wjbell Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Got a friend with a claim that's running a highbanker and getting some good gold. I got invited and have access so I decided to make my own homemade highbanker. Made my own top box and am using my Keene sluice for the bottom. Wrapped it all up in an old 4-foot ladder. :yuk-yuk: So I call it the hobo highbanker. I even got an adjustable sluice tilt! Just need to make the spray bar out of PVC, get the hoses and Harbor Freight has a small 2200 GPH pump for $120. The whole setup will cost me $150! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotsa luck Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Where is the spray box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Where is the spray box?Making the spray bar out of PVC tomorrow. It will be PVC around the top and sides spraying down on the material. I'll post pics of the finished project. Should work out pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Denny Run* Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Creative! I hope it works well for you. Definitely post up some pics once it finished. Do you have a link for the motor/pump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Creative! I hope it works well for you. Definitely post up some pics once it finished. Do you have a link for the motor/pump?This is the pump I originally went in to look at. But the model they have is slightly different with a cage around it and $119. Even better!Water pumpQuestion for anybody, the pump is 1". Should I have 1" hose then go down to 3/4" PVC for the spray bar? Does it matter much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Denny Run* Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Oh okay. I was checking that one out too. Would it be able to handle any debris that might accidentally be sucked up during operation?Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt18000 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 You really don't need high pressure unless you need to break up clay, stick with 1" and put a valve in it to regulate the flow. Drill 1/4" holes about 2 or 3 " apart to start with, try it out and if you think you need bigger go with a little larger drill and try again untill you get it right. Should work out fine. Good Luck!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 A little update. Made up the spray bar, put in kind of a crash box type of thing just in case gold might splash out the top of the sluice and painted her up. Here's a couple of pics just running the hose.xt18000: I went with your suggestions but bought 3/4 before I read your post. It should be good though. 2" spaced 1/4 holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Oh okay. I was checking that one out too. Would it be able to handle any debris that might accidentally be sucked up during operation?Thanks!I think it comes with a screen attachment for the end of the intake hose. It's a clean water pump so it's probably not too forgiving with debris, but the filter/screen that comes with it should keep out anything too big for the pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I think it comes with a screen attachment for the end of the intake hose. It's a clean water pump so it's probably not too forgiving with debris, but the filter/screen that comes with it should keep out anything too big for the pump. To avoid sucking up any debris take a small 2 to 3 gal. bucket and drill a series of 1/2" holes 2" to 3" up around the bottom and the place your footvalve/screen intake in the bucket, this will keep any rocks, leaves and most all sand from getting into your pump intake, even the sand will eventually eat away at your volute/pump housing and impeller and really shorten the life of your pump, if your pump sucks the bucket dry faster than it can fill with more water drill some more 1/2' holes above the first set of holes. Skip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 To avoid sucking up any debris take a small 2 to 3 gal. bucket and drill a series of 1/2" holes 2" to 3" up around the bottom and the place your footvalve/screen intake in the bucket, this will keep any rocks, leaves and most all sand from getting into your pump intake, even the sand will eventually eat away at your volute/pump housing and impeller and really shorten the life of your pump, if your pump sucks the bucket dry faster than it can fill with more water drill some more 1/2' holes above the first set of holes. SkipThanks Skip, Great advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Denny Run* Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Looking great man! You've done some great work there. Make sure to post up some pics of the Au you earn with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 Got my pump today from Harbor Freight. Here's a video of a test run in my driveway.Hibanker video Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Well, I did a video of my first trip out testing out the hibanker. Got some gold! Not a big day as far as gold, but got to test out my equiptment.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Looks like it worked well! Congrats on the nice color, too! I watched the video as well. What camera did you shoot that with? