Best Manufacturer - Blue Bowl and Spiral Wheel?

[Fossil4Life]

There seems to be many manufacturers (and as many iterations) of the Blue Bowl and the Spiral Wheel. Who are good/best manufacturers that make this equipment? I'd rather spend money the right way once on quality gold recovery equipment than regret it later. So, does anyone have any recommendations on the best manufacturers to hit up for these two pieces of equipment?

Note: The Blue Bowl and Spiral Wheel will be used for small operations only, by my wife and I.

Thanks!

 

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[Goldwasher]

There is only one " Blue Bowl" keene used to make a green one... Spiral wheel is mainly a concentrator..can be used for finishing but not as good as a blue bowl. I had both I traded the wheel for a gold bug....will never ever let go of my blue bowl.

 

[AzViper]

If your heart is set on a Blue Bowl then look for one made by D.A.M. The new owners are still using the trade name of D.A.M in their molding process. Bought mine on Ebay. Hefty1 who is a member of these forums his father was the developer of the Blue Bowl. I have both the Blue Bowl and Rubber mat Miller Table. The Blue Bowl is a dust collector and not a gold collector anymore. For the simplicity the Miller Table wins hands down with very little learning curve. The blue Bowl on the other hand takes longer to process the con and very touchy in getting the water level just right for the size of con that's being run. Furthermore its a water hog if your using fresh water unless you build a recirculating system as I had done in using two 15 gallon barrels with the Blue Bowl.

 

[2cmorau]

Gold Magic - The Gold Magic Spiral Gold Recovery System very portable, take home the cons and use the blue bowl to finish

 

[Medina Joe]

I would like to hear more on the miller table vs blue bowl

 

[Hoser John]

Miller outta biz for over 20 years,only knockoffs NOT using proper materials,process or procedure. Blue bowl is for extremely fine gold only as a recovery tool. Green keene bowls were ruined by added kotex wings and look for old school wingless,also good for slightly bigger con than the lue. Ifn' a wheel ain't got a hole all the way through the middle it's only good for target practice as thats what happened to a few bought at swapmeets for a couple a bucks. Wheels require multiple runs with prescreened materials to keep anything in them no matter who produces it.Goldhound,goldscrew,miners have made many variations on the same theme. Run tilted back to get all the blacks and gold,straighter vertical to remove the gold from the blacks-John

 

[AzViper]

My so called knock off Rubber Mat Miller Table is lite and portable. Sometimes you just can't teach an old dog new tricks, but whatever as I know it works without any headaches. As I said I own both and at the time the Blue Bowl was the nuts, but not anymore. I can take the rubber mat Miller Table with me in the field and process my con during the down time on extended overnight trips. Sure would not want to haul a piece of slate around and risk breaking it. Oh I will take both the Blue Bowl and Miller Table on our next club overnight event and let the members see the difference of the simplicity of the very lite, very portable RUBBER MAT MILLER TABLE.

I would like to hear more on the miller table vs blue bowl

Joe click on my links in my signature as I have videos of the Blue Bowl and the Miller Table. Sometimes its tough for those who are old school to except technology. I am working on a new sluice that has a micro processor and Windows 8 installed to manage the gold and separate it.

 

[SHoward]

Martin Prospecting has a water table that works fantastic. It's very portable completely self contained, fast and easy setup and even easier to use. It comes with a DC pump but for $15 you can also get an AC pump.

 

[AzViper]

Martin Prospecting has a water table that works fantastic. It's very portable completely self contained, fast and easy setup and even easier to use. It comes with a DC pump but for $15 you can also get an AC pump.

Martin Prospecting Fine Gold Clean-Up Table, Little on the expensive side for those on a budget. Built my entire system including the PVC rack, black pan, and a quality Atwood pump for under $125.00, but i am not on a budget. Just prefer to build my own equipment.

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Here the D.A.M Blue Bowl. If you buy the bowl remove the ball valve and add about two feet of hose then the ball valve. The ball valve is mounted to close to the inlet and will cause uneven water flow into the bowl.


Blue Bowl <<<<LINK

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[Goodyguy]

Miller table knock offs or do it yourself miller table clones are one of the simplest ways to recover gold from black sand that I know of. My blue bowl sits on the shelf due to being so slow and touchy to operate. And I gave my spiral wheel to one of my nephews after using it for a few years.

I have a large slate miller style table that I have set up in my garage for running black sand concentrates at home and a portable aluminum one for use while camping by the creeks.
Miller tables are simple and uncomplicated so no learning curve to speak of as compared to the convoluted goldfarbs which require a manual.




