Floating Sieve

qtrs-xcite-me · Oct 10, 2023

This is my take on a floating sieve.

Indian Steve · Oct 10, 2023

Looks good. You might want to ad an extra row of noodles if you get in heavier mud or gravel.

OBN · Oct 10, 2023

Nice job! Looks like you put a lot of work into the base. A time saver and A must in some locations.

I've been using one for about 9 years now, been thru a few different designs, each time I've adjusted as I seen needed. One of my first was using the PVC pipe similar to yours. As I got closer to 70 I went to a lighter design, using the largest pool noodle I could find, 4 inch, trimmed bread tray, mesh with no PVC.

Also I stole the idea of a cart to carry my stuff on the long walks to the beach from Carter Pennington of Detector Pro.

CASPER-2 · Oct 11, 2023

cudamark · Oct 11, 2023

qtrs-xcite-me said:
This is my take on a floating sieve.
View attachment 2109189

I would use some screen material instead of perforated plastic so that it sifts quicker, but, other than that, it looks great.

qtrs-xcite-me · Oct 21, 2023

When I first posted my take on a floating sieve, I used the terminology that I found used by others. In reality, that is a misnomer as the real intent for the device is a floating sorting platform. Treasure can be very small, such as stud earrings, and if I get the treasure onto my platform, I want it to stay there until I can locate it with my pinpointer. So the "sieve" must have no metal used in the construction. The holes should be sized to allow water and fine sand particles to sift thru, but retain everything else. I used .25 inch holes in the bottom plate. The bottom plate was made from the removable top from a 2005 Corvette, because I had the material and it was a nice thick ABS type plastic that should hold up well. The above picture is my sieve in use on its trial run. The sieve, as pictured, holds 3 full scoops from my beach scoop, which is more than I expect to have in it when sorting. With that much weight in it, the float is riding about 50% submerged and water is in with the material to be sorted. When viewing one of the commercial products, I noted the user had to force the float down to get water into the sorting area to assist with sorting. I sized this for a 12" by 18" interior space and used .75" (ID) PVC pipe for the sides and standard pool noodles which the pipe will go thru with some lubrication. Total cost was under $7 for purchased material and if I had built "in season" for pool noodles could have been less.