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hydraulic elevator

This was a topic years back , by Dave Franks ( vortexrex ). I had one of his systems for my 4 inch dredge and it worked great for atleast 15 years before I sold it because of my aching body from old age !:BangHead: and I'm still missing it !
 

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I have a 4" built from Vortxrex plans, need a lot of water. I had it running on two pumps, a 5.5hp 2X2 and a 6hp 2.5X2. I want to put my 3x4 on a bigger motor to run it. I also need to upgrade my recovery system, the elevators gasify the the slurry you need to get all the air out before it can be sluiced.
 

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I have only seen the Vortex working in shallow ground . i could achieve that with just a normal dredge filling and unfilling a dredge hole.

Im talking about using something that could shoot lots of gravel out of pit atleast 20 to 25 feet .

The old times used hydraulic elevators that had a jet of water straight through the middle of jet log.

I have seen on youtube people using the same concept of a tiny 4 " setup lifting up gravel around 15' .. But i guess everyone in the US is using a vortex instead and my question is maybe why. ?.
 

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I used what worked for me and with what I could make it from ! Dave sold copies of his Jet and it could be made to your dia. of what you need with a new jet dia. calculation ! I was in the middle of construction of a 5 inch jet ,BUT me old bones said other wise !:dontknow:
 

russau said:
I used what worked for me and with what I could make it from ! Dave sold copies of his Jet and it could be made to your dia. of what you need with a new jet dia. calculation ! I was in the middle of construction of a 5 inch jet ,BUT me old bones said other wise !:dontknow:
Click to expand...

To me i find it easier to make a metal one since i have more experience dealing with metal jet logs then in PVC one.
 

You are mistaken by the capabilities of the Vortxrex it has the capacity to go deep as you like, just need enough water/ boosters. It operates exactly as an elevator of old. You cannot perform the same task with a suction dredge thats laughable.
 

N-Lionberger said:
You are mistaken by the capabilities of the Vortxrex it has the capacity to go deep as you like, just need enough water/ boosters. It operates exactly as an elevator of old. You cannot perform the same task with a suction dredge thats laughable.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that part for me..i would like to try to test one out. But i want something i could blast with a larger hose like a P180 and be able to have a elevator sucking up all the gravel. .

Maybe ima need one larger then a 4" ...

Does anyone have shared the plana behind the vortex jet. ?
 

6 inch is probably your best bet as your gonna need to move the cobbles out of the hole fast, run her off a VW power pump with a little monitor to washdown, I have a little monitor I want to use with mine. Monitoring is much easier on the body than wrangling a fire hose. Look up Dave Frank Vortxrex on Facebook.
 

principedeleon said:
To me i find it easier to make a metal one since i have more experience dealing with metal jet logs then in PVC one.
Click to expand...
I've welded for 40 plus years and have had lot's of experience with plastic's (PVC , UHMW , ABS ,ETC.) and before I build anything metal , I make it in plastic first to save on $$$$$$$$$$ . Then once perfected , I then can make it in metal ! And I always used a blaster hose while dredging thanks to Hoser for tipping me / us off to it's benefits !
 

Sorry misread a little... The Vortxrex is based on one of the old time elevators and is capable of sucking out huge holes but you did mention in your post that you were curious about the elevators that had a single large port blowing up a pipe, I always understood these were used for moving tailings out of a hydraulic pit placed at the end of a sluice run. I haven't seen anything like that used. Another type of hydraulic elevator was basically a sloped set of grizzlies you would push cobbles up and over with a monitor. hydraulic_elevator_diagram.webp
 

You're gonna need a lot of water...

IMG_3895.webp
 

This is exactly what i was looking forward to build but from the picture alone i could tell it takes a large amount of water to run from the jet inlet pipe and the suction pipe size. . it does looks simple to build. The throat isnt really nessesary since i have read some who made them without it.
 

N-Lionberger said:
You are mistaken by the capabilities of the Vortxrex it has the capacity to go deep as you like, just need enough water/ boosters. It operates exactly as an elevator of old. You cannot perform the same task with a suction dredge thats laughable.
Click to expand...

Thank you Nick, and yes you are correct !!
 

i have not seen a large excavation made with these units as you see being done with Gravel pumps .. i have just seen shallow excavation made 8 feet and under. in my situation im trying to figure out an alternative to a gravel pump but i think a gravel pump is the way to go being able to lift material 20'+ into a sluice and being able to run in poor water conditiones just using the available water for a water cannon..

im just looking to transport just the paylayer to a sluice all the clay overburden would be removed with a machine im building.
 

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Anyone want to buy a dredge?

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