Old rebuilt jaw crusher from Boulder Col. help and use thereof.

[Assembler]

Hello
Have a small 2 x 4 inch jaw crusher that is rebuilt. The main shaft (1 1/4 inch) now has a standard keyway cut into it instead of just a set screw. This one reads in a 1898 manual online about jaw crushers and calls this size crusher a "0 Assayer size" crusher. The manual points out that all jaw crushers should have a "Shear point" that fails first before breaking other parts. The question is a good "Shear point" a aluminum keystock or is brass a better keystock? What are the differences? What is the best way to free or pull the flywheel on a jaw crusher and how often should one replace the keystock?
The Jaw crusher was cast and made in Boulder Col. say between 1920's - 1940's with old babbit bearings. Is this crusher designed to crush down to around 1/4 - 3/8 inch first pass?
Thank you.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[4x4x4]

PICS ?
If the flywheel is all metal (as opposed to wood) , it MAY have 2 or 3 threaded holes to affix a "puller" .
The shear point , the item in the keyway , need not be replaced unless warn (or broken) .

 

[Assembler]

Thanks

Hello
Thank you for the tips there 4x4x4. The cast iron fly wheel does not have any threaded holes however may be able to weld up a puller to fit the three spokes and the shoulder of the fly wheel. Will try a aluminum shear point to start with. Will be slow on getting pics. In the process of welding up a 2 x 4 ft. trailer to put it on to tow out in the field. Will have to make a puller before going out as well.
Figured the there are others here on this forum that have run older American made crushers to tell there experiences on using them.

 

[4x4x4]

Hello
Thank you for the tips there 4x4x4. The cast iron fly wheel does not have any threaded holes however may be able to weld up a puller to fit the three spokes and the shoulder of the fly wheel. Will try a aluminum shear point to start with. Will be slow on getting pics. In the process of welding up a 2 x 4 ft. trailer to put it on to tow out in the field. Will have to make a puller before going out as well.
Figured the there are others here on this forum that have run older American made crushers to tell there experiences on using them.

....Howdy Assembler.
Much luck in this endeavor.....wish I was there.
Aluminum might "smear" rather than shear so WATCH it for awhile.
How are the babbited bearings lubricated.....a drip reservoir .
Puller....As Close As Possible To The Hub (three "S" shaped spokes or straight?).
....have fun and post the project/pics when you can !

 

[Assembler]

More info

Hello
Thanks for the welcome as you can see this one is new to the forum. The babbited bearings where lubricated by oil cups from the factory. They where worn out by the time I saw the crusher and had a machine shop with big enough equipment line bore out the old bearings to put in new machined bronze bearings with a grease groove for lubrication. This one realizes that grease and crushed rock is bad and will have to keep an eye on this. The idea is to get the crusher as close to the target rock out in the field to sample on the spot from a few buckets to maybe a few tons of rock. If this one can not find enough rock to sample may take to some clubs and crush other's rocks.
I think the crusher came from northern California gold districts as a sample tester.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Sounds like brass may 'Smear' less then Aluminum? Thanks.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Will start with a 6 1/2 HP engine to start with to help keep the weight under 360 - 400 Lbs. to tow around.

 

[Goodyguy]

I would go with copper, or brass for the shear pin. Aluminum was more expensive than gold in 1898.
Brass would be my choice because it is harder than copper and will fail well before iron or steel.

GG~

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Goodyguy wrote:

I would go with copper, or brass for the shear pin. Aluminum was more expensive than gold in 1898.
Brass would be my choice because it is harder than copper and will fail well before iron or steel.

Yes I think brass is the best choice and just replace every year from all the pounding.
Should be some of the hardest work this one will do breaking up a few tons of rocks by sledgehammer to get the rock small enough for the opening of the crusher. The upside is will know for sure that this one will be the first to gold pan that given rock.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Is is a little off the topic thread. Has anyone used a Falcon detector on say 1/4 - 3/8 inch output of a crusher to scan or detect any small bits of gold or any other metals to help determine if the rock is worth crushing or turning into to rock powder?
This detection of rock may be slow but not as slow as turning into powder to release minerals / free metals. A lot less time and wear and tear on equipment as well.
The original jaw plates are long since worn out so this one 'Hard faced' the current mild steel jaw plates. Will have to re-flatten the about 5/8 - 3/4 inch plates (4 x 8 inch jaws).

 

[Mad Machinist]

A lot of the smaller crushers used a tapered bushing to mount the flywheel. More often than not, a good whack with a 4 pound hammer will knock it loose. If it is just a straight shaft, DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT pull the flywheel by grabbing the spokes. You WILL snap them off ruining the flywheel. If you need to pull the flywheel find a puller that is long enough to grab the back shoulder of the center section and pull it that way.

