Gold Dredger dot Com Disscussion Forums

I want to build a crack vac. anyone got plans or done one??? Appreciate any and all info guys.

yep i made on awhile back. Mike Higbee had plans over on his site at http://www.49ermike.com but i just noticed he has the list stopped for now?? i dont know whats going on there with that. and theres othere sites that have them aswell.id do a search for backpack vacumn or something alond this wording.

No one else??? Itried that site ,but your right. No good. Someone chime in here!!!!!

here you go! www.iowagold.com then look to the left sideof the screen and scroll down to the how-to section. there two examples of it. good luck in makeing yours

well im chiming in really late.on thaT VAC IDEA. I MADE ONE SEVERAL YEARS AGO FOR 100 BUCKS.

FIRST I TOOK MY OLD RIDGID SHOP VAC.5GAL SIZE. TOOK THE MOTOR OFF ,THEN ALL THAT WAS LEFT WAS THE TOP WITH A 4IN HOLE IN THE MIDDLE.

SECOND I BOUGHT A GAS POWER RYOBI WEED BLOWER (100)BUCKS.I THINK IT HAD LIKE 240 CFM.

THEN I TOOK THE SAFTY GAURD OFF THE SUCKING END AND ADDED THE LEAF SUCKER ADAPTOR.THIS UNIT HAS A BUILT IN SHREDDER THAT I LEFT ON.I THEN CUT THE LEAF SUCTION TUBE TO ABOUT 4IN LONG.AND SCREWED IT IN PLACE TO THE SUCKING END OF THE MOTOR.

ALMOST DONE NOW.I THEN TRACED THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE TUBE ON TO THE SHOP VAC TOP.I USED A ROUTER AND MADE IT SNUG.

OK THEN I JUST SLIPPED IT IN PLUGGED THE HOSE ON ,STARTED IT AND IT REALLY WORKS GOOD.

ONE THING I NOTICED ABOUT USING A OLD SHOP VAC WAS THAT IT HAS A BUILT IN DIVERTER INSIDE THAT MAKES THE MATERIAL THAT GETS SUCKED UP DROP TO THE BOTTOM.I CAN EVEN SUCK UP FROM BELOW WATER LINE.THE WATER JUST EXETS OUT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FAN.DOSNT SEEM TO HURT ANY THING .

WHOLE PROJECT TOOK LIKE TWO HOURS AFTER ROUNDING UP THE MATERIALS.IT CLEANS OUT THE 5IN DREDGE BOX FAST AND GOOD TOO.

wow for a second there I thought ya was asking about my x wife #2- tnet/gpaa/ have forums with much info also. We lost 6 sites in the past 18 months with a zillion posts of pertinet info but RIP due to flamers,hackers in retrobution to flamers,environutz and mining haters killed tham all--no yaaa today-Nuttn to it as ac/dc/battery run shop vacs are elcheapo and work just fine. Respect a vet today as without them---there'd be no us.....-John ps-Leonard has maintained the old forum and is readily available and it also has stored the wisdom of the ages....

Jake,

Getting in here WAY late...... I built one out of a 2-cycle leaf blower. Look here:

http://goldadventures.createforumhostin ... t-t35.html

And here:

http://goldadventures.createforumhostin ... y-t38.html

YouTube video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4AKvqCkz2E

I started to build a second one with a larger engine. Never finished the swap over. Look here:

http://goldadventures.createforumhostin ... -t544.html

One thing I learned was that in Georgia at 600 feet elevation my little gas vac started good and ran O.K. HOWEVER, when I shipped it to myself in High Colorado, and tried to use it up at 9,200 feet in the Rockies was it was MUCH harder to start....used a LOT of starting fluid, and once running it had a LOT less suction. It screamed along, made a lot of noise, but didn't "suck" at all like at 600 feet.

The hose kept filling up with rocks and dirt as I vacuumed, so I had to stop every 15 seconds and hold the nozzle/hose up high and "shake" the material into the bucket as the vacuum ran. Also, the filter inside would become VERY clogged due to the very fine dust and I'd have to stop every few minutes, shut it down, and clean the paper outer filter. Eventually, I said "screw that" and just took off the paper filter and just used the foam filter to keep the sand and rocks out of the impeller.

I did all my "testing" in development with my screened cons, which were very sandy/gravely, with about zero silt, dust.

Over the course of several hours of on/off use, it became harder to start, would bog down a lot, and after blowing endless clouds of dust out the outlet, it died and refused to run again. The engine on the outside and the impellers inside were just caked in dirt/dust. There was a fair amount of erosion to the plastic impellers due to fine sand/dust getting thru the coarse foam filter.

That's why I was going to try a bigger 25cc engine... Have the engine, just never had the real need to fix it.

Hope this helps!

Randy "C-17A"

Always remember to readjust the carb on engines when ya go way up in altitude as less oxygen in the air to burn. In oil burners(ALL ILLEGAL IN KALIF COME 1/1/14) the non combustion gums up the carb and hence no mo' bang for your buck.A lil' mo' air and good to go-John