Excellent prototype for the price! As it sits, it's definitely a good value. I like your diy metal brake for the diy sluice! And the intro had me cracking up and also nodding in agreement! Like the above comment said, great production value! Keep it up! Now my 2 cents' (which should be taken with a grain of Llano fly poop) I wonder if the matting would benefit from the fabric being looser and more porous, and if a wire brush could be used to accomplish this with what you already have? Idk how rigid the fabric is, but I imagine if its compacted pretty tightly, then then surface tension and agitation would benefit from having a more porous surface to catch more heavies on top and in between the riffles/ridges as well. Experiment with different folds and bends and you can definitely accomplish the rigidity you're wanting. Maybe using a 1/4inch lip bending outwards on all sides of the sheet metal (once cut into the size you're wanting) before bending the sides and flare would aid in that? *Edit* if you did incorporate some type of lower ridge, into the bottom or bottom edges. You could use JB water weld to seal the lip from particles settling into it, and add rigidity at the same time. I used some to bond and reinforce a header box I made and its held up awesome for two years. Either way, great build, great video! Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Thank you so much for your suggestions! I want to find some way to curl the top edges, but the main thing is the bottom.. Well, now you got me thinking.. I could put a keel type bend right up the middle, but I'd lose width.. The carpet itself is too thick and soft. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still lead stuck in the fibers, but besides that my water flow, the fact that I dropped the sluice itself, the angle - there was a ton of stuff that contributed to the bad recovery. I just don't have a rig to properly test. Thank you so much for such a detailed comment!! I really appreciate conversation about this stuff
@@goldnoob you're definitely onto something! I couldn't even build my clean up sluice for $20-30. 40% recovery in a $10 sluice is better than no recovery and no sluice at all! You'll get those numbers where you want them! And besides, DIY is how the old timers started this great tradition. And we ALL know someone who has spent too much on sluices (its me, I'm guilty😂) One day, we might be telling folks how we witnessed your rise to fame as you become a household name like Keene or Minelab. Dream big! You can do this!
I was looking for something like this! Love that you didn’t cut out the part where the sluice fell into the bucket and how crafty you were when bending the material. I’ve seen some small short sluices for fine gold recovery online. It looked like a rain gutter, small fish pond pump and black rubber ribbing. I was going to try something like that for circulating sand I pick up while traveling but haven’t made the jump because it was almost $75! I’ll definitely be trying this but maybe with a thicker sheet metal or adding wood support on the bottom using homedepot yard sticks or other stuff.
Those are some great ideas! One thing I didn't mention in the video is that I was looking to sell these for $10. If you make it yourself it's only like $6 per sluice, but you can't buy any of it small enough for just one. Besides even if you could it would drive the cost up.. My ultimate takeaway was that the sluices you buy online, I suppose, are really truly worth what you pay for them. I'm just trying to come up with somethign that's .. I dunno, like a paper cup disposable version LOL
Dollar store ribbed carpet might surprise you with its gold capture ability. With smooth and even laminar flow (unlike the scouring flow you had), a moderate feed rate and a damper flap, the capture rate for gold is extremely good - probably 100% of the coarse gold, and 85% capture down to 200 mesh. Tip - a 12 inch wide x 36 inch length plastic boot tray is $3 from the Dollar Store and is much more rigid than that aluminum you are using. Just saw the bottom and top of the boot tray horizontally to turn it into a river sluice. Good stuff!
I found the dollar store rug literally 5 minutes after getting the other thing! I'll definitely look at that for the next one. I'll see if I can find that boot thing
@@goldnoob Well...here goes it...I'll try and keep it short. I'm a 3rd generation machinist. Worked next to my father and grandfather growing up. I started sweeping at age 9...saw/deburr age 11....was reading mics at 13 and full on mill hand by 15. That was before cnc...all manual....mill saw lathe and grinding. That was down by Detroit. Then The folks moved up here to Wisconsin while I shifted to landscaping in Detroit. Fast forward to 2007 and what my folks built up here was a world of difference. I moved here and learned cnc. After and intense couple years I was able to work independent from print to product. We became iso and aerospace certified. We also built a 2nd location around a giant boring mill. That became my baby and I also managed that building. Without to much detail (NDA) I 3D machined some large naval ship components. With all of that said I needed a break...which I am using to start all Gold and silver related hobbies.
Just made my own mini sluice from some funky textured steel sheet metal from scraps from my stove vent, might be interesting to see how the added textured low spots catch gold with or without moss, matting, or diamond mesh. I dont have a brake press, but had a bench vice, plenty of wood scraps, and two wood clamps i repurposed as such. Turns out 2x4s have a pretty decent bend radius for the material thickness i used. Since i was working with scraps i was limited in my dimensions, but the two pieces i had worked out pretty well in the end since they were the same dimensions. Ended up with two sluice channels that were 15" L x 7.5" W x 3" H, i plan to rivet the two together so they can hinge and fold making it more compact while giving me a 30" sluice. Just need to source some cheap or free matting, riffles, and moss. Whole reason I built it was so i can process material from deeper spots in the winter and keep my hands dry and out of flowing below freezing water lol.
