Bazooka Setup Questions

[Capricorn]

So I got out with it again this weekend, purely with the intention of practicing getting it setup right. The area I was in is not known to be gold bearing. I still think I had problems. I got it set up with a great amount of flow, it was clearing all but the bigger rocks from the grizzly. Really I only needed to help a few rocks over it. So that part seemed great, but the trap just did not retain hardly any material. Every time I stuck my finger in the trap I found the material to be of such a small amount that it was all contained underneath the tubes. Now to be fair it was mostly gravels and light colored sands that I was feeding into the box. Last time the trap filled up, this time it seemed like it was being blown out. So too much flow? I still find the actual act of getting the sluice positioned well to be challenging, but I think I'm getting the general process down better. It looks something like this:

1. find a reasonably deep section with enough flow for the box.
2. find about 2-3 dozen skull sized rocks, and build two different piles up to trap the sluice between.
3. holding the sluice down between the piles with one hand, scramble around adjusting the rock to pin the box down.

after that it should be good. Sound about right?

So how full do your guys's fluid beds get? Does it sound like a reasonable conclusion, that I was getting too much flow and blowing out the trap? When I cleaned out the trap and panned it down, I did find that it was capturing black sands, which is better then my first attempt. I just still don't feel like the fluid bed is working like I expected it to...

 

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[Capricorn]

Sorry though, still no video

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

You fellows are discussing exactly what I've been thinking, except
in much more technical detail. My method is more of a "let's try this
and see if it works" approach.

I've got enough 1/2" ball bearings to cover the bottom of the fluid
bed in a Bazooka, and was thinking that would make a safe place
for all the fly and flea poop. With all the eddy currents going through
the ball bearings, there should be ample room for the fine gold to get
protected from being washed out.

Now I just need to sell my Gold Cube and get the Bazooka...

LOL . Now being that I am no expert on this sort of thing 'll suggest 25% of that many BB's so as to keep things moving around and not lock up.

 

[Goldwasher]

Sounds like you had it running right.I like to be able to reach in and touch tube. Your trap isn't " locked unless you really have to dig and push your finger. You should take some cell phone pics of it running.
Heres my prospector running during rainstorm..great flow..NOT TOO MUCH....checking trap and it is full to the tubes all day...YAY
Then a miner running same spot one week later less flow running flat. Trap was filling up though I was clearing some top gravel after every bucket...a bucket a minute is still a lot of material. would have liked more flow.
Other pic is 36 prospector new spot running with great drop off of a pool with a dam and board damn to get the speed going.

No marbles or ball bearings were harmed during this production!!

 

[Aufisher]

Nice job using all the water to your advantage in the last shot. Good way to hit virgin ground in some areas.

 

[Skiddum]

Very nice man looks good. I'll be getting my bazooka prospector tomorrow. awwww I can't wait

 

[Goldwasher]

your gonna like it...Happy Birthday BTW

 

[Capricorn]

So, how much material stays in everyone's fluid traps when they are running well? Is it common for the top of the material to be at or below the tubes? If it's full up to the out port is it a sign it's locked up?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Capricorn, your sluice was running just fine. It's almost impossible to get too much water in the trap since the tubes naturally limit it. Stop worrying and get back to digging!!

 

[goldog]

When there is a problem you'll know it. If the top plate stops clearing it's time to investigate.

Once it's setup and running it will "eat" dirt at a more or less constant rate. If that changes something caused it. Tailings backing up, "floating",a change in pitch, tubes clogging, water flow or pebbles stuck in the grizzly all will affect performance.

Note the position of the four corners after a test shovel shows good operation. (Generally the fin tops will be close to even with the water flow. ) at production speed nearly all the material will wash in and over the grizzly rather quickly. If you prefer sampling speed the oversize will need some tending and the deck will clear more slowly. The final bit of under size should be centered and moving straight in any case.

If that changes one of those parameters probably was the cause. Lights backing up or just not leaving in good order is the typical symptom of the fluid bed not working. Check for Tailing backup, grizzly pebbles, position or flow changes.

If everything else seems ok but a narrow strip of fines start building up a tube may have clogged.

