8/25/2023 0 Comments Homemade gold dredge plansSince a sluice should ideally be situated in a shallow section of stream, the depth of the box does not need to be much, just enough to capture water to flow over the riffles and retain the gravels that are shoveled into the box. Width is commonly about a foot or two wide, and the height is approximately 6 to 12 inches. Many people design elaborate sluices that are way longer than necessary. When designing your sluice box, it would be a good idea to take a look at several commercially designed sluices to get an idea of basic design.Ī basic hand fed sluice box does not need to be very long, 3 to 5 feet is generally adequate. Gravel is shoveled into it at the head of the box, and the water moves the material over a series of riffles which help to separate out and capture the gold. They basic design is to lay the box in a stream or river, parallel to the flow of water. The standard design of a sluice box is very simple, and has not really changed much over thousands of years. Some modern sluice boxes are made from plastics, but this is not really an option for the average prospector. And unlike steel, an aluminum sluice box will not rust. It is lightweight, and will be much more portable than a heavy sluice made from wood. Wood can still be used to make a homemade sluice box, but the downside is that they will be quite heavy, especially after they have been in the water for several hours, as they will absorb water which will add even more weight.Īluminum is the ideal material to use if you want to build your own sluice box. They could be constructed on-site, and if they decided to move to a new area it was relatively simple to build another sluice. The benefits of using wood was evident to early miners wood was readily available regardless of where they were mining. They have been used by miners for thousands of years, and the earliest ones were made from wood. If you enjoy designing things, a sluice box can be made for a fraction of the cost of a commercially built one.Ī homemade sluice box can be constructed from a variety of materials. Many handy prospectors like to make their own equipment, and a sluice box is a very simple piece of mining equipment to build. While gold panning is a great way to quickly sample areas to prospect, once a nice gold area is found, a good quality sluice box will help you produce more gold in a shorter amount of time. For relatively low cost, sluice boxes do a fine job of processing a good amount of gravels and retaining gold. A basic hand-fed sluice box is a simple piece of equipment that all prospectors should have as part of their arsenal.
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