Adding a fluid dampener to my 50” sluice

[Foulwind]

Hey all, I’ve made a small fluid dampener for my sluice. Not sure it will work as I want it to. Goal is to capture more of the micro fine flour gold in my local beaches sand. I’ve recently been able to see how much color is washing right out the end. So I put together a small dampener using some rubber backed carpet strips. Currently the dampener is positioned just back from the first riffle. I have no idea if it’s going to work. If it’s going to adversely affect water flow through the remaking length of sluice, if water is going to flow over the damper. My thought is to have the dampener knock floating micro fine gold down and out of the water stream.
My questions are: Has anyone done this with their small sluices? If so, where would the optimal position be for the dampener? Below is a shot of the carpet used and the dampener installed.
Have not got it wet yet so no idea how or what it’ll do. Have a few days of panning from last time out at beach.
Thanks

 

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[russau]

Dampener's DO WORK ! I used to put them in my dredge's and sluice's when I used to go out ! I'm to old and beat up to do any of that any more ! The idea of the fluid dampener is to flatten out the turbulance in the water and to help force to fine gold down into the carpet ! So I think your on the right track .

 

[Foulwind]

Thanks! I figured I couldn’t be the only guy to think about this for small scale sluicing. I’m suspecting I may have to raise the cross bar up and out of the water stream, basically support it above the sluice edges. Ext trip to beach will tell.

 

[Oregon Viking]

Deep V mat or a Gold cube. Here is a beach mining thread from T-net.

DIY beach sluice

So I sent of the papers to hopefully get the permit required to process material off of the coastal beaches here in Washington I'm wanting to build my own sluice for this already have a stream sluice (large proline) and I am thinking that a 6"x4' sluice with vortex matting and possibly one...

www.treasurenet.com

 

[Oregon Viking]

I know a couple of people that use a cleangold sluice.

Cleangold Methods — cleangold

www.cleangold.com

 

[Foulwind]

I decided to raise my dampener up by about 2” so water will flow under it and not over it. Was very simple. Heading to my local beach tomorrow’ to give it a try. I’ll be studying what’s going on with it and water flows before and after it. Trying to determine if the placement is right. Is the carpet piece going to be heavy enough to an affect on the water flow? Will I need to make another on to put further down nearer to the end? Hopefully when I start panning I’ll be able to notice a greater quantity of gold than I’ve been seeing. If it appears that more color is actually making it into my mats, then maybe I do add another one a little down stream and possibly one in my second sluice ( Tailings sluice) going to find out tomorrow.

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

Looks like a winner to me. Jason (Flower gold wizard) is making smooth water heads that slip on your sluice. Seems it might be a good thing to consider for the beach miner. Keeps the turbulence down on in coming water.

 

[Foulwind]

This morning I was able to run 9 buckets of beach sand and got see what the fluid dampener did. Not sure it did anything. The end (Down stream end) actually rode on top of the water column. Riffles below it still cleared (As expected) sand still flowed through the sluice. Cleaned the mats at the beach then again at home. While removing mats I started conjuring up ideas on how to slow material (The darn sand) down some to give it a better chance to fall out of the water column. (Something I hoped the dampener would accomplish but has t yet) ideas like putting a screen wedge made with 1/4”mesh , or adding different verticals riffles. Then, ( A Duh…moment) i thought all this brain power I’m evoking on this subject is about water flow rates. This sluice was designed to run regular pay dirt with pickers and nuggets. My pay sand is not pay dirt! According to the instructions for the sluice, and a few YT videos, having a “V wake” formed in the feed area indicated proper water flow to allow sluice to operate correctly. (Proper angle as well) I don’t have angle but have had the “V” many times. Sluice has enough flow rate to roll small rocks down and out of the box and beach sand/gold too. So because beach pay is not normal pay dirt, I need to change how I set up water flow. I need to try something different. Next time I wet the sluice, I’m going to place it in slower water. This will mean I’ll have to feed it slower as well. Maybe with slower water velocities the dampener can actually work. I won’t get as many bucket through but if the sand/gold is not blowing out the tail end and settling more, maybe I won’t need as many buckets. I realize sand still needs to clear or mats will pack up. It’ll be a few day (Week) before I get back out to beach I have about 5” of concentrates in 5gal bucket to get through again.

