folding or fixed?

[steveh2112]

i'm just about to buy this Folding Sluice Box for obvious reasons, easy to backpack around

then i saw this Keene Sluice box Keene Sluice box - $100

would there be any significant performance advantage over the folding box that would make it worth the trouble of hauling it around?

i'm planning to get to most places on a dirt bike so my wife would have it strapped to her back (lucky her!)

 

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[Maitland]

That's really not a bad price for a Keene A52 that looks to be in decent shape, definitely something I would consider if I were you, and they are very customizable. I've never used a folding sluice before, I can see how they would be an advantage for backpacking, but for personal preferences I am someone who will always go for a regular sluice as opposed to a folding one, simply for the reason that they're one solid piece so they're a little more sturdy and there's less to go wrong with them. I doubt if there would be much of a performance difference between a folding sluice and a regular sluice of the same model.

 

[steveh2112]

this one looks really nice too
sluice box sluice box - $95

i emailed the guy already to ask for dimensions. is that a A52 also? i see it has a mat all the way into the scoop part, i'm guessing that's a good thing?

great reviews
http://www.amazon.com/A52-High-Production-Hand-Sluice/dp/B0040DPCEM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

am i right in thinking i could put bigger material in the Keene than the folding one which i read you will need to classify down to about 1/4" first?

 

[Maitland]

I don't believe that second sluice you pointed out that is $95 is a Keene A52. It almost looks like it at first, but it's missing the bar across the top at the very end and it doesn't look like it has the locking clamps either. Doesn't really look like a Jobe to me; could possibly be something made by Royal(?). I'm building a recirculating system using a Keene A52, I can't personally vouch for it since I haven't used it and nothing is fully-functioning yet, but I have read and heard quite a few good things about the A52's, they seem to be pretty well-trusted by a lot of people in the prospecting community and that's why I chose one for the system I am in the process of building. I think that a little extra matting is a good idea since I don't think Keene puts enough of it in at the top (just my opinion); I know I'm going to add a little bit of ribbed v-matting going from the sluice into the header box on my setup; although I do think the seller of the $95 sluice on Craigslist went a little overboard putting it all the way into the flared end like that, but who knows - maybe it really works for him. To each his own!

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

More moving parts equals more problems... Nuff said

 

[steveh2112]

i'm leaning towards the Keene A52. i emailed the owner and he said with the flare removed the body is only 34" long.

can anyone tell me if it will fit in a 5 gallon bucket like this?, or at least strap on the back of one without massive overhang?

 

[socalal99]

I own a Royal folding sluice and a few non-folding sluices. I personally do not think there is a performance difference between folding and non-folding, but there are some pros and cons. Pros, obviously it folds and fits nicely in a pack, so if you are strapping it to your wife on a dirt bike, for safety reasons, that is the way to go. An A52 is entirely too tall to put on a bike. The A51 is iffy.

Cons, folding sluices tend to bow in the middle, giving you a high spot if you can't set it up well. It is more work to setup and clean out a folding sluice because you have two sections to take apart.
While I love the A52, I use either the folding Royal or my A51 ( like your picture ) when backpacking. No bikes for me.

Hope this helps.
Al

 

[G-bone]

I purchased the Royal folding Back packing Sluice as I too am going into tight/remote places.
I gut it out and replaced expanded metal and carpet, with Hogmat's.
Works good. Still folds and is really built well. There's not much on it that can break
The plus with this system is the quick add-ons to make it a high banker/recirculating sluice.
Do to the compact size, I can easily bring my pump and and pump head and lite weight LiO-12V in my back pack as well.
This is great for me here in California, cuz with this drought, we don't have much water.
So finding a little water hole works good to drop a pump into more often than not now.

Still having room for all the other gear you're bringing too.
And if your on a dirt bike (Which I have planned to do as well - that would be a BLAST), every inch of room and weight of it all, matters.

I have not yet ran into this thing slowing me down as far as moving material.
And I'm not planning on getting to that point with this.
It's made for a 1 to 2 man operation in remote, hard to get too, place.
And it's great for that.

Plus I have it at home and set it up as recirculating sluice for times I bring buckets of dirt home.

two cents for your poke.

Good luck and have fun. I have been planning a prospecting journey on my Dirt Bike now but I am going with a Detector.
Do some Nugget shooting in some of the Rand District in Mojave. LOTS of ground to cover and the Dirt bike is the only way to fly out there. Plus, find some hot dirt and return with buckets or ad a Dry washer to my list of equipment.

Cheers

G

 

[WesternMassGold]

Hey guys, I also own a Royal folding sluice and have used non-folding sluices. I dont see a difference in performance. Just like g-bone i put Gold Hog mats in it since they catch more fine gold. Folding boxes are easier to carry around.
So its really just a matter of whats easier for you to carry.

