How to Build a Sand Screw? Cool idea yeah?

[afreakofnature]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience in building a sand screw like/similiar to what is on the Goldclaimer?
Gold Claimer Pictures

We all do some kind of water recirulation at some point, and this would be great to add so you can reduce or eliminate cleanning out that recirc. tub all the time. I have tried to research this for us small scale guys but have found nothing. I got thinking maybe a ship auger hooked up to some bearing run by a pulley to an electric windshield wiper motor?

Lets's try to build one shall we? Ideas, thoughts, or prior builds? It would have to move at least 1/2 inch rock based on most highbanker classifiers.

 

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[jcazgoldchaser]

Ok, see here.



So you make one of those. That will go in the tub that catches muck/sand off the screen. As mentioned, any large crap went elsewhere earlier. Screen dewaters into a separate tub or catch at/on the screen. So wet muck/sand makes it into the auger tub.

Auger angles out of the tub but isn't the full length of the tube. Start with pvc and that garden bulb auger. Cordless drill to spin it.

Auger turns and drags the mucksand up the tube. Above the auger, there is still more tube to go and the sand compresses up. Water travels down as the sand compresses. Couple inches above that the sand can fall free off the side.

 

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[elgatodelnoche]

I like the simplicity of that. Now we just need to see it working with mud.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Many of the recirc sluice users have a screen over the hopper which gets rid of the gravel and only allows sand and silt into the tub.

Definitely need that. I tried using an auger when developing my auto-feeder. Did not work. It need way more clearance than I was thinking. Now that I have researched it, and realized the required clearances, I could make it work, but it would never carry all the material, due to bypassing the clearance.
Jim

 

[elgatodelnoche]

Definitely need that. I tried using an auger when developing my auto-feeder. Did not work. It need way more clearance than I was thinking. Now that I have researched it, and realized the required clearances, I could make it work, but it would never carry all the material, due to bypassing the clearance.
Jim

Absolutely Jim! I envision the sludge removal to be in the first of two tanks. The first tank would be where the sludge settles out and there would be a pipe near the top which would carry the semi-clear water to another tank where the pump would be located. It is the water in the second tank that would get recirculated.

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

Absolutely Jim! I envision the sludge removal to be in the first of two tanks. The first tank would be where the sludge settles out and there would be a pipe near the top which would carry the semi-clear water to another tank where the pump would be located. It is the water in the second tank that would get recirculated.

Lowes actually had those bulb augers. It is an odd size at 2 3/4" and was only 10" long so I didn't see it worth trying to play with for $14.

Searching utube for auger, I ran across mechanical separators. One was in dirty jobs or something

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

Here's the goldclaimer running

 

[afreakofnature]

Just like i thought, it does run like a grain auger without an enclosed tube. Thanks for finding that video!

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Yup...and note how much clearance the screw has....no chance of jams...and, I'd bet the bottom has healthy clearance, too. There is some gravel always in there, but once it reaches a certain level, it gets scraped out.....really good design.
Jim

 

[afreakofnature]

I am currently looking for some old 4" flighting but not finding much laying around. Trying to buy used to build that prototype. Will keep you guys informed as it goes.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I was thinking about this screw....it would make a great classifier. Twist some 1/4" round stock and weld the screen size you wanted to it. Mount it on the main shaft. Shovel into the hopper, and it would clean all the oversize out, and reuse the water. Maybe even use punchplate of your chosen size to make the flighting.
Jim