Electrostatic separation of dry concentrates how to commercial or self made.

[Assembler]

You don't need a lot of power for a static charge. Very little power is being used. No light, no heat. Basically, you're charging one side of a capacitor. The initial flow is the only power consumed, provided it's all DC. No current flows once the plate is charged.
Jim

That is good to think of as not much of a power supply is needed. Will be a lot safer too.

If the plate holds the charge long enough then just a sheet of material can then be placed between the plates.

The capacitors will be easier to charge and discharge when needed.

I should start looking at capacitors next.

 

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[Assembler]

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[Jim in Idaho]

That is good to think of as not much of a power supply is needed. Will be a lot safer too.

If the plate holds the charge long enough then just a sheet of material can then be placed between the plates.

The capacitors will be easier to charge and discharge when needed.

I should start looking at capacitors next.

You need to be really cautious with caps, too. They can hold a dangerous amount of potential current. If you have, say 1,500 volts, at 1ma, and it takes several hours to charge a large capacitor with that voltage. That cap, if of enough capacity, can then discharge all of that stored current in an instant. If you have a hand on each lead, it's discharging across your chest....very possibly lethal. I once witnessed, in radar school, a student got his test leads across a power cap charged with about 450 volts. it blew one test lead off, and buried it in the wall by his head. He learned a nasty lesson about caps that day. You don't really want any stored power. Best to just have a low current source hooked to the plate you're running the gold across. The other lead can be hooked to a plate above, or below the first....separated by a safe distance, and with an insulating cover over the "ground" plate, so nobody can come in contact with it while they're close to the first plate. If you use a spark coil, then worst that will happen is a somewhat painfull, but not life-threatening shock.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

That is good to think of as not much of a power supply is needed. Will be a lot safer too.

If the plate holds the charge long enough then just a sheet of material can then be placed between the plates.

The capacitors will be easier to charge and discharge when needed.

I should start looking at capacitors next.

You need to be really cautious with caps, too. They can hold a dangerous amount of potential current. If you have, say 1,500 volts, at 1ma, and it takes several hours to charge a large capacitor with that voltage. That cap, if of enough capacity, can then discharge all of that stored current in an instant. If you have a hand on each lead, it's discharging across your chest....very possibly lethal. I once witnessed, in radar school, a student got his test leads across a power cap charged with about 450 volts. it blew one test lead off, and buried it in the wall by his head. He learned a nasty lesson about caps that day. You don't really want any stored power. Best to just have a low current source hooked to the plate you're running the gold across. The other lead can be hooked to a plate above, or below the first....separated by a safe distance, and with an insulating cover over the "ground" plate, so nobody can come in contact with it while they're close to the first plate. If you use a spark coil, then worst that will happen is a somewhat painfull, but not life-threatening shock.
Jim

You need to be really cautious with caps, too. They can hold a dangerous amount of potential current. If you have, say 1,500 volts, at 1ma, and it takes several hours to charge a large capacitor with that voltage. That cap, if of enough capacity, can then discharge all of that stored current in an instant. If you have a hand on each lead, it's discharging across your chest....very possibly lethal. I once witnessed, in radar school, a student got his test leads across a power cap charged with about 450 volts. it blew one test lead off, and buried it in the wall by his head. He learned a nasty lesson about caps that day. You don't really want any stored power. Best to just have a low current source hooked to the plate you're running the gold across. The other lead can be hooked to a plate above, or below the first....separated by a safe distance, and with an insulating cover over the "ground" plate, so nobody can come in contact with it while they're close to the first plate. If you use a spark coil, then worst that will happen is a somewhat painfull, but not life-threatening shock.
Jim

Ya know, Assembler, maybe what you need is to build a VandeGraf generator. Not sure I spelled that correctly, but you need a high voltage static generator. You might look into that. Should do what you need as far as your experiments. You might be into something good. Won't know unless you try it. Big thing is BE SAFE. That should be your #1 priority.
Jim

 

[Assembler]

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[Assembler]

I have not really looked into the Van de graaff generator yet however it looks like it depends on the amount of surface area if the sphere / ball.

​

 

[Assembler]

I will have to read if a flat plate can be connected to the generator ball.

