Under construction: Bucket Buddy

[Capt Nemo]

In the mood to build something again. Got an idea to try another recirculating fluid bed concentrator. I'm looking at a deep bed over 4"deep, and about 4x4" in area. I also want to be able to hook it onto the side of a 5 gallon bucket to catch the tailings. Debating whether to use a DC 500 gph pump or an AC 120 gph fountain pump. Also debating about a feed hopper so I can use a scoop instead of a spoon.

 

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[russau]

Why not a autofeeder ! Very EZ to make and adjust to get the feed rate you want !

 

[Capt Nemo]

A 4"x4" bed that hangs on the side of a bucket can't get too complicated or it might tip the bucket over.

 

[Kenmitch]

A 4"x4" bed that hangs on the side of a bucket can't get too complicated or it might tip the bucket over.

Unsure of what you want to make? Bucket will be empty?

Last week when I was at the creek and 1/2" classifying for a while I just filled the bucket 2/3rds full of water before I even started. Bucket in creek next too me was quickest way.

Seems like bucket of water is pretty stable and would stand up decent without tipping over easily. Doubt you could hang 20lbs of tailings off the side at great distance though.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Just got her done!



Here it is attached to a tailings bucket.


I'm going to test her with the 500 gph bilge pump.

 

[FFFPatriot]

Nice job! You outta post a video of it in action. Looking forward to the report.

 

[russau]

Capt the auto feeder would be a stand - a - lone device and would not effect your devices stability. All it would do is feed a controlled amount of cons into your device.

 

[rosej3570]

Capt the auto feeder would be a stand - a - lone device and would not effect your devices stability. All it would do is feed a controlled amount of cons into your device.

What are you using to glue the acrylic together? I've been trying to figure out the best way to do it. I see the advantages with ABS since it can be hot air welded.

 

[Capt Nemo]

I use the water thin methylene chloride acrylic welding solvent and needle applicator bottle. But if you're in kommiefornication you're out of luck, as they banned it there, as it supposedly makes smog and kills you with cancer. Yet it's the best method for welding acrylic and polycarbonate. I did all the welding with less than 6 ml of solvent.

Best practice uses a router to cut out the pieces for welding, and presoaking the joint to get no bubbles. Sawing is ok, but may need sanding to smooth the edge enough for no bubbles. Sand no finer than 220 grit. Use a saw blade made for acrylic, as other blades will chip.

 

[rosej3570]

I use the water thin methylene chloride acrylic welding solvent and needle applicator bottle. But if you're in kommiefornication you're out of luck, as they banned it there, as it supposedly makes smog and kills you with cancer. Yet it's the best method for welding acrylic and polycarbonate. I did all the welding with less than 6 ml of solvent.

Best practice uses a router to cut out the pieces for welding, and presoaking the joint to get no bubbles. Sawing is ok, but may need sanding to smooth the edge enough for no bubbles. Sand no finer than 220 grit. Use a saw blade made for acrylic, as other blades will chip.

I've been using a laser to do the cutting, so the edges are very smooth. I will see if I can find methylene chloride anyplace local. Thank you for the input.

 

[Capt Nemo]

If you have a True Value hardware store that handles acrylic rods and shapes, they might have it or try Craftics.

 

[SunshineMiner]

Love it Nemo. I have a TAP Plastics store 20min from my house. I'm currently working on an abs flare for dredging with 2" pvc nozzle XD. I'll have to make an acrylic fluid bed for the end of the sluice for that fine gold i might be losing

 

[russau]

DONT PUT A fluid bed at the rear of your sluice on a dredge !!! I did this and when you start to get into the black sand and gold it WILL tip your dredge DOWN at the WORST time and you'll lose it all eventually if your not using a dredge tender! INSTEAD put the fluid bed under and in the middle of your sluice to keep its sluice balanced with your dredge. Then ,it will weight the dredge sluice down evenly and you'll know its time to clean up ! I know from experience of how - 2 - do - it - wrong!!!

 

[N-Lionberger]

I have a small fluid bed I made for the end of my 2.5" dredge box, I have never had it tip over because of that. I tipped it when I had it on a stand and tugged on the hose too hard. The thing is that they dont really work that well in a dredge because of the high water velocity, in a highbanker configuration it worked well but going full speed dredging not so much.

 

[russau]

My fluid bed on my 4 inch dredge had 2 sources of pulsed water going into the FB from the sides to the tubes and it kept the lighter material in suspense and flushed out the rear while the fine gold and black sands dropped to the bottom of the FB. My dredge tipped up on the front of the dredge while out dredging on the Arkansas River in Colorado with some friends (claim owners). This river is known for its abundant black sand and fine gold..... Nothing like a wheel standing dredge to get your heart rate up-n-running !

 

[Capt Nemo]

Got her out for a test run. I first ran 1 1/2 gal of raw beach sand that I still had, and then ran 2 gal of panned down black sand. I took and combined the cons and ran again. Still have to check things for losses.

Running the beach sand.



(Rats! it rotated!) You can see the separation of the blonde from the black, but it's not quite full enough to really start pouring off.




These are once she got full and began dumping. Top shows the action within the bed. In the bottom pic you can see a small red quartz based stone that came up and sat on the spout.




The top is a pic of the spout. I did angle the spout 5 degrees to hopefully clear all the sand that likes to build up. Needs 10-15 degrees I guess. Lots of nice red garnet. Last is where I was throttled with a 500 GPH bilge pump.

Overall the bed kept up with spoon feeding and didn't back up at all. You do have to design with whatever tailings bucket you are going to use. I tried mounting it to a 3.5 gal bucket and it didn't fit, but works perfect with the 6 gal buckets I have.

Now we have to figure out what the losses are.

 

[Capt Nemo]

I forgot to add that you get about a liter of cons per run. This should be a great concentrator for my model 5 bed and it's 2 gallon cleanouts. I may also use this for separating the magnetite out of the tailings.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Just got done panning the concentrate tailings. Found 5 pieces of all different sizes. I had slipped when cleaning the cons bucket and some may have dropped into the tailings. That would explain the different sizes. Normally with the beds, blow outs tend to be a specific size and not all sizes. So, I think what I found was spill, and the bed isn't loosing anything. If I had found more than what I did the bed probably would be loosing some. The supercons had 40 pieces ranging from ~16 to 300 mesh.

So I think the 5 1/2" deep box prevents any blow outs from occurring with fine gold. The fine gold just can't get high enough in the column to escape.

 

[russau]

NICE JOB Capt.!

 

[Capt Nemo]

I ran a bucket of miller table tailings and the cons seem to have all the gold. It looks like the gold found in the tailings above was spill. Running the table dead slow, I've pulled 30 pieces so far (1/2 way done) of what made it off the table the first time. 6 more buckets of tailings to go.

I'm thinking that deeper beds may be the best way to go for active (pumped) fluid beds. Passive beds like the Bazooka might also benefit, if they can keep the bed fluid enough. Only drawback to deeper beds is the amount of cons per cleanout. But then again, your fine gold recovery will improve.