Building a Dredge

[Disgruntled]

Hi all, i'd like to start by saying im going to be building a 4inch dredge and am in the process of doing all my research, ive pretty much decided on a three stage sluice. along the lines of a Keene. i know all the parts to the dredge. and have found some nice diagrams to go off of for a model. where my problem is,. i do not have any measurements though i know its gonna be 16 wide 48 long. i have access to breaks shears rollers welders, pretty much a metal workers heaven, do to the fact im an aviation mechanic.

i was wondering if anyone that has a keene 4 inch three stage if the could post some pics and or just measurements so i can duplicate the dredge for the most part. things im mostly needing is riffle heights of the different sections. riffle lengths ie. long and short side of riffle. riffle spacing , under box height. and the likes, or, i someone has a link to said info that would be really nice also. im also having a problem finding what angle the flare is supossed to enter the back of the sluice.

and since ive only ran a A52 hand sluice a total of about 8 hours lol, im open to all the advice anyone is willing to give to help me build a really nice sluice.

from what i gather i need a 300GPM pump aswell?

i live in utah and go up American Fork Canyon, all the way up the streams to some old mines. and have some really nice exposed bedrock areas i want to check out aswell. reason i state this, is so some of you might have an idea of the gold im dealing with. from my understanding from what others have told me. and from what ive found last year. the gold here is mainly sugar/salt grain size and alot of flour, pretty much anywhere you grab a pan of dirt youll have flour gold in it. only the occasional picker. but some find a nice nugget now and then,. some im thinking my money is going to be in the fine gold department. so id like advise on what you all think would be the best set up, as ive heard/read many different things about running riffles in the lower deck VS not for fine gold recovery.

so any advise/help you knowledgable folks can offer will be much appreciated. i will post some pics as i progress with my build. in hopes of making a solid guide with tons of advice/pictures for building a good dredge, and the different set ups for different situations.

ive found a few "guides" but they really dont tell you any of the important info.

thanks in advance

[russau]

if your going to go with a 16 inch wide box id get ahold of Mike Higbee on http://www.49ermike.com he has some pumps for sale that are really reasonable. or id get a Proline pump thats used on the 4 inch Proline dredge. it pumps more water.and on the lower sluice of your O/U i wouldnt use any riffel. only ise a miners moss or some ribbed carpet with raised expanded metal over it to catch the fines.for every change you make to the levels or extra screening, you will lose energy from the water. the O/U is good for saving the fines, but to use a O/U with triple screen levels is pushing it. rright now with the ecconomy in the toilet id say go buy a used dredge and go from there. it would be cheaper in the long run and a lot quicker. i know! i made my own dredge also. the pump/eng. compressor alone is really went up in price and the pontoons will be expensive also. for me. i just had to make my own and after it was all done i had about the same money in it if i had bought a used dredge. i also have all the equipment at home. 3 brakes,1 roller,TIG welder etc.........i just like to play around! gotta kill the time somehow since i retired.

[CalGoldDredger]

If there is a will there is a way, by golly, and you certainly sound like you have the means
but when you are all done and see what you spent and how it performs you will wish you just went out and bought a good used one.
Plenty of those spoils to be had in Cal and Oregon and more on the way as spring get closer. Craigslist!!!

Buy one used, give it a try, and later when you understand it build one up for your self.

[Gold Seeker]

Hi Disgruntled WELCOME to the forum,

I have a Keene 4" 3 stage dredge, I agree that it maybe cheaper to find a used one and it will be ready to hit the water without redoing anything, but if you're determined to build one yourself, I will give you whatever dimensions you need and maybe some pictures as well, I need to charge my camera as I haven't used it for over a year(I hope it still works ), the only thing is it will take me a weekend or two to get the info as the dredge is stored in my storage building and I will have to dig out the different parts to do the measuring and any photos(if my camera still works )

It would be good if you could give me a line by line list of everything you want measured as I would want to do all the measuring photo taking on a single day so I can put the dredge back in storage and not leave it outside, I will measure/take photos of anything not on your list that I think is pertinent, the time frame for me getting it out of storage would also depend on the weather and if I have to work any of the coming weekends.

The posting of all the info will take me a little longer than most as I type with 2 dyslexic fingers .

The flare angle is adjustable by the way.

Skip

[Leonard]

Disgruntled:
Welcome to the forum. It's harder to join now as I have to approve every account registration. I've had over 50 spammer registrations in the last week.