 

[gold tramp]

No

Anyone use very high voltage to do electrostatic separation of dry concentrates?
There is both DC. and AC. voltage schools of thought on this. Thanks for any input on this topic.

Myself I just use good ole Keene hand crank drywasher.
It's not really the equipment as much as having good ground to work
Lot of folks talk up modified equipment. No matter what if you ain't got good dirt you ain't getting gold...
There's no magic bean one has to do the prospecting and digging to get that yeller stuff in hand, so no to electrostatic it's just a waste of time....
Gt.....

 

[Assembler]

No


Myself I just use good ole Keene hand crank drywasher.
It's not really the equipment as much as having good ground to work
Lot of folks talk up modified equipment. No matter what if you ain't got good dirt you ain't getting gold...
There's no magic bean one has to do the prospecting and digging to get that yeller stuff in hand, so no to electrostatic it's just a waste of time....
Gt.....

This process is not for anything but very fine values that will tend to blow through equipment like a dry washer. This process would be used dry and is geared for around 200 mesh minus size material.

You are correct about finding ground good enough to work.

Not many people have tried a static charge at all so there is little feedback.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

There's no magic bean one has to do the prospecting and digging to get that yeller stuff in hand, so no to electrostatic it's just a waste of time....
Gt.....

If no one experimented, we'd still be tossing gold into the air over a blanket. I commend Assembler on his inquisitive mind, and hope he comes up with something new. People like him deserve a lot of credit.
Jim

 

[Assembler]

If no one experimented, we'd still be tossing gold into the air over a blanket. I commend Assembler on his inquisitive mind, and hope he comes up with something new. People like him deserve a lot of credit.
Jim

Thank you for the complement however the real credit goes to others who have done it or are using it somehow. I'm just trying to follow in other peoples footsteps if I can.......LOL.

The reason I first pointed out some big transformers is that I think some more power is needed to make this work better. I also pointed out that high voltage can kill you or the others around the equipment.

By the way there still may be a place for some controlled air movement over a blanket / electric plate.........lol.

 

[Assembler]

Even if a metal plate is lightly coated with fine minerals and then a charge is applied for removal process would be a good start to this project. That would be faster then hand panning dry.

 

[Assembler]

Since only a few watts is likely needed for a small plate I'm now looking for a much smaller transformer. I wonder if a smoke eater transformer would work?

 

[Assembler]

A smoke eater transformer may work with some capacitors and also a rectifier. I got one from a second hand store. Don't really know what the voltage is yet.

If the voltage is not very high I will look somewhere else for a source.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

You need some progression in your experiments. I'd start with some fine gold. I'd bring a static charge near it, and see how it reacts. Then up the voltage, maybe. Or make other, single, changes and see the reaction. Determine the reaction you want, and then try different approaches to achieve that desired reaction. Keep notes, because you have no idea where this may lead you, and you may have to refer back.
Jim

 

[Assembler]

I still need to find a source for more transformers and order some first.

 

[Assembler]

I had to go out and buy a physics book to brush up.......LOL.

Coulomb's law for the magnitude of the electrostatic force between point charges formula.

Magnitude of an electron's charge. The book says that the relative charging with rubbing that rabbit fur is the best and glass is second in the list. Where as Teflon is the worst then PVC is second worst then there is rubber at third worst.

There is also the concept of conceptual checkpoint between point charges.

 

[Assembler]

This Coulomb's Law goes back to the 1780's so the 1849er's could have used it. So why are we not using it today. So that idealized point charge is separated by a distance from another point charge. Both charges are at rest; that is the system is 'electrostatic'. According to this law the magnitude of the electrostatic force between these charges is proportional to the product of the magnitude of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

yes...the charge diminishes with the square of the distance. Magnetics are the same, and explains why keeping your searchcoil close to the ground surface is so important.
Jim

 

[Assembler]

yes...the charge diminishes with the square of the distance. Magnetics are the same, and explains why keeping your searchcoil close to the ground surface is so important.
Jim

Maybe the two plates to start with should not be parallel to each other. Moving the material by gravity and some air movement may be a big help.

This may also help for a charging of the minerals or a time window to help with this.