![]() ![]() If you don’t already own a welder, this project might be just the excuse you needed to buy one! I so strongly recommend that you consider buying one of these welders that I have done up a whole web page on it. My little 120V arc welder, while underpowered, has helped me complete some serious fabrication projects. Having the ability to do some arc welding, or to bend and shear cut metal are also handy abilities to possess. A 4-inch is probably the best size for a single guy operation. If you're really big, tough and young you may be able to handle a 6-inch by yourself, but it will tax you. ![]() Another piece of design information to consider in your planning is that a four or five inch dredge is about as big as one guy can handle efficiently by himself. This little rule of thumb does not count the depth of water, only the depth of overburden to bedrock. Of course it is possible to dredge a 10 foot deep hole with a 2 inch dredge, but it will take forever and be highly inefficient. So for a 2 inch dredge you don't want to go through overburden deeper than about 2 feet, for a 4 inch dredge you don't want to go through more than about 4 feet of overburden, and the 6 inch dredge would be limited to around 6 feet of overburden, etc. It is a general rule of dredges that it is not practical to dredge feet of overburden greater than the inside diameter of your hose in inches. So weight and cost are the trade-offs for the volume you can process, and practically speaking, the depth of bedrock you will be able to reach. When you are sitting down to plan the designs of your own home made gold dredge, probably the first question you will want to ask yourself is “What size of dredge do I want to build?” The bigger your dredge is, the more material you'll be able to process, but the more it will cost and the more it will weigh. Sometimes good used dredge parts are available to start a homemade dredge. The more general knowledge you have about dredges before you begin your design, the better your construction plans will be. The club members may even let you have a few minutes behind the nozzle so that you can get a feel for the whole experience. ![]() Take some pictures of the dredges while they're in operation. Another great possibility is to join a prospecting club whose members actively dredge, and then go out to the claims and check out the members while they are dredging. If your local prospecting shop has a dredge set up, take a close look and even measurements or photos if you can. Check out their web sites as most have good photos of their dredges and the individual components that make up these dredges – you can get a lot of information from their web sites. These manufacturers have done quite a bit of research studying their products, they have tested different options and have developed efficient pieces of equipment that do the job well. Perhaps the best thing I can suggest is that you study the designs of the well-known dredge makers like Keene and Pro-line. Think about what you want and what you need then weigh those together with what you can afford. The time you spend sorting through design concepts, deciding what you will build and how you will build it will be well spent. ![]() Dredges need to be functional, durable and sturdy. You don't want your dredge to be rickety, or to fall apart, or to fail to function. We offer many sizes and styles to choose from and maintain a good supply of various size hose clamps and couplings.Of course you will be building on the cheap, but you don't want to shortchange yourself too much. We stock suction hoses for dredging, pressure hoses for powering dredges, and layflat hoses for highbanking use. ![]()
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