[iowa hill]

We have an 80-acre placer operation in an ancient Tertiary channel with cemented gravels. Since I completed major rework of our old trommel, we needed a far more efficient sluice arrangement than the 20+ feet of 12" wide metal conduit trays and old carpeting that was used by the prior owners of our claim. This new reciprocating sluice is made of 14 gage steel 18" wide, 10 feet in length, and is mounted in an angle steel frame with adjustable sluice box angle provided by the chain supports at the discharge end. It is currently (no pun intneded!) powered with a 120-volt two-speed 1/2 HP washing machine motor, and the throw of the box is 3/4" by means of an offset shaft supported in pillow blocks at the feed end. Speed of motion can be selected with one of two switches mounted in a water-proof box (the other switch is ON/OFF). We can fine tune the optimal speed(s) additionally with pulley diameter changes, but I believe I have an optimum range figured out. We'll see in the next couple of weeks.

My design came from inspiration and efficiencies gained from our portable trommel which has a similar setup, but shorter length. Riffle material is #3 raised steel grating laid on ribbed outdoor carpeting (like corduroy), and cinched tight to the carpeting with 8 foot lengths of 2 x 4 pressure-treated lumber wedged tight with wood wedges against angle steel bolsters welded to the sides of the box. Length of each carpet and grating section is 4 feet to make cleanup easier and more convenient. The carpeting is waterfalled in an overlapping fashion so that no concentrates are lost.

Our portable trommel was recovering over 80% of the gold from gravels washed earlier this year in the first four feet of the box. The remainder was found primarily in first 1 1/2 feet of the lower section with very little black sands. What was especially interesting was the large amount of minus 500 mesh gold found in the first section. I believe the present choice of riffle and carpeting arrangement is the best I've ever seen. Our recovery is at least as good, if not better than our neighbor's claim where they're using a trommel, jig, and table (no sluice box). We should be able to handle around 50-60 yards per day with the new box; probably more if we screen the infeed with a grizzly and minus 2" shaker deck (this will be my next design project!).

I'm looking at building a smaller version for sampling and portable use. Stay tuned!

Here are some photos:

[Ljunki]

King Arthur and the "roots of troubles"

The traditional treatment of women in the Arthurian saga is interesting to note in its severity. Guinevere is an adulteress, Morgan Le Fay is a witch, Morgause is an incestuous schemer, and the Lady of the Lake is the leader of a terrible, backward pagan religion. This is, of course, the treatment that has been handed down to us from the medieval writers who gave us the Christian infusion that spawned the story of the Holy Grail. ffxi gil

　　But if we go back to the historical writers——the writers who were treating Arthur as a historical character, not a target for pious retribution or moral sermonizing; we find that women do, more or less, have quite an important role to play in the overall health and well-being of Arthur the King.

　　Inherent in this last statement is this feature of earlier stories: Arthur's story did not end badly. In the earliest of stories about Arthur the King, he wasn't even the Once and Future King. He was a great warrior and won many great victories. He was a great king who had a great queen, and they both ruled a great kingdom.

　　 maple story mesos,Arthur's queen didn't even have a name in the earliest of stories. She was simply the queen. But she didn't, as so many modern stories tell us, have a part in the downfall of the kingdom. Even Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the happier parts of his story, has Arthur and Ganhumara (his name for the queen) holding court in a great castle in a great city called the City of the Legions. (Geoffrey later gives Guinevere a bad name, but she is all that glitters when the story opens.)

　　Also showered with the light of good in earlier stories is Morgan Le Fay. In the earliest of the Cornwall stories, Morgan is the Queen of Lyonesse, where Arthur is taken after his final battle. Morgan is the leader of a group of healers, all women, who will undoubtedly heal Arthur. It is perhaps out of this part of the story that William of Malmesbury crafted his vision that Arthur would come again. (William, you will remember, is the first one to mention that Arthur's grave has not been found; even though he says nothing more, he gives a strong hint that the Once and Future King part of the legend has begun.) wow gold

　　The Lady of the Lake as well fares rather better in the older stories. She it was who gave Arthur his first sword. She it is who is guardian of the old ways, the ways from which comes much of the magic of the original Arthurian stories. The Christian writers wanted to make Arthur a Christian king, and they didn't want any other religions getting in the way of this. Naturally, they made the Lady of the Lake a questionable character solely because of her "religious" ways.

