ANGLE OF SLUICE PER DOCS ARTICLE IN GOLD PROSPECTING MAG? 12+DEGREE PITCH

[geolover]

ANGLE OF SLUICE PER DOC'S ARTICLE IN GOLD PROSPECTING MAG? 12+DEGREE PITCH

I was just reading Steven "Doc" Vetter's article about TUNING YOUR SLUiCE Sept/Oct Gold Prospectors magazine. I don't know who he is but members really seem to respect him, so I read.
He suggests trying out/testing your sluice while starting in the 15 degree to 12-degree range. I'm not saying that he says you should be in that range, just surprised to hear numbers with that much of a pitch. He even refers to the normal or widely excepted 1" for every foot as possibly being too flat, which will clog up your riffles. I'm not quoting, just the gist of the article

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To put it into perspective: Typical advice for my 4' sluice would only drop 4"
At 13-degrees my 4' sluice would drop almost 11", That sounds crazy, do people run anywhere close to these ratios or degrees?
I had to visualize it so I drew it up (roughly) and I added a picture.

The idea was to find out where you lose your gold, start out at 15* and maybe get down to 12.5* Suggesting that you run as hot as possible.

 

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[russau]

I no longer belong to gpaa so I cant read his article , BUT the angle and material /riffles/ screens (do you classify before adding material to your sluice)you have in your sluice depends on the shape ,size of the majority of the gold your finding ! He was giving you a "general" starting point not knowing your specific needs!

 

[geolover]

Yes, I classify down to a #4 mesh. I got that that was a starting point, he says that you have to find the point where you lose your gold (like 15-degrees), then bring it down in small increments 14, 13, 12.5-degrees, etc. to the point where you just hold on to it. That's closer to the sweet spot, he calls it running hot. Otherwise, the riffles clog and you lose gold out the end. It really was a good article, he's very well respected. I'm going to give it a try this morning.
I just can't imagine running 12 or 10-degrees, do people really run at those pitches?

 

[geolover]

I get that your material, water flow and the type/size of gold you're trying to catch will play a large role in setup. Still, he says to run it hot!

 

[goldenIrishman]

A lot of what Doc is talking about is most likely based on his "Gold Hog" sluice mats. They're designed to be run at a steeper angle with higher levels of water flow. The angle you run at is going to depend on your setup as well as the materials you're running. You will have to experiment with your setup to find what works best in different conditions. EVERY sluice is different so the setups for them will also be different. The same type of box with moss, expanded metal and one style of riffles would be set up differently than one with the same setup only using different riffles. Docs mats present the mix to many different types of surfaces as the mix travels down the sluice. This gives the gold more chances to be caught. (BTW Docs mats are pricey but they have one of if not the best recovery rates in the industry.)

When you're setting up your sluice you need to watch and time how long it takes for the areas between the riffles to clear out the materials so you can adjust the rate of feed or the water flow accordingly. To fast a feed or not enough angle or water and they'll clog up and the exchange stops. You develop a condition known as "Flat Boarding". Gold will go right through your sluice like it was sliding down a flat board because there's no place for it to drop out of the flow.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Did you try it?

 

[arizau]

Those extreme sluice angles are probably targets for the sluice section of highbankers that utilize his mats and not for stream sluices. I have seen very few places with the stream having that amount of drop in a place where a sluice can be easily set up. In some places it is hard enough to find places with a 1" per foot drop. By the way, Doc makes many different mat types and some work well with much lesser angles and flow. Here is his website if you are not familiar with it. Gold Prospecting Equipment - Sluice Mat

Good luck.

PS: Check his videos out.

 

[goldog]

Use some bits of lead and play with it. I've never used a level or really paid attention to the slope in inches or degrees.

Run so that it loses most everything except the lead and black heavies.

Shallow, deep or whatever will clear it out. If the lead makes it too far back off a bit.

 

[geolover]

Did you try it?

I tried it real quick this morning, 8" with my 4' A-52 (9.5-degrees), with about 1800 gph. I didn't have bb's so I used real gold. I ran a larger piece and a smaller one with other material, the larger piece was sitting on my rubber mat, never made it past the first riffle. The second piece made it past the first riffle and sat down. Then I had to go Christmas shopping (I bought 20 pans and 6 large magnifiers). Great gifts for family and friends. I'm going to get out early to see just how small I can go and still retain the gold. Definitely something to play around with, I was flat boarding all of my runs before. Thought about increasing my GPH but if I can consistently catch the smaller pieces, this will work.