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

This morning I was able to run 9 buckets of beach sand and got see what the fluid dampener did. Not sure it did anything. The end (Down stream end) actually rode on top of the water column. Riffles below it still cleared (As expected) sand still flowed through the sluice. Cleaned the mats at the beach then again at home. While removing mats I started conjuring up ideas on how to slow material (The darn sand) down some to give it a better chance to fall out of the water column. (Something I hoped the dampener would accomplish but has t yet) ideas like putting a screen wedge made with 1/4”mesh , or adding different verticals riffles. Then, ( A Duh…moment) i thought all this brain power I’m evoking on this subject is about water flow rates. This sluice was designed to run regular pay dirt with pickers and nuggets. My pay sand is not pay dirt! According to the instructions for the sluice, and a few YT videos, having a “V wake” formed in the feed area indicated proper water flow to allow sluice to operate correctly. (Proper angle as well) I don’t have angle but have had the “V” many times. Sluice has enough flow rate to roll small rocks down and out of the box and beach sand/gold too. So because beach pay is not normal pay dirt, I need to change how I set up water flow. I need to try something different. Next time I wet the sluice, I’m going to place it in slower water. This will mean I’ll have to feed it slower as well. Maybe with slower water velocities the dampener can actually work. I won’t get as many bucket through but if the sand/gold is not blowing out the tail end and settling more, maybe I won’t need as many buckets. I realize sand still needs to clear or mats will pack up. It’ll be a few day (Week) before I get back out to beach I have about 5” of concentrates in 5gal bucket to get through again.

It sounds like your water may be moving a bit too fast. If the flakes never really get a chance to stop tumbling along in the water they won’t settle. The fluid damper you built will ride on top of the water given the buoyant nature of the rubber mat but should force the gold under water giving them a better chance to fall out of suspension and become caught in the friction the sand bed and sluice mat will create.

Without seeing just what the fed material looks like it’s hard to say 100% as efficiently running any sluice is something you just kinda get a feel for after a while.

You could try and make a damper from a piece of aluminum, or maybe more than one. Something with a sharp edge that will slap down the tumbling partials and force them under water. The fella who owns placer tools has a fine good recovery unit that uses what he calls a “gate” ( I believe). It’s a bar the water has to push under making sure all the sand and gold is under water and not tumbling along. I’m pretty sure it’s on You Tube. It’s a neat idea.

Hope my ramblings are of at least some help.

 

[Foulwind]

It sounds like your water may be moving a bit too fast. If the flakes never really get a chance to stop tumbling along in the water they won’t settle. The fluid damper you built will ride on top of the water given the buoyant nature of the rubber mat but should force the gold under water giving them a better chance to fall out of suspension and become caught in the friction the sand bed and sluice mat will create.

Without seeing just what the fed material looks like it’s hard to say 100% as efficiently running any sluice is something you just kinda get a feel for after a while.

You could try and make a damper from a piece of aluminum, or maybe more than one. Something with a sharp edge that will slap down the tumbling partials and force them under water. The fella who owns placer tools has a fine good recovery unit that uses what he calls a “gate” ( I believe). It’s a bar the water has to push under making sure all the sand and gold is under water and not tumbling along. I’m pretty sure it’s on You Tube. It’s a neat idea.

Hope my ramblings are of at least some help.

It sounds like your water may be moving a bit too fast. If the flakes never really get a chance to stop tumbling along in the water they won’t settle. The fluid damper you built will ride on top of the water given the buoyant nature of the rubber mat but should force the gold under water giving them a better chance to fall out of suspension and become caught in the friction the sand bed and sluice mat will create.

Without seeing just what the fed material looks like it’s hard to say 100% as efficiently running any sluice is something you just kinda get a feel for after a while.

You could try and make a damper from a piece of aluminum, or maybe more than one. Something with a sharp edge that will slap down the tumbling partials and force them under water. The fella who owns placer tools has a fine good recovery unit that uses what he calls a “gate” ( I believe). It’s a bar the water has to push under making sure all the sand and gold is under water and not tumbling along. I’m pretty sure it’s on You Tube. It’s a neat idea.

Hope my ramblings are of at least some help.

Thank you for the reply. I’ll see if I can find “gate” on the YT.