GG~

 

[Fossil4Life]

When it comes to getting the absolute most gold out of your cons (including incredibly fine flour gold), pick your poison and please state why: Blue Bowl, Spiral wheel, Miller table. Can these three options be put in order of effectiveness? Between these three methods, is there a clear winner?

 

[SHoward]

Both of those look great

 

[AzViper]

GoodGuy and myself each own the Blue Bowl and Miller Table knock-offs. Both of us have stated our outcome on what works. I cannot say much for the Spiral Wheel as I have never used one. I can say a good friend had owned a Spiral Wheel and it was listed and sold on CL. He now owns a Black Magic Fine Gold Recovery System <<<LINK.

My Miller Table is a knock-off of the BFGRS with additional improvements, but for $125.00 with a quality Atwood pump its a good deal if your not handy in building your own equipment..

 

[Oregon Viking]

I like miller tables.. spendy though.. http://www.finegoldsluices.com/clean-gold-recovery.html I like this more!
Prospectors Choice Clean Up Sluice

 

[Reed Lukens]

When it comes to getting the absolute most gold out of your cons (including incredibly fine flour gold), pick your poison and please state why: Blue Bowl, Spiral wheel, Miller table. Can these three options be put in order of effectiveness? Between these three methods, is there a clear winner?

You're talking about 2 different things. The bb & miller table separate the powder gold as a finished product where the spiral wheel would be used before the table as in Sluice Box to Spiral Wheel to Miller Table. For a small operation a miller table or a blue bowl work the same as far as recovery. I have all 3. Sometimes we use the miller table & right now we are using the blue bowl. The blue bowl set up works great if you put the money into to make it run perfect. The miller table works great and depending on the width runs the material faster and a lot cleaner.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcAJzGCJ3Q7w4awXa4kJJajY00Fod1nso

 

[Jimmydolittle]

Build your own like they did!

I like miller tables.. spendy though.. Clean Gold Recovery - Clean Gold Sluice I like this more!
Prospectors Choice Clean Up Sluice

 

[AzViper]

When it comes to getting the absolute most gold out of your cons (including incredibly fine flour gold), pick your poison and please state why: Blue Bowl, Spiral wheel, Miller table. Can these three options be put in order of effectiveness? Between these three methods, is there a clear winner?

Fossil4life,

You have been given options on many tools for clean up and there is no clear winner. What you need to decide on is what fits your budget, how and where you will use these tools. For simplicity the many options that have been shown in regards to the KNOCK OFF Miller Table is without a doubt very simple to use without a learning curve. I will say is the Prospector Choice Clean Up Sluice is nothing more than a ribbed mat sluice, all others are a smooth surface that allows gold to stick due to water flow and angle. The Martin Prospecting Fine Gold Clean-Up Table is great as it has a vial mounted in the bottom as my table has, this makes clean up very easy, but it is expensive for what you get. Any rib matting clean up table will need to washed to get the gold out of the ribs.

 

[Medina Joe]

Thanks guy's. I watch a lot of video's and I think I will build or buy a miller table.

 

[Goodyguy]

When it comes to getting the absolute most gold out of your cons (including incredibly fine flour gold), pick your poison and please state why: Blue Bowl, Spiral wheel, Miller table. Can these three options be put in order of effectiveness? Between these three methods, is there a clear winner?

When it comes to micro gold recovery (sub 200 mesh and smaller) it's hard to beat the blue bowl, provided the material being run is pre classified properly. You can spend hours classifying and re classifying and running and re running material to end up with less than a gram of micro gold.

However, it's much easier to recover micro gold with the blue bowl because of the concentration of particles into a smaller area. Particles that are difficult/impossible to see on a miller table without magnification let alone trying to remove them piece by piece.

My spiral wheel was called the Little Camel. You had to feed it with a spoon and then re run the tailings to recover any missed gold.
Took all day to run 5 gallons worth of concentrate. But to watch the gold work it's way up to the center hole and drop into the little cup hanging off the back was truly mesmerizing, but a spiral wheel is inadequate for separating micro sized gold from black sand.




GG~

 

[Hoser John]

Thanx for the time travel Reed. That sure was one heck of a setup. Slate top miller tables were a great tool for larger ops but pretty darn slow. Nuttn' is ever fast enough when dealing with micron gold. Miss the quality builds,like the pic showed,of steel,iron,welding and NOT pvc,plastic,jb weld. Hope the boonies op going righteous as having spent quite a few summers in canyons off the american forks HOT HOT HOT SWEATY and ya gotta have a HUGE pair to even survive there in these ungodly summers + humid and god made LL on earth-but then as a joke he threw in some righteous gold to keep ya there John