 

[geolover]

Use some bits of lead and play with it. I've never used a level or really paid attention to the slope in inches or degrees.

Run so that it loses most everything except the lead and black heavies.

Shallow, deep or whatever will clear it out. If the lead makes it too far back off a bit.

In the article, he says to take it to the point of where you actually lose your gold, then bring it down in small increments until you are consistently holding on to the GOLD. Where the gold settles in the sluice is also a consideration.

 

[geolover]

Those extreme sluice angles are probably targets for the sluice section of highbankers that utilize his mats and not for stream sluices. I have seen very few places with the stream having that amount of drop in a place where a sluice can be easily set up. In some places it is hard enough to find places with a 1" per foot drop. By the way, Doc makes many different mat types and some work well with much lesser angles and flow. Here is his website if you are not familiar with it. Gold Prospecting Equipment - Sluice Mat

Good luck.

PS: Check his videos out.

I'm back! I did as you said, I checked out his website. That was a few hours ago, I got stuck watching informative vids. Now I've got to order their product.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Then I had to go Christmas shopping (I bought 20 pans and 6 large magnifiers). Great gifts for family and friends.

Ahhh Giving the gift of prospecting or developing a cheap work force? Either one works for me!

 

[russau]

Ofcourse you know to classify your material and run each cut seperatly to take advantage of the specific gravity of the gold. and rerun your material at a different pitch or water flow to catch the fines that got past you the first time! and if needed run them again at a different (something) just to see if anything is getting by you and SAVE your already run cons to a bucket to keep adding to it for cold Winter days to play with!

 

[geolover]

Ofcourse you know to classify your material and run each cut separately to take advantage of the specific gravity of the gold. and rerun your material at a different pitch or water flow to catch the fines that got past you the first time! and if needed run them again at a different (something) just to see if anything is getting by you and SAVE your already run cons to a bucket to keep adding to it for cold Winter days to play with!

Since I'm at the sampling stage and have yet to find a speck on my property, I don't think I need to rerun this material. However, once I find some gold, then I'll consider rerunning material.
I am in the process of systematically sampling/testing areas around my property, dry rivers, mostly colluvial deposits from my metamorphic mountain. I'd done some cursory testing before but didn't do it right. Now I'm trying to learn while paying special attention to my equipment setup and methods. Thanks

 

[Capt Nemo]

I can run 10-15 degrees on car floor matting. At 15, the grooves are about 1/2 full of material. At 10, they're about 3/4" full. Add magnets to the tail and the sluice will pull 90% of the black sands on the first pass. Just watch the sand color. When it turns black near the tail, it's time for a cleanout. You will see black sand crawl along the bottom while lighter sands get lofted. The only gold I have found is in first run cons.

I did exactly as Doc said for setting up this sluice, and his method is correct for any sluice.

 

[Oregon Viking]

I'am reading the "Tuning your sluice " right now and had an idea!
You need to click on the pics 3 times, then you can scroll up or down, side to side. Depends on you screen size...

 

[Jason in Enid]

I've watched his videos of his dredges and he runs them FLAT.

 

[geolover]

I can run 10-15 degrees on car floor matting. At 15, the grooves are about 1/2 full of material. At 10, they're about 3/4" full. Add magnets to the tail and the sluice will pull 90% of the black sands on the first pass. Just watch the sand color. When it turns black near the tail, it's time for a cleanout. You will see black sand crawl along the bottom while lighter sands get lofted. The only gold I have found is in first run cons.

I did exactly as Doc said for setting up this sluice, and his method is correct for any sluice.

I see that you read his article, he really made some good points. After viewing some of his videos, I see why everyone respects him. He systematically and scientifically tests everything to do with sluices. After seeing how much research and development that he puts into his work, I've got to try his methods to see if they work for me.

 

[geolover]

I've watched his videos of his dredges and he runs them FLAT.

Dredges?

 

[desert-rat]

not sure if this has already been posted or not but on and IPhone if you open the compass and swipe side ways it goes to a level and will tell you degrees of slope I use it every time I set up its my favorite little app on the phone.