Low budget dredge build

[wondertuckian]

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[Jason in Enid]

there is absolutely nothing cheap about building a dredge if you don't know what you are doing. It will be faster, cheaper and better to just buy a good used one.

 

[winners58]

do a search for Vortxrex Dryland Dredge, get the 4" kit. you'll be ready to go that much faster,
you can use it to feed a sluice, highbanker or build a dredge around.

 

[bill-costa rica]

here is a good low budget dredge, built out of spare parts... it works damn good



bill/cr

 

[Jason in Enid]

That sounds great, 'til you try to locate a good used one within 500-700 miles. So, realistically, it's either I build one, or buy a new one, and a new one aint in the budget.

I understand your predicament, Being in OK I had the same problem. I had to drive 500 miles to pick a good used dredge. You will still be money ahead if you can take a weekend and drive to pick one up after taking to a seller and getting lots of picts and opinions from members here. If you know exactly what you are doing, you can build one because you know how they are supposed to be built, assembled, operated and function.

You need the right engine and pump to have the proper gallons and pressure for the size of dredge you want.
you need the frame to be strong enough to withstand the abuse and vibration it will enounter
you need enough flotation to deal with river current without turtling your dredge
you need the proper length, width, and depth of sluice for the water and gravel moving through it, and you need the right type of sluice bed for your gold type
you need a properly designed steel jet log (if using a jet), otherwise you are wasting engine and pump power without moving water and material
you need a quality flare between the jet and the sluice, because this will take a lot of abuse.
you need the right hoses or you will be spending all your time dealing with jambs (wrong hose design), hose tears (too flimsy) or fighting an immovable hose (too thick)
if you want air (and trust me, you do!) you need to have a quality oilless pump AND have figured out mounting, belt route and shaft pulley mounting, then you need air hoses, resevior and an LP scuba regulator

don't even think about building until you have all of this figured out. PVC has NO PLACE in a dredge. It is far, far too fragile to be beaten around by gravel and boulders.

I'm not trying to belittle or discourage you here, I'm trying to help you out. The vast majority of us have no choice but to buy much of this stuff from professional builders. LOTS of people have decided they wanted to build a dredge only spend a lot of time and a lot of money to make something that didn't really work. By the time they got everything rebuilt and rebuilt until it worked they had spent more money than just going out to buy one and probably wasted more than a year.

If you are going to build your own, I wish you luck. Look up Reed Lukens videos on youtube, he has some fantastic advice on building.

 

[tokameel]

Hey wondertukian, Welcome to TNet!

I hope that you find lots of good ideas (and share them as well) here and the other folders as well.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Well, there is one for sale in Ill right now, but just to clarify, I was talking about PVC pipes (like what you are wanting to build your jet from) not PVC hose. Remember that little line I listed about picking the right hose? But, you already have your mind made up, so go hog wild and do whatever makes you feel good.

 

[wondertuckian]

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[okbasspro]

Have you ever run a dredge the reaction on sand rocks and high pressure water in the jet is tremendous. PVC pipe gets very brittle in cold water will shatter like thin glass. Jason is correct a PVC jet will not last and will ruin your day.

 

[MadJack_ME]

If you think a factory jet is expensive, wait til you're done building 1 or 2 or 3 or more home-made ones and experience the failures, time and cost. Times up, season's over!

There are many threads here that cover many different jet builds. If you had read them, we would not be rehashing a well documented topic. That is your choice.

With over 30 years experience using, buying, building both failed and incredible jets, I would suggest researching, reading, and educating yourself before attempting to build one.
I wish you luck...

