Highbanker build

[johngfoster]

Any of you guys build your own highbanker? I've finally gotten around to putting one together. Made from 1/16" (0.063") 6061 Aluminum. Sluice is 9" wide, 6" high, and 48" long. Fitted for a 1 1/2" hose. Still have to finish cutting the Gold Hog matting and install the legs.


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[russau]

Looks nice! Adding a faired edge to your hopper may make shoveling material into your hopper EZer !

 

[Goodyguy]

Interesting grizzly.


GG~

 

[johngfoster]

Interesting grizzly.


GG~

Yeah, that was something I thought long and hard about. I was wanting to make it out of Aluminum, yet not have to weld it. What I came up with was grizzly bars of 3/8" aluminum rod, threaded through 3/8" holes drilled in two square tubes. However, the upper end holes were widened out to 7/16" and one end of each rod mushroomed out to where it would not fit through the 3/8" hole. However, I had to file a flat on the mushroom end to get it to fit flush. Then the challenge was how to prevent them from falling back out the other end when tipped the other way, so I placed another scrap 3/8" rod through the square tube, just proud on each end, and drilled/placed a split pin through the hole to keep the transverse rod in place. It rattles around a bit, but the rods don't come out unless I remove the transverse locking rod first. The square tubes are just riveted to the underside of the header box, so we'll see how well that holds up.

 

[Vance in AK]

Looks like it should work well & great craftsmanship!
Now the part that's almost as much fun as designing & building... TESTING

 

[Digzit2]

Looks well built.very nice.

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

I ran across a grizzly like this at the dollar store. Dish drying rack

 

[Jakel]

I ran across a grizzly like this at the dollar store. Dish drying rack
View attachment 1452933

What is the spacing on those rods

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

What is the spacing on those rods

8.9 x 18.7'. 15 rods. 9/14~=.65 spacing on center. Not sure the width of the rods.

 

[wildminer]

I like your hopper design. I converted mine to that style in hopes of not getting myself so wet, but haven't used it yet since motors are now considered deplorable in Oreganistan.

 

[johngfoster]

I took it out for a test run today. I'm tired! Had a lot of fun though.

I decided to go with the electric bilge pump for starters, as I could get one for $50. And I like the fact it is quiet. No noisy gas motors to break the tranquility. However, it is only marginal at best. I get about 1/2" to 3/4" water over my mats with it. I set the pitch to 11 degrees. And even with the low flow, the mats were active. They didn't clear out quite as fast, but did exchange well.

In the am I ran just the upper unit. I put my pan at the end of the sluice to check my tailings for losses, and found none. In the afternoon I ran both upper and lower boxes. I panned out the lower box before I left, and fount 7 TINY specs (-50 to -100) in the whole lower mat. I think if I'm by myself again, I'll just keep it simpler and run the upper only.



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[johngfoster]

A few other lessons learned:
1. I need to trim the header box legs.
2. I need to get legs on the upper box so I don't have to balance it on rocks.
3. I need to find a better place with better gold that is closer to home
4. A flare on the header box would make shoveling so much easier.
5. It really needs more water (better pump option) to function well (did I say that already?)

Here's a pic of the cleanout after this am's run with just the upper mat:

 

[mpgken]

Looks like you are copying a GoldHog. Not much to think about on your design if you just copy the hard work someone else does.

 

[johngfoster]

Picks of the day's total take. I know, not much. Didn't pay for my gas, but it was fun. And it catches the super-fine gold. Now, as I said earlier, I just need to find a better place to dig.




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[FLORIDA KEYS PIRATE]

Pretty cool set-up. Congrats on your build.

 

[Hamfist]

Great build! It looks like you have quite a bit of hose on the ground. If you shorten that up and get the bilge pump 10 feet or less from the box, you should see much better flow.

 

[johngfoster]

Great build! It looks like you have quite a bit of hose on the ground. If you shorten that up and get the bilge pump 10 feet or less from the box, you should see much better flow.

I was also thinking if I put the pump in UPSTREAM instead of downstream, there would be less of a pressure head to lift against. However, at this location, the water was too turbulent upstream as it was coming around a bend.

I also noticed that the amount of water was significantly dependent on the voltage of the battery. As the day wore on, the water flow dropped significantly. I tried charging the battery with jumper cables from my truck (with the truck running), which helped some, but didn't restore the full charge, even though I did if for an hour. By the end of the day there was no boiling action, and just a small amount of water flowing, not enough to clear the mats properly. That's when I packed up and left for the day.

 

[Vance in AK]

Looks like you are copying a GoldHog. Not much to think about on your design if you just copy the hard work someone else does.

Why reinvent the wheel? Find something you like, take joy in building it yourself, & make little mods (sometimes improvements & sometimes not) that suit your particular operation & then next winter do it again!

 

[johngfoster]

I put together a quick video of my unit. Here's the link: