and more back pressure against the flow coming from the holes in the tubes reducing their ability to maintain the material in the trap at the desired fluid state.

Once the slurry in the trap reaches a certain density it will become more difficult for the incoming gold from above to settle deep enough fast enough to keep it from being swept over the overflow port by the force of the incoming flow.

Remember, as the weight of the material in the trap increases the fluidization decreases.
So dont make the trap so deep that the jets get overwhelmed by material.

I've found that my traps stay fluidized best when the overflow port is no more than 1" above the tubes.
But then I run a lot of material loaded with black sand and garnet.

GG~
 

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