1515Art

From the perspective of just a guy just swinging his detector the effect of obsolescence and general market depreciation is a far greater threat to me than risking the warranty on a well engineered adaptation that increases my use and enjoyment. Warranties expire and nothing short of some miracle will get all your money back selling a used machine and if anything we may have missed the boat picking up a good deal on a used 2300 if these coils prove out as it looks, certainly got to be good for the folks that own one now.

I wasn’t really happy with how I setup the pvc and made a few changes that are much better changing how it attached to the box and connected the frame and box as a hinge using only one 1/2 “ repair fitting for the angle adjustment at the header end instead of two. In addition to being easier to use and adjust it all fits easily inside the tub now. It would have been better to use two 90* elbow at the header end of the pvc but I was trying to use stuff I had on hand.

Yep, I think the magnets were a couple bucks more total.

Haaa, good place to be in on the ground floor I won’t forget and will take good care of you’re early commitment as soon as the first royalty check arrives my accountant will be in touch with the documents for your review and signature. New videos for your viewing pleasure soon to be released... “cat with hair ball” and the timeless classic “Feline fains indifference.”

I was cleaning out the shop and came across some extra PVC fittings and a 1/2” thick sheet 16”x9” of a black Corian like material I picked up as scrap from tap plastics a while ago. They claimed it was something special they had for some project and the material was very resistant to things sticking to it? Figured I’d see if it was good for use as a miller table, so I collected the odds and ends I could find cleaning my junk and Home Depot was kind enough to fill in the gaps.tomorrow if I get a chance I’ll run a little dirt through it. DIY Miller Table;

My memory is not so good, cheeper than I thought...

I was wandering Ace hardware the other day and spotted this sexy little heavy duty claw digging tool hanging on the rack priced for around $15 if I remember right. Made of aluminum and really solid with a comfortable handle I JB welded two neodymium bar magnets for searching iron infested signals on the top hopefully out of the way enough to stay in place.

Still expensive, but if the quality is any good and work as claimed one of these might be an option if I really want to run the 20amp pump for anything more than 20 minutes or so? The first one posted is a little over $800 the second battery was listed around $390

Thanks John, added that link to my favorites a lot of useful information there.

John, all the battery stuff is confusing and making my head hurt I’ve been slowly getting the idea about the different calculations and ratings between 120v vs 12v what amp hrs, cranking amps, peak amps and the different issues with discharge rates, the manufactures seem to rely on the confusion. I’m still a little confused about advantages and disadvantages of lithium vs agm I think I read something about lithium while being able to deliver power at a constant 12v evenly through it discharge capacity but that came at sacrifice of lower peak output over long discharge duration to a comparable rated agm deep cycle? And yes can’t believe how crazy expensive they are got to find a source of used cells I can recycle. one of the clubs I belong to has a couple of wet claims out of California I’m sure I can run a battery operated device on, probably better to just take the Honda pump except then it not just going to be the pump and I’ll have to add the utility trailer?

All the bad weather, snow and to many things I need to take care of no chance to get away for a trip to gold country, been watching tons of YouTube gold related videos on prospecting related stuff and the occasional Jeep roll over compilation just to scare me into not doing that stuff with my Jeep on the gold trail?. Lots of ideas on the web for idle hands to foolishly venture, not that I don’t have anything to occupy my time, but a little sucking device somehow seemed like a good idea, so off I go... I’ve been building my little Jeep friendly recirculating sluice and thought I would try making a nozzle for use with the pump I already own, just a few pipe fittings and a little part here and there. I already have a Keene high banker setup and 90gpm Honda pump I can’t use in California, but something small for Jeep travel where it’s ok might come in handy, so I build the first one paying attention to everything I can think of to reduce friction and any head pressure and the little bilge pump was inadequate for the task. searching the web for 12v pumps it’s hard to find anything that produces both volume and pressure at a reasonable price, the rule 4000 utility pump was the most powerful at 66gpm open flow and max lift of approx 30’ with over half its rated volume at 15’, but at a cost of 20amp hrs power consumption, they even made a two stage model rated at 134gpm same rated lift. Only problem the rule evacuator pump line are discontinued and I could only find one seller in the US that still had 3 in stock, every one else was out and the product is no longer listed one the manufacturers web site. I passed on the rule4000 and found a reasonable priced 1000 gph utility pump with a rated max lift of 7m out of Korea and ordered one, it won’t arrive until sometime in April I find out so we’ll see but I suspect it was a waste. I should have stopped reading about water pumps, but didn’t and found another 12v pump that looked better with more volume than my bilge pump or the Korean pump and with a rated max lift of 7m burning only 13amp hr from my battery and ordered it. superior pump came today and I outfitted my nozzle with the new pump along with a water proof power switch and cigarette lighter socket power cord, even with the power of this pump (1/4hp) the suction is inhibited by the discharge restriction and lift enough to make it not quite just enough suction to be practical, however pumping directly into a container without the lift it will suck dirt and gravel more than enough to be worth trying out for bedrock cracks. Everything but the battery weighs 8# total out of the water and in the water it’s slightly negative buoyancy keeps it on the bottom without feeling heavy it also feels fairly well balanced. Before the superior pump arrived eBay kept nagging me about the rule4000 and I still couldn’t find a replacement for this now discontinued pump, so with only the 3 left I figured it was only a couple hundred and I’d might regret it more later if I passed cause I’m on a mission now and pulled the trigger on the rule pump, estimate it arrives on Friday. At over twice the power and capacity of the superior 12v pump it should pump material into my little highbanker if I get a larger battery. Anyway more to come...

