New Banjo

The rear deflection plate was a surprise, but i kinda knew the gold tray would be a let down. :(

looks great james, I miss not being able to go there with the old crew (over my work moving me around rant over) how will the new unit go with some of the larger rocks like at tuena

James wrote:

The rear deflection plate was a surprise, but i kinda knew the gold tray would be a let down. :(  

Good to test aye mate. Would love to see this gold tray thing, it will be good with you at the helm cobber.

Banksy wrote:

looks great james, I miss not being able to go there with the old crew (over my work moving me around rant over) how will the new unit go with some of the larger rocks like at tuena

It will eat them So much better than the old one you seen me using.

findthecolor wrote:

James wrote:

The rear deflection plate was a surprise, but i kinda knew the gold tray would be a let down. :(  

Good to test aye mate. Would love to see this gold tray thing, it will be good with you at the helm cobber.

Thanks mate

Great work Jimmy.

So it looks to me as though you have a much larger hopper than on your previous models and there also looks to be many more nozzles. That should make short work of those bigger rocks like you say at Tuena. I'm looking forward to seeing it operate. So how exactly is it different to your old builds and were there any mods you made to this one besides your nugget trap that have improved the machine?

Now I've got the urge to attempt making a Banjo for myself besides the one I've already got. There's nothing like taking on a new project and learning a new set of skills you never had before. That way I can put a 'T Section' in my hoses and have two Banjos running from the same pump. Double the man power hopefully converts into twice the gold.

Hi mate there is not very much difference in the units, This is a replacement unit for one that will go walkabout soon. There not hard to make mate just fiddly

Is this a new design or a new mod to the banjo I saw at Oallen? As you know I will be starting a project very soon (as soon as my mate with the workshop gets back from a cruise). I will definitely call you and have a chat before I start James. Look forward to a call in the next 10 days. Thanks for all the info and the use of your gold magnet that weekend, Greeny doesn't stop talking about it and half his family have the fever now.

Cracka.

Shes the same as Oallen one mate, just adjusted the back deflection plate, all done now,  I will post photos of her when all the stuff dries.

Well the banjo is now completed and ready to rock and roll.

looks great james, love the paint job, I have been thinking about painting my WALHB for some time now, stop people from

It is a good idea to paint them mate you can throw them under a bush overnight and no one will spot them.

Looks great Jimmy... When you refer to the rear deflection plate which was too long which bit exactly are you referring to?

It is the plate at the back of the Banjo just above the gold tray. Hey i just had a thought This will be the first Banjo to play ROCK & ROOL. I know, i know it is getting late in the afternoon.

I thought you were keen not running a riffle in the tray on a narrow box.

Yep it never worked out real well bugger but all fixed now.

What the Banjo/Banker has to offer me.

1. 15 mm jetting pipe which requires far less water and pressure than most other bankers at distance.

2. Full length classifier screen on the floor of the hopper. This allows me to do my classifying in the unit saving work.

3. The hopper has been sloped to allow more wash to be processed before hopper clean out. I can work anywhere from 1 to 5 shovels before clean out.

4. Full length hopper slick plate allowing wash separation before entering the bottom unit.

5. Gold tray or boil box where 90% of my gold is retained.

6. Cavatation break this keeps all them little bubbles rolling in one place.

Ah James you make it look so easy to build .
Looks like youre ready to Fuel The Jet (FTJ) And give it a run in
I You Sir

She's had a run mate and i got the bug's out of her now for a trip ..... i just got to rid of these grand-kids for a bit.

Looks really good mate, when you take it out next time could you do a video, and if you could show us that tray thing etc. If you want to?

Would love to see it working....cheers mate

I sort of get the purpose of the full length hopper slick plate but I don't really. It separates wash but what if it was shorter or even longer? How does it actually separate wash and into what components? Sorry but my mind is working overtime to work this all out and I keep seeing things I don't understand. Here's another one.... if the slick plate separates everything and then everything falls into the boiler box then how has the slick plate helped the boiler box do its job?? Wouldn't it all just get mixed together again?? Obviously it doesn't but how?