That's really cool! Matting is really the challenge. I tried a bunch of stuff - if you have fine gold where you are, have a look at marine carpet. Just make sure it's textured. I think I have a link to what I used somewhere
This is excellent, although we need to send ya some gold to run through it! Haha. You left us with a bit of suspense when you chose such light material for your metal, but it stayed put in the river! Well done man.
Awesome video, thank you! And I already have a circular saw with a sharp blade, so I hope to stay in budget. I’m putting a few in stream beds on my land. I don’t get out often, so this can vastly improve my chances of finding some flake. Maybe there isn’t any gold around here, but I’m not far from known deposits. I’ll lyk how I address flimsiness when I make mine.
Your sluice box could work much better if you used it properly: the current is way too strong. I do not know if you are using this tool often but with that fast water flow in that amount, it is surprising that you got 40% back. I doubt your skills but trust your ingeniousness :)
I have never used a river sluice in my life lol! There's no gold in Texas, so there's never been a need. The one claim I've been to was in New Mexico where I took buckets of dirt and ran them through a highbanker If I send you this thing, I would absolutely love it if you tested it on camera and sent me the video! I don't care if you say it's horrible lol, my whole thing is telling the god's honest truth
I love this and was so hoping on a $20 sluice! I like the concept. I just wonder if you add some sort of support on the bottom if that would make it less flimsy??
Kathleen, I have a few things I'm thinking about.. like a little bridge thing over the top and i think the riffles will firm it up. But adding stuff bumps the cost up
Maybe you could do a few more design tweaks to help with the rigidity. I’m thinking maybe single piece but double layered and some sort of hammered ribs running length ways? Maybe a less flexible light weight material in between layers? Folded edges to help hold its form? I really love the fact that you’re trying to show people that it really doesn’t take a genius, a master craftsmen or hundreds of dollars to get into the hobby of prospecting! Awesome job mate, cheers from Australia 🍻🍻🇦🇺
Not done with the video, but I was thinking of a plastic, paint roller tray with the textured shelf liner material. Wally World has, EasyLiner Select Grip 12 in. x 10 ft. Shelf Liner, Black. I would cut the end wall of the tray shorter and maybe screw some washer on bottom to give some weight.
Re-enforce the structure at the top with bars/etc so it would hold the form better. Don't use carpet as it's not good for this but get the proper mats. Also, I don't think you can get away with a 10 AUD version of it. Just not going to happen. I have a design in my head that I would make but am so far away from gold country isn't not funny. But I would set up three sluices that perform different functions if I could do it. First one removes the magnetics from the flow by using neodymium going across the sluice. There would be about 8 or so magnets to capture the magnetics. Yes, you could trap gold there but in order for it to trap it; it would have to have iron in it. Else it will go to the second one. Because it will add as ridges to trap small gold. You can dump sluice one into a cons bucket and go through it later. Plus it makes it easier on the second and third as you will have have to deal with the black sands. The second one will remove anything that is 1/16 in and above. Some like to capture gems as they go and it will row off and allowing the under 1/16 in to continue to the third. The third is the last chance capture of gold prior to running off. This entire system is feed by a trammel that is connected to the first one. For me this would work as I would process the raw gold into refined gold as am more interested in the refinement bit of it. The black sands at a given stage of the process would remove gold from the solution and take iron into the solution.
Great ideas but it would make the sluice another of hundreds of products that cost $100. It's funny you mention not being near any gold - I'm in North Texas and the nearest gold is hundreds of miles away. I thought this challenge would make for interesting videos and let people with extremely low budgets see how they might be about get into the hobby.
making a "$10 sluice" with equipment worth 1000$...ok...i made a wooden one to my son from old wood frame packing materials from a fridge with a hammer saw some nails and 40 yr old old moldy mat from the cellar
There needs to be a way to keep the mat in the sluice that meets the requirement of keeping the cost of the build such that it can retail for $10. I choose rubber cement because it's waterproof and comes off easily.
Did you buy the rubber back rug? Cause those aren't cheap in my area and besides the needed saw. Pretty nice build, what's your total price? Take care. ✌
I did use the rubber backed rug for my first sluice. It absorbed water and helped it stick to the riverbed, but yeah, I needed to bring the proce down. My second sluice (there's a new video on that one) I used marine carpet which was MUCH cheaper, but it didn't weigh the sluice down so it tended to get away from me.
