Homemade Gold Panning Machine

Building your own gold panning equipment can be a great way for beginners and advanced users alike to learn all about how gold works

and it carries it’s financial advantages as well

You can build the same equipment used to pan for literally hundreds of dollars less than what you would pay for at a

specialty shop

The materials needed to build your own homemade gold panning machine can all be found at your local hardware store, usually

1. Getting a panning tub should be relatively easy, any moderately-sized tub can be used

Hardware stores carry various heavy plastic containers for cheap

2. Putting together a sluice box will require long pieces of metal for proper water flow

Constructing a sluice box out of wood is not recommended as they are much more

cumbersome and heavy after absorbing water from the stream

You can jerry-rig an air conditioning duct for the perfect length and width

Then, you will need to find a metal mesh to act as a trap on the bottom

Alternatively, you can place a piece of carpet or buy “miner’s moss” that will catch very fine gold deposits that would normally

be washed away

Lastly, you will need to create metal dividers, or riffles, for the water to flow over at the proper levels

The water should be no more than an inch deep when placed in a stream, so the depth of the box does not have to be more than 2-

3 inches

It is recommended that your riffles are easy to remove for cleanup

You can simply install thin plates of metal held by rails on the inside of the box that are held in place by a few bolts that can be

unscrewed at the end of your panning

3. You’re going to want to build a gold rocker for your homemade gold panning machine as well if you want to cover areas further away from

the stream where there is lower water levels

These rockers shift back and forth and sort out the gold for prospectors. They usually are no bigger than 4ft long and sit on the beginning portion

of your sluice box, mounted using half-circle pieces of wood

A screen is placed on one end and water is poured from the opening at the top

The design is fairly simple, gravity and inertia take care of the work for you

When looking at designs for building your homemade gold panning machine, simpler is better

The best commercially built gold panning equipment follow a basic design and are subsequently easier to maintain

Time is money and building a reliable homemade gold panning machine will give you lots of that and of course, gold !

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below the video to learn more