Hand Dredge Help

[H&F909ORO]

Hi All,

Well on Saturday I started building my own hand dredge. I bought all my tools and other equipment. I hit a snag on the plunger. So my problem is, is that I took an end cap and drilled a 5/16 hole in the center. I then placed it onto a 1 inch tubes which is the plunger portion. I bought a test plug and took the screw off and used a different one. I put the screw through the hole and used superglue to keep the screw in place. Then I put the test plug on it. Well it didn't work, the test plug started to turn the screw with it allowing it to not tighten. I can't think of what else to do. I see people on YouTube with it but they don't tell how they get it on. Any ideas on what to do? I have pictures, but I will take some better ones tomorrow.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[TheHarleyMan2]

I saw on youtube on those same hand dredges and I couldn't understand out they got it to work. I decided to build my differently which I have a post here on the homemade section with a list of everything and pictures.

On your issue I don't know how you have your test plug mounted to the handle. If you are using super glue to hold the screw in and it is loosening as you are using it, you could use blue locktite on the theads of the screw and nut. It will keep it locked on nad secured from loosening.

DO NOT get the red locktite unless you plan on NEVER having to tighten the screw again and you will never will be able to unscrew it, you will end up having to cut it off.

 

[H&F909ORO]

What does the blue lock tite do? Would I still be able to tighten my test plug? Or would it be locked into place?

 

[Bejay]

Instead of a screw use threaded stock. Have a nut/washer on both sides of your plug (I use a rubber ball). Put the threaded stock up in your PVC plunger and secure it with JB Weld (put a wood plug up in the plunger that has a hole drilled in it to accept at least 3 inches of threaded stock). Thus you only need the last 1 inch with JB Weld before you put your drilled out end cap on. Leave plenty of threaded stock showing to accept your plug set up.

Bejay

 

[Underburden]

Take your pvc slip cap and drill a hole smaller than the threads on the Carraige Bolt (square shoulder) that came with the test plug.
Use a dremel tool with a small bit to make the hole SQUARE. Work the hole until the square shoulder on the bolt goes into the square hole. Now install your test plug onto the pvc slip cap with the carraige bolt it originally came with. Glue pvc slip cap / test plug assembly onto the piston rod. You will now be able to adjust the test plug without the bolt spinning.

 

[JaDogg]

instead of dremeling out the hole square, heat the carriage bolt hot with a plumbers torch and mash the square end into the hole. Makes a perfect fit. Used to do that on some pvc fishing rod holders I made.

 

[roadrunner]

All I did was put the carriage bolt through the cap. After drilling the hole.
The bolt is loose still,but when I glued on the handle,it holds against the bolt head some.
Then on the bottom of the plug,use 2 washers,the large one that came with it, The plug, then a small one.
When you tighten the wing nut on the bottom,the carriage bolt will not turn.
Because of the pressure. At least on mine it does not.

 

[H&F909ORO]

How long was the bolt? I tried this before but I used a 10 inch piece bolt and used lock tite super glue. As I was testing the test plug the bolt came loose and starting spinning with the washer on the test plug. What I'm going to do is still a whole inside circular wood. I'm making the whole a little bigger so before I put the bolt I'm putting epoxy glue in so it sticks too the wood and covers the rest of the gap. At the end I'm putting a lock washer on the bolt. Next I'm going to put the wood piece inside the plunger. Then I believe I'm going to glue the wood in. After that's done I'm going to put the test plug on the screw and be able to tighten without the screw spinning.

 

[Armchair prospector]

The leather works great. If you do it by the directions from the hand dredge manufacturer you should not have a problem. I tried the plunger but it did not work for me either. You can purchase just the leather part for about $15 from the manufacture. That is the easy way.Go to the G&S website, go to products, scroll down to the leather cups, it's all there.

 

[elgatodelnoche]

I saw on youtube on those same hand dredges and I couldn't understand out they got it to work. I decided to build my differently which I have a post here on the homemade section with a list of everything and pictures.

On your issue I don't know how you have your test plug mounted to the handle. If you are using super glue to hold the screw in and it is loosening as you are using it, you could use blue locktite on the theads of the screw and nut. It will keep it locked on nad secured from loosening.

DO NOT get the red locktite unless you plan on NEVER having to tighten the screw again and you will never will be able to unscrew it, you will end up having to cut it off.

Have you got a link to that? I could not find it in the member submitted how to's forum.

 

[H&F909ORO]

The leather works great. If you do it by the directions from the hand dredge manufacturer you should not have a problem. I tried the plunger but it did not work for me either. You can purchase just the leather part for about $15 from the manufacture. That is the easy way.Go to the G&S website, go to products, scroll down to the leather cups, it's all there.

well I am building my own so I don't have any instructions.

 

[UTAvalanche]

I had the same problem with mine. My solution was to buy a bolt with a square head and a nut with a nylon insert that would lock it to the bolt. I then mounted this on top of an end cap with a small screw to hold the end cap to the shaft so that it could be used for adjustment. You need 2 socket wrenches to fine tune it but once you set it to where you want it, it will stay there. When the rubber wears down a bit, just remove the cap and readjust. I also bought two of these plugs and used just the smaller tapered ends. This way you have even pressure on the rubber when expanding it. Oh, having a nylon washer under the nut also helps