Show off yer sluice

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Here is a pic of my homemade zooks. Stumpy prospector (Goodguy specs.)- 24" long x 15" flare end x 8" trap end; Sniper - 30" long x 9.75" flare end x 4.5" trap end. Just finished building the sniper so tubes need 'tuning' and glueing plus handles require fitting.

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Here is a pic of my homemade zooks. Stumpy prospector (Goodguy specs.)- 24" long x 15" flare end x 8" trap end; Sniper - 30" long x 9.75" flare end x 4.5" trap end. Just finished building the sniper so tubes need 'tuning' and glueing plus handles require fitting.

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How long does the acrylic on the trap stay clear like on the sniper before gets scuffed up like your prospector
 

The prospector has had around 15 runs ...but when its wet you can still see fairly well thru it.

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What was the total building cost if you dont mind me asking.
I can only give you a guesstimate of the cost as I had most materials on hand... Old recycle (garbage) bin -free as it was left here by previous owner...can cost Au$40, aluminium angle/rivets Au$15, clear acrylic - offcuts from another project but costs around Au$5, silicon sealer Au$5. What costs the most is your time ...about 15 hrs to cut/assemble this includes plastic welding if you so wish.I cut all parts on my bandsaw with a 15TPI blade. Have fun building and Pm me if you need any dimensions.

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Here is my small 33" sluice and converting it into a high productive mini highbanker/dredge! Can't wait to see it in action!!
 

20160526_194446.jpg heres a shot of my self classifying sluice .with the hood up like a hot rod in a car show
 

Here is my first attempt at a Fluid Bed sluice....Am putting some sealant into the sides to get them sealed up again, and thinking of switching to punch plate instead of the wire mesh screen.

Have had more than one person look at it, and say, "eh, where are the ripples and carpet's ? That won't work" :icon_scratch:

All in all has worked great, recovered just over 5 Grams with it, maybe 5-6 trips out. Have plans to build a little bigger version this winter



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I still don't understand how these fluid bed sluices work...
My mind just can't seem to wrap around the concept.
 

Fluid bed sluice

I still don't understand how these fluid bed sluices work... My mind just can't seem to wrap around the concept.
Excellent job on the fluid bed sluice ......... it's a simple one man gold processing plant!
 

My home made 6" x36" with 12"x12" flair deep rib mat not in it in this pic
 

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Excellent job on the fluid bed sluice ......... it's a simple one man gold processing plant!

I'll post pics with new flair when done 12"long 15" wide mouth i incorporated 2 pieces that fold out to create a 30+ inch mouth for the water dam so I no longer haft to move rocks to create more flow 😄
 

I still don't understand how these fluid bed sluices work...
My mind just can't seem to wrap around the concept.

I built a little plywood fluid bed sluice a while back, sorry no photos.

From what I gather they work by forming a steady updraft of water and then flowing material over and across that updraft.

The fluid bed part of the sluice acts kind of like the mattress on your bed. A dense object with lots of weight by volume will sink deeper into a mattress than an equally sized object that weighs less by volume. This is because when the surface area of two equally sized objects is the same it will take more force to push the heavier(more dense) object up than it will to push a less dense object upwards. Gravity is constantly pushing down. If you have two objects with equal volume and equal surface area, then push up on them with equal force, the less dense object will be pushed up higher than the more dense object.



Imagine a leaf blower moving air over the top of an extremly soft matress. This leaf blower will move less dense objects like leaves or light sands across the mattress and off of it, while denser objects like a masonry bricks or gold sink down into the mattress and the air forced across by the leaf blower just passes over them.

Here is a link describing U.S.patent #US5476117. The Schmidt sluice. Whether or not Schmidt was of extraordinary intellect is open to interpretation. I like to think was just clever and lazy. Lazy is good, sometimes.:dontknow:

https://www.google.com/patents/US5476177
 

The concept of fluid beds has been used in various industries for many decades. Even air fluid beds. Schmidt had the good sense patent his sluice and sub dredge.
 

I still don't understand how these fluid bed sluices work...
My mind just can't seem to wrap around the concept.

If you keep dropping heavy ice cubes into your glass of water, at some point the less heavy water will be displaced by the ice cubes. Same idea with the sluice and gold, just change some names around.

The spray bars keep your "ice cubes" (heavies) from sinking in place (stationary / nonfluid state) within your "glass" (trap area) as unlike ice cubes, gold and other heavies typically aren't floating.
 

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I still don't understand how these fluid bed sluices work...
My mind just can't seem to wrap around the concept.

Fluid beds work on a specific gravity principle and the lighter material is constantly being flushed out leaveing the heavies in the chamber. having the water column pressure just right for your particular setup is VERY IMPORTANT start low and increase that pressure a little at a time. you will get the hang of it if your watching the material in the chamber do its dance.
 

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