Making a gutter sluice, some input please

A#1 · Jan 8, 2019

I want a gutter sluice something a bit more mellow for indoor use. Got a question for those that have used em.

What length should I go with?

I have 10 feet of gutter, thats kind of long. The GPAA sluice is 2ft. Dealing with Michigan gold, I can see where some added length could help catch the smallest of the gold particles, but at some point you would think it adds no additional gold catching benefit, and is just a black sand trap.

It will start out with just square ribbed floor matting for a while, then at some point, one of the conveyor belt types.

russau · Jan 8, 2019

It's what carpet / etc. that you put in it and how fast / much you feed it and how fast /slow you run the water is what counts!

A#1 · Jan 8, 2019

russau said:
It's what carpet / etc. that you put in it and how fast / much you feed it and how fast /slow you run the water is what counts!

I'm aware of that.....

Was just kinda hoping for some opinions on the length.

arizau · Jan 8, 2019

A#1 said:
I want a gutter sluice something a bit more mellow for indoor use. Got a question for those that have used em.

What length should I go with?

I have 10 feet of gutter, thats kind of long. The GPAA sluice is 2ft. Dealing with Michigan gold, I can see where some added length could help catch the smallest of the gold particles, but at some point you would think it adds no additional gold catching benefit, and is just a black sand trap.

It will start out with just square ribbed floor matting for a while, then at some point, one of the conveyor belt types.

I assume this is a cleanup sluice so, IMO, a 2 or 3' sluice is fine with one proviso...For best performance, make sure you run tightly classified material. Classify and run separate batches by size, eg. + and - 30, 50 and 100 mesh or something along those lines.

Good luck.

madmantrapper · Jan 8, 2019

I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination. But it would seem to me that you can't be too long but can certainly be too short. I don't see how a two foot sluice could possibly get all the gold if it was processing large quantities at a fast rate. I see the videos of some of the sluices on u-tube and can't believe they are not missing gold.

johnedoe · Jan 9, 2019

madmantrapper said:
I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination. But it would seem to me that you can't be too long but can certainly be too short. I don't see how a two foot sluice could possibly get all the gold if it was processing large quantities at a fast rate. I see the videos of some of the sluices on u-tube and can't believe they are not missing gold.

Right there shows you are missing the point about efficient recovery.
Water flow, angle, classification, and feed rate all have to be balanced, and the only way to do that is testing...... You can't be in a hurry and catch the fine gold too..
Coarse gold is easy... Fine gold is easy if you know what and how to work with it.

Now with all that being said here is a pretty quick way to get-r-done.... There will still be some final panning finish work but this really speeds things up... You don't need a gold cube to do this... just add deep V mat to your cleanup sluice and tune it and run...

There was over 2 oz. of beach gold in that cleanup.........

IMAUDIGGER · Jan 10, 2019

If you don’t have a lot of black sand, a section of black corrugated HDPE drain pipe has a very high recover rate for fine gold. I’d say all of the gold will be caught in the first 18”.

Recently we ran about 12cy through a sluice box (riffle/expanded steel over miners moss). 96% of the recovered gold was caught in the first 18” of the sluice box. So in this instance it paid to have another 3’ of box.

IMAUDIGGER · Jan 10, 2019

In that gold cube above..

How many ounces of flour gold will that gold cube hold before the matting quits working properly?
How much did you have in the lower section?

johnedoe · Jan 10, 2019

IMAUDIGGER said:
In that gold cube above..

How many ounces of flour gold will that gold cube hold before the matting quits working properly?
How much did you have in the lower section?

I really don't know how much gold the cube will hold.... Never seems to have been one of my problems...... :laughing7:

But here is the second tray.....

N-Lionberger · Jan 16, 2019

My cleanup sluice is 12' long.

A#1 · Jan 22, 2019

N-Lionberger said:
My cleanup sluice is 12' long.

FEET?

N-Lionberger · Jan 22, 2019

A#1 said:
FEET?

yes! The first 5 feet is slick plate so everything can stratify nicely before it hits 3 sizes of expanded metal.

Audozer · Jan 28, 2019

N-Lionberger said:
yes! The first 5 feet is slick plate so everything can stratify nicely before it hits 3 sizes of expanded metal.

Pics?

N-Lionberger · Jan 28, 2019

I'm in the process of moving its all taken apart I'll have it up and running soon I'll take pictures, it won't be as interesting as I got a new pump, the old one was a jerry rigged setup involving an industrial sewing machine motor and a washing machine drain pump wahooo that thing slogged water.

Tahoegold · Mar 9, 2019

I opted for making my own with God Hog Washer mat. After watching the videos on the Gold Cube, v-matting, etc. I found that Home Depot has 10 ft sections of sheet metal that go onto 4x4s. I watched the video from 2 Toes on how to make a clean up sluice and how to cut the metal to make the header out of the same. I'm using a 500 gph pump and a valve inline. That valve was the best idea. I can really dial the flow for the size material. I ran material screened with a 100 mesh and turned the water way down. I keep the angle where Doc recomends at 10.5 degrees. I classified with a 10 20, 50 and 100 mesh. I get 4 sizes, +20, +50, +100, -100. It works well on all of them. I ran material 3 times just to see how well it works. I now run only 2 times in case I missed something. Usually, the first run gets almost all. Here's a picture and the gold is -50 +100. This was just my testing. I can run a quart and get a couple tablespoons of super concentrates. The sluice is 42" and very little gets to the end. I pan what little is left. Way less expensive than some of the retail clean up devices. Sorry, these photos are posting upside down...
Oh, I bought a power plug for a cigarette lighter with an inline 4amp fuse. The power is a "Jump n Carry 600C" I plug it in to charge while in use. I've used it without plugging it in for over 3 hrs. It worked great. I use the battery to jump start my truck if I leave the lights on. But it has a power port that I'm using.