Best method for final cleanup?

[gopher]

Hi all, just got a hand dredge/suction pump thingy. Times like this it's great to play in the water when detecting gets a bit hot. Works great on the river. What's the best way of finally cleaning the concentrates when (if?!!) I get 'em home. Seen some great DIY ideas on here. Is the 'blue bowl' idea any better than a smooth mini sluice? Any advice or tips greatly appreciated.

 

[Digginholes]

Hi mate I've never tried the blue bowl but have found that a mini sluice with v mat only works well, still holds a small amount of black sands though so a final pan will be needed

 

[G0lddigg@]

its very much a personal preference, i know the AM predator is pretty good a few mates are running these with a pool pump.
personally i sieve down to 1/8 then run my cons through a mini highbanker recirculating on a table falling into a wheelbarrow trick is controling the water flow and removing as much air as you can. then you need to get just enought angle to flush out most of the black sand. I use a pice of miners moss in the header only to dampen and spread the water flow and besides what most recommend i dump big scoops onto my rubber and watch the gold appear underneath when the lights have cleared.

to be honest if it were my money and i wasn't great at panning id go with a little angus but the desert fox does really well. Also the blue bowl can be really great i think to be honest most people use them wrong and so alot of blokes get them and say they are no good. at the end of the day its about getting your angles right no matter what you use.

[video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rkhRzLFn6M[/video]

 

[cracka]

Love this topic as i have just made a blue bowl and cut up some guttering for a mini sluice (ribbed rubber mat in it). Also about to buy a self healing cutting mat to try and make a miller table. Now all i've got to do is go out and get some dirt with gold in it :| and i can try all three and see what works the best and fastest.

Blue bowl

Blue bowl

Parts to make up a clean up sluice

Dont know whether to use some fine miners moss (Bunnings doormat), ribbed rubber mat (Bunnings) or some fine expanded over insertion rubber? Any ideas anyone?

Cracka

 

[G0lddigg@]

leave the rubber bare mate anything on top larger than 2mm will flush that gold right out. not all of it but some. with the bluebowl i know a bloke who uses it and hwo he does it cleans better than any others i've seen. he places all of his material inside the bluebowl first no adding to it as it goes and boy does it concentrate. my homemade one worked but trying to get a large bluebowl perfectly level without leveling clamps is pretty tricky

 

[gopher]

Hey, lots of good ideas here. Many thanks to you all. Also jogged a few of my remaining memory cells, too, so I've got some good stuff to think about. Thanks a lot, fellas.

 

[ProspectorPete]

Great topic as I'm about to venture down the same path of trying a few options.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Hey Pete

You can replace your gold hog matt and moss with a single piece of rubber for an easy cpnversion on yoir sluice. Just a thought

 

[cracka]

Thanks for the info GOlddigg@, will try the cleanup sluice with just flat rubber mat and adjust the flow and angle to clear the sands. Not wrong about getting the bowl level, thats why i made up this.

First, the flange fits into a 20 litre bucket

Then the levelling bracket slips into the flange

Just screw the nuts (3 of them) to level the bowl.

This is it all put together.

Then i turn the pump on, watch the water go over the centre and form a vortex. From watching this you can see if your level or not. If not level turn off pump, adjust nuts and turn on again and watch the water flow over the middle. Once this is done turn pump off and dump your concentrates into it and turn it on and have a beer (or 2 or 3) Simples. I also have a flow adjuster at entry.

Also think i need a shed. 8)

Cracka

 

[Digginholes]

Definitely run the sluice with out the moss or expanded or you will find the moss still catching a lot of black sands and or ironstone and as mentioned above expanded over v mat will wash out fine gold, I have tested this my self and v mat alone will catch very fine gold once your flow and angle is correct, just run it into a bucket and the run it a second time if in doubt.

 

[ProspectorPete]

Hey Pete

You can replace your gold hog matt and moss with a single piece of rubber for an easy cpnversion on yoir sluice. Just a thought

Thanks Dustin, yep never considered that really, that's probably going to be the quickest and easiest way to set one up.
I can make a spray bar easily enough to mount on the flair.
What pump would you recommend to get the correct flow for this sluice?

 

[G0lddigg@]

as a concentrator you can get away with a 1100 gph mate, i use a blueline that i got from BCF about 2 years ago still pumping away. however you might want more power at some point so you could get a seaflow 3700 ebay special and buy a speed regulator to control the flow.

 

[ProspectorPete]

awesome thanks mate. I'll get the seaflow 3700 and be done with, it may have other uses in the future.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Cracka that leveling kit is the bomb

 

[GWT]

This guy has got his cleanup method well and truly worked out.

http://shacksgold.com/cleanup.htm

Cheers

Gerard

 

[cracka]

Thanks GOlddigg, got sick of bits of stick and pegs which i used to level it falling out from under the bowl whenever i bumped it. All secure now. Next build will be a miller table (diy of coarse). Might try to get that done tomorrow.

 

[gopher]

Hey Cracka, love your workshop, mate, but no room for a can on the table! According to our avatars, we're probably related! LOL! I like that leveling setup. Similar to one I put on a sluice a while ago. Simple nut gives infinite adjustment for any angle/direction/height.
Wal

 

[ProspectorPete]

Hey Cracka, love your workshop, mate, but no room for a can on the table! According to our avatars, we're probably related! LOL! I like that leveling setup. Similar to one I put on a sluice a while ago. Simple nut gives infinite adjustment for any angle/direction/height.
Wal

Same here, great levelling setup there, and you need room somewhere to sit a can down while pondering more ideas, the more cans I have the more ideas I come up with, not sayin' they're great ideas though :|

 

[Jaros]

I don't think i'd want to get in Gophers way--nice teeth mate.

Hey Cracka, love your workshop, mate, but no room for a can on the table! According to our avatars, we're probably related! LOL! I like that leveling setup. Similar to one I put on a sluice a while ago. Simple nut gives infinite adjustment for any angle/direction/height.
Wal

 

[cracka]

Thanks guys for your compliments. I dont put beers down on table i just finish them. That was my old friend (pet rat called Moet) Gopher, he was called Moet because when he was little he was champagne coloured. Anyway back on topic. Well today i went to Parramatta to a craft shop and bought one of those self healing mats or pads or whatever you call them. I dont think the girl behind the counter believed me when i told her it was for catching gold. Then wandered down to Miners Den Parramatta and bought 2 sniffer bottles and was going to get some small glass vials but out of stock (gold talk for about half hour). So back to Westfields it was. Same craft shop and bought some small and large plastic containers to put all the gold i dont have in. Then off to the local glasiers to get a piece of glass to glue the mat to. More gold talk for 45mins. So tomorrow all i need is some wood to make a frame and i should have a new miller table for around $40 (already have bilge pump, hoses, etc).
Glass and Mat

Sniffer bottles

Gold containers (16 of them, 8 small and 8 large) cost $7. Thats a fifty cent piece next to them to show size.

Now i just gotta get some gold to put into them. :lol:

Cracka