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Grants DIY wash plant; Grants DIY wash plant
Topic Started: Sunday 15-04-2012, 20:33 (510 Views)
gcause
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Hi All,

Well having built my own PI metal detector, I am now moving on to my next project.

Just started my build on my DIY Wash Plant. I have set myself a budget of AU$300 for it and I am trying to use as much of what I have around the house to make a gold wash plant.

I want to be able to bring buckets of hopefully gold bearing dirt home and process it through my very own wash plant.

I am thinking of doing a 3 stage wash plant with a shaker on the top deck with expanded metal the classified material will then go into
a homemade sluice box with magentic riffles as well as normal ones on the second deck and then a third deck for a finishing sluice for the fine gold recovery.

I am going to use an old gutter I have for the finishing sluice with some fine mesh rubber matting.

I built the base structure today:

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I had an old workbench that was in pieces as the top had rotted away as it was chipboard and got wet.
Its one of those hammer together workbenches there are no nuts and bolts involved but its good and sturdy and will make a good base structure for my project.

I dont have a water pump so here is the submersible bilge pump I bought today, I chose this one because it can do 2000 GPH which should give plenty of water pressure for the sluice:

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I went to BCF and got a TMC bilge pump for AU$69.95, I also got a bilge hose kit for it for AU$19.95.

I splurged a bit and bought a control panel for it for AU$49.95, it had the fuses already wired in and extra switches I could use for the shaker and other accessories and it has a battery tester built into it:

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Here's the wiring on the back of the control panel.

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I had an old computer power supply metal cover that I used as a battery shelf.

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Here is the wiring diagram from the box which shows it needs the switch and fuse in line:

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I got it all together and tested it out and it worked just fine for about 5 minutes with lots of water pressure and then a it just stoppped. :x

I suspected I blew a fuse, so I tried one of the other switches and it all lit up and worked again for another 5 minutes and then stopped, that was it I had just blown another fuse.

I could kick myself as I didnt check the control panels fuses before I bought it but the pump requires a 15amp fuse and the control panel only has 10amp ones fitted. I will have to change them out.

So far I am into this project for about $140 out of my $300 budget.

I will keep updating this thread with my progress in the hopes it helps someone else with their project.
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Nightjar
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Morning Gcause,
Always interesting to see projects in the making.
May I suggest you have two water return containers, one which has the waste dirt then overflowing through a fine mesh screen into the second container that houses your pump. If you don't do this the pump will rapidly wear out and or become blocked with twigs and leaf matter.
Are you going to dry blow the dirt out on the field before bringing it home?

Good luck and keep us posted with the progress.

Peter
Good luck & safe travels
Peter


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"Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life."
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gcause
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Nightjar
Monday 16-04-2012, 07:36
Morning Gcause,
Always interesting to see projects in the making.
May I suggest you have two water return containers, one which has the waste dirt then overflowing through a fine mesh screen into the second container that houses your pump. If you don't do this the pump will rapidly wear out and or become blocked with twigs and leaf matter.
Are you going to dry blow the dirt out on the field before bringing it home?

Good luck and keep us posted with the progress.

Peter
Thanks nightjar,

I was thinking about putting the bilge pump into its own bucket with high walls lower than the water surface and fly mesh on top but it would still be inside the same black bucket I am using. I am trying to avoid having two water sources and want to keep the water recirculating.

I want to be able to take a bucket of dirt (unclassified) and put it through the wash plant. The first stage is either a trommel or shaker, I want to run this by just using the water pressure with a paddle wheel attached to the trommel / shaker.

Regards,

Grant
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gcause
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Hi All,

Did a bit more work on my DIY wash plant today.

Did a run down to Jaycar and picked up some 15 amp fuses, AU$3.50 for a pack of 10 so the water situation is solved, works just like a bought one.

Then I picked up some items from Bunnings as I didnt have any plumbing for my spray bar assembly.

Got a car mat for my main sluice, well more specifically a UltiMat for AU$14

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It may not be obvious why but it is covered with the equivalent of Miners moss, this close-up may show it better.

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Then I got some fine ribbed matting for my finishing sluice, they sell it for about AU$36 per meter so I got half a metre which is more than enough, had plenty left over.

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So here it is my Finishing sluice made out of an old gutter and some ribbed matting.

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Here is a top view of my gutter finishing sluice.

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Then I turned my attention to the Spray bar assembly, I got a 25mm ball joint spigot and some connectors, a couple of long pipes all for about AU$50

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Now I am just waiting for the PVC pressure pipe cement to dry and then I will drill the spar bar holes.

Regards,

Grant
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gcause
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Hi All,

Did some more work on my DIY wash plant today.

Ok so I took some forum members advice and broke apart the spray bar before the glue set so I could drill the holes and adjust the angle of the spray.

I tried running a test as per the previous setup with the spray assembly just hand tightened, it held together just fine but water was going everywhere as the sides of the base structure are open.

So I decided I needed to add a hopper to the design to contain the water. I had another plastic storage container under the house so I thought I would give that a try.

I also turned the spray bar assembly around so the water jets are now facing away from the battery and electronics and added a back plate made out of the lid of the storage container to stop the water getting to them. Here is what it looks like now.

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I opened one end of my hopper so the water would flow out onto the sluice and added a grizzly to classify the material down to 1 inch. If that gets too big I will add a trommel above the hopper to get it down to 3/4 inch. The grizzly can be removed for easy clean out if there are too many large rocks.

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Once I proved the concept I built a shelf for the hopper to sit on by bending up one of the side bars I had spare and hammering that into the retainer brackets. It works well and is very sturdy so if the hopper was full it would hold the weight just fine.

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For the spray bar I drilled the holes on the sides with a 1 inch separation and the ones on the front at 1/2 inch separation.

Here it is running but not at full bore yet as none of the pipes are glued together yet.

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Next step is to glue the spray bar assembly together and secure it to the hopper.

After that I will start work on the main sluice.

Regards,

Grant
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ShootingStars5
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Hi Grant
Great project.

I certainly hope you get lots of reward for your enthusiasm and effort. Good to view the pictures as the wash plant eventuates.

Thanks for sharing all that and hope you get lots of colour in that sluice trap.

Cheers
Lyn
See a Shooting Star tonight - find a nuggie tomorrow!
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Ismael
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Hey Grant, just hurry up and finish it will you!!! Want to see the finished project :P :P :P ;)
Regards Ismael
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