Why a punch plate?

[Huelten]

Question that has been on my mind for a long time. Quick background info, im running a 74 inch homemade highbanker equipped with goldhog mats. Is a punch plate an absolute necessity? If so, why? and what function does it serve?

 

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[mortschool1]

In case a punch bowl is too much? ba-dump tss ....

sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[Huelten]

^

 

[Fullpan]

Punch plates have been around since 49er days - this new Gold Hog mat is new tech, maybe you don't need em anymore - Doc, chime in....

 

[DizzyDigger]

In my case, I'm building a 32" long classifying tray that
will mount directly on top of my Gold Cube. Idea is
to dump material on one side, and wash it thoroughly
as it travels down the slide. All the 1/8"- material will
drop through the punch plate, and the dreck will get
shoved right off the end.

I could cut large holes in the base and cover it with
1/8" screen, but that would create bumps and uneven
areas that will inhibit the overburden material to slide
right off the end. I want it smooth from one end to the
other, with all the water and material dropping right through
the punch plate on to the feed plate of the Gold Cube.

Different situations call for an assortment of solutions,
and punch plate is a great classifying tool for a lot of
applications.

 

[Gold Maven]

yeah....what digger said.

It helps to classify, and retains enough water to clean itself. Regular screen, at a flat angle, and without any shaking, will just stack up the oversize.

 

[goldhog]

Punch plates are often used at the top of the sluice box usually over UR in a highbanker.
If it's a dredge, different story.
As the water falls it has no "horizontal flow" therefore the area really doesn't "exchange" like the rest of the box.
Remember... depending on the design, the water often falls straight DOWN here.
Placing 1/4" punch held about 1/2 - 3/4" over the matting choice, including moss or whatever you use, will allow a quiet
capture zone similar to a quasi fluid bed, but not allow larger rocks to simply sit there and build up.
It's a lot like the theory of a slick plate, only you are capturing gold at the same time.
This method works REALLY well if you have a crash box style dredge as well, which often suffers from
LARGE rocks piling up in the crash box.
Hope I built the VISUAL well enough there.
Doc

 

[Hoser John]

Punch plate has been around since the 49rs as gold recovery is has and always will be all about classification. Sure gold has a specific gravity 19 times heavier than water BUT by just size alone of a rock 2-3 times bigger it can be knocked out of the box and adios once speed and inertia build. This is especially true when you have nuggets with large quartz or other matrix involved as then sg lower and off to the races it goes. Header pp provides instant classification and protection for smaller gold to ensure it goes nowhere. That's why I designed the over/under classifiers to further seal away all the fines as much as possible,with the assist of the expanded flares to ensure as much lower box feedin as possible. You can't lose gold when it's the biggest heaviest kid on the block and protected. Just part and parcel to any decent mining rig be it wire(mostly trommels as too much water goes through on a dredge,floods bottom) or punchplate on hibankers,sluices and dredges. In 55+ years a mining I've never seen a "successful"professional miner who supports himself/family from their op without prior classification prior to recovery. I like a angled punchplate as it forces the gravels to climb up and out to hit the box and recovery skyrockets as the more preclassificarion the better for recovery-John

 

[Huelten]

Im going to post some pics of my setup tomorrow, if a punch plate is simply for classification i already have a grizzly bar type setup the hopper for my highbanker. Does this suffice? l will post some pics as soon as i can for reference