Home Built Equipment

[alloy_II]

Home made, heavy wall pipe with lift bar, using 3" diameter round steel shaft cut at 3" lengths after years of use the sharp edges have rounded off.

 

[pepperj]

Owned a non-ferrous scrap yard for 13 yrs. Bought anything non-ferrous which included silver. some gold, high alloy nickel content metals. Had contracts with the electrical, pharmaceutical companies. Did a lot of military assets from the auctions in the 90's.
The military base in Toronto closed and it had assets that went back to the 50's, all the decommissioned electronics were stripped of any hazardous materials then sold off at the action.
The large bulky items were a real pain for the auction house to deal with so this is where I came in and bought the stuff presale days.
Large radar, bulky cabinets, equipment that were in wooden crates.

This all started with one sale/purchase of 2 Tutor Jets that collided midair at the air show in 1989. I bought them in 1994 for complete destruction-meaning no salvageable part was to be resold for collector purposes. I did find 13 envelopes that contained parts of the aircraft that were removed from the pilots body.

These envelopes were returned-and never mentioned for 15 yrs.
It was the start of many years of low cost flow of goodwill bidding on scrap.
The electronic scrap was from the 50/60/70's and had heavy gold bearing contacts. The silver contacts were easily scrapped, the boards/chips/fingers all were sold to another recycling broker that specialized in electronics.

One purchase was these transducers 6ft high 4ft across that contained 45 gallons of cod liver oil, silicon aluminum blocks that weighed 10.3 lbs each. Each block had a crystal pack and each individual crystal that was pure salt basically was wrapped with a gold flashed silver foil. This entire block was covered with cork, which had to come off to sell the aluminum.
Solution was go down the street to the chemical company supply and buy a drum of what the main ingredient of what paint stripper contains. Full respirator, rubber gloves to the armpits, apron, and the stripping of the cork was completed.
The gold/silver strips were another thing, so I placed them in a wire tote placed out back for 10yrs and let nature dissolve the salt crystal packs. I recovered 46 LBS of this product, which was then sold to the refiner.
I kept one sample as a reminder of the fun filled days of recycling PMs.

 

[russau]

Yep them were the glory days for sure !

 

[pepperj]

Yep them were the glory days for sure !

50+microns
Mainframes were just dripping in $$$

 

[mixdenny]

Just a simple sluice. I had the aluminum stock already so I bought a set of 10" wide riffles for $28 on eBay. I have to carry my equipment a few hundred yards so I wanted it light weight. Most sluices are made of 1/16" aluminum but this is fabricated from 1/32". However, the deep embossing really stiffens the panels so it is not too flimsy. This is not structural diamond plate, this is 3003 corrosion resistant aluminum. I added a small section of miners moss at the end. Off to the river tomorrow!

 

[russau]

Well mixdenny First post & welcome to the site ! Nice looking sluice !

 

[N-Lionberger]

Our Princes Auto is like Harbor Freight, purchased the flange bearings and V-belt pulleys. As soon I'm feeling better will get to work on this project.

They don’t have any of that kind of stuff at harbor freight.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Harbor freight mostly just sells cheap Chinese tools of dubious quality.

 

[JohnWhite]

I personally would prefer to spend $20 on an angle grinder I might only use 2 or 3 times in my lifetime, instead of spending $200 on one made in America…But that is just me…Or almost any other tool…IF I depended on a tool to earn a living, I would invest the $200 on a quality tool…But how many people actually need to use certain tools on a daily basis

Besides…China needs more American dollars to continue to build their expanding war machine…

Food for thought…

Ed T

 

[N-Lionberger]

There’s cheap Chinese crap and then there is Horrible Fright…

 

[JohnWhite]

There’s cheap Chinese crap and then there is Horrible Fright…

I got me a harbor freight grinder for $10 before Donul Dump imposed his tariffs on imported goods from China…I believe I have used it around 3 times since I got it…I believe the last time I used it to sharpen a lawn mower blade…Anyhow I saved enough cash by not buying a DeWalt grinder to get me a few other once in a while use tools…

Everyone has their own opinion…I still have me a set of Craftsman socket set…But Sears is out of business…So much for the lifetime warranty…

Ed T

 

[JohnWhite]

Here is a hypothetical scenario…Let’s say a person gets lucky and stumbles upon a gold ore that runs 40oz gpt…Said person goes out and buys a cheap harbor freight cement mixer for less than $250 bucks…The same person goes out and buys grinding balls for as much IF not more than the cost of the mixer…IF said person is able to process just 1 ton of said ore with said mixer…Would it have be worth it

Ed T

 

[N-Lionberger]

I assume the balls and the ore will grind a hole in the mixer before a profit is realized.

