Wals' Hi-banker Specifications

[Whitedoug1]

G'day Wal

What angle are the legs set on the Sluice? Also if made the Sluice to full size but without the gem section will I have any troubles there? One more thing I've got a piece of vertical cat walk mesh and I'm only using the HB for gold, should I think of getting the angled mesh or just keep what I have?

Thanks for the help

Doug

 

[WalnLiz]

If you slope the legs forward and back around 20 degrees you'll be fine. Don't run with too much slope as you'll put too much stress on them when fully loading the banker. If it's 90% gold you're chasing then stick to sloped expanded as you will then not need to rock the banker.

Increasing the sloped expanded length will also increase the amount of gems it will retain. Don't get rid of the vertical mesh as you should be able to set the banker up to interchange the meshes depending on your location. Just make sure whatever you do that you have at least a minimum of 500mm for your slick section, and don't put any mesh of any size in this section. Best of luck with it.

Wal.

 

[Whitedoug1]

Thanks a lot for that I'll be able to get underway now I've just got my bent up sluice back today and really excited to get down to oallen ford and start getting some pay dirt!

Thanks,
Doug

 

[Whitedoug1]

I have some 20mm high vertical mesh will I be able to use that for gold ?

 

[WalnLiz]

20mm high vertical need a lot of water pressure to clear it. Personally I would not go over 15mm with a banker of my dimensions. Vertical mesh is absolutely fine for Gold but will also retain much of the ironstone, and as such the gemstones. General rule of thumb...if you want the least amount of heavies for your cleanup use sloped expanded, and if you don't mind sieving the cleanup concentrations and retaining a larger proportion of the gems then use vertical.

I interchange both meshes depending on where I'm working.

Wal.

 

[nucopia]

Gday Wal
Hypothetical question.
If there is no water in the location, could you use a a large tub/trough and a bilge pump to recirculate the water , and what size pump would work ?
Example using the walbanker in dry creek beds.
Would something like this have the capacity to run the system efficiently ?

 

[Mudguts]

I don't have a genuine walbanker
But I similar unit
And have used that pump with success
But it is a nightmare to keep the water clean enough to process the material

 

[Geo2]

A recirculating system is not hard to make, the problem is as Mudguts has noticed , keeping the water clean of sediments for prolonged period of time to effectively recover more gold. A filter around the pump would work for a short period of time and then it will plug up, Bilge pumps are not designed to pass large material e.g sediment or organic material like leaves and such. Probably better use several tubs in a siphon manner (one connects to the other from above water level). This may help keep the water clean enough to some degree before the need arises to change it again. Eventually you need a water surfactant like dish soup or another detergent to break water surface tension which helps in recovering fine gold particles.

 

[nucopia]

Hey Mudguts
i have a mate recycles his water through a couple of tubs and troughs to do his sluicing, ( no near by water ) he uses a 12v submerible pump runs it off a solar panel and a couple of 12v car batteries...no idea the size of his pump through, but yeah thats some thing I noticed the water clearity was not the greatest.
Still it workes for him in his permanent camp site during the dry times.
Maybe Im asking silly questions. just thinking, how would you service the sluice in a place with out a near by water i.e creek river or dam..
My be a couple of plastic 44 gal brums of water brought in and recycle it throught a few tubs/ troughs but I imagine you might have to lessen the water volume moving through the sluice and that would probably effect its performance.
My question is how much water would be needed (100<500 gal) and would a 3000GPH submerible be ok or to big ?

 

[nucopia]

A recirculating system is not hard to make, the problem is as Mudguts has noticed , keeping the water clean of sediments for prolonged period of time to effectively recover more gold. A filter around the pump would work for a short period of time and then it will plug up, Bilge pumps are not designed to pass large material e.g sediment or organic material like leaves and such. Probably better use several tubs in a siphon manner (one connects to the other from above water level). This may help keep the water clean enough to some degree before the need arises to change it again. Eventually you need a water surfactant like dish soup or another detergent to break water surface tension which helps in recovering fine gold particles.

Thats sounds a lot like how my mate does it out west Geo2... from memory he has three large bath tub sized tubs that trap sediment and the last in line over flows into an other tub that he uses to pump the water back to the sluice head.

 

[Geo2]

Hey Mudguts
i have a mate recycles his water through a couple of tubs and troughs to do his sluicing, ( no near by water ) he uses a 12v submerible pump runs it off a solar panel and a couple of 12v car batteries...no idea the size of his pump through, but yeah thats some thing I noticed the water clearity was not the greatest.
Still it workes for him in his permanent camp site during the dry times.
Maybe Im asking silly questions. just thinking, how would you service the sluice in a place with out a near by water i.e creek river or dam..
My be a couple of plastic 44 gal brums of water brought in and recycle it through a few tubs/ troughs but I imagine you might have to lessen the water volume moving through the sluice and that would probably effect its performance.
My question is how much water would be needed (100<500 gal) and would a 3000GPH submersible be ok or to big ?

G'day Mate, to answer your last question(s) , that depends on your highbanker/sluice size and how much material you want to run : per hour or day also the type of material needed to be run through your recovery system. If as you describe you work in arid areas , then it needs more water just to (wet) the gravel out. A dry blower would seem more appropriate for this situation than a sluice. Screening is vital to good gold recovery, also this removes most of the bigger stuff that is difficult on the (Bilge) pump.

May be if you bring water in several trips and make a reservoir tank to hold it all? When water gets mucky it indeed would affect the recovery, some gold particles will be carried out the slurry by the mud and end at the tailings.

 

[nucopia]

Thanks Geo
Just trying to get my head around different scenarios.
As a newbie I had no idea you could dry blow, will have to do some research on that.

At the moment I am just waiting for the local metal shop to call me back. i went down today with the diagram and measurments for Wal's walbanker and they are cutting bending and welding the hopper and sluice box for me.
Once I get it back from the shop, a mate of mine who has a mickey mouse workshop is going to help me put the rest of it together.
Maybeas a novice I am just over thinking every thing. :8

 

[shortlife]

Hi all, im wondering if anyone can tell me what type of catwalk mesh is in the walbanker? Iv resorted to making my own so my 11 year old can help since he wants to learn things in the garage .

 

[cracka]

Hey Nucopia, 3000 GPH equals 192.5 LPM (Litres Per Minute) and that should be enough to run any smaller sluice like an Angus Mackirk or Walbanker. Try not to have to much head or lift (only pump as high as you have to) if this makes sense.

Cracka

 

[nucopia]

Yeah it does Cracka thanks

 

[blisters]

Hi all, im wondering if anyone can tell me what type of catwalk mesh is in the walbanker? Iv resorted to making my own so my 11 year old can help since he wants to learn things in the garage .

Look at posts 231 and 627 for mesh sizes. Al mesh and gal classifier.
Jon

 

[shortlife]

Thanks blisters. So im i need sloped mesh for gold

 

[blisters]

Yep sloped for gold, check out post #632/633 and also #627.
Jon

 

[shortlife]

Thanks ill cheak it out

 

[shortlife]

My build so far. Having trouble chasing up the mesh can any one tell me where in Melbourne I can get some pls