Gravity Gold Dredge

[maxinpains]

hope he can make gas money.

[ucamper08]

I have thought about this alot and with enough tube u could gvet around the dredging laws!great vidieo

[Woodchuckk]

@ucamper08

Itsn't in a ban on all suction dredging? Or just gas powered dredging?

[exanchorite]

The pressure is reduced as you go from 4" to 2", but the speed is increased.

[starflash08]

hey exanchorite, good work but little confusing, some gravity dredges trap pay dirt in there ribbing along the 100 ft or so of pipe, but clean up is a problem, with your suction nossel do you need another short section of pipe to a sluice box close to where you are working?, post another effort all connected up, im sure youve developed a far better gravity dredge not obvious to us less imaginative persons, the gravity dredge is all about getting out into nature and enjoying the piece and quite.

[exanchorite]

Thanks Star,

Yes another section of hose attached to a sluice box. You can start at the top with a larger diameter hose and get more suction or just get more hose and a taller drop. I gave my hose away when I moved to AK. Most likely won't be testing this idea further since I'm making an ice diving dredge right now.

-Kevin

[starflash08]

@exanchorite i know im a bit thick but if the hose to the sluice is separate to the long hose providing the fall and suction, how does the short hose suck up the gravels, vortex?, cheers david

[exanchorite]

They call it a Venturi effect. The whole concept of a gravity dredge came to me from the old timers hydraulicing. Google hydraulicing. The basic idea is to take a large volume of water in conjunction with gravity and reduce the size of the pipe the water travels in as you get lower in elevation. Gravity creates a certain amount of pressure as the weight of the water in the pipe above has nowhere to go but down. The reduction in pipe size from large to small creates a "venturi effect".

[exanchorite]

Google venturi effect. When you reduce the size of the pipe the pressure does not increase or stay the same, the pressure decreases, but the velocity (speed) of the water increases. The speed of the water is what creates the suction. In my case I used just one size hose to see what gravity could do on its own. I reduced it down from 2" to 1" with a suction nozzle. I got mediocre results.

[exanchorite]

If I had the same amount of fall and hose length, but I started with a 4" pipe and reduced down to a 2" pipe and then down to my 1" suction nozzle the velocity of the water would be even faster and the suction would be even greater. Because of the venturi effect 4” of water reduced to 2” equals increased velocity and 2" down to 1" increases velocity again which will increase suction on a jet log or suction nozzle.

[SFR1985]

Fabulous!!!

[9DragonMaster]

by the way, this video is confusing as fuck, remake it.

[9DragonMaster]

i wonder if working at a waterfall would be better =D I'll have to make a vid i guess, i see this fuckin hose all the time and im always wondering what i could use it for, now i gotta go find some again!

[captjames5]

Use a few feet of rigid hose then clamp on some of that collapsible blue hose to it. It's much cheaper and works the same.

[oceanghost2006]

nice video

[mrfish40]

I would like to see a vid of it attached to a sluice box. Kinda spendy on the hose!

[MrSokitumi]

here ya go buddy hint of the day start with a 6 in. hose down to 1 1/2 in or 2 in =p

[scarumanga]

That's pretty cool dude, nice work. I might have to give that idea a go around here, as i don't have money for an actual dredge.

[bobinmissouri]

what about making a wood plug to put in it insead of a rock? love the idel got my little pea brain working lol bob threet SMGP//GPAA missouri

[TheDownunderHunter]

Cool

[2yung4u]

why don't you just get a highbanker with a recirculating water pump that runs off a car battery? that way you could run your concentrates through the highbanker and do your cleanup in a gold pan later.

[exanchorite]

Good Idea.  The purpose of a gravity dredge is to be able to dredge in remote places with no electricity or gasoline required. I wonder how long a battery would power a 2" pump before needing to be recharged on a highbanker. All the hose I brought in weighs about 60lb which is what one car battery would weigh. The cool thing about a gravity dredge is if it works on a small scale you can scale it up as long as you have enough water for your 6" or 8" dredge.

[joecugo]

cool vid but what happened to the backpack dredge vid? Ever prospect in Oregon?

[exanchorite]

Thanks Joe. I got the wrong motor and my pontoons were too heavy, so I just made a regular 3" dredge.

[tubecat72072]

"At first, if the idea doesn't sound absurd, than there is no hope for it" ~ Albert Einstein 

Props to anyone who tries everything. I have, and yes, the heads turn.. but I'm getting gold:) Great job man.

[metropool]

so where do I get one of those suction nozzles?

