Yet another Walbanker

Hey all,

Newbie here obviously, I'm Ash and I'm from Armidale.
After being rissoled by the moderator on my first post I thought I should probably introduce myself..

I started building the Walbanker last week, getting there slowly.
I've gone the full size unit as we are in a good gem area, hoping to pull some nice stones along with the gold.
I've picked up the WX10 pump, what an awesome little thing, love it!

The main stumbling block, as for most it seems, was the expanded mesh - offcuts are simply not available in this town and obviously paying $600 for a full sheet is not an option.
So my alternative is an old flyscreen door, scored for $10.
The profile looks good enough to me but is only 5mm high, so I doubled it up - should be good.

Hopefully after tomorrow she'll be getting close to done, update soon.

Ash

Looks good Ash. Did you do the metal fabrication or get it done? Nice neat looking job.

I did my own and all bends and curves are spot on but when it came to the aluminium welding I should have got someone to do it for me

Ended up having to use some angle and pop rivets on the hopper corners. Can't wait to see the results it returns for you.

Really neat looking job Ash -- nice idea with the fly screen too, good thinking outside the box I reckon. Fingers crossed you're up and running before it gets too hot and all the water dries up!

Ash

If that mesh is all you could find then try moving the top bit of flyscreen mesh forwards about 6 mm compared to the bottom bit so it creates more of a ramp , that will create more of a vortex behind the ramp to pull gold down to the bottom.

out of curiosity , what is the size of the mesh that you needed if you could have found some ?

Cheers fellahs.
I had someone bend it up for me, then I TIG'd it - worked out pretty well.
Hah not wrong about the water situation, hopefully treats us kindly.

Interesting thought on the "ramp", how would this affect trapping of gemstones? (Plenty around here so want to be sure it captures them)
The mesh that Wal recommends is 40mm wide diamonds and 10mm high profile, straight sided.

Well you better check with him , he might be able to sell you some mesh to suit whatever it is you're targeting

I use a different kind of mesh in some of my projects which is 18 mm high but i am on my own little independant path when it comes to design and build of sluices / bankers .

Looks like it's coming along nicely mate You will find at least the first two sluices you build will teach you many issues that should have had more attention in the build. I've come across a few problems along my journey's, but make #3 sluice should be thumbs up!

For gemstones the strait sided mesh works best and when rocked prevents the sapphires from moving down the mesh. It does however have a negative side in severe ironstone areas as it will tend to hold these up as well.

The biggest problem with most people using catwalk for gold only is they put carpet or matting under it. This will only cause clogging of ironstone and not allow the gold to creep under the ironstone "freely" from directly beyond the slick plate. The ironstone in the catwalk is meant to act like a maize of marbles allowing the gold to slide "freely" beneath the ironstone.

If one has a lot of Spinel and sapphires in the area the strait sided will hold these up the same as ironstone as they have similar Specific gravities.

Lol rissoled welcome aboard tough skin. I like your improvisation on the flysceen good luck out there

If anyone is really desperate for the cat walk look up my post in the diy walbanker section to a description of the guys in bendigo who do outfits and have certainly got enough off cuts to do many multiples of wal bankers. I have more than I need in my shed for under $50. They sold it to me by weight because it was going to the scrap yard (as it always has and will) I just paid double. Unfortunately my heart is not so large to send pieces over the countryside but they will have it on any given day except when the bin is empty.

Geez I hope it doesn't take me 3 goes to get it right.. :lol:

Cheers Wall, I'll stick with the straight side approach. I've got tons of this mesh though, might do the offset version as well and see how it compares.

Lol rissoled smile welcome aboard tough skin. I like your improvisation on the flysceen good luck out there

Click to expand...

Lol I was joking, I wasn't in the foetal position for long.

Close now, just gotta build the riffles.
Probably would have finished today, went and dug some crystals this morning though..haha

Done, ready for maiden voyage tomorrow!

Looking great Ash, make sure you do not have any single squares in the crate cut out, as you need rectangles and "Ls" only to clear the heavies and stop clogging. Squares will block because you need min 3:1 or better still 4:1 ratio with gravel size to riffle spacing in a sluice for it to work properly. IE a 1cm stone needs 3 to 4 cm space for displacement to work efficiently.

Cheers Wal.

Thanks mate.

Yeah I wasn't sure how much to chop, I tried to follow your pattern but promptly ballsed it up.. Lol.
I've got another piece so will have another crack later.
I'll try and cull some squares in this one before I run it tomorrow.

Hi ash,
I really like it
I wish you good luck, mate

When I said the 2 - 3 goes, that was with making my own design sluice by the way, not for doing a Walbanker. My mistake for not mentioning that :8

It's nearly there! It's looking great so far mate