 

[Timberdoodle]

I"ll chime in on this since I have built a lot of PVC jet's in the past. A PVC jet will hold up for many years of use as long as it is built and used properly. Winner58 mentioned the Vortxrex Dryland Dredge jet which has been out there for many years and I have seen folks on this site say they have been using them for over 10 years. I have built PVC jets from 1-4" sizes and put a lot of time on them also without any issues and I have purposely cut them open to inspect them for any damage. I would never built a PVC log jet with a single side entry since the effect would smash all the incoming gravels against the sidewall and likely cause damage quickly. Building an infinity jet or multiple jet design is a must and you rarely get a jam caused by a rock flip and the gravels don't wear into the sides like a jet log. PVC does become brittle below freezing, so taking precautions is necessary if working in freezing conditions and if you have to clear a rock jam be a bit more careful and don't just take a rod and smack it with everything you have. I have never broken a PVC jet yet. All that said, Wondertuckian your jet has some major design issues. The dimension between a 3" and 4" sch40 pipe only leaves 1/4" of area for water delivery and you will lose massive psi trying to make a transition and feed the jets. The stage up from 3" to 4" at the outlet will diminish the suction unless the volume of jet feed is greater than the difference between the 2 dimensions. This technique works well to improve suction when using low pressure pumps which need more volume vs psi to do the amount of work required to create suction and I do this when using bilge pumps.

I fully agree that if you have never owned or operated a dredge in the past, you should buy a used dredge! You are getting a lot of great feedback from folks with experience in this and you need to ask yourself a question.
Is you goal to go dredging or spend a year learning about how not to build equipment from trial and error.
If you start with a decent used dredge you will gain tons of experience using it and understanding how it works and how to tune it and gain a basic understanding if you want to build one in the future. The worst scenario is to build a dredge without any experience and try and tune it in when it's not even in the ballpark of good recovery. The amount of aggravation is not worth it and can ruin what you expected to be a fun day on the river.

In the time it took to write this, this thread went downward fast.

 

[wondertuckian]

I"ll chime in on this since I have built a lot of PVC jet's in the past. A PVC jet will hold up for many years of use as long as it is built and used properly. Winner58 mentioned the Vortxrex Dryland Dredge jet which has been out there for many years and I have seen folks on this site say they have been using them for over 10 years. I have built PVC jets from 1-4" sizes and put a lot of time on them also without any issues and I have purposely cut them open to inspect them for any damage. I would never built a PVC log jet with a single side entry since the effect would smash all the incoming gravels against the sidewall and likely cause damage quickly. Building an infinity jet or multiple jet design is a must and you rarely get a jam caused by a rock flip and the gravels don't wear into the sides like a jet log. PVC does become brittle below freezing, so taking precautions is necessary if working in freezing conditions and if you have to clear a rock jam be a bit more careful and don't just take a rod and smack it with everything you have. I have never broken a PVC jet yet. All that said, Wondertuckian your jet has some major design issues. The dimension between a 3" and 4" sch40 pipe only leaves 1/4" of area for water delivery and you will lose massive psi trying to make a transition and feed the jets. The stage up from 3" to 4" at the outlet will diminish the suction unless the volume of jet feed is greater than the difference between the 2 dimensions. This technique works well to improve suction when using low pressure pumps which need more volume vs psi to do the amount of work required to create suction and I do this when using bilge pumps.

I fully agree that if you have never owned or operated a dredge in the past, you should buy a used dredge! You are getting a lot of great feedback from folks with experience in this and you need to ask yourself a question.
Is you goal to go dredging or spend a year learning about how not to build equipment from trial and error.
If you start with a decent used dredge you will gain tons of experience using it and understanding how it works and how to tune it and gain a basic understanding if you want to build one in the future. The worst scenario is to build a dredge without any experience and try and tune it in when it's not even in the ballpark of good recovery. The amount of aggravation is not worth it and can ruin what you expected to be a fun day on the river.

In the time it took to write this, this thread went downward fast.

Inside diameter of a 4 inch schedule 40 Tee and OD of 3 inch pipe is just shy of 1/2 inch, not 1/4 inch. So the area in sq. inches is more than the 2 inch hose I plan to feed it with. Is that enough room? Have no plans to run in cold weather, so brittleness of PVC shouldn't be an issue. Only other question I have is orifice size, do I base that on the 3 inch inlet, or the 4 inch outlet?