[metropool]

amazes me how much time people waste in this "hobby" I want to see some cost.benefit analysis to this lunacy or some bank statements before I go swamping with the copperheads

[exanchorite]

It's more than just prospecting. It's getting out into nature and enjoying yourself. I'm not selling anything here, just informing other prospectors of what is possible. I never got into this hobby with dreams of getting rich, but I have been very fortunate and if you keep watching my videos I will show you what is possible for a full time miner.

[chestateegold]

@metropool

think about golf. you go out and spend money and have fun. now think about gold. you go out and spend money and have fun. but maybe, just maybe if you are lucky, you may get a little bit back. its all for fun

[ds1919ds1919]

@metropool you should just stay at home, doing your 9 to 7:30, 6 days a week job. Leave the fun/adventure/$1200peroz gold to us.....

[tappakeggaday1]

i would have liked to see the gold you got with that set up,i really like the clean ups and smiling faces seeig the gold in the sluce or pan. great video

[riverbender]

Great video! Your enthusiasm is contagious.

The amount of flow/pressure that you were losing due to the coupling problem was robbing HUGE amounts of suction from your nozzle. I know that you realize that, but I don't know whether you understand the MAGNITUDE?

Heavy Pans,

faaus

[BigBrian500]

Good going

We have a 200 ac. claim in No CA

There are several side creeks in the area with very steep descent.Ideal for the suction nozzle or power jet . I'm not near enough to one of these tributaries to use this setup. the bedrock is just too good where I am. for now I'm using gravity only dredging at the top of the system using a three inch pipe and hose,and yes,with a hundred feet of pipe there's great potential for jams. I try to be mindful of what enters the nozzle. Best of luck,

[unclearless]

Bro your vid rocks. I have not known much about the gravity dredge. The concept, yes, to an extent, but I like that you not only saw your mistakes, but seem like the type of person to learn from them. Very cool. I don't sell a thing. But I was looking at a "Desert fox" to retrieve gold, and I bring that up cuz it's like $300, almost the cost of your hose. And I THINK you may shovel in more material, and retrieve more for about the same price. Not sure. I would like to build a repore. TY, ~Kev~

[exanchorite]

Thanks for the compliment Kev. Might be hard for us to build a repore since there is a good possibility I will be in Nome AK this summer. I will be taking pictures and video of my trip, and yes the trip is prospecting related. What do you call home mate?

[tubecat72072]

I have the gold miner.. pretty much the same design. Its a great machine and it was about 3 bills. I generally use it at home for fine recovery of my cons.. works absolutely great if set properly. I use a 12 mesh because 1/2 mesh kicks out some of the fine gold. You can use 1/2 in the field with some practice on water flow and tilt position of the wheel. It is a "must have" when you bring home buckets of material. It has many many hours on it and still works great!

[tuvoca]

I noticed that the pipe is ribbed. Does anyone know if there is a risk of the gold gathering in the pipe instead of the sluice box?

[exanchorite]

Hey tuvoca,

It is smooth on both sides, but even if it was ribbed I was only using the pipe to transport water to create pressure for the venturi at the end of the suction nozzle. If you were to suck gravels from the top you would have 85 feet of potential rock jams.

[shopken1]

Yes it does collect some until the riffles are "Full" of heavy material.

[robofx69]

Real cool video Dude, will be looking for more like this from you in future.

[contenderplacer]

hey like the idea,but instead of a rock at the end, try a gate valve cracked open just enough to let the air out,then when your done let er flow,could even try quick connect fittings to streamline the process and allow for more time dredging ?

[hixonAu]

Good job.......enjoyed watching.

[Idigauinca]

Great video! I have been wanting to do what you did here. Just havent been motivated yet. I want to build a 4" with lay flat using a jet instead of suction nozzle. I love the idea of not paying for gas. Just need to figure out how to power an air compressor with the gravity flow! Thanks for the motivation.

[exanchorite]

Yeah the jet would be nice.. they have a lot more suction I've heard.

[surfnhamster]

Hey, I really liked your video.

I've been working on the same thing but I,m using a suction log instead of a nozzle. The area I'm going to is very remote so I'm experimenting with smaller diameter suction hose to get it there in one trip.

[mnbvczxc]

Great video. I was impressed that you used the opposite end of the pipe for the energy to run your nozzle instead of my method (very creative!). But ouch the pipe does sound kinda pricy. none the less though, it is a first rate video and you work the camera like a rock star.

ron

[exanchorite]

Thanks Ron!

[FunWithTreasure2]

Pretty Cool. But seems like to much work for the money. @ $255.00 for the hose you could add a few more hundred and buy a nice second hand backpack dredge. But still pretty cool.

[m3sca1]

awsome-you could even run an impeller and turn a generator for free power.