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dorado Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Great job... you are progressing fast! Your poke is going to need larger bottles soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Great job... you are progressing fast! Your poke is going to need larger bottles soon!Thanks guys! That's a problem I'd like to have, bottles too small! The camera I use is an older sony handycam digital 8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qcmac Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Great job wj,I saw the on site video and know you will do well. My hat's off to you.Mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koja Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Your project looks great and obviously works as your poke is growing! Just curious, did you build any angle into the downside of the riffles (Hungarian) ? The pump looks good and I am waiting to see the results from the next trip out!Koja Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Your project looks great and obviously works as your poke is growing! Just curious, did you build any angle into the downside of the riffles (Hungarian) ? The pump looks good and I am waiting to see the results from the next trip out!KojaThe pics at the top of this thread was when I was using the Keene sluice. I has two regular riffles and the rest are Hungarian. But it was losing gold. I switched to a homemade wooden drop riffle sluice and it does better, but still loses some gold. The gold at my location is such light float golds that it's easy to lose out of the box. My solution now is to run a sluice on the ground that the main sluice discharges into. Can anyone give any tips on improving the main sluice for the hibanker so that it doesn't lose much? I have a pretty slow water flow. I was thinking of making little 45 deg riffles on the tops of the drop riffles just before it drops. Any ideas? Pic below of my drop riffle sluice.Angle is a lot less and more level now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 You asked I watched the vid's and looked at the pics and my :twocents:Do away with the black plastic ramp, in its place put a piece of fake grass carpet or similiar material, V groove matt TO COVER ENTIRE AREA from 1st riffle back and at end of grass or matt where it meets the 1st riffle install a "bump" a piece of wood or metal 1/4 -5/16ths or 3/8ths high across the width of the sluice. Increase the distance between the riffels, (remove every other 1 to create more space) and put grass or V groove mat in these areas and when you go on site to set up and run, level complete unit then have sluice drop 2 inches per foot of sluice and start from there reading your results ( recovery ) adjust waterflow speed and angle of sluice to experiment with recovery.Get some tiny split shot for fishing hammer some , squash some with a plier, and just make all irregular shapes and sizes spray paint them a bright color so they are easy to spot and mix them in with the dirt you shovel into the machine keeping count of how many you started with and how many you recover. That will produce the "test results" you need to know to make adjustments.You should be catching most ALL of your test pieces in the top of the unit down to maybe the 3rd riffle. See how that works for you I believe you will be amazed at what you recover.And you won't need another sluice in front of that one.Have fun an stay cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjbell Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 You asked I watched the vid's and looked at the pics and my :twocents:Do away with the black plastic ramp, in its place put a piece of fake grass carpet or similiar material, V groove matt TO COVER ENTIRE AREA from 1st riffle back and at end of grass or matt where it meets the 1st riffle install a "bump" a piece of wood or metal 1/4 -5/16ths or 3/8ths high across the width of the sluice. Increase the distance between the riffels, (remove every other 1 to create more space) and put grass or V groove mat in these areas and when you go on site to set up and run, level complete unit then have sluice drop 2 inches per foot of sluice and start from there reading your results ( recovery ) adjust waterflow speed and angle of sluice to experiment with recovery.Get some tiny split shot for fishing hammer some , squash some with a plier, and just make all irregular shapes and sizes spray paint them a bright color so they are easy to spot and mix them in with the dirt you shovel into the machine keeping count of how many you started with and how many you recover. That will produce the "test results" you need to know to make adjustments.You should be catching most ALL of your test pieces in the top of the unit down to maybe the 3rd riffle. See how that works for you I believe you will be amazed at what you recover.And you won't need another sluice in front of that one.Have fun an stay coolThank you, thank you, Frank! I did remove the ramp up and added an area for the material to drop on and three more riffles. With the lower water flow (to keep gold from blowing out of the box) I needed a smooth area where the material initially dumps on so that it won't build up where it dumps. So if I had miners moss or something like that it would build up in the front of the sluice and clog the whole thing up. I also had some black mat in the area before the ramp up and this gold is so light hardly anything stuck in the black mat... but maybe that was because the stuff dumping down on it was knocking it off even though it was landing a couple inches up from it.First I'll put a bump riffle on the start of all the riffles and remove every other one and put some moss in there. That may be my problem, not enough space between riffles for the gold to drop and nothing to keep it "hung up" in there after it does.Thanks, I'll let you know how it works out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daubster Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Pretty steep angle. What happens when you flatten 'er outB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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