 

[wondertuckian]

Do you guys base all your decisions on what other people think you should or shouldn't do, or what you know you can or can't do?
A man's got to know his limitations.
My budget it limited to what I can do, which is build, not buy.
Real sorry if that's a problem for some of you.

 

[NeoTokyo]

That's not what the problem was, why is it so hard to say "Yes, I was rude and short with some of your responses, I am sorry." Its easy and its what a decent human being would say.
Trust me, there are TONS of budget builds and PVC builds through these pages; no, that's not why you are getting my response.

This place has a plethora of knowledge throughout its pages and the folks that so generously give their time to hand out advice are some of the best around.

Gratification to all suggestions and information given is common courtesy even if it is not the exact answer that you are looking for.

So when I see someone becoming very short and condescending to my brothers and sisters that work so hard to make this forum what it is, yeah, I get a little irritated and protective.

 

[Timberdoodle]

Inside diameter of a 4 inch schedule 40 Tee and OD of 3 inch pipe is just shy of 1/2 inch, not 1/4 inch. So the area in sq. inches is more than the 2 inch hose I plan to feed it with. Is that enough room? Have no plans to run in cold weather, so brittleness of PVC shouldn't be an issue. Only other question I have is orifice size, do I base that on the 3 inch inlet, or the 4 inch outlet?

A 3" sch40 pipe has a OD of 3.5" so this leaves 1/4" if the pipes are centered to each other using a sanitary 4". More for like 1/2" for a 4" slip tee. Sorry, I do not plan on engineering your build and I offered my advise. From here on I am bowing out.

 

[MadJack_ME]

WT, way back when I decided I could no longer live without a dredge, I too wanted to build instead of buy. We've all been there. The key to being a prospector/miner is to think outside the box.
I went out and found someone in my town looking for extra help, he offered $8 per hour x 20 hours per week whenever I could get time. It was winter... I had time. Removing many feet of snow, soaked with rain, from roofs is not an easy job!

By spring I had saved nearly $1200, but I found a 2" Garrett dredge for $200 so I stashed the rest and watched the local ads for a long while. About August that year I found a 3" dredge for $800 and sold the 2" for $400 since that's what someone offered me for it. The following winter I paid $800 for a disgustingly gross 4" Keene [on ebay] that was used in the Patomac river and was covered with snot. Once cleaned she was purty and worked like brand new.

The lesson here is to invest your time to reach your goal. It won't happen overnight but with enough determination it could happen.

Remember though, very few have ever paid for a dredge in IL, with the gold they've found there.
Again, good luck.

 

[wondertuckian]

WT, way back when I decided I could no longer live without a dredge, I too wanted to build instead of buy. We've all been there. The key to being a prospector/miner is to think outside the box.
I went out and found someone in my town looking for extra help, he offered $8 per hour x 20 hours per week whenever I could get time. It was winter... I had time. Removing many feet of snow, soaked with rain, from roofs is not an easy job!

By spring I had saved nearly $1200, but I found a 2" Garrett dredge for $200 so I stashed the rest and watched the local ads for a long while. About August that year I found a 3" dredge for $800 and sold the 2" for $400 since that's what someone offered me for it. The following winter I paid $800 for a disgustingly gross 4" Keene [on ebay] that was used in the Patomac river and was covered with snot. Once cleaned she was purty and worked like brand new.

The lesson here is to invest your time to reach your goal. It won't happen overnight but with enough determination it could happen.

Remember though, very few have ever paid for a dredge in IL, with the gold they've found there.
Again, good luck.

Well, that's all easy to say, but you don't know the situation I'm in. So here goes. You see, I provide care pretty much 24/7 for a family member who's disabled, leaving the house for hours at a time would mean I'd have pay more than I'd make & put me even further behind than I already am. Even working out in the yard can be a pain because I have to stop what I'm doing periodically to check on things. I'm hoping to be able to get away a few times this summer for a day or so at a time (because maintaining what little sanity I have is getting tougher all the time)while another family member fills in for me. So, buying a dredge is something that's easier said than done. Borrowing or renting a dredge where there aren't many........well, fergitaboutit.

