Allens thread. Low tech redneck.

[allenkeeton]

I feel like I finally got my plans settled out. I know what I want and I know i can make it myself.

After researching the fluid bed sluice. A.K.A. the "Bazooka" type sluice, i felt like it was a perfect fit. no riffles, mats, or moss to deal with. Quite possibly the laziest sluice ever conceived. Perfect.

I quickly jotted down some blue prints and ideas, none of which I bothered to use, and set off to Home Depot. It was pretty hot and swampy outside. Ridiculous weather that made me yearn to be knee deep in a creek.




I picked up some PVC pipe, caps, screws. Everything else I needed was tossed in random places around the yard in old forgotten junk piles. I even had the 1/4 hardware cloth tucked away in an old building which was good because I didn't want to buy a whole roll just for a foot of it.

I grabbed a sheet of plywood and some cutting tools. it was already cut into 24"x48" so I cut it in half and then half again. somehow i managed to cut a 24" inch cut into 11 1/2". That's a real head scratcher. Necessity dictates that I don't stop. I get a few blocks of 2x2 and try to drill those in as corner supports. No such luck. The wood cracks when I screw it in. Luckily there is a pile of pine 1x2s nearby and they don't crack. I (for the first time in my life I think) measured twice and cut once. I framed each box and then applied liberal amounts of caulking all over the inside edges and myself.

I fastened them together temporarily and went looking for my drill bit to bore the holes in the front for the pipe. It's missing. completely.

The operation to liberate the hills of it's gold has been put on hold.... because i couldn't find a drill bit. I'll keep working on it and try to finish tomorrow.

 

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[KiddoTheMiner]

bazooka gold trap company is gunna go bankrupt because everybody already has them or is making their own

 

[allenkeeton]

bazooka gold trap company is gunna go bankrupt because everybody already has them or is making their own

hopefully they'll still be around when i get older cuz ol frankenbox up there is gonna weigh a ton.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

hopefully they'll still be around when i get older cuz ol frankenbox up there is gonna weigh a ton.

just a suggestion, make it smaller closer to my size(I actually intend to make mine bigger because its hard to fees dirt into it)
but you certainly don't want it 5X2 feet

 

[Sideways Sherry]

...

 

[allenkeeton]

I seen the problem with the regular bazooka was the fact you have to pick the whole thing up and out of the water to dump your heavies into the bucket. This creates a rather big problem for some folks, especially when you get into larger sizes. To solve that, i added a detachable box on the end that will allow me to remove the millions of dollars in gold without removing the unit itself. (Dream big!)







The pipes are 1/2 inch diameter. attached to the main box are 1/2 pipe connectors allowing me to seal the catcher back to the box with hopefully minimal water loss.

I had daylight left but needed to let the new caulking dry. Tomorrow I'm gonna add the first coat of paint and get some 1 inch screws for smaller areas. I also forgot to get glue while I out today.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

I seen the problem with the regular bazooka was the fact you have to pick the whole thing up and out of the water to dump your heavies into the bucket. This creates a rather big problem for some folks, especially when you get into larger sizes. To solve that, i added a detachable box on the end that will allow me to remove the millions of dollars in gold without removing the unit itself. (Dream big!)

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The pipes are 1/2 inch diameter. attached to the main box are 1/2 pipe connectors allowing me to seal the catcher back to the box with hopefully minimal water loss.

I had daylight left but needed to let the new caulking dry. Tomorrow I'm gonna add the first coat of paint and get some 1 inch screws for smaller areas. I also forgot to get glue while I out today.

have fun hiking that into the wilderness

oh, and setting t up in small creeks

 

[Red James Cash]

The operation to liberate the hills of it's gold has been put on hold.... because i couldn't find a drill bit.

Dont ya hate that

 

[allenkeeton]

have fun hiking that into the wilderness

oh, and setting t up in small creeks

i wanted to lose weight anyways. that'll help

 

[allenkeeton]

Dont ya hate that

very much so. alot my good tools got stolen awhile back. but it is what it is.

 

[Duckwalk]

Allen, been a while since we have heard from you on your project build. Any progress? picutres? GOLD?!?!

 

[allenkeeton]

Lol. that thing is still sitting outside. I used the pipes on my hand dredge, and the rest of it i just kinda stare at wondering what I was thinking. Now that I got a real Bazooka I understand alot more about everything. I'll save the box as a lesson learned and possibly use it for something else.

 

[allenkeeton]

I have to add my plunger to my hand dredge and it's done. I been contemplating a underflow cleanup table. I feel underflow systems have better applications for cleanup than trying to piddle around to get the sluice just right.

 

[allenkeeton]

The rain cleared up enough to let me work outside a bit. after mowing my yard, i went and fixed a mower for someone. I always yell at the guy for not doing any maintenance on his equipment, leaving me to pump up 4 tires and charge a battery every season. such is life.

When i got home I had just a bit of light left. I used my precious time to finish my hand dredge. It had been almost finished for a few days now, but needed the seal put in and tested. So I set about doing that. after a few minutes of drilling, cussing, and alot of PVC dust, it was completed. I adjusted the seal until satisfied and stuck the end into a bucket of water. After 3 pumps, a jet of water shot out of the side. I was rather amazed at the pressure it created.

since my plan is to run it directly to the sluice with a 10ft hose, I'll need a crash box. I'll take some photos when i get enough light and maybe even a video as well.... if only i could remember where I put my tripod.