 

[steveh2112]

thanks to all for great advice.

G-bone and WesternMassGold, you said "I gut it out and replaced expanded metal and carpet, with Hogmat's", any chance you can post pics so i can see what you did?
Socalal99, interesting about the bowing in the middle, i suppose that can he helped a bit by putting some rocks under the middle to support the weight

 

[G-bone]

Hey Steve,

I'll take some pics of my set-up tonight.
I set the matts up into 3 pieces and they are really easy to pull out at clean-up.
Took a little fine tuning of size and gluing, but turned out real well.
BUT - the whole setup is a tad heavier now. maybe 2 lbs more?
That rubber is dense.

Pictures soon.

Cheers

G

 

[G-bone]

Ok Steve here are some pics.
I removed all carpet etc, plus the Rubber scrubber at the header.
I now have 3 sections of Goldhog mat that fits within each section of the sluice.
all fits nicely and everything still folds as required.

hope these come thru ok....

 

[B H Prospector]

The only drawback I have seen and was told about, I don't use folding sluices, is tat at the seam it has a tendency to suck the gold out through the crack if not totally flush. I use the Keene A52 and like it a lot.

 

[arizau]

Folding or fixed length sluices are equally effective as long as the capture media (mats, etc) within them are the same. The box itself is not the determining factor. Other than what is inside the sluice, the main determinants for efficiency are feed size, water flow and sluice angle and each different capture medium may require a different setup to work best for gold capture and waste material clearing. If I were to use a multiple piece sluice I would probably opt for gold hog matting. It can be rolled up and carried in a bucket or in a pack for transport. In some situations a single piece of ribbed mat may be appropriate and it can handled the same way as gold hog mat.

Good luck

 

[WesternMassGold]

nice 1 G-bone, mine is a Royal too and i can fit 7 pieces in it , i got 4 Razorback on top and 3 UR on the bottom with the riffles over the UR in the bottom section. Haven't tried it yet with the UR but i got great results with the Razorback alone. I also kept the original carpet under the UR in case something gets under the Hogmat ( for insurance i guess).
Hoping to to try it this weekend.
In the original Royal set up the most i ever got in the box was 12 pieces of small gold. After I installed the Razorback i went back to the same spot in the River and first time out with it i got 74 pieces with some really fine gold in it too. I will never go back to the carpet thingy .

 

[arizau]

nice 1 G-bone, mine is a Royal too and i can fit 7 pieces in it , i got 4 Razorback on top and 3 UR on the bottom with the riffles over the UR in the bottom section. Haven't tried it yet with the UR but i got great results with the Razorback alone. I also kept the original carpet under the UR in case something gets under the Hogmat ( for insurance i guess).
Hoping to to try it this weekend.
In the original Royal set up the most i ever got in the box was 12 pieces of small gold. After I installed the Razorback i went back to the same spot in the River and first time out with it i got 74 pieces with some really fine gold in it too. I will never go back to the carpet thingy .

Goldhog mats are designed to be run without riffles, etc. That is the point of their design in the first place. You may/probably will (?) get better results if you try them that way.
Good luck in either case.

 

[WesternMassGold]

Goldhog mats are designed to be run without riffles, etc. That is the point of their design in the first place. You may/probably will (?) get better results if you try them that way.
Good luck in either case.

Well i did watch the goldhog video on the UR mat test with riffles ( UR stands for >> Under Riffle ) and it caught a lot of little gold.And i am only going to use the riffles over the UR mat, not the Razorback.

 

[arizau]

Well i did watch the goldhog video on the UR mat test with riffles ( UR stands for >> Under Riffle ) and it caught a lot of little gold.And i am only going to use the riffles over the UR mat, not the Razorback.

My impression, drawn only from the current GOLDHOG website description, is that UR is designed for use under a header box in a highbanker setup and that implies there is some space between the mat and the grizzly bars or perf plate that feeds that section of the mat. I would also do some testing without the riffles as it would ultimately tell the tale as to which is better unless Doc did suggest the use of them.
Good luck.

 

[WesternMassGold]

So i went out this weekend with my set up( 4 razorback on top,3 UR on bottom with riffles no exp metal). It seems the UR needs more water speed to clean out than the Razorback if set up with riffles.
Got 56 pieces in the razor and 4 pieces in the UR. The UR seems to fill up and hold too much gravel so i dont know if pieces blew out or the razorback caught it all.
Anyways next time i try the UR without anything on top of it.looks like the razor is so good that i might just go with all razor in the sluice. Another 35 bucks but worth it.

 

[triple d]

May have been water speed. The razor back is designed for lower flows. Where I believe the UR is for higher flows.I use UR and razorback also never tested it. But Im hoping the UR will catch the larger gold.I use to use them in my stream sluice. Now i use that box as a clean up sluice. At home.