 

[SHoward]

Well I guess you have figured out everyone's opinion on a low budget dredge build but I'm still going to throw in my 2 cents worth. I don't believe there is any such thing as a low budget dredge build !At least one that works worth a darn.

That said, I understand why you want to build a dredge. I'm in the southeast and you just don't run across many dredges for sale down here and shipping from the west coast is not worth it.

The reason I am building verses buying a new one is #1 there are a few features I want that you can't get on a new one, #2 I already have a lot of the materials needed and got some really good deals on the stuff I had to buy, #3 I like to build stuff.

I still bought the Keene oversized flare and jet which are the single biggest expenses, I upgraded my 7 H.P. trash pump by installing a keene p-160 pump I got off ebay, and all new hoses, second biggest expense.

I'll be long arming it this year to stay on budget. next year a compressor will be added.

I've saved around $1200 verses buying new, but again, alot of the materials I already had or were donated or got really good deals on.

To go out and buy all of the materials would cost more than a new one cost.

The floats and frame I made cost me $150, Most of the materials I already had, I paid $30 for the steal that would cost over $250 at Lowes or Home Depot, the floats cost $130 for the fiber glass resin, I already had the cloth and foam sheets.

For $540 shipping not included, you can buy the complete float and frame assy for a 2.5 " dredge from Keene.

Although I am building a 2.5" dredge my floats and frame assy is larger than the keene 4". I did that mainly for stability but to also be able to upgrade to a 4" if I need to in the future.

The pump I got on ebay new still in the box for $100, so yeah, I kinda stole that.

I guess what I'm trying to show is that you can build one cheap, but you have to find some really goods deals on materials to do it.

Oh, and did I mention that I just like to build stuff? That's kind of important too, because if you don't, you're screwed.

 

[russau]

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Ive run my PVC jet from Dave "Vortexrx) Frank for 12 years or so and it still works fine! I just made one for my 2 inch dredge that I just built also. this is my 4th dredge that I built. PVC , ABS , aluminum makes for some light weight fun! and since I have a bad back this works for me! I like my dredges that I built! and they worked fine after I figured out what works and what didn't! and I do believe that it is cheaper and EZer to buy used but NOT abused , BUT in the same token , if used dredges aren't around where you live AND money is tight AND you have all the parts laying around collecting dust AND you are willing to keep working at it until you got it to work right , then go ahead a build it your self! I would have been out there actually getting gold rather that going back home to redo some part that DIDNT work right! Its your choice.

 

[wondertuckian]

Ive run my PVC jet from Dave "Vortexrx) Frank for 12 years or so and it still works fine! I just made one for my 2 inch dredge that I just built also. this is my 4th dredge that I built. PVC , ABS , aluminum makes for some light weight fun! and since I have a bad back this works for me! I like my dredges that I built! and they worked fine after I figured out what works and what didn't! and I do believe that it is cheaper and EZer to buy used but NOT abused , BUT in the same token , if used dredges aren't around where you live AND money is tight AND you have all the parts laying around collecting dust AND you are willing to keep working at it until you got it to work right , then go ahead a build it your self! I would have been out there actually getting gold rather that going back home to redo some part that DIDNT work right! Its your choice.

Fortunately I'll be able to do a lot of testing at home as I have a couple goldfish ponds in the backyard the largest of which is about 15x12x5ft deep. So, a couple thousand gallons to pump in/out. There's also an old dry stream bed with quite a lot of black sand, garnets, etc. on my property, so testing the sluice etc. won't be any big deal either. Considering how difficult it is to get away, I wouldn't even think about it if I wasn't able to do a lot of the preliminary testing without leaving the house.
And, there's a lot to be said for the satisfaction that comes from building something with your own two hands.