Hunt4gold
Full Member
Within a week or so, we will be posting information about a NEW GENERATION OF FLUID BED SLUICES that will be entering the prospecting world. As a satisfied user of the Bazooka sluices, I was sad to see that the product was no longer being made. Wanting a larger unit (I have the sniper model) I started backward engineering the sluice. During this process, I began to realize that there were several design changes that could improve the product. Let me take a step back here… For the past 20 years I have design and fabricated exhibits for museums and visitor centers. Part of this work includes the design and development of mechanical interactives, everything from a scaled, working model of gold ore stamp mill to demonstrating how a transfer case works. Working with an engineering expert — more than 40-years experience in fluid dynamics — and a few other prospectors in Colorado with extensive experience with Bazooka sluices, I began redesigning the fluid bed sluice. There are more than eight major design changes to the old style fluid bed sluices. This product is not just replicating the Bazooka sluice, but a significant design change in not only the fluid bed chamber, but the overall profile of the sluice. At this point we are testing the redesigned new fluid bed design, both in the field and in a controlled recirculating water system and preparing to have thermoform molds made for mass production. This will not be a home cutout/assembly project – we will be producing precision-made products in volume to fulfill orders as the come in. Our goal is to start fabrication and shipping products in May. Keep an eye on the Sluice Post section at TNet for more information…
