Hand Dredge Plans ((LINK))

Of course you will be building on the cheap, but you don't want to shortchange yourself too much. You don't want your dredge to be rickety, or to fall apart, or to fail to function. Dredges need to be functional, durable and sturdy. The time you spend sorting through design concepts, deciding what you will build and how you will build it will be well spent. Think about what you want and what you need then weigh those together with what you can afford. Do up some drawings and lists. Perhaps the best thing I can suggest is that you study the designs of the well-known dredge makers like Keene and Pro-line. These manufacturers have done quite a bit of research studying their products, they have tested different options and have developed efficient pieces of equipment that do the job well. Check out their web sites as most have good photos of their dredges and the individual components that make up these dredges – you can get a lot of information from their web sites. If your local prospecting shop has a dredge set up, take a close look and even measurements or photos if you can. Another great possibility is to join a prospecting club whose members actively dredge, and then go out to the claims and check out the members while they are dredging. Take some pictures of the dredges while they're in operation. The club members may even let you have a few minutes behind the nozzle so that you can get a feel for the whole experience. The more general knowledge you have about dredges before you begin your design, the better your construction plans will be. Sometimes good used dredge parts are available to start a homemade dredge. When you are sitting down to plan the designs of your own home made gold dredge, probably the first question you will want to ask yourself is “What size of dredge do I want to build?” That is probably the first and most important decision. The bigger your suction dredge is, the more gold bearing material you'll be able to process, but the more it will cost and the more it will weigh. So weight and cost are the trade-offs for the volume you can process, and practically speaking, the depth of bedrock you will be able to reach. It is a general rule of dredges that it is not practical to dredge feet of overburden greater than the inside diameter of your hose in inches. So for a 2 inch dredge you don't want to go through overburden deeper than about 2 feet, for a 4 inch dredge you don't want to go through more than about 4 feet of overburden, and the 6 inch dredge would be limited to around 6 feet of overburden, etc. Of course this is just a rule of thumb and while it is possible to dredge a 10 foot deep hole with a 2 inch dredge, but it will take forever and be highly inefficient. This little rule of thumb does not count the depth of water, only the depth of gravel overburden down to bedrock. Another piece of design information to consider in your planning is that a four or five inch dredge is about as big as one guy can handle efficiently by himself. If you're really big, tough and young you may be able to handle a 6-inch by yourself, but it will tax you. A 4-inch is probably the best size for a single guy operation. That's the boat I am in and I've mined some pretty good gold nuggets over the years with the suction dredges I have owned. Will you need compressed air for diving? If so, you will need an air compressor, an air receiving tank and related diving equipment. Air is really handy to have, but its optional, and you can always add air later if you plan well and allow space for the compressor on your dredge.

Hand Dredge Plans

Find center of 1-1/4 PVC Cap and drill a hole that is 5/8" in size. Slightly larger than the 1/2" PVC pipe. It doesn't have to fit tightly, it's really just for aesthetics, and to keep the handle from pulling all the way out.The easiest way to find the center of the circle is to place a square over the circle, lining up the the point on the edge of the circle. Then mark the spot where the square goes outside of the circle. Draw a line between two marks. Repeat this again by moving the square part way around the circle and drawing another line. Where the two lines intersect is the center of the circle.For more in-depth instructions: Next you'll want to use a dremel or sand paper to sand the PVC Bushing (1/2" slip to 1/2" threaded) so it can fit inside the 1-1/4" pipe.

