Building a large capacity High-banker - Instructional video

Cheers will do, but I do have one last request can u tell me in your opinion the absolute optimum water flow for ur wall banker so it's a fair test?

If you look on You tube this has already been done.
I build my riffles in the banker with clear flowing water and sand.
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Very simple to do and get the result you want.

chemstar said:

Ok so iv been thinking, I'll start a new thread

Mods ur welcome to delete my posts from here if deemed irrelevant

I'll test several sluices with perspex sides and a slow motion camera
and exact amounts of colour and gems put through each

That will put everything to rest,

This way is better than putting the same amount of pay dirt through each then panning concentrate

We will be able to see the affects of each in real time and if I'm wrong im more than happy to eat my hat ?

I'll start the thread in the diy section, if anyone wants a particular rig to be tested post specs for it there

So far I'll test

The walbanker, my set up which is very common world wide and whatever other set ups people come up with

Click to expand...

I will leave things alone after this post.
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There is no optimum.
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Just depends on type of material, etc. A lot of variables.
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The optimum is what the wash is doing in the particular scenario that you are working.
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Look for the separation vortices for the first few shovel fulls when you start then adjust your angle and water flow to obtain the best out come.
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chemstar said:

Cheers will do, but I do have one last request can u tell me in your opinion the absolute optimum water flow for ur wall banker so it's a fair test?

Click to expand...

chemstar said:

Cheers will do, but I do have one last request can u tell me in your opinion the absolute optimum water flow for ur wall banker so it's a fair test?

Click to expand...

To make it a fair test get hold of an original Walbanker first, and do not use your mates version which can't catch "pickers." Then depending on whether you run rich ironstone wash such as at Tuena...run 190 L/min. If you run sand and gravel like at Reedy Creek in Victoria....180 L/min will suffice. If you run Sapphire wash like at Grabben Gullen...170 L/min will work well.

You will soon realize the variations once you get into serious testing. Don't forget that sluice angle has also a small thing to do with the equation.

Keen to see how you get on. Can't wait for the results.

Cheers Wal.

I'll def have a crack at testing I know it's good because so many people rave about it, but I want to know why it's good so I can incorporate into future builds, but I'm still scratching my head because it's vastly different to what most people around the world use ( much larger riffles) so it looks like I'm building a wall banker then, is the original plans about? Or is the directions available in the other thread a modified version ?

Please take this comment with all due respect given. Building a better mousetrap is a fine thing. I would encourage all thinkers, tinkerer, and ideas men to blaze down the trail. But it's only half the story. Getting the right cheese (material) will always increase the production value if you catch my drift.

everywhere I have used my walbanker (Wal made) since getting everything set up right (after consultation with wal) nothing has compared, with the Walbanker getting between 20% and 150% more gold (per person working)then anything working the same ground and that is not including the gems it picks up.
some have had less cons which made clean up faster for them , but less gold
some have needed smaller pumps which made them easier to walk long distances up the river, but less gold

it simply is so good because it catches gold

in places like Eldorado where the digging is easy and classification is fast the walbanker will handle 2 people shovelling and a third raking, and as the digging is so easy you could do this all day, if you are by yourself you lose a bit of efficiency stopping shovelling to rake(two or 3 shovels full then rake, rinse and repeat), but still end up in front when you tally up the gold and this process in harder digging does give you a little respite in the work cycle allowing you to go for longer before you are too sore to work.

in testing tailings I have never found any gold coming out the end that was of concern, about the worst was 3 fly specs in 20 litres and that was remedied by placing some rocks under the front legs that were sinking in soft ground messing with the angle

Although the Raker has a heck of a job to keep up hey fella?! I've seen outboards in fact put a few shovel fulls into it. That's the only time I have seen one in action spec built. The amount of dirt put through was no joke despite the easy digs. If you had the will it could move mountains.

Goldtarget said:

Although the Raker has a heck of a job to keep up hey fella?! I've seen outboards in fact put a few shovel fulls into it. That's the only time I have seen one in action spec built. The amount of dirt put through was no joke despite the easy digs. If you had the will it could move mountains.

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Looks like I need to do a vid for some people showing me using the banker on my own. Raking is only necessary when working areas with large nuggets, or when working places like GG where there is very large Sapphires, that run over the back of a grizzly in a standard banker setup. When on my own I shovel into the banker and rake the wash out over the sides with the shovel almost immediately. I'll use my universal banker for this vid, which is the one I actually sell.

This can be done as quickly as with a Grizzly set up and takes no extra time. I will get out over the Xmas break and do a new vid to show just how easy it is to work the banker without the raking option in non large nugget areas. I have found nuggets on several occasions with the largest going 36 grams and several around the 10 to 15 gram mark, which without a forward classifier would have gone over a Grizzly with a 1cm spread in the bars....that's why I forward classify.

Cheers Wal

chemstar said:

I'll def have a crack at testing I know it's good because so many people rave about it, but I want to know why it's good so I can incorporate into future builds, but I'm still scratching my head because it's vastly different to what most people around the world use ( much larger riffles) so it looks like I'm building a wall banker then, is the original plans about? Or is the directions available in the other thread a modified version ?

Click to expand...

I build several versions of this banker as different locations need different catching configurations. The specs on this forum are for one version I use only, but the banker length and width are the same for all versions. The "Universal" banker I sell does not have the specs on the forum, and it uses a sloped aluminium expanded not easily obtained without buying a full sheet.

They all use the bread crate for the flour gold section, and the ratios for this banker can only be obtained from me personally via PM as there's too many out there who always seem to criticize this, and the boiler section concept without matting. If you want to see an authentic Walbanker have a look in the "Dealer"section as Terry from Detect a Den has a pic of one in that section.

Cheers Wal.

CreviceSucker said:

i tried that orange plastic bread crate in my first one too but soon moved towards engineering principles

Wal does have lots of experience which i tip my hat to him for , however its easy when we are newcomers to throw too much blind support on something so that it ends up looking very much like viral marketing sploog :8

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Hadn't looked at these posts for a bit, my 2 cents worth we all know there are numerous bankers out there....yes I am a fan of the Walbanker but certainly not a blind supporter. I don't own one but seen them in use, and built mine with most of Wals principles in mind AFTER i'd read up on sluicing theories / riffle types / water flow effects etc and certainly the 100 odd pages got way too technical for a light read.

My observations is that the Walbanker uses the Keep it Simple approach and seeing one person being able to gear up with everything including pump and trek deep into areas others would never be able to lug their gear into, is the aspect that makes me a raving fan. Irrespective of everything else if you can get to the less travelled spots, chances are there will be more gold there. If you want a technically superior gold catcher then i'm sure there's enough theories out there to debate for years, but for simple, large capacity portable highbanking, I ain't seen anything better yet which can catch gems too. Hope that's not considered a viral sploog folks.

Hi Wal
I have found some 20mm high vertical cat walk mesh is this going to be any good for gold only or will I have to find some sloped mesh? What bight is your mesh.
Cheers
Tim

If it's gold only I would opt for the expanded aluminium mesh. Use in the vicinity of 100mm wide 40mm deep and 12-15.. high and you won't go wrong.

Wal.

Thanks Wal just found out you have been answering the same questions on my sons post Didn't know he had signed up he is only 13 but keen as to get this walbanker up and running so thanks again for your help
Cheers
Tim

this a really great video i really enjoyed watching it learned alot from it
ur like a sluice engineer
i gotta get me one of these

very good info