Goldtarget said:
Awesome mate beautiful little piece, it's great when it all comes together, I run vrib in mine at the top too for that exact reason though about Moss if I ever do another one longer. Did you pick this up in a new or old area? I hear you on the over burden and tailings check run a keen eye over mine too after a few specis reckon that sdc would be a great addition for that reason. Keep an eye out I seem to find two where you find one pretty rare to be on their own as far as little ones go. Hope you're cleaning up mate.
Thanks mate ey, I actually cut the vrib section out where it drops from the hopper so now it drops straight on to bare alloy and then hits the face of the first 90 degree riffle. Something I also changed with that first riffle was something I discovered by accident when after a cleanout once I didn't clean the alloy surface properly before I put the riffle in so it was sitting on top of a few really small stones when i tightened it down. This left a gap between the allow bottom and the riffle. After the next run I ended up with small and fine material getting under that gap and under the vrib itself. So i scraped and panned out that material separately and got the best gold pieces out of that. So now I set it up like that on pourpose and I recover about 50/50 under the gap and over the riffle into the expanded section. A paint stripper is now a new clean out tool :lol:
Ive moved the hopper back from its original position as far as it would go about 50mm. this still doesn't create a slick plate run before the first riffle. because the hopper feeds the drop zone on an angle against flow direction and ive got that first riffle about 100mm down from the drop zone so the feed/drop/flow configuration is sorta like an upside down question mark. For the design of this HB it works spot on.
Another thing ive changed is I don't use the rear support legs anymore. I stack slabs of bedrock with the biggest slab on top that I can find. I then set the rear of the HB on the edge of that slab so I use the slab as a view point for my tailings as I go and scrape off after every couple of shovels
Next build will have only 1 rear leg and probly a easily attachable view shelf about 400mm square. Front support/sluice legs with 100mm base plates is something im thinking of to. Might make the sluice narrower down to about 250mm and a lot longer to increase flow depth. I cant increase the flow rate for depth the way it is because the spray bars airate the water and i don't like sluicing with bubbles. i don't like air at all because im suss on a surface tention/fine gold trapped inside a bubble theory.
I think i still want to go with a split feed system, main rear feed and hopper spraybar feed. I want more water running faster and deeper over the riffles to increase vortex power and decrease sluice angle and hopefully decrease the moss clog rate.
Im thinking of an even longer hopper from 600 to 800mm, i like my hopper set so it falls about 10mm the wrong way. The reason i do this is because when i throw a shovel full of material in and classify it through the rack and scrape off, the classified material stays in the hopper longer and slows the actual feed rate while i go grab another shovel full so the feed is more liquefied and constant allowing for more even and efficient sluice processing. I cant see it happening under the deck but i can hear the material bouncing around from the spray bars blasting through the deck when i walk away. All the classified material under the deck in the hopper clears as long as its only JUST falling the wrong way.
Anyway...that's my thoughts on the next build from what ive learnt...just theorys to maybe make the ultimate 'CREEKEETER' :lol:
yeah new area, new property a fair way from home this 1...yeah getting some good colour...worth the drive for sure
cheers mate
ps...any thoughts and opinions welcome on my ideas...something to think about...hope it helps!
pss...what im finding if i get down deep into large deep crevices is that if the fines are just fines and no rocks amongst it...colour decreases? doesn't apply to random crevices containing clays!