And then there's the cavitation break and the bubbles. I know it all serves a purpose but I just can't get my head around how it does it and why it needs to do it??

Outlander wrote:

I sort of get the purpose of the full length hopper slick plate but I don't really. It separates wash but what if it was shorter or even longer? How does it actually separate wash and into what components? Sorry but my mind is working overtime to work this all out and I keep seeing things I don't understand. Here's another one.... if the slick plate separates everything and then everything falls into the boiler box then how has the slick plate helped the boiler box do its job?? Wouldn't it all just get mixed together again?? Obviously it doesn't but how?

And then there's the cavitation break and the bubbles. I know it all serves a purpose but I just can't get my head around how it does it and why it needs to do it??

Ok lets start at the start. A Banker is a two stage processing plant with the top hopper designed to have wash placed and worked in it. After which the wash enters the second half of the processing area and that is the sluice. Now a lot of Bankers run without any slick areas at all and some with only a small area.  But then you have Bankers that have been designed to have 1/4 of their catchment area dedicated for wash segregation {i think that's how it's spelt}. In my view and what i have seen over the years is that type of Banker works the best here in Australia. Wash separation in a slick area here is how it works. Because of the wash having an unrestricted path to travel you will find 1 The light sands running ahead of the rest of the wash 2 The blonds or heaver sands next 3 The Blacks then 4 The gold last.  
Now that is how wash reacts in an slick area, when the wash enters the Banjo/Banker boil box the light sand is washed through first, then the blonds with retention been given to the blacks and gold. But as the name implies it is a boil box  designed to do just that boil the wash as it enters. Well the cavitation break is only a new thing and i am still working it out, but it dose stop any floating gold, lets you run a much smaller riffle area hence less cleanup. just to name a few. When i was playing around with the design for the cavitation break i actually made water run back up hill in the banker. Y.J can vouch for this fact now was that a good idea no it was not for when the water came back it took all the gold from behind the riffles. It was at that point i started to work out the vortex in the system it's there but hard to explain and if you don't get it right the water will come back and take your gold. ....Now that is a fact.

Thanks Jimmy, that makes things much clearer. So those bubbles I guess get rid of the surface tension on the water which in turn makes all the gold that floats sink.

Top build mate but i was wondering about the gold tray/box and what kind of angles your running are they 30 off horizontal or negative 15 off horizontal?and what kind of dimensions according to the size of the sluice.I have been reading all kinds of info and tests/studies and am really keen to build my own but still have heaps of questions. I know i have asked before but with your circle matting is that to trap more fine heavies or will the circle shape help in "vortexing" them out? I guess all the stuff i have been reading will help but i wanna try and get this sorted before the october trip, i know its still a few months away but this build could take some time.Anyway thanks for posting your build and helping us to understand how this gold catching thing works

smaug wrote:

Top build mate  but i was wondering about the gold tray/box and what kind of angles your running are they 30 off horizontal or negative 15 off horizontal? It is not so much the angle but the hight and length of the gold tray/boil box it is 10 cm at the base 15 cm at the top and is 3 cm high and what kind of dimensions according to the size of the sluice. The boil box must be placed under the top hopper slick plat if the hopper only has a short slick plate i dont think the boil box will be much good I have been reading all kinds of info and tests/studies and am really keen to build my own but still have heaps of questions. Mate make a simple unit first and learn from that The top hopper could be 50cm long 19 cm wide 15 cm high. Run punch plate not bars. Bottom hopper 80 cm long 20 and a half cm wide 10 cm deep. There as simple as that you can then play around with the design by trying different ideas in the hopper area and again in the sluice area. After a bit your unit may look a bit like Swiss cheese but i bet you would have learn heaps   I know i have asked before but with your circle matting is that to trap more fine heavies or will the circle shape help in "vortexing" them out? Matting comes back to personal choice me i am a lazy bugger and like the self cleaning mates in other words your matting must have the ability get rid of the blacks and keep all the gold ie self cleaning. I guess all the stuff i have been reading will help but i wanna try and get this sorted before the october trip, i know its still a few months away but this build could take some time.Anyway thanks for posting your build and helping us to understand how this gold catching thing works

Any question you may have please ask