Thanks John, kind of what I thought and why I held off on the 20 amp pump at first, I bought 2 smaller 12v utility pumps (8amp) and (12amp) both will develop 7m lift delivering half their rated volume at 15’ I tested my nozzle with an old harbor freight sump pump and the suction was really strong even against several feet of head and a severely kinked discharge hose so I think the utility pumps will work. The 4000gph rule utility pump @ 20 amps 9m lift is discontinued only available from 1 source and they only had 3 available and I couldn’t find another 12v pump to match the performance so I bought 1 for $225. With a 90amp hr deep cycle I could get I think 2.5 hrs of suction time at 50% if I’m reading everything right? I’ll post a thread after I get the pumps and test everything out.

Hey John, nice setup and what size pump and pvc tubes are you using? Reason I ask I’ve been playing with a 1200gph bilge pump ok for the small sluice but worthless powering a small 12v suction nozzle so I ordered hmmm... a total of 3 new 12v pumps to try out that should give better head?? first one gets delivered Wednesday, next on Friday and the first pump I ordered s coming from Korea in April. They range from 1000gph with 7m lift to 4000gph 9m lift (2000gph @ 9m) and I’ve been using a 2” syphon and am wondering if I’ll need more. Also the 4000gph pump pulls 20amps at 12v so I’m also not sure if that’ll be any issues other than sucking the battery dry faster?

Last night I tried the first test with the added nozzles all seemed good with the water level between tanks staying even. Just figured out how to upload to YouTube here is the test.

Emmm, french fried taters... zackly, 12v crack cleaner and when I’m done doing that I can look for gold??. There’s a bunch of YouTube examples, I need to fine tune it with smaller diameter tubes along with more pump.

Thanks Chuck, I made the nozzles fron 1/2” and 3/8” copper tubing, first I tried just drilling holes in the 1/2” copper, but the water came out from the direction of travel at a 45* and out the back where I cut a hole to clear the rocks. I used a tube cutter and cut short pieces of 3/8 then used a dremmel barrel sanding bit that put a curve in the back side of the nozzle, the little pieces holding things in place for soldering are pyrometric cone tips. To seal the back from water leaks I smeared a bit of olive oil as a mold release on the aluminum sluice flair, then attached the hopper with screws and injected hot melt glue into the voids. I’m also working on a little jet suction nozzle that used the same pump from the high banker, but while it lifts water the flow with the 1200 gph pump isn’t enough. I may add a second matching pump in series for higher pressure or try a 2700 gph instead. following designs online I used a fuel funnel for the flair jet and slightly more than a 4 to 1 ratio on the jet orifice.

So I finally got around to ordering a bilge pump and gathering up spare parts at home along with a couple trips to Home Depot to assemble my little recirculating high banker project. The pump I ordered is a 1200 gph 12v Atwood tsunami submersible bilge pump that seems to deliver adequate water to operate my setup although I have not had a chance to run any dirt yet. The hopper is made from a plastic desk top office bin outfitted with 1/2 copper spray bars that have 26 3/8 outside diameter nozzles to wash dirt through 1/4“ SS mesh. The 3 bins probably hold around 15 gallons of water and with the small container inside the 1st trash bin have 4 separate tanks to separate particles in the water from the pump, hopefully keeping the water reasonably clean. The jump starter battery pack claims to provide 90 amp hours that should give me 15 hours run time with the little pump at 50% discharge on my battery before needing to recharge. . still a tiny bit of tweaking to control any water leaks. the pump and most everything fits inside the trash bins for storage and transportation.

Few things to consider waiting for the storms and foul weather to pass...

I picked up a little Royal stream sluice I’m planning to use with the trash bins and ABS pipe, I still need to order a 12v bilge pump and fashion a little header box for it then add some flexible water line, Everything except the battery for the bilge pump will fit inside the stacked trash bins without taking up to much space in the Jeep.

Chuck, not the sluice itself, but I borrowed this setup for settling tanks I found on a video on the interned. the guy made his system based on an ancient crop irrigation technique. I’m using 3 office trash cans and some black ABS pipe, the 45 bend on the end of the black ABS U shaped pipe keeps the syphon so after filling the tubes you can easily lower them into the water. I’m just filtering waste water into my garden so when running a sluice the pump drops into the 3rd tank instead of the drain like I have it now for the sink in my ceramic studio. link to video: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sluice+recirculating+tanks&&view=detail&mid=B4E10A56C2C3FD049A95B4E10A56C2C3FD049A95&&FORM=VRDGAR

Nice job you did a good deed if everyone was like you we’d live in a better world, thanks for sharing the story.

Steve, the pack you have is top notch and should be in good condition at 5% per month. Another of the many advantages of lithium packs is depth of discharge from what I have been reading as the lithium can safely be taken down to 80% of capacity without any harm to its useful life cycles vs 50% with GEL. Some of the info on power output can be different between GEL and lithium if I understand correctly what I’ve read as the technologies discharge at different rates? The lithium packs 4 x’s Roughly the capacity over GEL at a lower peak output, so may struggle in a situation where very high discharge rates are required for an extended period of time as in the use of a winch, or in the case of big diesel with a dead battery in cold conditions. In most cases lithium is the best choice, depends on individual needs but that’s a nice handy looking battery pack.

Some of the online reviews on the lithium emergency jump starters claim they only bleed as little as 5% to 10% each month storage vs the gel and agm at roughly double the loss of the lithium battery in storage.

My Walmart jump starter bounced around in the back of the Jeep and accidentally turned on the led light and eventually killed the battery down to where it wouldn’t take a charge anymore, so after researching the different options settled on the JNC950 as a replacement. It’s kind of pricy and a tad on the heavy side, but packs enough juice to fire up a commercial diesel truck in freezing conditions and I can use it for the winch, domestic fridge (when I get one) and as a jump starter of course.

If you want to know for certain most pawn shops can xrf it for a few bucks, the shop near me will do it for $5 and give me a print out of the reading.