Bought 4" Dredge...have questions now

[okbasspro]

Try Running it as is first.I got my proline and wanted to change everything to catch the fine gold.Thanx to Hoser John telling me to leave it alone I took it out as is and guess what it catches -200 every time I am glad i tried it before spending time and money just to go back to the original style.Good Luck and happy hunting either way you go.

 

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[G1sammons]

Try Running it as is first.I got my proline and wanted to change everything to catch the fine gold.Thanx to Hoser John telling me to leave it alone I took it out as is and guess what it catches -200 every time I am glad i tried it before spending time and money just to go back to the original style.Good Luck and happy hunting either way you go.

That's some good advise you might be surprised what she will do as she sits

 

[russau]

Ole John aint so dumb, is he!!! he has a wealth of knowledge to tell people if they would be willing to listen and read through his words. and not jump to a conclusion!!!

 

[omnicron]

Hmm...well I will try as it is but the box does need replaced...I'll still build a new box though...I work 50+ hours a week and while the mountains are covered in snow I cant dredge so building a new box is my relaxation!

Thank you very much for the pics!!!!!

As for cost of building a new box, the only thing that I will have to buy is minors moss and deep v mat, The rest is supplied from work!

 

[okbasspro]

Ole John aint so dumb, is he!!! he has a wealth of knowledge to tell people if they would be willing to listen and read through his words. and not jump to a conclusion!!!

John has always helped and given me good advise,I have only good to say about him.

 

[specksandflecks]

Omg speck

Your the fella playing in that crack .lmfao
Now I understand !
I know you think you know way more but buddy iv watched many of your post and not just on treasure net
I remember Reed talking to you when you first started this mod couple years back and it seems to me that most of the experience dredger you have talked with
Weren't recommending these but trying to get you back on track .
Your one of those legends in your own mind
Understand I don't care if you like my advise or not ! Your just a piddle bug your not even a dredge!

Never mind the quote. Just making a copy FFR. Good luck on your project.

 

[Reed Lukens]

I was wanting to weld up the sides and divider but I still dont know how much space to allow for the under current section. I'm going to make everything adjustable but would like to know a base line to start from.

Depends on what you are using for riffles underneath. If it's just ½" expanded then 5/8" to 3/4" over the top with a 3/16 punch plate will work fine. If you go ¼" then no more than 1". If you are going to make riffles, it's not needed, expanded works fine. I have movies on how to do it completely on my youtube channel. Why are you making a new box? at 15" the old one will be perfect for an over/ under & it's just not cost effective with that flotation. The pointed end of the floats go up stream if there is a pointed end. If not and you are building a larger box, you will need to add flotation and build a new frame. It sounds like you have a clue & a new frame is simple.
On a side note, specs is right. But the Keene 3 stage still sucks when compared to their good old full length over/ under. Proline has a better dredge all of the way around, the Keene box is a joke designed to make it look high tech for high profits. They were better off by far before they sold out what they had to try and copy the proline powerjet coupling. It was a shame to watch that well respected company start walking down that road when they had the best coupling on the market with their clamp over hose coupling. With a little duct tape it sealed perfectly and lasted forever. Now if you tear the hose, down you go

 

[omnicron]

My whole riffle system is going to be raised expanded...there is just somthing about having all those small eddies to trap gold that I feel is more effeicent then standard riffles. I am not making my box bigger or longer then the old box but it will be taller by 1" Instead of 15x48x5 it's going to be 15x48x6.

Thank you all again for your input and Reed, I have watch most of your vids but I'll check the rest out!

 

[Reed Lukens]

I like raised expanded for the undercurrent as well. I use the 1" now that was found best in the old Clarkston Study. We bought a sheet. Skip to around 5 minutes in this movie & it goes directly into my undercurrent.

 

[omnicron]

Here is what I'm considering for my riffles, it's #2 alum. grating... Grating and Catwalk products created through an expanded metal process on heavy plate.

Do you guys think it's to big for both the over and under set of riffles?

 

[Reed Lukens]

Yup, to big for below but you have riffles up top anyway so why change them? 1" expanded or smaller for below. Anything else is simply over kill and will require more water to run.

