Keene 3 stage vs Proline Wave Classifier for dredge.

[A11]

Title kind of says it all. Looking to buy my first dredge, have zero experience with a dredge though fyi. Would be running it in Colorado on larger creeks and small rivers. Most of the gold will be fine/flour. So need people's personal inputs on what they do and don't like as far as recovery on the fine stuff between these two systems. I have been doing my own reading and heard guys like the proline beefy construction of their dredge and heard guys will mod the keene to get it tuned right but haven't seen reports as far as how the diffrent systems actually perform. Don't want to buy snake oil and am planning on hopefully buying my first and only dredge. Thank you. Also Fyi looking at both company's 4 inch dredges and will use 3 inch nozzle to comply with bureaucratic regs.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

I had to look up the "wave classifier" to see what it was referring to and I'm not impressed. All I see is a standard single stage sluice box. Keene's triple stage works really well although I still think it needs tweeking. I replaced the under-flow with deep-V matting and expanded metal. I built my own 3" with an expansion on the over-under design and I've been VERY happy with its success.

Here is the video about my homemade 3 inch.



This video shows my latest updates to the design. If you dont want to watch the coin-dredging section, skip ahead to about the 7:40 mark where I talk about and show the details. I didnt say anything in the video about the riffles (since it wasnt specific video for gold dredging) but you can see I changed the up riffle set. The scrap yard expanded just wouldnt run right for me, so I had a set of combo riffles made with half expanded and half hungarian. This set also lets me clamp it down securely or quickly flip up to do a cleanout.

 

[A11]

That's so freakin awesome. Love the home made video.
Ya well IDK was reading about the proline and that was kind of my thoughts. The three stage Keene is a legit proven concept of basically higher recovery through better classification. You can see that in the design.
The proline looks just like a single stage sluice to me but is somehow supposed to create a jig action and capture the fine? I don't get how they would do that in a sluice design. But then again judging by a picture is hard to do. If any one has first had experiance please chime in.

 

[okbasspro]

I run a 4" Proline with the HP400 pump I would put it against any dredge out there. Regardless of which you go with you will have to tune it to your area. They will run out of the box but all equipment has losses as a operator you need to minimize those losses. I have 3 different setups I run in my Proline and it catches gold that is -200. Get the one you like and get after it.

 

[A11]

So is your Proline running with the wave classifier? Whats your thoughts on it?

 

[okbasspro]

So is your Proline running with the wave classifier? Whats your thoughts on it?

Yes it always has the wave classifier no matter what riffles I run. I like it.

 

[hunterbill]

IMO Proline is just higher quality construction regardless of design. I love my Proline 4'', it just works with no tinkering around with it. Run it at 95-98% throttle and if it starts to load up with rocks, then it is not steep enough. Loading up is where gold loss happens worst. One thing about the SIMPLE design is that it makes for easy cleanout of the head or "high-grade section" when you start to get paranoid about loosing what you see up there, it's fast and easy to pull the punch plate and collect your gold, put it all back together and keep on going. Clean out the high-grade section at each sample location and do the main sluice at the end of the day. It is a major advantage to be able to visually inspect for colors without pulling things apart. With Keens underflow design you just cant at a glance see wats going on down there. If you are going to reduce the intake, do it in a way that will not significantly reduce the volume of water going into the box. A lot of people wrongly think that less power/flow is going to increase recovery. The dynamics of Hungarian type riffles actually work better with enough flow to create the vorticies that concentrate heavies. Proline has great costumer service. You can call then up and they will talk you through any issues you have and help with any modification ideas. IMO Keens creative design is complicated and dose not make up for flimbsy sheet metal construction. I thought I was going to break it just looking at it in the store. Less expensive is cheep, but quality and service is a true rarity these days.

 

[Bejay]

I have both the Proline and the 3 stage Keene. Both of them do just fine. I do not have the "wave" system". However I have been dredging for 40 years and both do just fine. Biggest mistake I made though was modifying the Proline mat system. I would offer this input. Both Keene and Proline are expert at putting a system together that captures the gold....if you run them correctly (set up). Either company will be willing to discuss any problems you are having....and I often see users operating incorrectly...thus they lose gold.

There are lots of "set up tricks" and operation "tricks"...failure to operate a system correctly is the culprit. Proline is one tough piece of equipment. Keene not as much...but I have never wore one out. Proline is heavier and thus weight is an issue when packing them in to remote areas....Keene not quite so much.

Bejay