Copper
Matt
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2013
- Messages
- 61
- Reaction score
- 25
So, after seeing Goldrocs, Hereskip & Diggerdude using their Highbankers at Tuena over a weekend I returned home determined to make one myself. After searching the internet and using some of the photos I had taken of the above owned HBs I put pen to paper and made my way down to the local sheet metal worker.
After convincing the staff there that I wasn't crazy and explaining to them what a Highbanker and sluice were and what they did i convinced them to sell me 2 x 3mm and 1 x 1.5 sheet of aluminium. Now, i know my build would have been cheaper and more portable using 1.5mm for the whole thing but i figured I am going to be throwing rocks at this thing for the next twenty years or so and it will then be passed on to my children and their children etc etc. I returned home a little poorer and started jotting down bend & fold lines and marking out a punch plate for my new sheet metal mates to work with.
I took the sheets back to my new friends and told them what i needed. I told them there was no rush and that tomorrow morning would be fine. After a few tweeks from the experts, like you cant have holes along a fold line cause it weakens the material (pfft) I left, returning the next day to pick up my Highbanker to be.
I gotta tell you I reckon my wife was as excited as I was when i came through the door with this. I had to settle her down.....'Just hold on love, you can see it in a minute.' I remember I told her how much I had spent and I think she said something like 'That doesnt matter, so long as you are happy my love.'
If I told you I did it all on my own I would be lying, when the work is on a family pulls together and everyone chips in to lighten the load.
So I began assembling my 'Gold Machine' as it was dubbed by my 3 children and making sure i checked, re-checked and checked things again, I only stuffed up twice. I was excited to see the 'Gold Machine' coming together and beginning to resemble something I had seen worked so expertly at the Tuena goldfields.
Having spoken to the experts in the know, i settled on a 5.5hp 4 stroke transfer pump bought on ebay for $150 delivered. I can only say that I would have liked a Honda but with valentines day fast approaching I had to keep some coin aside for the missus to get me some hose. As far as the price goes, you can't really go wrong and if it lasts me a couple of years Ill be happy, keeping in mind I figured it would pay for itself within the first half hour of working.
A spray bar is what i needed to finish the top half of my gold machine. A quick trip to the local plumbers shop and I was back at home cuttin', drillin' and gluin'. I went for a 25mm pipe with 2mm holes. making sure i drilled at an angle so the water more or less sprayed towards the middle of the hopper. I probably put too many holes in the pipe, however if the name of the game was to clean the rocks as best you can and NOT lose any water I reckon I would win, hands down.
So after drawing a set of plans for the riffle bar I returned to my friends at the local workshop and asked them to weld me a meter long riffle bar that would fit very snuggly into the bottom tray. We agreed because it is to become a family heirloom that 3mm aluminum would be the go. Once i had picked it all up and assembled it with some miners moss I had to fight the wife to see who would take it out first. Suffice to say I won but she sure can take a good punch.
Im lucky enough to have a mate with 2000 acres on the Turon River which was mined during the original gold rush of the 1850's up until present day. The majority was hard rock (quartz reef) mining and interest has recently been shown in the property by a large gold miner who after assaying 26 holes said it would more than likely go ahead. Its beautiful country side and I love just being there almost as much as I do seeing the colour in my pan. There's plenty of prospecting to be had from detecting to crevicing to highbanking. It's a very special place that holds a lot of history of when our country changed from a colony into a nation.
Off to the Turon I went...
After diggin for a while the sun started to disappear and it was time to eat.
I returned home to see how I went and to be honest I reckon I brought home concentrate from 2 cleanups for a total of 4 hours work. I'm happy with the result and have had better results since but I made sure I took a photo of that first lot to share with all of you.
While doing the research for my build I relied heavily on a post located here (http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t3854-updated-banjo-highbanker-plans), I did alter it greatly from the plans but credit to who ever posted the original banjo plans has to be given. The same amount of credit has to go to Goldrocs, Hereskip and DD for providing the inspiration.