Dry fit the pieces accordingly to make sure everything is the size you want and that you have all the parts needed. Make sure the ABS Wye connector has both ends facing down with the other end connecting to the pump section. That way as material falls down, it can collect inside the part with the cap.To create the pump section, take the 24" long 1/2" pipe and pit the 1/2" elbow on one end. Then put the 1-1/4" cap with the hole drilled in it over the pipe. Then, place the 1/2" slip to 1/2" thread bushing onto the end. Take the pipe insulation and place it over the threads, then screw on the 1/2" cap. This creates the seal needed for the pump. On the other end, take the 6" long 1/2" pipe and connect it inside the elbow. Then place the 1/2" cap over the pipe. This is the handle. To create the collection piece, take the 6" long 1-1/4" pvc and place the undrilled 1-1/4" cap over on end. The other end is then connected to the 1-1/4" to 1-1/2 bushing. This is then inserted into the 45 degree part of the ABS Wye connector.To setup the sucking piece, take the 6" long 1/2" pvc and insert it into the 1/2" x 1-1/4" bushing. Then insert that into the 1-1/4" x 1-1/2" bushing. Then, insert that into the bottom of the ABS Wye connector.If you can find a 1-1/4" wye connector, then you could leave out the 1-1/4" x 1-1/2" bushings, but I wasn't able to find one. hence why I used so many bushings. Finally, insert the 24" long 1-1/4" pipe into the top of the ABS Wye connector. Then insert the handle assembly into it. There should be a tight fit. Connect the top cap where the handle bit is. That's basically it for the dredge. Now you'll just need to glue it together.If you pull the handle up, you should be able to suck up water from the sucking end. If you hold your hand over it, it should feel some force when you pull the handle out. Or if you push the handle, you should feel air on your hand. This means the pump assembly has a good seal and is working correctly.

This step is pretty self explanatory though you won't want to glue everything together, just key parts.Start by gluing the handle assembly together, the end cap, elbow, and 1/2 slip to 1/2 thread connector. Don't glue the cap on the handle assembly to the 1-1/4" pvc as you'll want to be able to take it apart to clean it out or replace the seal.Once done, insert the handle assembly where the seal is at into the 1-1/4" pvc like you did in the dry fitting.Next, glue the cap onto the 6" 1-1/4, then glue the pvc into the bushing. Do not glue the bushing into the ABS Wye connector. This is where material will collect and you'll need to be able to take it out to pan through your material.After that, to create the part that sucks up material, glue the 6" long 1/2" pvc into the 1-1/4" to 1/2" bushing, then glue that into the 1-1/2" to 1-1/4" bushing. Do not glue this to the ABS Wye - you'll need to clean this out occasionally.Then, take the 1-1/2 to 1-1/4 bushing and glue it into the top of the ABS Wye connector. Do not glue the handle/pump assembly into this bushing. Dry fit the handle/pump assembly, collection piece, and sucking end together and then it's complete!

Your dredge is now complete. To suck up material, just keep the collection piece faced down and pull the handle to suck up water and material. As material falls back down, it will get stuck in the collection piece. Water will then drain out the end of the pipe. Keep doing this until you think the collection piece is full.Then loosen the collection piece and pour it into your gold pan. Rinse then connect it back together and repeat!Good luck with finding gold! If you have any better ideas, please feel free to share them.

Reminds me of the Dayze up at Shasta College in Redding, we used to pan up at our spot camping on weekends for beer and food money in the 90's, could not use a dredge or fish on The Sacramento from the Chem Spill (trainwreck) but could bring up black sand with SCUBA gear ( Hope I did'nt Dame My Bramage..twitcth-twicht !) Our "Assayer" in Redding seemed to give us let than actual worth for our flake and few nuggets.(break a point off a #2 pencil, About all we found) At today's Gold value, would have lived like Kings ! ( Teriyaki Burgers for the whole class at the Cafeteria !) Fun Times!

Subscribe to this blog's feed #esbBlogArchive display:none Nuggets of News Blog function goviewblog(b)location.href="/prospecting_blog/"+b;function doshare(text,link)edpop('popw',true,'edinc/edtool/social-share?text='+text+'&link= '+link,size:'lib');return false;function goblog(b)location.href="/prospecting_blog/edit/12915"+b;function godesign(b)location.href="/prospecting_blog/?blogm=config&set=design";Thursday, September 22 2022Tips for Using a Hand DredgeGold can hide down in the deepest part of a crack or crevice or behind a boulder and often is best reached with a hand dredge, also called a "sucker gun" or "suction gun." This gold prospecting tool is ideal for working below the water line when a motorized dredge cannot be used. It helps you get the gold out of some really tight spaces, a hand dredge is well, handy, when you're prospecting along a river. If you've found a rich spot that is hard to access, these two hand dredges can produce some decent gold! Also check out the many accessories that make your hand dredge even better!

X-Stream Hybrid ProThe pump uses two leather cups back-to-back, attached to the plunger handle, to move material into the pump and out through the hose. When wet, these cups will seat in the barrel of the pump. When first using your pump, placing the leather cups in water for a few minutes will allow them to conform to the diameter of the pump barrel and work more effectively. 041b061a72