Believe it or not, a mild steel keyway will shear quite easily when overloaded. But it would depend exactly what the replacement shaft was made of. If there is ANY wear in either the keyway on the shaft or the flywheel, you have constant problems with the keyway shearing.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Mad Machinist wrote:

A lot of the smaller crushers used a tapered bushing to mount the flywheel. More often than not, a good whack with a 4 pound hammer will knock it loose. If it is just a straight shaft, DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT pull the flywheel by grabbing the spokes. You WILL snap them off ruining the flywheel. If you need to pull the flywheel find a puller that is long enough to grab the back shoulder of the center section and pull it that way.
Believe it or not, a mild steel keyway will shear quite easily when overloaded. But it would depend exactly what the replacement shaft was made of. If there is ANY wear in either the keyway on the shaft or the flywheel, you have constant problems with the keyway shearing.

Thank you for the tips Mad Machinist.
Yes this one agrees with the tip on pulling just on the shoulder as the cast iron spokes are not very thick at all. The shaft appears to be lower carbon steel and the key-way could get messed up real easy. The flywheel is not tapered at all thus the new key-way was milled. Thank you every one for your input so far.
May have to go 'Slow and steady' for a while so as to not break parts.

 

[dave wiseman]

Hello
Is is a little off the topic thread. Has anyone used a Falcon detector on say 1/4 - 3/8 inch output of a crusher to scan or detect any small bits of gold or any other metals to help determine if the rock is worth crushing or turning into to rock powder?
This detection of rock may be slow but not as slow as turning into powder to release minerals / free metals. A lot less time and wear and tear on equipment as well.
The original jaw plates are long since worn out so this one 'Hard faced' the current mild steel jaw plates. Will have to re-flatten the about 5/8 - 3/4 inch plates (4 x 8 inch jaws).

Crush up a small batch of the smaller pieces with a mortar and pestle and pan it out...and yes a Falcon pinpointer will detect some smaller stuff in little quartz pieces.One thing that should be remembered is that in every gold bearing vein there are lean streaks,even in an ore shoot.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Dave Wiseman wrote:

Crush up a small batch of the smaller pieces with a mortar and pestle and pan it out...and yes a Falcon pinpointer will detect some smaller stuff in little quartz pieces.One thing that should be remembered is that in every gold bearing vein there are lean streaks,even in an ore shoot.

Good tips there and thank you Dave Wiseman. Can any prospecting time be saved by using the Falcon metal detector and not turning all the rock into powder form as far as sampling goes?
If each test rock is say reduced to around 3/8 of an inch and then the Falcon detector used. Then just mortar and pestle or steel stamp down the more interesting rock samples.
Anyone use say a 4 inch coil on a gold detector and have any prospecting tips?

 

[dave wiseman]

Hello
Dave Wiseman wrote:

Good tips there and thank you Dave Wiseman. Can any prospecting time be saved by using the Falcon metal detector and not turning all the rock into powder form as far as sampling goes?
If each test rock is say reduced to around 3/8 of an inch and then the Falcon detector used. Then just mortar and pestle or steel stamp down the more interesting rock samples.
Anyone use say a 4 inch coil on a gold detector and have any prospecting tips?

Even if all you have are a couple of five gallon buckets of quartz it will take quite awhile to run the Falcon over every piece as you want to turn the rock all around slowly against the Falcons small tip....and then you may have very fine gold in a piece or micro that the Falcon won't pick up.Just run a batch through the crusher and see what you have.I don't know your diggings or situation but way too many people put the cart before the horse and buy crushers and ball mills without really having any good and lasting ore.This is a known historical mining fact that equipment is bought(usually with investors money) and there's no proven ore reserves.The gold goes in and out in a gold bearing vein and it might be quite awhile before a a small operator can get on the lead again,if ever.In many areas low valued ore was stockpiled as it didn't cover costs to run the stuff.In alot of areas such as the California motherlode gold country this rock was used by state or county road crews and contractors for road base.I see many posts about running the concentrates and processing them,but how many are really making money doing that.Like just a few handfulls.Run the stuff you have and good luck as it's always a crap shoot.

