Building an ore crusher!

Squishy

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
397
Hello all!
I picked up some rocks that my detector indicates have some gold in them. I need to crush them to see if there is really anything in there. I found an example of a hand ore crusher on the internet and decided to try to make my own.

This will work kind of like a butter churn. I'll weld the base plate under the pipe and then I'll weld the big piece of bar stock onto the 1 1/4 inch steel rod to make the hammer portion.

If it works, I should be able to put rocks in the pipe and hammer them to dust... "making little ones out of big ones" Ha Ha!

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Here are the parts

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This is the hammer part. It fits inside the pipe.

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I'll weld the pipe to the base like this.

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I'll weld the hammer part to the steel rod.

Should be able to get it done this weekend. Will be interesting to see if it works!

-Mike-
 
It would be interesting to see before and after pics of those goldbearing rocks. How are you planning on extracting the gold after the rocks are smashed to smitherines? Not mercury I hope. Keep us posted, okay? : )
 
Looks like a hand operated, single stamp "stamp mill". A lot of work, but it' should get the job done.

Mercury is the perfect tool to recover microscopic fine gold from crushed ore. Just make sure you know what you are doing before you begin messing around with quicksilver.
 
It would be interesting to see before and after pics of those goldbearing rocks. How are you planning on extracting the gold after the rocks are smashed to smitherines? Not mercury I hope. Keep us posted, okay? : )

I'll take pictures of the process. I'm going to start by slicing up the rocks with a wet saw to see if there is any visible gold. If it is visible, I should be able to crush the rock and pan it out.

Since the detector is indicating there is gold in it, I am hoping it will be visible. I'm betting that it is a false reading on the detector, but I guess I'll find out soon.

I'll take pictures at each stage of the process and post them. I should be able to saw it up this weekend and build the ore crusher. Probably won't get to the crushing part until Monday.

-Mike-
 
OK... Well, I sawed up the rocks! The smaller one cut up pretty nicely, but the bigger one was too thick to get through in one pass. I was able to cut halfway through and then bust it up with a 2 pound sledge. The big one is about the size of a small loaf of bread and weighs 32.5 pounds. Very heavy! Here are a few pictures of the process so far.

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The rocks and the wet saw

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A few slices

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Small rock sliced up. Lots of quartz but no visible gold. :(

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A half a bucket of rocks ready to be crushed. :grin:

Seems strange that I got such a strong gold signal on my detector with no visible gold. I am not optimistic that I am going to find any gold, but I'm going to give it a try!

Next trip to the Black Hills, I'm going to collect a couple buckets of quartz to crush. I'll build the crusher tomorrow. More to come!!

-Mike-
 
It would be interesting to see before and after pics of those goldbearing rocks. How are you planning on extracting the gold after the rocks are smashed to smitherines? Not mercury I hope. Keep us posted, okay? : )

I agree with that please post photos and keep us updated
 
This turned out better than I expected. I have a friend, who is a much better welder, who volunteered to weld it for me. He even ground off all the sharp edges. Here are some pictures:

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Here is the assembled crusher.

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This is the base where you put the rock.

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This is the hammer portion.

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First test rock!

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After about a half dozen drops of the hammer, the rock was reduced to this. A few more whacks and it should all be dust. :yes:

Makin' little ones out of big ones!
Oh yeah!

-Mike-
 
When you try panning it use a little soap or jet dry in your watter. This will help the powder or flour gold break the surface tension of the watter and not float. Good luck
 
have you tried scanning individual sections?

Funny... I hadn't thought of that. Ha Ha! I'll check it out!

When you try panning it use a little soap or jet dry in your water. This will help the powder or flour gold break the surface tension of the water and not float. Good luck

I had heard about the soap trick, but jet dry seems like it would be even better! (Less bubbles) Thanks for the tip!

Wow mike, this is a really good thread you have going! Fingers crossed for the yellow stuff! :D HH
NC

Thanks! It's been a fun project.

The only thing I am concerned about right now is that I am not sure if there is a risk of cracking the concrete under the crusher. I was thinking the plate would disperse the impact, but the hammer is very heavy, so I am not sure. I suppose I should probably do it on the lawn instead of the driveway just to be safe.

-Mike-
 
The only thing I am concerned about right now is that I am not sure if there is a risk of cracking the concrete under the crusher. I was thinking the plate would disperse the impact, but the hammer is very heavy, so I am not sure. I suppose I should probably do it on the lawn instead of the driveway just to be safe.

-Mike-[/QUOTE]

Mike, put a 4x4 section of 3/4 inch plywood under the base. That should disperse the weight. Thats what we put under the outriggers of mobile cranes to help disperse weight. Good luck. WOLF
 
Nice design

Hello! It is a very nice design you got there, it seems to be very stable and should do the job. I would worry using it on your concrete floor. Repeated hammering on a concrete floor would certainly weaken it and even break it. I remember using a jack hammer to dig through a concrete floor in order to install plumbing and most of the concrete floors are about only 4 inches thick.

I saw a similar design on You Tube on the Grandpa Channel. Nice oldtimer with a lot to teach. Here is the link,

http://www.youtube.com/user/grandpasgoldshow#p/a/A8A53D7E0401D66A/2/J51IEgjbGnM

If the link does not work, have a look at episode #9
 
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