- Joined
- Dec 4, 2018
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 58
Haven't been posting a lot of late, however! I've
been educating the thought of building a cradle for a while and a few weeks ago, it got the better of me. "How hard can it be??" My exact words to the mrs.
The box is about 250mm square and made from cedar with hardwood framing, the apron is some hessian from an old stretcher. The sluice part is 250mm wide, made from the same cedar with bunnings fine rib matting. All up it owes me about 20 bucks, and it works!! And works through gravel about 3 times quicker than the pan unless it gets real clay-ish.
First test caught gold! Although over the last few weeks its undergone some changes so make it better. It now sits on wood that it fits into that gets pegged to the ground to keep it stable and level. The apron is mk2. The bunnings matt wasn't always there, it was a whole bunch of cuts in the timber with a fine wheel on the grinder, which worked, but not as well as the bunnings matt. The hopper on the top started off with holes too small, then too many, then too big, now they're just right with about 40 7mm holes drilled for material to fall through. So far I've only seen a speck or 2 catching the tailings in a pan, a few little bits on the matt but most of it gets caught in the apron. Trouble is, the black sand collection is growing, fast! Need a separator....
Anyhow, I'm open for ideas and suggestions as for anything better i could do and for anyone looking to have a go, feel free to chat!
The design is basically a hybrid of images off the net, an idea in my head and the available materials. More time went into scratching my head looking at the bench than building it! Its been great fun building it and experimenting, and getting a bit of gold here and there!
been educating the thought of building a cradle for a while and a few weeks ago, it got the better of me. "How hard can it be??" My exact words to the mrs.
The box is about 250mm square and made from cedar with hardwood framing, the apron is some hessian from an old stretcher. The sluice part is 250mm wide, made from the same cedar with bunnings fine rib matting. All up it owes me about 20 bucks, and it works!! And works through gravel about 3 times quicker than the pan unless it gets real clay-ish.
First test caught gold! Although over the last few weeks its undergone some changes so make it better. It now sits on wood that it fits into that gets pegged to the ground to keep it stable and level. The apron is mk2. The bunnings matt wasn't always there, it was a whole bunch of cuts in the timber with a fine wheel on the grinder, which worked, but not as well as the bunnings matt. The hopper on the top started off with holes too small, then too many, then too big, now they're just right with about 40 7mm holes drilled for material to fall through. So far I've only seen a speck or 2 catching the tailings in a pan, a few little bits on the matt but most of it gets caught in the apron. Trouble is, the black sand collection is growing, fast! Need a separator....
Anyhow, I'm open for ideas and suggestions as for anything better i could do and for anyone looking to have a go, feel free to chat!
The design is basically a hybrid of images off the net, an idea in my head and the available materials. More time went into scratching my head looking at the bench than building it! Its been great fun building it and experimenting, and getting a bit of gold here and there!
