Blower to Puffer Conversion

[Goodyguy]

Decided to end the noise from my 2 cycle blower motor and convert my drywasher over to the pleasant sound of a puffer.
While I was thinking about the conversion I wanted to try a new way of operating the bellows that would eliminate the use of the two pulleys and belt with associated linkage.

I have always been fascinated with stamp mills and had the idea that I could operate the bellows by using a cam just like the cam that would raise the stamp rod and then let it drop onto the ore.

Here is the diagram of the improved version of stamp mill cam that I used for my design.
The cam I made was from wood and I used double sided tape to attach a thin strip of Teflon onto the bottom of the bellows to prevent friction.

Next I wanted a way to regulate the rpm of the cam so I ordered a 12V motor speed controller. $12.06 e-bay







The motor I chose is a two speed windshield washer motor for 1987-1995 Jeep. $28.78 e-bay
Because of the built in gear ratio I am able to go direct drive.





For the Battery I chose a small AGM 12v. 22 amp hour deep cycle. $42.99 e-bay




Here is a photo of the drywasher before the conversion.





Here it is after the conversion..........

Bellows closed .............................Bellows open
The cam has a 6" lift.

I wish I had it on video because the sound is so cool when the bellows drops off the cam and of course the thump when the bellows hits bottom helps send the gold to the bottom of the dirt. I used a length of cord inside the air chamber attached to the floor of the bellows to limit the drop and eliminate strain on the canvas.

The amount of action on the sluice was a bit surprising. The cam and the resulting thump created more movement in the sluice than I had anticipated which was an unexpected plus. I really have to get this thing on video as soon as I can get back out to the claims.




Go for the gold
GG~

 

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[1637]

wow,that came out cool,great job
brad

 

[Terry Soloman]

I had a couple of big Keen puffers at my school in AZ, and I could run them 6 - 7-hours on a motorcycle battery! Love your design!

 

[1637]

what cloth did you use on the bellows?
brad

 

[Goodyguy]

what cloth did you use on the bellows?
brad

It's a lightweight waterproof duck canvas (10 oz.) that a friend had leftover from re canvassing his bellows.
I would recommend a heavier weight at least 20 oz. but not over 24 oz. I dont think mine will last very long.

GG~

 

[mike(swWash)]

Very, very nice job!

 

[russau]

Why didnt I think of that ? really a nice job ! Buddy I have some thick UHMW I'll give you to use as that alum bump. send me a email picture of the part needed. I have a new email addy and I'll pm it to you.

 

[AbTexEx]

Lookin good. Any idea what RPM you can get out of that. Some wipers are faster than others.

 

[Goodyguy]

Lookin good. Any idea what RPM you can get out of that. Some wipers are faster than others.

It runs 45 RPM on low and 140 RPM on high. I run it on high and use the controller to reduce the rpm's, plus the controller really comes in handy for controlling the flow from the bilge pump to my blue bowl way better than using a ball valve plus no strain on the pump or battery

Originally I tried to run it at the 45 rpm speed but found that to be way too slow so I wired the motor to run on high speed and use the controller to adjust the rpm's and it worked fine after that. Yellow and green wires for high speed, black and green wires for low speed. Positive to yellow or black, negative to green.


GG~

 

[AbTexEx]

Great Thank you.
Been looking for something about 60 RPM and up.
Was using fan motors from old Chevys but they keep jacking up the price.
Thanks again!!!

AJones

 

[dsrtdwg1]

Innovative. look forward to a vid running material....with sound please!

 

[Goodyguy]

Innovative. look forward to a vid running material....with sound please!

Poor quality video shot on my old school cellphone, but you get the idea.
That's one of my prospecting buddies, Ray in the background.
It was 110 degrees so we were taking it slow and easy running the DW in the shade under a canopy.
The sound it makes may be annoying to some but I like it. Much less annoying than a two cycle leaf blower. Just enough thump to remind me of a one stamp mill.

I adjusted the sluice to be more downhill after I shot the video, it processed the material much faster after that.
We did get a little color but we only ran 3 five gallon buckets. Spent the rest of the day driving the Jeep with the AC on high, 4 wheeling around the nearby mountains looking for prospects.





Go for the Gold
GG~

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Nice I like the design -- In the vid it looks like too much air is
escaping as the riffles are not loaded enough. I made a similar
one that I named Chester the tester and used a skateboard wheel that
hit the bottom of the bellows that ran on a 12 volt drill.
Question - what is the length of your bellows (up & down motion)
and did you make a dead air space in front of the riffles ?
Cheers Mike

 

[Goodyguy]

Nice I like the design -- In the vid it looks like too much air is
escaping as the riffles are not loaded enough. I made a similar
one that I named Chester the tester and used a skateboard wheel that
hit the bottom of the bellows that ran on a 12 volt drill.
Question - what is the length of your bellows (up & down motion)
and did you make a dead air space in front of the riffles ?
Cheers Mike

Thanks for the comments/questions, Mike

The reason the riffles were not loaded is because I wasn't feeding the hopper while shooting the vid, except for the last 2 seconds when I added a scoop you can see the first two riffles just starting to load. I shut the video off way too soon to see it running with all of them loaded.
I guess I was more focused on videoing the sound and the cam and the bellows working plus the movement of the sluice rather than on running material, my bad.

6" is the lift on the bellows from open to closed.

And yes I am a firm believer in the dead air space in front of the riffles.


GG~

 

[Reed Lukens]

Throw a piece of rubber belting on the bottom of the bellows and that will deaden the sound a bunch.
Looking Good

 

[Goodyguy]

Throw a piece of rubber belting on the bottom of the bellows and that will deaden the sound a bunch.
Looking Good

Thanks for the tip Reed

I also performed another tweak that should help. Noticed that the puff was not up to par, so I replaced the heavy rubber flap with a light weight version.
Should let in more air on the down stroke than what the heavy flap would allow which should increase the volume of puff on the upstroke.

Used your idea and cut a strip off the heavy rubber flap to use on the bottom of the bellows to deaden the sound.
Will shoot another video on the next outing to show how the mods worked out.

This time I will continue feeding the hopper and video paydirt running down the sluice with a full load.

GG~

 

[Goodyguy]

Just as I thought, my light weight canvas bellows already has holes and needs to be replaced.
Did some research on canvas and it seems 32oz per square yard is the heaviest made.

I was planning on going with 26oz. but I could only find it available in 48" wide so I would have to buy 2 yards to get the length I need.
24oz comes in 72" width so I may opt for a yard of that, just not sure it would be heavy enough. Of course 24oz would be more than double the weight of the 10oz I used.

This will only be the second bellows I have made and am open for suggestions from those with more experience.
Not something I am fond of replacing and I want this next one to last a long long time.


Thanks,
GG~

 

[1637]

the last one i made i cut up a heavy air mattress,works good.but i wish i knew what keene uses.last time i ask pat he said he was having a hard time getting the right stuff,and no he would not tell me what is was.my is a big home made 12 volt

 

[Hard Prospector]

I believe Bill (Thompson) used some kind of marine canvas for his bellows.........works great and seem to handle the wear.

 

[Hard Prospector]

the last one i made i cut up a heavy air mattress,works good.but i wish i knew what keene uses.last time i ask pat he said he was having a hard time getting the right stuff,and no he would not tell me what is was.my is a big home made 12 volt

Gotta take everything Pat says with a grain of salt anyways.