Trommels

[SnowSpider]

Hey  im a welder  and thats one fine job you did  and dont kid yourself  soldering is welding with just a lower heat setting  and works fine   Looks like a very fun rig to run  and  trust me  the most enjoyment in building your own rigs is the joy of seeing it collect even the tinyest bit of yellow good build  enjoy  and  have fun tweaking it LOL  thats the other half of building your own rigs  (There never finished)

Dave

[lsfog]

Thanks for the kind words fellas.
To date all I have run and re-run is a pail of 1/2 inch classifyed left overs. As long as I kept the feed rate to a garden trowel full every 10 seconds or so everything was good.Truth be told I'm a bit concerned that it will bog down when I feed it bank run material. The 12v window crank motor has alot of jam but the hang up is the 1/4 inch thick - round - 14 inch diameter rubber belt that I'm useing for power transfer slips a bit especially when it gets wet.
Anyway thats where the tinkering & adjusting comes in.
My personal favorite part is that it nicely accomodates the 10 inch main sluice, then the cons are run thru the 5 inch Fine Gold Recovery [ thanks Florian ] sluice, then lastly thru the tiny Grizzly sluice all on one platform so to speak.
Ken

[Seeker]

My personal favorite part is that it nicely accomodates the 10 inch main sluice, then the cons are run thru the 5 inch Fine Gold Recovery [ thanks Florian ] sluice, then lastly thru the tiny Grizzly sluice all on one platform so to speak.
Ken

I noticed the multiple attachments good thinking.

[Au Geezer]

Hey Ernie,
Good looking trommel. You might want to add a 3" or 4" piece to the top of the hopper on an angle to protect the chain drive from gravel that will get thrown past the top of the hopper. I know from first hand experience. I built one from the same plans you are using. I made it a 10" drum and used 1/2" expanded metal on the barrel. I also used a fine stainless screen inside to further classify the marterial. My brother and I went to the Devon bridge and set up. There was a guy camped there and using a little camel. He watched us set up. We shovelled into the trommel for about 20 minutes and then did a cleanup to see how it was working. We had a little over a gram of gold in that time. The guy was amazed at the recovery. He said "I want it. How much?" We had more gold than he had in three days. Needless to say the trommel was sold and we promptly built another. I think one of the keys to the recovery was the vibration set up in the sluice from the weedeater motor used to drive it.
Good luck with your trommel and maybe we'll run into each other out there..........Jack

[minkos61]

Thanks Jack you are right about the guard I will be adding that allready have the piece cut just have to weld it on. I'm just working on attaching the wiper motor for the drum drive then rip every thing apart and slap on a coat of paint make some riffles for the sluice and then she's done.

Ernie

[minkos61]

Hi everyone here is a short video of a dry run on the almost completed trommel.

Ernie

[shiver]

Looks Great Ernie!! looks like it has a good wash time set like that. Very well done!!

[lsfog]

WOW That's pretty!! Voice of experiance speaking ---you may have to do a slight redo on your discharge shute if it happens to dump onto your sluice----
How did you get your 12 v motor reduced to those just right rev's???
Again it looks great.
Ken

[rockpup]

cool looking trommel.I work construction and can get my hands on alot of scrap pipe, ect.Been trying to think of ideas I can use construction scrap for this might be a lead.Thanks for the copper pipe frame idea,I own a torch, but no welder.

[minkos61]

Thanks guy's it's almost there.
Isfog the sluice will be going out the side.the gears I used were 96 tooth on the barrel and 45 tooth on the motor,the motor is also a 2 speed hi & low 85 ford wiper motor.

Ernie