frank c Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 For those of you out there in cyberland that are like me andd always tinkering with something this may interest you and/ or give you an idea to alter to your own preferences and use. This will be the beginming of this project for me and whoever is interested. I will be adding to this as I make corrections or refinements to the system. I have home built alot of wet units the past 2 years and I always wanted a way to have water as clear as possible to be able to view whats happening in the sluice as its working so I'm posting these couple of photos to give you the basics and as I refine it I will show detailed pics and info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawmill Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Hello Frank Just a little tip to consider. A shallow tub will settle out faster than a deep one. A deep tub will hold the sediment in suspension longer. I am working on a three tub system too. Good luck on your project and I hope it works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 Thanks for the TIP Sawmill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dorado Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Those are some really honkin' big riffles for such a small sluice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 Eldorado, the riffles themselfs are thinner what you are seeing is the sheet metal top I installed on the last three, I saw an old variation of a sluice riffle design that had the metal piece incorporated onto the top and its super effective at forming a back eddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSalt Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Frank & Saw, Saw, why would the dirt settle faster in a shallow container? Not doubting you but don't understand why. Frank if really clean water is important to you, have you ever considered rigging up one of those fish tank or pond filters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 I could understand debris has less resistance to travel by gravity thru in a shallow container. I'm thinking of some types of filtering devices but I dont think its practical. Just the multiple containers alone are an asset to clearer water. I've been tied up lately and have'nt been messin with the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawmill Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Old Salt The dirt has less distance to travel through the turbulence,and doesn't remain in suspension as long. Once it hits bottom the incoming dirt will help hold it in place. A shallow vessel with a large surface will settle faster than a deep vessel with a small surface. A standing barrel has a very small surface and will create more turbulence from the constant flow of silt ,trash and water. Throw in the extra drop distance and before long it is soup because it is in a constant state of suspension. The pump is putting out water faster than the barrel can settle the dirt. A long shallow tub will allow the water to slow and drop the silt faster,before it reaches the outlet to the next tub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 HEY SAWMILL, I dont know if you ever got involved in this but we have a pool in the back yard and I decieded to put alittle granulated chlorine in the water of the 3 barrels when I started this project up along with a little dawn dish liquid I'm figureing it cant hurt with keepin it cleaner ???????what do you think. ????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawmill Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Hello Frank How are you doing? The Dawn will help for sure. I have used bleach on black sand and it does seem to release more fine gold and flakes. The chlorine may be just the ticket for some of the god awful dirt in the gullies around Kingman. Bleach does seem to help break up the red clay too. The cleaner that you can keep your water the better. I ran 5 gallons of classified dirt at the claims through my little Gold Buddy ,you could float a brick on the water after 4 gallons. I bought a bigger power sluice setup and now in the process of modifying it to a three tub. When I get it set up and fine tuned I will post some pictures. I almost left out the most important part about the difference in deep tubs and shallow ones. It is weight and water pressure. The deeper it is the more pressure,and the farther down the pressure increases. It is just like a deep sea diver ,if he wants to go deeper he needs more weights. Just imagine light silt and sand trying to overcome the extra pressure caused in a small cylinder where the weight of the water is concentrated at the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenaz Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 Hello all just joined up here hope this helps You can run a jar test on the water leaving the system. Take a one qt jar fill it and see how long it takes for the top half of the water to clear up. Once you have this time then you can figure out the volume you need to clear up your water. If you are using 10 gpm 50 gal would give you 5 min of detention time . It may help if you take the discharge from the first barrel and feed it about a foot from the bottom of all following barrels then the muck has to move upwards to the discharge . Hope this helps some Ken in bullhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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