The standard highbanker design is a straight aluminum hopper with spray bars and a short grizzly at the back, with no capture up top.
Material then drops into the crash box pooling area (upper end of the sluice) where it stratifies and then flows down the sluice where gold settles into some type of capture medium (an example would be expanded metal over miner's moss or rubber matting).
Without mentioning any brand names of matting or highbankers - what are some mods you have made to your highbanker(s) to make them work better for your area or material type?
I'll start:
High capacity bucket hopper (5 gal bucket or Rubbermaid garbage bin, cut in half lengthwise): focuses material and water into the center, enabling me to get away with using a smaller pump (1" Honda gas pump or 2,000 GPH bilge pump 12V). Also saves me from having to buy a TIG welder for aluminum ; )
Ribbed carpet in hopper (sound dampening) - makes it way quieter compared to dropping material in on bare aluminum or steel.
Extra steep and long grizzly (metal mesh of interchangeable sizes 1/2", 1/4" , or 1/8" depending on gold size) with adjustable angle so the grizzly auto-clears. Just drop shovels at the top of the hopper, and walk away to get your next shovel while the water peels away the material for you.
3/4" PVC sluice stand: a bit flimsy, but it's super lightweight, totally adjustable and enables me to bring a bigger hopper and sluice into the field for higher production.
Lightweight sluice extension on the ground - made from plastic boot trays and dollar store black ribbed carpet. It hangs on to flour gold like crazy while clearing black sand efficiently. Some guys might laugh, but one day I'll catch their highbanker tailings and split the gold with them ; )
Let's hear yours!
-Pickaxe
sebo, reglabbe, timothydiggings liked this thread
We always put some sort of matting system into the hopper of our highbankers. You will find that 75+ percent of the gold will be captured in the hopper before it even reaches the sluice.
Dennis, sebo, pickaxe liked this reply
My highbanker started its journey as a A52 river sluice that was not compatible with B.C.First step was a large hopper from Fred’s that I matted up with some low pro ribbed matting and some moss with expanded.Next step was cutting out all the riffles and tossing the carpet.I ended up replacing the original matting with high profile ribbed rubber on the bottom followed by moss then topped with 3/4 expanded.Then I decided that it still wasn’t enough so I added another 5 feet of long Tom action to the end.All that said I think the most important mod was getting a adult sized shovel to help move more material then my old tea spoon
sebo, pickaxe liked this reply
So I thought id chime in :)
Firstly I started with a keene highbnker /dredge combo which was huge and I found hard to transport with one person , Sooo i moved into a Fred's gold panning Gold Hawk highbanker which was much easier to move around alone.
It has traditional metal riffles which I have so far always prefered.
Not to say i havent seen great results with the new plastic matting which definitely seems so have less (cons/material) and seems to work fine.
The one things i do suggest is to add matting and expanded ( put it backwards due to the angle ) in you hopper. We found we got over 60% of the fine gold in the hopper which in turn gave a break/reduced the amount addint up in the sluice itself ...
I guess as long as its catching over 80-90% of the gold then who cares right ? lol
Happy hunting guys !! Go get that GOLD
timothydiggings liked this reply
In reply to extra long and steep grizzlys, I always install moss under expanded in the hoppers of the bankers we sell. You dont want the material moving out of the hopper by itself, it likely isnt fully cleaned of gold. Let it clean and move it out by hand/shovel. Adding moss or a mat system to the hopper will catch 75 % of you gold before it even hits the sluice. You wont need any kind of extension.
pickaxe, sebo liked this reply
Hey Pickaxe
... thanks so much for all your contributions to the site .. we are working hard on phase 2 for the site, to be released soon and will reach out to your when it's about to launch !! We would love to have you as a moderator <3
pickaxe liked this reply
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