Gold Hog Mats

[DigginForGold]

Hello

So I purchased a 3D printer that will be hopefully arriving by the end of the week, if not early next week.

Ive been doing a little 3D modelling on the ol computer in the meantime and decided to try and replicate one or two of the Gold Hog mats just for the fun of it. I ended up copying the Talon, Bedrock 2.0 and DownDraft mats.

I got them mostly the same, but there is some slight variation since I didnt have any actual matting to get measurments from or anytning. Now I dont know a lot about Gold Hog mats but it seems to me like they're fairly precisely engineered. But how much so? Is 1mm here of there going to make a lot of difference or render the mat useless? Check the pics below to see how mine compare to the originals.

I figure they might be worth a shot in my highbanker since its under 190mm wide so I will be able to print out wide enough sections. And since it'll cost me $25 instead of $130+ to try these three mats I wont lose too much should it not work out. And I'll print em out in green so I'll be able to see the black sands much easier than on the black.

Im not really sure if copying and printing this out is 100% legal, but whatever. I dont really care lol. They're not EXACTLY the same, and Im not selling them or anything so yeah.

So here are the profiles. The black ones are the orginals, the white ones are mine. What do you think...close enough? I reckon the Bedrock and DownDraft (the first two) might be alright...

 

[DigginForGold]

And just as a bit of an aside, just for the fun of it I also made a little sluice. Tis about 15cm wide with a 25cm flare and can make is as long as I want since it has to be printed in sections and riveted together as its too big for the printer otherwise. Will probably print this out with 4 riffle sections and give it a shot just because

 

[brendomac]

Wow, I never thought of a 3D printer for this stuff. I'd be interested to hear how it works out. You could muck around with all sorts of sluice designs too, like incorporating different templates as a sluice frame.

 

[Occasional_panner]

As far as the copyright goes I'm not sure how different it has to be to not be in breach. But as you said you are just making them for yourself, perhaps refer to them as "similar to hog mats" just to be safe.
But other than that well done! Good outside the box thinking there.
Is the material soft or hard? How would it stand up to wear?
Cheers Mark

Edit, just looking at the profile you drew, maybe add a small chamfer on the leading edge of the male interlocking part, that might make it a little easier to fit.

 

[cecc]

How are you going to print those mats in rubber??

 

[DigginForGold]

@brendomac
I know right. It could allow those ideas you have ever now and again to be seen through and pulled off in a decent way. It also might not. Guess we'll find out soon enough haha

@Occasional_panner.
The materials I can choose from are ABS and PLA plstic. ABS is petroleum based and is more flexible, and PLA and more hard and brittle (from what Ive read). Im nit sure how well they'll probably stand up to wear but ABS is a very common plastic so I would think its decent wearing and would last a fair time I would think (fair for $25 at least). I think Im going to try it with ABS first since thays what I'll have.

Is a chamfer the little cut away bits on the protruding connector? Lol. If so, yeah you're right. Not sure why I didnt do it in the first place tbh haha.

@cecc
Lol. Not going to be printing it in rubber. See my my response above

 

[cecc]

Ok mate thanks for the description.

 

[AtomRat]

Cool idea mate, what sort of 3d printer did you get? I guess you will have to file or sand some down for final touches after the print? Exciting haha
Good work with the 'drop' sluice design as well, will be good to see that in action too

 

[DigginForGold]

Cheers, but I guess we'll see if its a good idea or not once I try it out. In theory it all seems good enough though.

The printer is a Prusa i3 kit. A cheapy but from what Ive read it should be good enough for my needs. Ive seen that ylu can also get wax filament so you can print models for lost wax casting. This interests me greatly as Im very soon going to try my hand at some casting. Just on the process of aquiring parts for the furnace at the moment. Was going to try green sand and lost foam, but a bit of lost wax would be fun too. Im actually not sure if the printer I got can use the wax filament but its cool nonetheless.

And yeah the sluice is going to be very much equivalent to the AM Grubbstake in stize and style. I guess thats kind of what I modeled it after. I plan on doing a video when I print and test this and I'll pribably run it side by side with the Grubbstake. I think if it performs 90% as well as the AM then its a winner...could just make it longer to catch it all. And considering it'll cost $25 instead of $140...well, that speaks for itself

Oh and yeah I plan on giving it those final touches so everything fits in together nicely. Not sure how much it'll need though...just have to wait and see

 

[AtomRat]

Throw me a buzz and come over sometime mate and you can have a go here if you wany and ill throw you some tips on making a furnace that shouldn't crack

 

[DigginForGold]

Sounds good mate. I could definitely use some advice when it comes to making the furnace.

 

[DropBear]

That must be a bloody big 3d printer...

Prob not a good idea to copy someones design they worked so hard on making. but good luck.

Remember this is a public form, goldhog may see this...

 

[DigginForGold]

Lol, no, as I said I have to print it in sections. Each of the mats I can do whole but the sluice is in sections that overlap and will be rivited together, or welded with acetone (I think) or both.

Im aware this is a public forum. As I said I dont really care. If I was selling it or making it publicaly available then maybe there would be an issue in my opinion. In terms of copying someones idea they've worked hard for...well yeah fair enough. But again, with the above in mind Im not really that fussed. Id just say welcome to the world.

I wonder if the fact that Im 3D printing it makes it seem worse to some? I feel like if I spent hours carving one out of a piece of rubber then there wouldnt be an issue?

 

[AtomRat]

Carving goldhog from a rubber mat is possible but you would want to use a custom knife / blade and a template to follow so the blade doesn't warp or bend the lines. Your not ripping off goldhog so go for it mate. They copied the waterways

 

[bazza2210]

I did a file once to try and 3D print on a mates printer the UR profile for a cleanup sluice but never got around to it.

 

[Occasional_panner]

You could always make a mould with the 3D printer and find the correct rubber to use and make it that way.

 

[DigginForGold]

Yeah I wouldn't dream of trying to carve one out of rubber. As you said Atom, way too involved and one stuff up and it's all over. No thanks.

Bazza, that UR mat you made looks good. I wish you had of gone through with it. If this works out with the other mats I'll definitely consider some UR for a cleanup Sluice.

That's a good point Occasional. Certainly something worth considering if the plastic doesn't work out ey.

 

[DigginForGold]

So here is the first mat printed. Came out alright finally after quite a trial and error period. Not the best finish but had a bit of extrusion trouble towards the end, and only printed at standard quality...going high or ultra quality will leave a much better finish. Or maybe the rougher finish could be beneficial in some small way, I dont know. But I'm just happy to have figured out how to get one done without the ABS warping So now to get 7 more printed up (which will take 5 days since it takes about 18 hours to print one), then I can whack it in the highbanker and do some testing. Can't wait.

Here's a few pics:

 

[Jaros]

Amazing technology-well done.

 

[Gappa44]

Dude that looks mint !!!