how consistent is your grain size?
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Fine beach sand.
FWIW, I’m getting a gold sluice so I can grind on beach sands should I ever get back to Oregon. Feeding by hand sucks. Nobody makes a good unpowered feeder. Beach rules don’t allow any type of motor, and the home brews I’ve seen aren’t up to what I’m looking for.
I need a constant steady feed across the full width (6") of the sluice. But, without me trying to constantly spoon it in.
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Mill wheel?
Water powered from a stream, bucket feeds cavities in the wheel that outputs on your sluice
There’s gold in some beaches? Is is profitable to extract it?
The beaches near Santa Marta have a lot of iron pyrite and that stuff looks like gold but it isn’t. And that’s my limited experience with gold in beaches…
If it is of any help, pyrite does not conduct electricity.
I actually thought of using paddle wheels directly below the hopper, but above the sluice. A metering wheel(s) on the same shaft would be ultra simple.
But I figure I’m gonna need multiple ideas to find a real world working solution.
I’m discounting me power, unless I can store it somehow. Spring, weights etc.
The place is literally called Gold Beach, OR.
I panned an infestisamally small amount of flour gold when I was there, just for fun.
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5 x
US Liquid Gallon 3.8 Litres or Imperial Gallon 4.5 Litres?
19 or 23 Litres?
They come in a variety of sizes
PEDAL POWERED
Side mounted and driven by bicycle gears
I asked AI for an image(Gemini)…It really struggled with the concept of rear wheels and gears…5 times of the same image, I even saw it correct its text output from probably correct to absolutely correct. And in the end it gave up
Anyway, you get the idea
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In the U.S. we exclusivley use the bucket system when dealing with 5 gallon units. 
There is no liter equivalent.
Also, keep in mind I’m kind of a lazy fucker when I can.
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but also a capable machinist/ welder…
would a gravity hopper with an adjustable opening be “good enough”?
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I’ve seen some that way, but you need to limit the rate of sand or you’ll overwhelm the sluice. Some of them use the water flow to pull sand from the hopper, but it puts it all in one spot, which might spread out to 2-3", but now you’ve got heavy flow in the center and nothing on the rest of the sluice. Plus, wet sand is tempermental, so most people use a (for me prohibited) water pump to flow water into the top of the hopper. THIS is probably the most developed non motor version I’ve seen yet. Watch all the sands flow down the center 1/3 of the sluice, and the outsides are barren.
Putting multiple small discharges across an area would be feasible, but only if you’ve got dry dry dry sand. That you dug up on a beach?
So mechanized feeding, no motor, is the concept I’m running with at the moment. Really it’s two problems. First the power source (water wheel, wound spring, gravity) and the mechanism (feeder wheels, auger, spinning spreader disk). I’m certain I can solve the second, if I can come up with a decent answer for the first.
Without a shop. I’m working out of a garage shed, under a carport. I mean skills are skills, but I’m short a welder, lathe, and mill at the moment.
I’m printing these for lube purposes:
Any advice before I take my keyboards apart?
Also, this thing looks interesting and I have a G305 laying around already.
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Anyone have any experience with the carvera air desktop cnc?
I’m slowing orienting myself towards it as a new acquisition, while it’s no tormach, I can actually fit it in my workspace… looks like aluminum and down is no problem… and the air can do some mild steel depending on low speeds and feeds
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I’m finally done with my last 3 weeks worth of project. Spent the last 3 days in a sprint to get it wrapped up. All 180lbs of rock ore has been reduced to a half bucket of grey powder and a bucket of mixed sand 'n stuff.
I smell like firecrackers, my carport is a mess, there are buckets everywhere, the cement mixer looks ten years older, and I don’t know if my neighbors will ever forgive or forget.
So I ran right out and bought everything I need to get a forge running, to start smelting right away.
I may be a fool, but I’m about to be a fool with molten metal and high temp chemistry!
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How exactly are the banned devices defined and what are they trying to prevent? I imagine you might have a few options if they are concerned about noise or annoying other beach users, but if they are trying to keep an even playing field or restrict it to “hobbyist” level tech they might be a bit less understanding.
How about an air powered diaphragm pump driven by a scuba tank (with a muffler on the vent outlet if necessary)?
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There’s more, but B and C are written broadly enough that they apply to almost anything at the whim of whoever is applying them. Given that it’s very public, and people (just on the beach people) are attracted to the activity as something novel, I’d rather the attention not be of the negative kind. Best to color inside the lines on this one.
Made a DT Lightbox for my office! I also posted it on Makerworld if anyone wants to print it!
@tac0s @amal Please let me know if I have your blessing or if you want me to take down the model for copyright reasons
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Copy away friend 
I think it looks awesome!
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