Want to build my own sluice

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

New to treasurenet and to panning. My nephew and I have decided this would be a good hobby for us. We want to build our own sluice. I suppose it is as much about spending time together as anything and accomplishing a project together.

Any suggestions?

Also we have been given access to a creek. We are seeing a lot of super fine gold sparkly stuff in our black sand. How do you tell if that if flour gold or not?

 

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[davidb]

I built my own sluice went to lowes bought the metal a/c duct work 6.29 a piece and used metal channel bar with wood for my riffles I have a ribbed mat and miners moss on top I hope to try it out this weekend if weather permits

 

[KevinInColorado]

Davidb, that'll work. You may find a need to epoxy some strips of extruded metal to the underside for added rigidity since that air duct sheet metal is so thin. That is what I had to do when I built an experimental sluice to try out different ribbed mats a couple years ago. (I wanted something cheap to glue a bunch of samples of ribbed rubber down on...was a fun little experiment but I did have to add some rigidity or the whole thing would flex in the river and you want a very flat bottom in a sluice of course.)

 

[Jason in Enid]

New to treasurenet and to panning. My nephew and I have decided this would be a good hobby for us. We want to build our own sluice. I suppose it is as much about spending time together as anything and accomplishing a project together.

Any suggestions?

Also we have been given access to a creek. We are seeing a lot of super fine gold sparkly stuff in our black sand. How do you tell if that if flour gold or not?

I would recommend to spend a lot of time doing online research into sluice designs. Just slapping something together and taking it to the creek is likely to get you a sore back from digging and nothing else. There are lots of designs because there is different sized and shaped gold placers.

If you are seeing anything gold and sparkily, it's most likely mica. To tell the difference, pan it. Mica is light and will go over the edge. Gold is heavy and will sink to the bottom. I would recommend that you get one of those gold panning kits that comes with the pan, instructions, and a bag of practice sand. There is an art to panning efficiently and quickly.

One final tip, gold does NOT "sparkle". If you think you have gold and you move it around in the light and it seems to twinkle at you, it's mica. Gold also looks the same in the sun or shade. If you shade it with you hand it disappears or changes, it's mica.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Thanks for the tips. We are having fun playing in the creek and collecting different rocks and trying to identify them. In a few weeks, we are planning to go up to Thermal City Gold Mine to spend the day playing. My nephew has been practicing using steel bb's to work on his technique with the pan.

Can we use the very thick ribbed outdoor carpet that Lowe's sells as the bedding on which to put the expanded metal and the the riffle system over that? It is black and about 36 inches long with the groves running from what would be left to right of the water flow through the sluice. I think it is like $5 per foot.

And what is miner's moss?

 

[idowa]

I am no expert, but I built a couple of different sluices from materials from Home Depot, spent around $60, and wasted a lot of good material in sluices that were simply not properly designed. I bought a Keene A51 last week for $100 and am now confident that if I send good material through it, it will do it's job.

Of course, building your own sluice is fun and rewarding, but I'd rather not worry that I'm losing gold due to my lack of knowledge of hydrology...

 

[KevinInColorado]

This is a good point idowa. A newbie is often wise to start with a well designed professionally made sluice. I've seen many waste money making things that only sort of work due to their lack of knowledge.

 

[419GottaMinute]

Start with a proven design, then modify to suit your needs.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

I liked some of the ideas in this guys video. What do you guys think? I am not sure I like the think paint screen expanded metal. I can get something just a little thicker.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

And I liked the built in classifier on this one.

 

[FlyingProspector]

I welded a set of my own riffles. Drilled through it and the sides of my box so it is rigged up with one long bolt through it and a wing nut for quick field breakdown. Under that is some rubber backed carpeting (make sure it's backed so nothing goes through it). And since miners moss is expensive, I bought some Arm & Hammer cat litter mat. It is the closed rubber loop stuff that is just like miners moss. I believe 3m makes it too. But I found a cat mat made of this material for $5 at Walmart. Although, not all walmarts have it. But then I cut it to the size I needed. Also I found some great v-matting at OSH which was much cheaper than buying it from a mining supplies place. And that's basically it! To learn how it all goes together, research the Keene sluices mine is basically the same thing and it works fanatically. Have fun

 

[gtxkid]

I think you better read this. http://www.goldhog.com/goldhogtips.pdf

It will be one of the best things you can do.
I have researched Sluice's for over three weeks now every day.
You need to build one for the gold in your area.
I was going to buy a Keene A52 3 weeks ago and now realized after spending a day and half with old timer sluice guy in my AREA Colorado, they use different stuff and this Gold Hog mat is what they are replacing there old mat, carpet, expanded metal, exc. with in there old sluice's.

So i decided to also just build my own using Gold Hog mat.
I am guessing 75 for mat and 10 to 20 for aluminum.
You have to remember i am new and know nothing but have seen what works in my area and sometime's it is best to pick a winner and do what they do copy.
If you are going to do it why not get some gold at the same time.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Doitlaynstyle]

If you do enough research building your own is not intimidating.

 

[idowa]

You obviously have access to some awesome tools...

I spent 4 years in the Navy as an aviation structural tech and built some cool stuff out of aluminum and carbon fiber for my hot rods.

What I wouldn't give today for access to those hydraulic shears and brakes now...

 

[Doitlaynstyle]

You obviously have access to some awesome tools...

I spent 4 years in the Navy as an aviation structural tech and built some cool stuff out of aluminum and carbon fiber for my hot rods.

What I wouldn't give today for access to those hydraulic shears and brakes now...

Actually built all of that by hand with the aid of a leaf break, and a tig welder. all the cutting was done with a 1/16 cutting wheel on a grinder. I miss the press brake and shear and laser table at work when I am working at home lol.

 

[robbor]

im building a sluice now for fine gold bc a share a creek with the neighbors and their kid and i like poking around.
I already have all 3 keene sluices, and ive gone sluicing with others w homemade sluices and every one caught most gold just fine. The gold in my creek is super fine and in order to process finer material slower i have to use less water and smaller riffles. The 2 sluices id build would be same design(first 2). Raised perforated metal full length with something underneath.
IE, rough top conveyor belt(vortex matting), keene molded mat, carpet and small expanded. Im going to try the conveyor belting with 1/8" perforated in a 4-5' long sluice with abount 10" of slick plate prob.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Robbor, that should be a great design...that is what the gold cube prototype was like...sorta...from what Red tells me. With that punch plate you can just shovel all day!