　　The question then becomes one of why. Why do the women come off so bad in medieval stories? What happened to make the writers change their image of people who were so vital to the story? The answer probably lies in the spiritual realm and its resulting scriptures. The same writers who were reading the Bible and discovering that Eve was responsible for all the world's problems probably thought that they should blame Guinevere for all of Arthur's problems. Why did Arthur have a bastard son in the first place? wow gold, Because the scheming Morgause tricked him into it. Why did Morgan Le Fay hate Arthur so? Because she was jealous of the magic wielded by Merlin, Arthur's advisor. Why was the Lady of the Lake suddenly to be reviled, not revered? Because she was the head of a religion that medieval writers didn't understand or want to understand. The teachings of the Bible were such that one religion was possible (in the minds of these writers); anything else was unacceptable. (It must be said here that Arthur, Lancelot, and all the rest of the male characters take quite a beating at the hands of the medievalists as well. The whole story becomes a morality play from which only Galahad, the purse and chaste, emerges unscathed. Arthur and Lancelot, the perfect king and the perfect knight, are undone by their shared imperfect morality.)

　　ffxi gil, The result is that in the modern tales, women are still pretty much blamed for Arthur's troubles. Arthur's dallying with Morgause has come to be seen as something akin to the Adam and Eve story. Lancelot's love for the queen has come to be seen as equal in its devastation to the queen's own adulterous actions (that is to say, it's the woman's fault). Morgan Le Fay is reviled as a witch who wants nothing more than to ruin the kingdom of the wonderful Arthur. And the Lady of the Lake recedes ever further into the background. (Some traditions hold that she is Nimue, whose claim to "fame" is that she enchants Merlin into submission and takes him from Arthur when Arthur needs him most.)

　　If you want to role-play in Arthur's world, you'd better choose a male character. At least people will feel sorry for you. aion gold

[old gold miner]

Not a trommel, but on a double deck screening plant.
We built a 12 ft sluice box, with an eccentric cam bushing on the header box end.
Bushing shaft was turned by a variable speed electric motor, much like yours.
18 inch width & 6 inch side walls (half 4X8 sheets).

Expanded metal sections were held down with 1 inch angle iron bolted at the side walls.
Riffle section was held down with metal wedges, via an angled slat, to pound wedges against.

We covered the sluice box floor & side walls with conveyor belting.
Gold particles will gain traction, slow & stop on rubberized conveyor belting.
Where, nonmalleable rock will bounce along, without skidding & stopping.
Same principle as wearing basketball shoes on a basketball court, better traction.

Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can find big used rolls of conveyor belt cheap.
Or, sometimes new rolls that are excess, never used.

We had expended metal in the 4 ft header box section,
Then, 4 ft of ¾ inch angle iron riffles, set like this < < < < < < canted 15 degrees tilt to the rear
Then, last 4ft was more expanded metal.

Sluice was very self cleaning & easy to pull sections for clean up.
We would pull first 2 sections daily, to get the big stuff (with a snow shovel)..
As 1st & 2nd sections caught all the course gold & 3rd section caught the fines.
About every 3rd shift we would pull all 3 sections, for a complete clean up.

We found water volume, direction & velocity was a major factor in how efficient sluice box recovery was.
With a screening plant, with spray bars, water & feed gravel came into the sluice box from the top.
After initial testing, we altered the design to improve & increase water flow direction, volume & velocity.
We altered the upper end of the header box face plate to include a ½ inch slit, the width of the header bow.
Which we pumped water through, that by design ran directly down the box.
We used a valve, so we could adjust the flow, to fine tune that waters velocity.

Adding that adjustable & increased flow, directed straight down the box, increased the efficiency of the system to around 97% recovery.
Which, we were more than happy with.
You might ponder adding a vent type water flow director, to the head end of your box.
Which (IMHO) will improve efficiency & recovery.
Because it gives you more water volume, flowing in a effective direction, which increases the velocity of the water going down the box.

Ponder, water directed into the box from above has to change direction, to flow down the box.
Water directed straight down the box does not, hence you get better velocity & more volume in the direction you wanted.

EDIT TO ADD: Quick 5 second sketch of what I'm talking about.