Millar table

I got given 50kg's of black sand concentrates from the inside of some old mining machine. My initial joy wore off when I found out it had already been through a sluice a couple of times, and a couple of test pans realised just how dense this black sand was, but there was a couple of specks still per pan.

Anyways - got down to making a millar table. basically its a wood frame, with a sheet of glass, cutting mat, 40mm PVC Piping, and some adjustable legs from bunnings which proved very useful in setting it up. Glued, screwed, and siliconed. Small 1100gph battery powered bilge pump and some 25mm tubing completes it.

Its been pretty cold to mess around with it after work, and really you need good light when using it to spot the gold. I sit there for an hour or so with a LED headlamp on working through spooning through my buckets. My 4yo thinks its great! Wife not so much...

The stuff I have is hard work. its so concentrated, and the gold is quite rough so it catches easily in the waterflow. I've used it cleaning up concentrates after my own days out and the gold just kind of hunkers down onto the mat a lot more and refuses to move. This stuff however is a different story. Suspect it may have something to do with having come out of a machine - maybe it is just rougher, or could be coated in oil or something.

Some Pics in the not quite 100% finished stage. I run a sheet of perspex inside the washbox to create a smooth waterflow down the table (not shown)



Its a bit clunkier than some of the other sweet setups I have seen, but as its not coming out with me in the field I wasn't too worried about portability or compactness.

Great build Sniffy.

If it works fine then its the way to go man! Remember to add a couple of drops of detergent to help drop the gold deeper as the matt tends to build up a fine dust layer. Also, why not use warm water, we won't judge

Love the shoes by the way, its all I wear in the creek haha

By the way, check out the beast I'm using for cleanup, The Wasserautomat!!:

hahaha that's classic!

I also like my gold 'cool and fresh'

:lol: Its amazing what you can find for prospecting in op-shops and salvation army joints..

There's actually a couple of gold dots on the top right of the table.

Hi Guys,

Great Job mate, well done!!
Doesn't need to look pretty, just needs to work efficiently.

Just wondering...

When the table is setup and running, do you have it on an angle or keep it flat?

I have seen youtube vid's and its hard to see how they setup. Just shows running and how it works!!!

Great looking build Sniffy....

Love to see a video when you get around to it!!!

Cheers

Bazz

madhatter said:

Hi Guys,

Just wondering...

When the table is setup and running, do you have it on an angle or keep it flat?

I have seen youtube vid's and its hard to see how they setup. Just shows running and how it works!!!

Click to expand...

I run my DIY Miller table at a very slight angle - prob about 1-2 degree. Just enough to push the fine black/blond sands but leave the flour gold in place, or at worst for flour gold to move slowly enough to catch it with a brush and push it back up into the collection hole. I also regulate water flow to keep it at a minimum - just enough water to run across the width of the table; probably only 2mm deep.

Hey MDV
I wasn't 100% sure, thanks for the clearing that up for me.
When you say that you push it back up into the collection hole. What does that mean?
I cant see any "hole" in the table.
Thanks again mate, and sorry to be asking so much from you

madhatter said:

Hey MDV

When you say that you push it back up into the collection hole. What does that mean?
I cant see any "hole" in the table.

Click to expand...

I built my Miller table from what I saw on Youtube - see my photos here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=208671#p208671. scroll down to my post of 25 Nov 2015.

You can see the hole near the top right of the table. I drilled out the top of a 1oz plastic vial which is glued to the hole - the vial then screws in from the underside. Using a good quality soft bristle arts&craft brush (shown in 3rd photo sitting on edge of table), I carefully push the gold into the hole.

My Miller table is designed to only handle the residue of what I have panned out - to get rid of the last few bits of black/blond sand. It is not designed to handle large quantities of black sand as an alternative to panning. Sniffy's great DIY Miller Table uses matting to catch the flour gold hence no hole needed. If, however, Sniffy's mat catches the odd bit of fine black/blond sand, then that's when a table designed like mine comes in handy.

Cheers MDV
Very helpful and so informative.
Makes much more sense now and I think I will go the same way as your table. Makes more sense to me to NOT trap the blacksand anymore than I need to :lol:
Thankyou so much for your patience and thorough explanation.
Much appreciated mate!!

Well done mate, that looks great. Great effort.

I too would like to see it in action in a video

I like the idea of a miller table. I don't necessarily have the need for one as at the moment but might build one myself one day just for the fun of it.

Keep up the good work mate