Bellows puffer style drywasher plans

So I have been looking into dry washers lately as I am looking at going west and trying my luck and they seem to be priced anywhere from AUD$1000 to $2500 and they all seem to require a leaf blower to operate.

Inspired by Goldigg's excellent build and others on the forum I have decided to build an old style bellows puffer dry washer rather than a leaf blower version as I can't stand the noise of the leaf blower versions and I want to be able to operate it by a small electric motor off my troopy's secondary battery or by hand crank if that runs down.

I want to be able to get at least a days run out of the battery so a small motor with low draw would be the go.

I want it to be portable and easy to setup and get going.

The best plans I have come across so far are these from an old popular mechanics magazine:




Here is a couple of videos of the sort of thing I am talking about:

[video=480,360]http://youtu.be/aaaqT30AIPU[/video]

[video=480,360]http://youtu.be/rUJMoFKPK3Y[/video]

Does anyone have any other plans, experience building one or suggestions on how to go about building one?

Funnily enough grant I was looking at that exact same plan last night and talking to my neighbour about building it with me lol

Also pondering about the size motor to use that would be a low current draw to not drain the battery in only an hr or 2 but my neighbour suggested I borrow his quad bike and have 2 batteries, 1 to run and the other charging off the quads alternator.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/doc/member-docs/161/1400492231_doc3.pdf
Here goes. Hope this works.

Thanks for that Chris but that one is powered by a leaf blower, I really want to avoid that. But it's a great set of plans and I am sure it will be good to get some ideas from.

Ooops. At least some of the concepts can be incorporated.
Have you tried Olyeller's Blog?

Hey Joe glad I am not the only one interested in how the old timers did their dry washing. I was thinking that maybe an old windscreen wiper motor might be the go as it already has the to and fro motion going for it to open and close the bellows.

My troopy's secondary battery is already being charged off the alternator and it have a long lead with an Anderson connector on the back going to a set of alligator clips as the power source. It's also independent of the main starter battery so I can drain the secondary if I need to over the course of a day then go for a drive to recharge it. That's how I currently run my Highbankers bilge pump and it will last all day on that.

Hey Chris no I haven't have you got a link to that blog as I did a search and this came up

I was also thinking of building my drywasher out of wood like Goldigg's one but I want mine to fold flat for transport like those old canvas deck chairs you used to be able to get. I was thinking of using metal for the hopper box and have a backplate and slick pan inside as a first stage of the processing.

http://olyeller.wordpress.com/
I did some reasearch a while back on building a dry blower and ive put away some info on the computer about some design specs i wanted to incorporate into mine but I just cant find them at the moment, Its one of those "gunna get to" projects. When I find it Ill flick it off to you
Cheers
ChrisM

Thanks for that Chris. I know what you mean this has been on my gunna list for a long time too but decided to bite the bullet now that I am in Cairns and near Clermont and the Palmer river and the Atherton tablelands where the conditions are ideal for a dry washer.

Hi All
check these out,
http://www.billandlindaprospecting.com/
http://olyeller.wordpress.com/

cheers
Lee

hey gcause,

cant wait to see the build, i'm tempted to build a 12v vesriosn myself but i think if i do i'll keep it quite small. One thing i learned with the blower type is the more you feed the better the flow.

I like your idea of using a windscreen wiper motor i think if you can pull one from an old bus it would last for years..... mind is ticking over already.

Regarding laying flat mine does pack away the catch box goes into my rear drawer and the rest folds flat and lays in the back, if i was to do it again though i'd put 99% of my effort into the catch box/riffles making it light and make a very basic grizzly screen. at the end of the day the grizzly only has to have rocks thrown at it and the capacity to scrub rough dirt, it can be quite flat rather than the box style i made. Still i do love box so cant complain.

Keep us posted mate

rc62burke said:

Hi All
check these out,
http://www.billandlindaprospecting.com/
http://olyeller.wordpress.com/

cheers
Lee

Click to expand...

that oldyeller is as cute as pie would be great for wearing the kids out

I am thinking of building one out of alluminium to the same dimensions as the Keen 140 but when I saw that OLYeller I though that is unreal...shame its only available in the US.

Cheers,
Matt

Picked up this piece this morning.....happy ol yella coincidence there, bought with a similar idea in mind but not for a dry washer

MJB said:

I am thinking of building one out of alluminium to the same dimensions as the Keen 140 but when I saw that OLYeller I though that is unreal...shame its only available in the US.

Cheers,
Matt

Click to expand...

i reckon you could knock that up in an afternoon mate for less than $60 its mostly wood an calico

Hey Golddig, if mine turns out half as good as your build I will be happy. I noticed with yours you moved away fro the muslin cloth, what do you recommend instead? Where did you get the cloth for your one?

MJB check out the document that Chris posted earlier it's an aluminium one.

Thanks mate im sure it will kick ass

The cloth is use now is a 80 synthetic 20 cotton blend you can get it from lincraft. I tried a few others and found some too bouncy some too restrictive but this one works a treat.
Was only $14 pm available in blue green and grey

Thanks Golddig I will go check it out. In terms of the grizzly what size mesh did you go with? I was thinking of using the expanded mesh the same sort as Goldtarget just posted here.