So, who has made their own sluice box?

[Cave_Dweller]

Hi all, new to the forum and prospecting in general. I live in the UK and decent sized nuggets and just gold in general is few and far between, it's all fine gold or on land where the owners don't let you prospect. Luckily for me where I pan and have done every time I have been finding gold. No where near to the extent of you lot over in the States (yes, i'm jealous ) but it still feels nice to find it. What some of you pull out in one pan is what we normally find over here in one day, even using a small portable sluice we're lucky to come away after a full day with anything close to a few grams max. Anyway, I guess that's the fun of it and a good day out regardless.

Anyway, with having a family to support with forever increasing bills and work not going too great just now it's safe to say my wallet isn't exactly deep. Therefore the cost of making my own sluice is quite appealing, I may not get it right, but it's worth a try. Mainly for the cost and simplicity I was looking at making a portable drop riffle sluice box out of wood using a router. If I can get that catching gold then I can look into making it out of a different material. I know there's a lot of different factors that go into catching gold, like water flow, angle, so on and so on, but if I can get a basic design then I can work from there.

Just wondering if anyone here has made their own drop riffle sluice box, or any other kind that isn't too hard to make for someone with not a lot of money and minimal tools...that's asking a lot I know lol. I'm just in need of some general advice and any pointers in the right direction. There's not many sluice for sale here in the UK and to order one internationally for me the postage alone costs the same as the sluice.

Many thanks.

 

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[Jimmydolittle]

Built my first from a set of plans I ordered off the internet. 5' long, and 14" wide from 3/8" plywood. By the time I added up all the money I spent on it, I could have bought a nice sluice from Keene, which I later did. The wood sluice was so heavy, and cumbersome, I abandoned it. Good luck to ya, and lots of yella.

 

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[Au dave]

@au Dave. Thanks for replying I'm gonna make your diy zook!

I can't take credit for the zook design, it was inspired by GoodGuys build and from what I learnt/read on Tnet. One thing with the zook is they require good water..the bigger they are the more they drink this also goes for how much they eat (material). My larger zook certainly keeps you feeding it and shows you which muscles you haven't used in a while...lol.. good luck on the build.

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[Capt Nemo]

A basic fluid bed isn't that much harder to build. It's really just building a box and adding some plumbing. You could even build a highbanker version out of a 5 gallon plastic pail.

Here's my homebuilt model 4, and some of the gold it can recover.

 

[kcm]

Sweet!

 

[Cave_Dweller]

A basic fluid bed isn't that much harder to build. It's really just building a box and adding some plumbing. You could even build a highbanker version out of a 5 gallon plastic pail.

Here's my homebuilt model 4, and some of the gold it can recover.
View attachment 1334479 View attachment 1334480
View attachment 1334481 View attachment 1334482

Nice work that. Although I'm just on about making a small prospecting one to carry about. My mate who I go panning with has made a clean up sluice in his shed and set it all up with plumbing. Saying that not gold has been put through it yet lol

 

[johnedoe]

Yup.... made and or altered existing equipment to my liking.....
My little cleanup sluice......

Did some cleaning on some other stuff I had also......​

Attached Thumbnails

 

[wtetro]

A good first sluice, well for me, was the Angus Mackirk expedition. It recovered very fine gold from Utah, fly poop and smaller. You can get this for less than 100£, maybe around 70£ if you look. Easy to set, use and clean out. The most important thing though is a good pan...I'm partial to the Garrett Pans. Start with a pan because you'll never stop needing to pan, no matter what. I use a blue bowl to concentrate my -30, but I still pan the ultra cons out. Can't beat good panning skills.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Welcome to the asylum Cave Dweller! Looks for posts on here by AstroPanner. He is the master of homemade drop riffle boxes and has some vids posted here SOMEWHERE. I haven't seen him on in AGES though so new info may not be available.

Drop riffle style boxes are my personal favorites in my area. We have tons of black sands in this area of Arid-Zona and I was finding my recirc sluice with regular Hungarian riffles was clogging up after a half bucket of material. Went to a drop riffle style box and haven't had a problem with clogging since.

One thing to keep in mind as you advance in mining. "Let the terrain dictate the equipment!" Don't go buying a bunch of gear (or making it for that matter) until you've had a chance to figure out what REALLY works in that area.

 

[winners58]

lot of people gone mining for the season, a lot of good knowledge on tnet,

thread of hurthawk sluice's...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/95094-sampling-sluice-gets-gold.html

& Astrobouncer's
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/139558-what-i-did-weekend-couple-sluices.html
.

https://youtu.be/TmTw3Wy2e1o

 

[goldenIrishman]

That's the guy Winners. LOL At least I remembered the Astro part right. Does anyone have any idea what's going on with him? He seems to have been A.W.O.L. for some time now.

 

[Oregon Viking]

A saw can be a wicked tool...I work with them for a living....so...
I have made a few like these.

