Building a Hibanker/dredge combo

[omnicron]

Hello all. I'm a newish member here and I am considering converting my Keene 52 into a highbanker/dredge combo. I do have some mad metal metal skills (16 years building ductwork) so the build up don't bother me. What is bothering me is I am unable to find any info on what size of motor/pump I should purchase. I do plan on building a small extension to sit in front of my sluice and also am considering building a fluid bed at the end. So that may need to be considered also.

So would a 1.5 inch pump/motor work or larger/smaller? I do plan on building/buying a suction nozzel to work the shallow water (12" or less) and am thinking based on the size of the a52 sluice, that around 2.5" suction hose would be the limit. Does any one have any sugestions or experience in this regard? Thanks and I am open to any comments!

 

[Hoser John]

The sides of a a52 are a mite low for a 2.5 and I would not suggest going any smaller. I'd start from scratch and go to Proline websight to look at a decent setup that is a REAL dredge and not convaluted grizzly bar mess to try and dredge with-John

 

[63bkpkr]

Onicron,

Welcomish to you! Hoser is correct about taking a look at first rate equipment as you can learn a lot from their designs as well as end up with a better understanding of motor/pump sizes for how much water and what size box. Also check casluicebox.com to check out their more simplistic designs based on thermoformed ABS plastic sheet and they make one for the A52. Understand that the pumps from Keene, Proline, etc. are high pressure pumps and have quite a bit of output for their size.

Good luck with you project and have fun out there looking for gold..........63bkpkr

 

[russau]

all of the posts above work for me! if your going to use the sluice as a highbaker only, then any trash pump would work, but if your going to use this as a combo then youll need a higher pressure pump like 63BKPR said.this was the situation (not knowing)i was in 15 years ago.so remeber that when highbaking, you may need to push the water uphill to your location that you want to highbank at so youll need to have a bigger head preassure pump to move that water uphill,and youll need the higher pressure for that dredge attachment, so why not bite the bullet now and buy the good pump thatll do it all for you!and you might find a real good deal on craigs list!with your skills at sheet metal the rest of it wont be any problem.and id also suggest to design/make serveral styles of riffel/screen setups for different needs while useing this device! goodluck!

 

[omnicron]

Thanks everybody! I've been looking at designs and videos, we even have a local company here called summit minning and I was looking first hand at some of their designs that were on display. So many choices... I was considering a good quality pump from the get go, but for now it's just trying to decide the size. The place I have been working has been producing great gold right out of the creek bed and the sand bar but these old tailing piles have been calling... This past weekend I did run 2 buckets through my keene and had some great color, just not as good as the creek bed but for me, it's the ease of digging and the speed. The creek is quit a challenge to dig with the 8" and smaller rocks and the tailing are a good 75' walk away, 35' as the crow flies.

I finally recieved my bazooka gold trap and cant wait to give this a try, thank god I have a big family, now we can have 2 sluices working at the same time But to throw a wrench into the mix, I seen some vids of fluidbed high bankers and it got me thinking....maybe a double or tripple fluid bed... here I go again so many ideas.... This raises another question, why are sluices made out of galvinized sheet metal? It's much cheaper and more duriable let alone the cost...

Once again guys, thank you so much for your input, this shall help me make my discission.