 

[Assembler]

Thanks

Hello
Thank you for the tips Dave Wiseman.
Yes this one is putting the 'Cart before the horse' to some extent only because this one stumbled into the worn out sample crusher. Have a little background on hardrock to lessen the pitfalls some. Figure that using any metal detector is just a type of high grading at best. A gold pan is often a better indicator for any small gold. A detector can under good conditions or better yet away from background minerals can read or see 'Pickers' in side of rock samples. This part of Oregon is known for 'Pockets at best' and veins are not the best. Just looking for tips on hand scanning with detectors.
The small bits of metal that some refer to as "Fly poop / piss" may only be 'Picked up' by the Falcon even if the real range on a Falcon is say 1/4 - 3/8 of a inch at best.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
This one is very 'Green' with the Falcon MD and the Falcon MD may be to slow except for maybe spot checking to help one get on the right rock for the smaller gold. There should be enough of the smaller gold in the rock or one may not even cover there gas and food and consider crushing as only a tool to help release the minerals / metals.

 

[dave wiseman]

Assembler,my mining days are long gone,but I did hard rock sampling and mining on a very small scale using only hand tools for thirty plus years until my body gave out.Mostly I dug coyote holes in hillsides or worked the hillsides themselves.I learned from two old prospectors and mining men who worked in hardrock and gold gravel mines(ancient tertiary river channels) for 70 years or so.They also had their own claims and millsite with a 1900's era Gibson elyptical ball mill,which I later had after they passed on to the gold mine in the sky.These fellows were my partners for over 25 yeares and we ran that mill many times afterfinding pockets and highgrade stringers.Not once in all those years was the rock worth running for any period of time after we processed the ore streak.When they worked their claims before I arrived on the scene they made their money from low grade ore,but it was constant..though it comtained no pockets or enrichments.My area of digging sounds like the part of Oregon that you are in..small rich pockets and occasional quartz gold species along with fines.I often worked two or three stringers at one time,continually sampling and following the lead(where the gold is going),whether up.down,in or out.My longest hand dug coyote hole was about fifthteen feet in with only minor fines to show after a years digging.At the same time I was finding better stuff on other veins and just sampled the long drift occasionaly.After one winters heavy rains I returned the next spring to find no sign of that long coyote hole.Everything had collapsed and by the grace of G-d I was not inside when the back fell in.In any case if you don't quit and follow the old hardrock saying you may have some luck..Any color comming out of a quartz vein,especially from inside the/or on the quartz is worth following.What you find in the clay/mud/dirt may only be float..maybe not.Since your in pocket country this may hold true,in that if your color and little pieces keep increases in your continual sampling and panning out of a vein it's likely it'll make..but then again it may not..such are the mysteries and lore of gold.After you've found your pockets and species over a period of years it really becomes the HUNT that is the big thing.KEEP Persistant.

 

[Assembler]

Hello
Dave Wiseman wrote

Assembler,my mining days are long gone,but I did hard rock sampling and mining on a very small scale using only hand tools for thirty plus years until my body gave out.Mostly I dug coyote holes in hillsides or worked the hillsides themselves.I learned from two old prospectors and mining men who worked in hardrock and gold gravel mines(ancient tertiary river channels) for 70 years or so.They also had their own claims and millsite with a 1900's era Gibson elyptical ball mill,which I later had after they passed on to the gold mine in the sky.These fellows were my partners for over 25 yeares and we ran that mill many times afterfinding pockets and highgrade stringers.Not once in all those years was the rock worth running for any period of time after we processed the ore streak.When they worked their claims before I arrived on the scene they made their money from low grade ore,but it was constant..though it comtained no pockets or enrichments.My area of digging sounds like the part of Oregon that you are in..small rich pockets and occasional quartz gold species along with fines.I often worked two or three stringers at one time,continually sampling and following the lead(where the gold is going),whether up.down,in or out.My longest hand dug coyote hole was about fifthteen feet in with only minor fines to show after a years digging.At the same time I was finding better stuff on other veins and just sampled the long drift occasionaly.After one winters heavy rains I returned the next spring to find no sign of that long coyote hole.Everything had collapsed and by the grace of G-d I was not inside when the back fell in.In any case if you don't quit and follow the old hardrock saying you may have some luck..Any color comming out of a quartz vein,especially from inside the/or on the quartz is worth following.What you find in the clay/mud/dirt may only be float..maybe not.Since your in pocket country this may hold true,in that if your color and little pieces keep increases in your continual sampling and panning out of a vein it's likely it'll make..but then again it may not..such are the mysteries and lore of gold.After you've found your pockets and species over a period of years it really becomes the HUNT that is the big thing.KEEP Persistant.

Wow thank you for sharing the story. Don't have this same background hovever can pick up on this and still know how to work.

 

[Assembler]

Ball mills

Hello
Most people don't have access to a ball mill. This one will try to make a set of 'Rolls' to carry out in the field but not to start with. Thank you every one for your input.