 

[rodoconnor]

And with a router you can come up with an infinite number of unique designs. Who knows, a roman ogee may be the utilmate riffle desing.

 

[Cave_Dweller]

Thanks all. With a bit of wood and a few different bits for my router the ways I can do it are endless. Lots of trial and error ahead of me yet.

A saw can be a wicked tool...I work with them for a living....so...
I have made a few like these.

View attachment 1335335


View attachment 1335336

Looks nice that, very random like a river bed. I might try to make a very uniformed one, a random one and also just see what riffles work the best. May I ask what type of wood you used for that and did you treat it with anything after to prevent it from splitting when wet? Also have you had a test with it? Cheers

 

[Au dave]

I may be wrong Cave Dweller but I think ( from memory) that Oregon Viking actually used a type of plastic in these pics.

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[Cave_Dweller]

A good first sluice, well for me, was the Angus Mackirk expedition. It recovered very fine gold from Utah, fly poop and smaller. You can get this for less than 100£, maybe around 70£ if you look. Easy to set, use and clean out. The most important thing though is a good pan...I'm partial to the Garrett Pans. Start with a pan because you'll never stop needing to pan, no matter what. I use a blue bowl to concentrate my -30, but I still pan the ultra cons out. Can't beat good panning skills.

A lot of places here in the UK will not even let you prospect with a sluice. All I have done till now is pan and only pan. Also there isn't much along those lines of items for sale here either but a well known UK supplier of prospecting tools sells all the Garrett stuff this side of the pond. I use the 14" garrett pan because I wasn't too keen on the 15" supersluice one. I seemed to get on better with the normal pan for the finer materials.

 

[Au dave]

A lot of places here in the UK will not even let you prospect with a sluice. All I have done till now is pan and only pan. Also there isn't much along those lines of items for sale here either but a well known UK supplier of prospecting tools sells all the Garrett stuff this side of the pond. I use the 14" garrett pan because I wasn't too keen on the 15" supersluice one. I seemed to get on better with the normal pan for the finer materials.

Panning, panning and more panning - thats the activity that you will always have to do ...and do well. A sluice really just speeds up the process of panning by removing alot of unwanted material. I myself use a supersluice pan and love it cleans cons quick and holds the gold, with all the equip. one takes to the digsite the less weight (in cons) to carry out the better....

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[Oregon Viking]

Thanks all. With a bit of wood and a few different bits for my router the ways I can do it are endless. Lots of trial and error ahead of me yet.



Looks nice that, very random like a river bed. I might try to make a very uniformed one, a random one and also just see what riffles work the best. May I ask what type of wood you used for that and did you treat it with anything after to prevent it from splitting when wet? Also have you had a test with it? Cheers

Those aren't mine, they are pics I found to show what you can do. A router helps too. I built a few for friends that were going to leave them on site.
I used oak plywood and painted them with chalkboard paint. Now thanks to this thread I'am going to build, and take pics and/or video. A red cedar 2" x 12" would work too, but heavy for sure.
A painter bro of mine suggested oil sealer, then chalkboard paint. I painted the flare of my A52... lined entirely with deep V matting for the beach....and
like the idea of a slick plate.....not quite so slick!

As far as how they work, my buds didn't find any gold ( I blame them not the sluices...) so when I build again.... I will test them at home using a controlled test.

 

[Au dave]

Those aren't mine, they are pics I found to show what you can do. A router helps too. I built a few for friends that were going to leave them on site.
I used oak plywood and painted them with chalkboard paint. Now thanks to this thread I'am going to build, and take pics and/or video. A red cedar 2" x 12" would work too, but heavy for sure.
A painter bro of mine suggested oil sealer, then chalkboard paint. I painted the flare of my A52... lined entirely with deep V matting for the beach....and
like the idea of a slick plate.....not quite so slick!

As far as how they work, my buds didn't find any gold ( I blame them not the sluices...) so when I build again.... I will test them at home using a controlled test.

my bad...apologies to the builder and you OV...oldtimers kicking in I guess...lol

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[RookmanGold]

Hi Cave Dweller....

Im an English guy living in switzerland.... the gold isnt all in the US [emoji6]

I go most weekends and find enough to keep me entertained... see my posts on the journals tab.

When I first started a few years back I made my own sluice... some wood, a bit of astro turf and riffle shaped curtain rail plus some mesh.... with wing nuts for 'quick release'...

Yep I got gold with it, but the time it took me to clean out the astroturf and undo the wingnuts was prohibitive.... also I spent 50% of. the cost of a sluice on raw materials....

It was an amazing experience for a newbie enthusiastic gold fevered bloke but... once I got my first real sluice I could only look back, smile, and admire my naievity... but its all about the enjoyment of the journey

Good luck....

 

[Au dave]

Hey Cave_Dweller, hows the construction going, or are you at testing and modification stage.

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