I hope you get the info you need. you should as this is a great group.
Leonard

[Disgruntled]

Hi, and thanks for the welcome, and yalls input so far.

so no riffles needed on the under part, ill prob build the set that goes there just to have them though,

and yeah im going to try to build one, and not that i dont trust what yall say about the price going to cost roughly the same, its just that i already have a centrifugal pump that puts out 310gpm that i bought at a swap meet about a year ago for 100$,. and i have a 6.5HP honda that i can mount it too. i collect alot of stuff from time to time either by trade or just chance across it. lotta strange stuff stashed away in my shop ... wife says i need to be on the tv show hoarders thats another story in itself though.

anyhow,. i already have some of the most expensive parts. and i can get all the sheet alum/metal i can shake a stick at, due to the fact im in aviation. so basically the only thing its gonna cost me to build one now is, Hoses, carpet/moss and my time,. and im always tinkering with something. oh, and as for the pontoons, ill just make some out of a thin guage alum with ribbing, or ill just use some light foam and coat it in carbon fiber.

im really capable in fabrication/sheet work so im sure i can make it fairly easy if i had measurements.

and yes that would be great if you could spec out your Dredge and post me a couple pics and the likes,.

the specs i can think of off the top of my head, wich im sure im missing a good few,. are, riffle height and length of the short/long bend for the stages, spacing, and thickness of them,. im sure the third stage is around .020-.025 and the primary riffles are prob around .032-.040 and the sluice is prob around .068.,.

the bottom deck height, the height of the sluice sides at front/back, the overall size of the grates. and where the third stage starts, i think its supossed to be 1/3 of the way down the sluice. and then the flare specs as far as length and how it hooks to the sluice. as far as the frame, im not to worried around it, im sure i can come up a plan that will work fairly easy with the pontoons i make, and allow it to adjust the sluice angle aswell as the flare angle. unless you all have advice on that?

man it would make things alot easier if i could put my hands on one for an hour or so.

and yeah i knew the flare was adjustable with the strap, i just thought it had an "ideal" angle? but i guess that all depends on what your doing at the time.
and thanks for offering to take some pics/measurements. it will greatly help me in my build. and maybe ill end up having something you can use in return. and no rush on them friend. im pretty busy lately myself aswell so it will be a couple weeks before i can start anyhow.

thanks once again.

and does anyone have any advice or input on something im over looking,.

Thanks Leonard, im sure i will, as ive been looking at some of the posts, and you have some very wise folks on here.

[YellowFever]

What part of Utah you live in? I have a 4" keene, 3 stage. I live in Grand jct Colo, but I'm in Arizona for the time being, but when I do make it back home you are more then welcome to look at it. I will be doing some "MOD's" to it for use this summer so it may be in parts.

and I have to agree that you would be better off buying a used dredge and modify it to your needs then building one.

[Disgruntled]

im in the Salt Lake area. and yeah, i might have to come check it out sometime,. what mods are you planning on?

what would be a good price for a used one?


i was thinking about buying a little 2 inch backpacker. but kinda wanted to build the 4 inch since i got most everything id need to do it.

surely if you have the specs it cant be that hard to build one? everyone run into problems with riffle angles and stuff or what?

[russau]

i have several different sizes/heights of riffels,screens,and screens with 4 riffels on the end and i keep them in my trailer to help with different size gold/fines. if you work the same creek or area you may not need to goto this lenght but for me i traveled to different areas,states and find different size gold/fines need different setups. i try not to leave something behind that would hammper my dredgeing.it happened once and ruined a out of state trip and i wont let that happen again! Leonard just laughs when he looked into my trailer at all the stuff that is in there! but chances are that if i need it, its there, i just have to find it! i even had some fake dog poop that came in handy when Leonards brake cylinder went out and when he got back with the parts he saw that some darned dog pooped just under his wheel where he was working!i missed the shot of his face when he saw it! but it was well worth the effort! haha

[CalGoldDredger]

Plenty of used dredges, a surplus to be exact. I see plenty of good deals over here locally, if you are willing to drive for them, could scoop yourself up some dredges up for dirt cheap.
The old man down the road here, finally gave up and got tired of waiting on our fine goverment officials, he has his old 6" for sale $800. Same story all about and there are deals everywhere.
Many aren't advertised on the internet so it may be hard to spot them. Keep your eye on Cal craigslist also.