 

[JohnWhite]

I assume the balls and the ore will grind a hole in the mixer before a profit is realized.

That is always a possibility…

Ed T

 

[JohnWhite]

With the stated amount per ton of material even if the cement mixer needs repair in the process of grinding a ton. One could also make some or all of the repairs with a HF welder or other needed tools for the repairs and add the metal as needed.

I will add here that the cement mixer should be inspected every few hours to determine if more sheet metal or other repairs are needed as the metal is being ground away.

With close to $80,000 per ton…Why would anyone want to get greedy and process more than a ton every now and then?

A person could buy a lot of horrible fright with $80,000…

Ed T

It may be likely that the cement mixer will not hold up for the amount of 1 ton. That why inspection is needed every few hours or more as part of the process.

Of course an RC1 is always an option… lol…And it is made in America…

Ed T

 

[JohnWhite]

If said person had an assay proving 40oz to the ton, obtaining private $ to purchase real equipment would be the most sensible option.

Most cement mixers only handle about 3 cubic feet of material at a time.

There was a fellow in Bralorne British Colombia well known for gold, he was using an old truck mounted mixer that had its own engine.

I ended up buying that old mixer for a couple hundred dollars but the engine was seized, I removed the engine then powered the mixer from the PTO on my Massey diesel tractor.

I used the mixer to make concrete.

View attachment 2088877

Maybe one of these days I will decide on a way to work the ore from the coazon…I consider it one of my retirement accounts. I don’t believe I need any of its assets at this current time…I will just have to wait and see…

And I don’t believe I will ever be seeking any investors…I don’t need to get greedy and work more than a ton of ore every once in a blue moon…

We will just have to wait and see…IF I never get to work any of my little playgrounds that will still be alright with me…

Ed T😁

 

[JohnWhite]

There are some that will just mine the investors for there living.

Most will never come across 40 ozs. per ton material however it has been known to exist from time to time. Many are willing to work say 4-6 ozs. per ton materials.

There will always be those who mine their investors…I personally am not one of those people…I know that without investors there are less things to worry about…

Heck…With ore that runs over 40 oz per ton..I believe I could get buy working a few hundred pounds of ore every now and then…

But IF I really have stumbled upon Santa Fe…Why even worry about working any of its ore?

Ed T🤪

 

[JohnWhite]

Most will never have to worry about this type of materials and I can see your point about not needing investors.

Buying from the Chinese can show that the standard of living / purchasing power has changed since the U.S.A. does not appear now to have a currency that is backed by anything.

Not that long ago one could buy a gallon of gas for a quarter or less.

Most will never have to worry about this type of materials and I can see your point about not needing investors.

Buying from the Chinese can show that the standard of living / purchasing power has changed since the U.S.A. does not appear now to have a currency that is backed by anything.

Not that long ago one could buy a gallon of gas for a quarter or less.

Only time will tell…

The dollar is backed by good old expensive American goods and thin air…We will just have to wait another 2 years to see what happens then…

I have never seen a quarter gas…But I do remember when it was less than a $1 a gallon…But that was before it was capitalized…Now the big oil companies milk earnings for all they can get…Their profits are through the roof…Oh well…One day I just might buy me a mule…lol

Ed T🙃

 

[JohnWhite]

In the late 1950's to early 1960's a gallon of gas was around 25 cents in Oregon however in California it was around 19 cents a gallon.

Don't forget that the expensive American goods and thin air you refer to now has in part a "Carbon tax" on it.......lol. What will happen in just 2 years?

I remember my parents used to tell us stories about them jumping in their car and driving from Los Ángeles to the RGV in Texas on a $20 budget…I even remember when my dad bought Ethyl at the pump…

You know what they say about death and taxes…lol…Well…In two more years we will have another debt ceiling showdown…And at the rate the debt continues to increase… Sooner or later the bubble will burst…

Oh well…We will just have to wait and see how much longer we can continue to kick the can down the road…🙂

Ed T🙃

 

[JohnWhite]

What Is the U.S. National Debt Right Now — and Why Is It So High?

See the latest numbers and learn more about the causes of our high and rising national debt.

www.pgpf.org

Ed T

 

[JohnWhite]

Got balls

Ed T