It sounds like your water may be moving a bit too fast. If the flakes never really get a chance to stop tumbling along in the water they won’t settle. The fluid damper you built will ride on top of the water given the buoyant nature of the rubber mat but should force the gold under water giving them a better chance to fall out of suspension and become caught in the friction the sand bed and sluice mat will create.

Without seeing just what the fed material looks like it’s hard to say 100% as efficiently running any sluice is something you just kinda get a feel for after a while.

You could try and make a damper from a piece of aluminum, or maybe more than one. Something with a sharp edge that will slap down the tumbling partials and force them under water. The fella who owns placer tools has a fine good recovery unit that uses what he calls a “gate” ( I believe). It’s a bar the water has to push under making sure all the sand and gold is under water and not tumbling along. I’m pretty sure it’s on You Tube. It’s a neat idea.
Might you have a link for pl
Hope my ramblings are of at least some help.

 

[Foulwind]

Can post a link for the placer tools “gate”? My google Fu is weak this morning and not finding anything. Thanks

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

Can post a link for the placer tools “gate”? My google Fu is weak this morning and not finding anything. Thanks

Ok I miss spoke. He calls them dams. The clear plexie walls he installs into this separator to force the material to stop tumbling, get organized and force it under water. You can see a few in this dooohicky of his.

Makes sense in theory.

 

[russau]

Why not set up a "Nome Beach Box" with black ribbed rubber mat to capture the fine gold and slow the water down to help it settle down into the mat.

 

[Foulwind]

Today while panning new concentrates, I’ve noticed the amount of colors uncovered in my pans seem to be down. I’ve been getting pretty steady 100-200 colors (Flee poop size) so I think the hole in the sand I’ve been working back towards some boulders is thinning out the gold. The hole now is only about 10’ feet out from boulders. A few runs back I was working sand below a boulder and it had very little gold something like what I’m seeing in today’s pans. So I’m not going to dig any closer and start back out a ways with a few test pans. I still have little over 1/2 a bucket (6” deep concentrates sand) so it’ll be few days before I get back out with sluices. I’m still panning the tailings many times till no more colors are seen.

 

[arizau]

Today while panning new concentrates, I’ve noticed the amount of colors uncovered in my pans seem to be down. I’ve been getting pretty steady 100-200 colors (Flee poop size) so I think the hole in the sand I’ve been working back towards some boulders is thinning out the gold. The hole now is only about 10’ feet out from boulders. A few runs back I was working sand below a boulder and it had very little gold something like what I’m seeing in today’s pans. So I’m not going to dig any closer and start back out a ways with a few test pans. I still have little over 1/2 a bucket (6” deep concentrates sand) so it’ll be few days before I get back out with sluices. I’m still panning the tailings many times till no more colors are seen.

I'm guessing you are mining at Whiskey Run beach.
Storms and tides erode and form the beaches. In so doing they sometimes leave or scour off layers of black sand. I suggest that you dig exploratory holes and examine the sides of the holes to look for those layers. Those black sand layers are Mother Nature's concentrates. Take advantage of them. Try digging in the damp sand close to the tide line too. Probably the best time to do this is between your winter storms.

Good luck.

 

[Foulwind]

I'm guessing you are mining at Whiskey Run beach.
Storms and tides erode and form the beaches. In so doing they sometimes leave or scour off layers of black sand. I suggest that you dig exploratory holes and examine the sides of the holes to look for those layers. Those black sand layers are Mother Nature's concentrates. Take advantage of them. Try digging in the damp sand close to the tide line too. Probably the best time to do this is between your winter storms.

Good luck.

It’s not whisky run. Yes I see layers of black sands where I’m digging. I do take test pans prior to digging a spot. I have not taken any test pans near the surf line. As the surf is super soft there and mostly fine gravels/ sand, and it’s over 100 yards from where I sluice.

 

[Oregon Viking]

Why not set up a "Nome Beach Box" with black ribbed rubber mat to capture the fine gold and slow the water down to help it settle down into the mat.

Yep! Only thing better is a gold cube if you have a water source. Deep V ribbed and as long of a sluice as possible is what I run at Whaleshead and Nesika beach.

 

[russau]

Thanks for the reply OV ! Yep I had both of them back when I was dredging and a lot more "stuff " back when !