Im looking forward to working alongside you all sometime and showing off my gold machine, It may not be the best out there but she works nicely and best of all.....I made it.
Kind regards,
Copper
After convincing the staff there that I wasn't crazy and explaining to them what a Highbanker and sluice were and what they did i convinced them to sell me 2 x 3mm and 1 x 1.5 sheet of aluminium. Now, i know my build would have been cheaper and more portable using 1.5mm for the whole thing but i figured I am going to be throwing rocks at this thing for the next twenty years or so and it will then be passed on to my children and their children etc etc. I returned home a little poorer and started jotting down bend & fold lines and marking out a punch plate for my new sheet metal mates to work with.
I took the sheets back to my new friends and told them what i needed. I told them there was no rush and that tomorrow morning would be fine. After a few tweeks from the experts, like you cant have holes along a fold line cause it weakens the material (pfft) I left, returning the next day to pick up my Highbanker to be.
I gotta tell you I reckon my wife was as excited as I was when i came through the door with this. I had to settle her down.....'Just hold on love, you can see it in a minute.' I remember I told her how much I had spent and I think she said something like 'That doesnt matter, so long as you are happy my love.'
If I told you I did it all on my own I would be lying, when the work is on a family pulls together and everyone chips in to lighten the load.
So I began assembling my 'Gold Machine' as it was dubbed by my 3 children and making sure i checked, re-checked and checked things again, I only stuffed up twice. I was excited to see the 'Gold Machine' coming together and beginning to resemble something I had seen worked so expertly at the Tuena goldfields.
Having spoken to the experts in the know, i settled on a 5.5hp 4 stroke transfer pump bought on ebay for $150 delivered. I can only say that I would have liked a Honda but with valentines day fast approaching I had to keep some coin aside for the missus to get me some hose. As far as the price goes, you can't really go wrong and if it lasts me a couple of years Ill be happy, keeping in mind I figured it would pay for itself within the first half hour of working.
A spray bar is what i needed to finish the top half of my gold machine. A quick trip to the local plumbers shop and I was back at home cuttin', drillin' and gluin'. I went for a 25mm pipe with 2mm holes. making sure i drilled at an angle so the water more or less sprayed towards the middle of the hopper. I probably put too many holes in the pipe, however if the name of the game was to clean the rocks as best you can and NOT lose any water I reckon I would win, hands down.
So after drawing a set of plans for the riffle bar I returned to my friends at the local workshop and asked them to weld me a meter long riffle bar that would fit very snuggly into the bottom tray. We agreed because it is to become a family heirloom that 3mm aluminum would be the go. Once i had picked it all up and assembled it with some miners moss I had to fight the wife to see who would take it out first. Suffice to say I won but she sure can take a good punch.
Im lucky enough to have a mate with 2000 acres on the Turon River which was mined during the original gold rush of the 1850's up until present day. The majority was hard rock (quartz reef) mining and interest has recently been shown in the property by a large gold miner who after assaying 26 holes said it would more than likely go ahead. Its beautiful country side and I love just being there almost as much as I do seeing the colour in my pan. There's plenty of prospecting to be had from detecting to crevicing to highbanking. It's a very special place that holds a lot of history of when our country changed from a colony into a nation.
Off to the Turon I went...
After diggin for a while the sun started to disappear and it was time to eat.
I returned home to see how I went and to be honest I reckon I brought home concentrate from 2 cleanups for a total of 4 hours work. I'm happy with the result and have had better results since but I made sure I took a photo of that first lot to share with all of you.
While doing the research for my build I relied heavily on a post located here (http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t3854-updated-banjo-highbanker-plans), I did alter it greatly from the plans but credit to who ever posted the original banjo plans has to be given. The same amount of credit has to go to Goldrocs, Hereskip and DD for providing the inspiration.
Im looking forward to working alongside you all sometime and showing off my gold machine, It may not be the best out there but she works nicely and best of all.....I made it.
Kind regards,
Copper
GM
