first time sluice build any advice before i build?

florida miner · Jan 14, 2014

I am building a 4 ft sluice out of an old filing cabnet. i was wondering about the run. i was thinking ribbed mat with miner moss on top and 3/8 riffles as well as extruded metal. is this too much. i live in florida so all my material will be shipped to me this is more for father son time. but I do want to recover as much as possible. we also want to take out any gemstones.. again not for profit but we will be taking all this to montana once we get it going for a vacation and to see home again... i got him some pans n all that. hes pretty excited about doing all this as hes a florida city boy...lol i got to put some montana country in him........ this seems likr the perfect place to start . any info would be great.. please i wont be hurt if you correct me. want this to be as much fun as we can make it. so you would be more helping a 12 yr old than me.. thank you in advance.

panningjack · Jan 14, 2014

One of my first homemade sluices was made from a filing cabinet. It worked ok after I put a steel frame around it and reinforced the bottom. There is too much flex in that thin of metal. You can check out my videos of it running on YouTube. Search rcartergold

florida miner · Jan 14, 2014

nice videos... that looks exactly like what i want to build.. would you be willing to give me some instruction? i was thinking reinforcing the bottom with plywood. my son would love this... do you have any longer vids..

would like to see more when you get some. also would like to see a clean out . as to my question about mat moss extruded metal and riffles is that too much?

panningjack · Jan 15, 2014

florida miner said:
nice videos... that looks exactly like what i want to build.. would you be willing to give me some instruction? i was thinking reinforcing the bottom with plywood. my son would love this... do you have any longer vids.. would like to see more when you get some. also would like to see a clean out . as to my question about mat moss extruded metal and riffles is that too much?

I don't think I have any other videos of that sluice/highbanker. The plywood would probably work as long as it didn't get wet (chances of that are slim to none). The wood will warp and become ineffective. If you plan on taking a sluice from florida to montana you will definitely want something smaller and lighter too. After all the time and money you will spend building a sluice it may be better to buy one and maybe make some modifications to run it as a recirculating highbanker at home. If you would still like to make one to spend time with the boy I would make an all metal sluice.

doug k az · Jan 15, 2014

I built mine with 4'x4' .064 aluminum scrap picked up for $12 from metal yard and run the gold hog razor back mat. I reran material I brought home and didn't find a single color on the second run. I'm gonna try their river mat ( can't remember name) but love the razorback. Not sure if uploading right but that's the setup I built