Upcoming Trommel Project

[BrisJoe]

After a lot of procrastination about building a decent gold processing unit to run a decent amount of dirt, I have been talking to another fellow prospector at work the last week, and I have decided to build a trommel.
I was originally going to build a small scale one to play with on the weekends, but decided today to upgrade it to a trailer mounted unit.

It will be grand for a home built job.
I plan to use a 44 gallon drum as the base of the trommel, and splice a stiff mesh into it.
for the problem of loading it due to being mounted on a trailer, I'm going to have a conveyor belt system so it can still be loaded by shovel to comply with the " no mechanical digging " rules.
the conveyor Will probably be driven by a hydraulic motor and maybe the trommel as well to be able to have enough torque to rotate the drum.
the hydraulic pump will just be one similar to that on a truck for a hiab crane. And an inline valve to control the speeds .

A lot of the hydraulic items I can source through work.
it will all be designed to run off a 12v so I'm not carrying generators or anything, just a pump for water.

Both the sluice and the conveyor will either be detachable or hinged so they can fold away during transport and be simple to setup again when on site.

This will also be a budget build, utilising as much scrap and spare parts as I can to help fly under the radar of the minister of finance lol.

Below is my first sketch of the plan...

 

[Panda]

Go forth and build that good thing. A good trommel is hard to beat, especially at the price of your budget. The big boys run trommels for a reason for placer mining.

 

[Guest]

Looking forward to watching your trommel progress.

Go you good thing!

RS

 

[Guest]

im doing a very similar thing except having twin trommels and running my sluice's in line with the trommels

i scored the trailer for free, bought it with a ski on it for $800 and sold the jet ski for $900

it was made to fit two of the really old stand up jet skis, they are not that common any more so the trailer has had a higher calling

it looks like its been repeatedly dipped in gal you don't see that anymore 0 rust for a 30year old trailer is just crazy!

especially since its whole purpose was to be put in salt water its whole life, so it must live on

im in it for $120 so far in bits and pieces, will definitely be keeping all the receipts on this one.

 

[dwt]

Go for gold Brisjoe, the plan looks good mate, glad to see a fellow big trommel builder, just keep the hydraulic lines away from anywhere it might sneak into the trommel and sluice, otherwise by by fine/flat gold, looking forward to updates mate

 

[BrisJoe]

As a diesel fitter (in training ) I'll be sure to run the hydro hoses correctly.

Got any sketches on how yours will look there chem?

 

[Simmo]

This is the stuff real prospectors and miners are made of!!!
If I can think of any improvements or innovations, I'll PM them to ya!
Well done!!

 

[Guest]

sorry no sketches brisjoe, iv been thinking of this one for over a year now so its all in my head,

ill post pics as it comes together, still debating to go hydraulics or not for the trommel drive etc

if i did one idea was to have rams on each corner of the trailer to level or even a hydraulic auger on the back for sampling

but that will definitely blow the budget

 

[BrisJoe]

Well today my dragline maintenance day was washed out so I hung out in the bodily bay doing "foreign" work. After finished making some tractor pins for my supervisors tractor, me and one of the guys went down to the steel scrap dump.
There is everything there any of you guys could dream of to make prospecting gear with, just sitting there rusting.

Anyway found a neat piece of 8mm punch plate already welded into a cylinder about a metre long, grabbed thY and a couple of old aluminum signs and took them back and did some cutting, a lot of mucking around with the thicker sign to roll it, then bolt it all together, and volla I have the ain part of my smaller trommel.
photos later

 

[BrisJoe]

Here is the start of my smaller testing trommel

 

[BrisJoe]

My 3600 gph pump turned up todaynow I can keep an eye out for a suitable frame for my mini trommel

 

[BrisJoe]

Picked up the steel box tube today to make the frame for my mini trommel, now to wait till next week when I'm back home in CQ to weld it up.
picts to follow as I build it

 

[Moneybox]

That looks like a great project BrisJoe. I doubt you'll get much satisfaction from a 12V hydraulic system though. You only have to look at how long a 12V winch or 12V Hyab lasts on a couple of batteries. I think you'll find you will need that generator. I like the idea of a testing trommel.