Building gold prospecting equipment

[Jaxom]

I have two projects that I would like to build. The first being an alaskan beach box out of aluminium and the other being a shaker table. The beach box, I have a slight problem with. I want to make the main sluice box 2' (24") wide. I also want to build up the sides taller and make them 6" instead of the height of a 2x4. My biggest obstical I face is building a bending break to make the sides for the sluice. I've googled and come across many many bending break plans, most are rather small and also require equipment I don't have. Example, most of the breaks I've seen require the use of a drill press to make the hinge for the break. I don't have one. And from years of expierence, it's very difficult to get a straight and level hole using a drill free hand. Let alone two of them! Once I get past that issue, I need suggestions on what size to make my screens. Here in Illinios, it's all very fine flour gold. So I'm thinking of using a 1/8th or 1/4th holes in sheet metal for the first classifier and then on the second one using 1/16th, for the top half of the sluice box. In the lower half I haven't decided, wiether I want to go like regular alaskan beach boxes and just have moss over ribbed mat...OR have some short 1/2" riffles in the lower half of the box? Suggestions?

Building a shaker table might be even more difficult. I don't know, I just think because I have such fine gold here it'd be a good idea to atleast attempt to build one. I read a while back in this forum about shaker tables plans. I lost the link when my hard drive died, but it was a bicycle powered unit built for testing in India. I did print that out, but it's not really plans. It show diamentions and all. But not what angles the riffles are, or how I could make it vibrate instead of using hand/peddle power. And Ideas?

thanks
Jax

 

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[russau]

Jaxom go to a sheet metal shop or a metal fabrication shop and pay them to bend your alum. it will be listed in the yellow pages in your town.thats what i did untill i bought a sheetmetal break.

 

[Nitro 54]

I agree with Russ. The trouble and time to build a brake for a couple of items just isn't worth your effort. A metal shop won't charge much to make a few bends.

 

[eathan]

Jaxom, I think these are the shaker table plans you mentioned.

There was a really good thread on the plans, various mods and field use over at the Alaska Gold Forums, but I didn't see it on casual inspection, so can't link direct. Steppegold was the thread starter, I believe.

Best of luck!

 

[russau]

Jaxom i made my own alum beach box several years ago. i have some pictures of it over at goldminers on yahoogroups and over at another site in Iowa(forgot its addy)anyway i made mine out of a peice of 4 ft x4 ft alum. i bent up 3 inch sides.my header box goes across the width of the sluice and i only use black ribbed rubber mat. this gets real heavy when loaded with material. i use a 1/4 inch punch for my feeder that runs from the header box across to the other side of the sluice. it is on a incline to help move the waste off to the side.at that point i have my highbanker setup to catch all of my off fall to run it again through my highbanker.hope this gave you a few ideas.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

[=Jaxom link=. My biggest obstical I face is building a bending break to make the sides for the sluice.
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Look under experimental aircraft building. for similar bends, they merely clamp the alum between two straight pices of timber (2x4) then gently go tapping along the edge slowly with a rubber hamer and evenly for the no of passes needed to where you finally have a 90* bend. Do not try to bend it all at once.

However it is far simpler to go to a machine shop and have them bend it for you.
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Building a shaker table might be even more difficult. I don't know, I just think because I have such fine gold here it'd be a good idea to atleast attempt to build one. I read a while back in this forum about shaker tables plans. I lost the link when my hard drive died, but it was a bicycle powered unit built for testing in India. I did print that out, but it's not really plans. It show diamentions and all. But not what angles the riffles are, or how I could make it vibrate instead of using hand/peddle power. And Ideas?
******************
On our comercial table at the mine, our riffles ran at right angles to the inlet feed to the table The length was on a diagonal with the shortest riffles nearest the inlet feed.

You need to have a system of adjusting your stroke and rapidy of the table movement.

Final hint, cover the intake area of the table for full width and perhaps for 2-3 ft down wth a film of plastic cloth which will float on top of the incoming feed. this will force any fine gold under the surface increasing greatly your recovery, I managed to increase ours by 12%+ .

Incidentally, this works for any sluice also.

Don Jose de La Mancha - Tropical Tramp