Batea Gold Pan... homemade?

[X4FRNT]

I’ve been seeing a bunch of youtube prospectors using the old Batea Pans, they seem to do the work of a regular pan in much less time once you get the hang of it. Just wondering if anyone has tried making one before? They sell for roughly $75.
I’m thinking a simple sheet of aluminum from Lowe’s or Home Depot, cutting it into a circle and either pressing it into the v shape or cutting half way down one side and welding to get the v shape. Thoughts?

 

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[arizau]

I too am fascinated by the batea but were I tempted to make one I would be inclined to turn one on a wood lathe. My choice for metal would be steel from a drum lid. Cut out a narrow wedge (pie piece) then draw those two corners together to form the cone shape. There are tutorials online to show how to make cones out of paper so, same basic steps and measurements.

Good luck



PS. Currently 55 bucks + shipping and includes a classifier and other misc. accessory items. Look up xp gold pan batea kit.

 

[russau]

I’ve been seeing a bunch of you tube prospectors using the old Batea Pans, they seem to do the work of a regular pan in much less time once you get the hang of it. Just wondering if anyone has tried making one before? They sell for roughly $75.
I’m thinking a simple sheet of aluminum from Lowe’s or Home Depot, cutting it into a circle and either pressing it into the v shape or cutting half way down one side and welding to get the v shape. Thoughts?

Buy the alum. sheet and cut out the estimated dia. of what you want . Buy a sand bag and and large rounded poly body hammer for using it to roughly shape your bowl . Now find someone that has a pneumatic plashing hammer to smooth out the cone and now get a large pipe nipple (3 inch's or so) put the pipe underneath the center of the bowl and start to gently tap the the topside of the bowl to sink into the pipe nipple that is underneath the bowl and watch the alumn. edges that are being streached so that the metal don't rip on you! Take your time and co slowly and you'll be rewarded when done!

 

[X4FRNT]

I have a hydraulic press, my thought is to cut the aluminum to size, build a round wood platform about 3-4 inches high and place the aluminum on top then use the press to push it down in the center, making a nice clean cone out of aluminum

 

[placertogo]

Spinning is the best method for making a batea out of metal. You end up with no seams or crevices for fine gold to get caught in and not be removable. For plastic, making a mold is a fairly simple process.

 

[russau]

I have a hydraulic press, my thought is to cut the aluminum to size, build a round wood platform about 3-4 inches high and place the aluminum on top then use the press to push it down in the center, making a nice clean cone out of aluminum

Well go ahead and press one out and see the results... As you press it over a form, the metal will have to shrink and expand in area's .. As this happens you'll have a excess of metal in one area and a streached area in another..... here's where your problem will appear as you'll have the excess metal bunching up. Spinning will give you the best result's IMHO ! Try it and let's see the result's

 

[russau]

OR find a metal shop that has a English Wheel to roll out your Beata pan ! Then hammer out the bowled section at the bottom of your bowl to trap your gold !

 

[BillA]

lol, a hammer and some rags, aluminum, steel, or stainless
made one using the back of the drum from a horizontal washing machine
no Pic, sorry

here they are all made with a hammer

 

[X4FRNT]

Yeah that’s what I figured after doing some more research, I’m pretty good at making homemade machines and have lots of dc motors around at different RPM’s, might try making one of these if I can find the right RPM range I need to spin one out, may take quite a few pulleys. I found two methods that might work; see images below. And yes, welding is not the answer, even after welding it would take sanding and that would leave scratches for gold to catch on.

 

[Mine Shaft]

I would suggest just buying one. It all looks good on paper but believe me, you will have a lot and i do mean a lot of R & D ahead of you if your thinking about making a machine to do what you want. I am a precision sheet metal mechanic, i will look for my sheet metal hand book that has a step by step section to make a cone & bowl out of "0" condition Aluminium.

 

[Mine Shaft]

Hi X4 i see your on line i will upload some pics in just a few. Do you think this will help ? if so there is more steps to it.

 

[Mine Shaft]

When my father showed me how to do this i hated it but i managed to grasp it after trial and error lol.

 

[Mine Shaft]

The book is very informative copy right 1942 maybe you can pick one up on line.

 

[N-Lionberger]

I have always been fascinated by the batea, an old friend of mine lived in various places in South America in the 1970ies living a hippie dream. She described the bateas being carved from wood or being forged from the lid of a 55 gallon drum. Wood bateas were preferable as they tend to float despite having to be kept constantly waterlogged to prevent splitting. Carved wooden pans are common throughout the world. Carved pans and hollowed out log rockers were the first tools used by the Argonauts of old.

 

[BillA]

would like to encounter a wooden batea
nothing today

 

[X4FRNT]

Finally just decided to buy the XP betea pan, haven’t given it much use yet. Didn’t realize how big that thing is until it came in, and to use it you really need a good pool of very slow moving water. Once I get a chance to use it and test it out I’ll post a video and show everyone how it does.

 

[arizau]

Finally just decided to buy the XP betea pan, haven’t given it much use yet. Didn’t realize how big that thing is until it came in, and to use it you really need a good pool of very slow moving water. Once I get a chance to use it and test it out I’ll post a video and show everyone how it does.

That thing is huge! I got mine several weeks ago and just recently picked up a large tub from Tractor Supply that I think I can utilize here at home for cleanup work....the black mortar mixing bins found at lowes and home depot were too small to use so I had to find something big enough to use as did Keven Hoagland for his review of this pan.I have about 7 gallons of minus 100 mesh black sand concentrates from ocean beach mining to play with that I hope to be able to super concentrate for gold recovery. If I can get my gold to all settle in that center depression I will be in hog heaven.LOL

 

[placertogo]

Having used the new XP Batea as well as a couple of other batea’s, both steel and aluminum, I am not convinced that the “Defragmenter” is necessary under most conditions. It is nice that the XP Batea includes it, and the design and included hardware are great. Under most conditions the swirling action and depressed center of the batea will be all you need to catch even the finest of gold. Clay paydirt is always a challenge but you can quickly learn to crumble the clay lumps with your fingers more effectively than with the Defragmenter.

 

[russau]

Finally just decided to buy the XP betea pan, haven’t given it much use yet. Didn’t realize how big that thing is until it came in, and to use it you really need a good pool of very slow moving water. Once I get a chance to use it and test it out I’ll post a video and show everyone how it does.

I just like to make things thats why I talked about making one yourself! You were smart just to buy one and have fun with it !

 

[Batea]

I just recently bought a wooden batea pan off ebay. The person who sold it at first thought it was a Asian hat until she done some research. It is a nice pan to look at and image the time and hand work too make. I went and bought a plastic version to try out.