my first blue bowl (actually green) all materials under $15 total

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Printer can only go 250 x 250 x 225 mm so it would be a pretty small sluice, unless it was designed to clip together to make a modular sluice :) - can prototype highbankers and sluices and stuff to scale, maybe make spraybar nozzles and custom fittings. Has a heap of uses, if you need something in plastic it can make it.
 
so where do we order from?
that is a great idea
now all you have to do is use the blue bowl print above and make your own
if you make one be sure to share with the rest of us
 
A few questions on the 3D printer. 1. How do you calculate the amount of material it will take to form an object?
2. How expensive are the consumables. i.e. How much to form up the blue bowl (red) as shown

regards, Ned
 
Hi Ned,

It takes spools of filament which the filament is 1.75mm diameter (looks like whipper snipper cord), it comes in 1kg rolls and you can pick it up on Amazon for around $30 per roll - I have no idea how to calculate it except weigh the part at the end and work it out by weight. That part weighs maybe 20-30 grams. I use ABS filament as it can be glued, painted and sanded no problems, like a plastic model kit.

I have given a few to prospecting friends to try and will try and get a youtube video of it in action. I saw a larger green bowl running with it last weekend and it worked very well, apart from our cons not being classified to the same size.
 
trenchfighter said:
joe said:
Clever V8, :) has anyone printed their own sluice yet? Would be Interesting to see

shit yeah!!

Reason I've asked trenchfighter is cause the goldhog rubber mats come in 6" width and lengths are usually cut to 250mm small HB. If the ABS plastic is durable enough you could desigh your own riffle system and clipped together similar to GH mat system. :)
 
Yeah, Iv gone off GH matts, reverted back to bread crate, lighter and absolutly no stressing about loss.
I was thinking more along the lines of copying the Mkurk range, by using the 3d printer to print up an actual sluice, shame it can only do those small size, but it could still be done i spose by using your idea of just clipping it together...... i want one.
 
ok so went out to glendon this weekend and just tested the blue bowl with some cons and works great i did a couple test runs, panned some material so there was no gold in the heavies....added 5 specks back into a small spade and into the blue bowl....at the end i had about a 1o cent piece worth of black sand and there was the 5 specks....perfect
 
Ill have a design done for the clip together jobbie and a prototype piece printed by the end of the week, my only concern is the toughness of the plastic for riffles and how long they will last having rocks roll over them for extended periods. Also another benefit I thought of was we could do a few different riffle variations and then you could clip them in any order and length to suit your sluicing conditions. Cheers for the ideas guys will post up a 3d render in the next day or 2 for feedback, more heads are better than 1 :) . Its a hobby for me and not in it to make cash, if i can contribute and give something back to the community on PA that has helped me so much i'd be happy.

Also tested a centre cone on a new blue bowl on the weekend - a few things i've noticed having seen a few of the home made ones now. Classification of material is the most important thing, also the inlet manifold positioning is crucial to the bowls performance (need to have a smooth entry point and not create any turbulence into the side of the bowl, if it does it will push all the material to the centre quite early)

Cheers, V_8
 
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