I'm buying parts to make a back pack sized suction dredge system. I'm starting with a 33cc 2 stroke motor/pump. It does 1780 gph. I'm going to build a nozzle out of pvc. do some sort of trap so the solids end in a 5 gal bucket...
Then I'm going to be able to disconnect the pump and use it for a small sluice.
it will be a heavy set up for 1 person. I have an old hiking pack thats real light, and basic. I want to mount the motor on front of my pack for a counter ballance. The whole unit weighs 15 pounds. The pack will have hoses. backpack sluice and wash set up made out of pvc or pex. Food, drink, and fuel for motor. Then I will carry a couple empty buckets by hand. It sounds like a heavy load. But I'm tough and dumb still :)
Anyone have a set up like this ever? Some insight would be helpful. The big question mark is still my suction nozzle and how I will get the trap to work. Keep the 5 gal trap pressurized most likely, otherwise I would lose all suction to my nozzle.
Again. any ideas would be helpful. Insights. Is my pump big enough? 1".
Comments
Hello Eli; go to Californiasluicebox.com and look at there drop riffle sluices
there the answer to your problem and they work!
I decided to go with PVC for the wash setup. Just a simple U shape with 3/4" inside diameter PVC. Drill some holes. Its a 1" pump. So I am kind of banking on the suction dredge and the tank taking away some of the pressure. Giving me good water pressure when reduced down to 3/4" .
I am going to feed it all with a high pressure camper hose that I have. From the pump to the sluice/wash setup.
I decided to use PVC from the 5gal tank trap to the pump also. To keep water pressure up. PVC and high pressure water hose.
My question is. What kind of scuice should I buy. Anyone have a particular model that is light weight, and strong. And ABOVE ALL catches alot of fine gold. I have my eye on two on ebay. One is 57"x12" for 176bucks. 22pounds seems a bit heavy for my plans. Any insight on how big a sluice i would need to handle a 1" dredge. And a gold fever guy dredging dirt 12 hrs in a day.
33 minutes run time on a tank. That makes sense. I thought an hour on a pint sounded like a bit much.
Anyone have any insight on if the 1750 gallons per hour, will be enough to do what I need?
An Idea I had was to use actual rigid 1" water line. Or pex.
I bought the pump. No turning back now:) When I get the pump I will be able to start adding to the unit properly. I'm pretty stoked. I read some reviews and there are stories of this little pump doing some amazing things. Also the people doing reviews ignored the 33 minute max run time. They said you can get a little over an hour on a tank of gas that looks to be a pint. Should be enough time to do some real work and collect alot of good dirt from those bedrock cracks.
I also started thinking my suction is coming from the pump intake. I believe if i use some rigid hose to help pressure. I can use the pump outtake to run my sluice.
I might be asking alot from that little pump. But we will see.
The 33 minutes should be for run time on a tank of fuel.
Very cool plan. Some pictures would be great.
Yea the pump motor is a 20cc. not 33cc. Has a run time of 33 minutes it says. before it needs to cool off I assume?
I think can work with that. 30 minutes to fill a 5 gal bucket with material. Gives me time to cool while I switch the pump to the sluice. And gives me 1/2 hr to wash the 5 gal of material... Hopefully I can improve on that too.
I will take pictures of my trials and errors for everyone to see. Hopefully I have something worth copying when its all said and done. :)