 

[omnicron]

Thanks Reed!

So yesterday I ran my dredge as I hadn't ran it yet. It was down the street at a creek/irrigation ditch (non-gold bearing place) and at just below half throttle I had about 3.5 to 4" of water flow accross the box. I also found what I expected and that is the box leaks like a seive. Around the jet flair to sluice I had water spewing out, how the guy I got it from cought any gold is a mystery! Here's a vid of how he had the box set up. Sorry for the crappy vid, it's dark and everything is frozen.

 

[Oakview2]

Man you get and A for effort, it looks way cold

 

[B1u3Dr4g0n1]

Thanks Reed!

So yesterday I ran my dredge as I hadn't ran it yet. It was down the street at a creek/irrigation ditch (non-gold bearing place) and at just below half throttle I had about 3.5 to 4" of water flow accross the box. I also found what I expected and that is the box leaks like a seive. Around the jet flair to sluice I had water spewing out, how the guy I got it from cought any gold is a mystery! Here's a vid of how he had the box set up. Sorry for the crappy vid, it's dark and everything is frozen.

Thats probably why he sold you EVERYTHING, tired of it all...lol people put a lot of time and effort in to all this and still never find what there looking for.Thinking only the machine is doing somthing wrong....when infact it is usually the operator...I have got many pieces of equipment this way....I would fix the leaks and test it for real, and see how it stands....that is somthing you will always wonder about, if you change it from the start...peace

 

[Hoser John]

#1-O/U discharges from the end OPPOSITE of the jetflair induction to the box as water does NOT run uphill and you'd be dumping gravels right into your pump intake to kill it-your pump-hydrohone the insides of input veins-blast holes in your jet and jet logs also.
#2-pic of O/U discharge looks ok but WRONG END!!
2#-2 sizes of classification are needed-smaller and much bigger to bottom. Bend the larger to seal off the bottom box from backflush from larger rocks from the Top. Bigger top classifier should go over the first 2 sets a riffles-first riffles 1/2 the size of second with enough top clearance between the punchplate and riffle top to clean out properly-John --been deathly ill for over 3 weeks so purt' near worthless to help--good deeds will kill ya.......add in 3 deaths and a paralysis to my bro' and 2013 is purt crappola so far....

 

[omnicron]

Thanks guys it was 22 degrees this morning when I shot the video. I had ran it yesterday without cleaning it up aftwards, my bad! I was cold and wet!

Reed, I called around today trying to find 1" expanded and it does not exhist here in Idaho or the net that I can find. May I ask yout how your measuring it? It should be measured between the points, flat to flat. The places I checked even looked in the catalog and could not find 1 ". It goes from 3/4 to 1.25 if I remeber right.

John, sorry I am a little confused as to if your addressing me and my thread of someone else... Sorry to hear your so sick and I hope you get well soon!

 

[Hoser John]

G!-2nd to last pic on page 1 looks like a o/u discharge at the jet introduction end 100% wrong end or some kind of spacer to raise the riffles higher in the box or wt LL 1" in clarkson study was a sluicebox and NOT higher velocity dredge box and way toooo big for a under introduction classification. For 1"- 8" to 10" works but 4? John

 

[Reed Lukens]

I don't feel like measuring it cause it's snowing like crazy but the actual width is approximately 1" between the openings, not from where it's stretched out... It's in this video.

 

[omnicron]

Hey quick question guys, I found some 3/4" aluminum expanded with a awesome profile of 3/8". Would there be any issue of running aluminum expanded in the lower half of my box? What about #2 grating for my upper box? I ran #2 with my 2.5" dredge and found that it worked extreamly well.

 

[omnicron]

Btw, I know the alum. expanded with work so let me clarify what I am asking. Will the alum. expanded last a season, is it prone to damage or anything else?

Also, I'm going to add in a so called hi-grade section in the front. I am considering using the same expanded size but I am wondering how big to make this section. I am cosidering making it around 7" long with a 5" slick plate. Any ideas on this section guys?