 

[Capricorn]

Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully the next time I get it out (probably not this weekend, but hopefully the weekend after) it will be on a deposit I know well, so I'll have a good sense of how it's working. I will definitely say there is more of a learning curve then I was expecting! I think it would have been super helpful to see someone else setting up and running theirs to learn how they go about it.

 

[goldog]

That curve is a lot shorter than you think. Good plan to go where you have an idea what your expectation is. Don't worry that you don't get as much black sand. As long as you're catching gold that size its normal.

One more thing I found discussed elsewhere was to be sure to, I'll call it, "pressurize" the trap.

The water will travel the path of least resistance. It will avoid the trap if you let it. In smaller streams try to get as much water going under as you can. I use a piece of tarp to direct the flow to the under. A 3-4' triangle will do.

 

[walldo]

I run mine just steep enough to clear the bigger rocks

 

[goldenmojo]

I run both of my bazookas fairly flat and depending on flow speed at a back angle. This causes more stuff to be scraped over the edge but rarely a lock up. Have only encountered that when running metamorphic gravels and dumping full fivers or large amounts at one time. Keep your tailings cleared so you get underflow. Worry not about the trap being too full. If you cannot stop worrying about it just dump it in a fiver and reset. The best advice I have heard is have an idea of what you will be finding in terms of gold and other materials or never set up your sluice unless you know there is gold there. Good Luck in your sluicing adventures. Using a bazooka is your best choice in my opinion.

 

[Capricorn]

OK, I got on some gold this last weekend. I haven't finished cleaning my cons to see what the total is, but I'm finding a few flakes in each tablespoon of material I clean up. This was a new area so I'm not totally sure what my take should look like, but hell, theres some shiney stuff in there so I'm happy enough. It was also a lot easier to get the bazooka setup since I've done it a few times now and knew I'd need a few big piles of rocks. I did take a quick video of it in place, but reviewing it I see that the phone didn't do that great job dealing with the light on the water etc.. but regardless, here ya go :P



About the material in the trap.. I found that the level of material varied a bit as I used it, and I'm guessing that's just how the material exchange is going to work. Just something to get used to I guess. I can see now that I'm going to want to refine my cons processing as well. The bazooka consistently produces cons that have a ton of bb sized pebbles. My other sluice doesn't do this, and I find it is a bit hard to pan them. So I guess I need to get me some smaller classifiers and see if I can't screen them out. I'm reluctant to just run them down my other sluice, because I hear the bazooka will catch really really fine gold, and I don't want to lose that through my other sluice. All in all it was a good trip. I spent about 2 hours really working hard, and probably filled and emptied 40-50 buckets of material. It does certainly speed things up when you can just fill a bucket and them dump it out into the sluice. It could take everything I threw at it, and then some!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sounds like u need 20 or 30 mesh and a 50 mesh...panning will be much, much easier then

PS setup in the video looks good. The real measure is whether at least golf ball sized rocks cleared without help...that's your indication of enough flow/angle for a happy fluid bed. Then just shovel like mad!

 

[Capricorn]

So here are some photos of some large sections of conglomerate I brought home from my weekend trip. I want to crush and pan this stuff out. The sections looked worn and rounded, but you can see it is packed with other river rock. The conglomerates are already brittle and breaking, you can see massive rust staining on the inside.







In all I brought home 4 pieces the same size as the one the photo is of.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

I run mine just steep enough to clear the bigger rocks View attachment 1136244

Same here. It's pretty hard to muck it up.

 

[Skiddum]

So here are some photos of some large sections on conglomerate I brought home from my weekend trip. I want to crush and pan this stuff out. The sections looked worn and rounded, but you can see it is packed with other river rock. The conglomerates are already brittle and breaking, you can see massive rust staining on the inside.

View attachment 1140195

View attachment 1140196

View attachment 1140197

In all I brought home 4 pieces the same size as the one the photo is of.

Did you get anything out of those masses?

 

[Capricorn]

I haven't crushed them yet. I don't really have a good setup for that, so I'm just holding on to them for now. I think in the not to distant future I'm going to get a good set of finer classification screens and probably make a simple crusher out of pipe. I did however get my final clean up done for my take from the two hours of shoveling.