@@goldnoob Yes, Geo Sluice Mining (in Oklahoma) has both plastic highbankers “and” river sluices. In both drop riffles “and” dual-ramp or 2-step riffles in the Le Trap and Le Trap Mini. I love the large size Le Trap, it is very, very good at catching fine flour glacial gold, famous, and has been around since the 1980’s is when I purchased one about 37 years ago. A disadvantage is it needs even water flow and no surging (no start-stop-start) of water which blows out gold. >>But the drop riffle plastic sluices withstand surging better I think.
I'm sorry, but in what universe does this add up to $10? That roll of flashing is $25. The saw, clamps, wood, etc were not free. This is much closer to $100 or more than it is $10. Thanks for the false advertising click bait title. Great idea and design. Just be more honest with the title. Maybe say, DIY Sluice box for $100 or less, instead of $10.
Hi, thank you for your interest! This video series documents my attempts to design a sluice that I can sell for $10. That said, I bought a roll of flashing for $25, but it's 10 feet long, making the amount I used for this project $2.50 The matting is similarly inexpensive. I'd like to put these up for sale, but there are still some issues I need to work through. As far as tooling, no project instructions ever include the cost of tools. Recipes don't include bowls and ovens in ingredient lists, etc. That said, I don't use any specialized tools or tools that require special skill. In fact I don't have any diy skill or tools at all myself, having to buy them all and learn how to use them as I go. If you were to use the method I demonstrated here, the end product would only consume less than $10 of materials. There are ways of getting smaller pieces, such as talking to contractors and buying scraps from them, etc. Meanwhile if you're interested in a sluice in the short term, I absolutely shouldn't mind selling you the prototype I made in the video for $10. You can contact me at goldnoobvideos@gmail.com
@goldnoob hmm. Wonder what shipping would cost for such an item. I'm sure, if it's not too much, you could get some business going. People closest to you would be your best customer base. Also curious, how it would hold up to the many careless people whose hands this passes through during transportation.
@@dickie8015last time I shipped one it was less than $10 for shipping. They're light but they have to go in a box that accommodates the size. I do use corrugated cardboard though so there's no opportunity for damage. But you're absolutely right that the thing is not rugged at all.
Mate i enjoyed the heck out of this!
That's so awesome! I really love your videos too! I got the gold kruzer after I saw the one where you compared it to the monster
You really do get around Chris 😂🇦🇺🍻
Nice
Thanks!
Lol awesome video man. New sub here and I’ll tell you your production value is great. Your channel will blow up!
Thank you so much!
Loads of great info fam. Great job all around. Keep on having fun and living the dream. Gold Squad Out!!!
Always! You're the best dude
Excellent prototype for the price! As it sits, it's definitely a good value. I like your diy metal brake for the diy sluice! And the intro had me cracking up and also nodding in agreement! Like the above comment said, great production value! Keep it up!
Now my 2 cents' (which should be taken with a grain of Llano fly poop)
I wonder if the matting would benefit from the fabric being looser and more porous, and if a wire brush could be used to accomplish this with what you already have? Idk how rigid the fabric is, but I imagine if its compacted pretty tightly, then then surface tension and agitation would benefit from having a more porous surface to catch more heavies on top and in between the riffles/ridges as well.
Experiment with different folds and bends and you can definitely accomplish the rigidity you're wanting. Maybe using a 1/4inch lip bending outwards on all sides of the sheet metal (once cut into the size you're wanting) before bending the sides and flare would aid in that?
*Edit* if you did incorporate some type of lower ridge, into the bottom or bottom edges. You could use JB water weld to seal the lip from particles settling into it, and add rigidity at the same time. I used some to bond and reinforce a header box I made and its held up awesome for two years.
Either way, great build, great video! Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Thank you so much for your suggestions! I want to find some way to curl the top edges, but the main thing is the bottom..
Well, now you got me thinking.. I could put a keel type bend right up the middle, but I'd lose width..
The carpet itself is too thick and soft. I wouldn't be surprised if there's still lead stuck in the fibers, but besides that my water flow, the fact that I dropped the sluice itself, the angle - there was a ton of stuff that contributed to the bad recovery. I just don't have a rig to properly test.
Thank you so much for such a detailed comment!! I really appreciate conversation about this stuff
@@goldnoob you're definitely onto something! I couldn't even build my clean up sluice for $20-30.
40% recovery in a $10 sluice is better than no recovery and no sluice at all! You'll get those numbers where you want them! And besides, DIY is how the old timers started this great tradition. And we ALL know someone who has spent too much on sluices (its me, I'm guilty😂) One day, we might be telling folks how we witnessed your rise to fame as you become a household name like Keene or Minelab. Dream big! You can do this!
I was looking for something like this! Love that you didn’t cut out the part where the sluice fell into the bucket and how crafty you were when bending the material.
I’ve seen some small short sluices for fine gold recovery online. It looked like a rain gutter, small fish pond pump and black rubber ribbing. I was going to try something like that for circulating sand I pick up while traveling but haven’t made the jump because it was almost $75!
I’ll definitely be trying this but maybe with a thicker sheet metal or adding wood support on the bottom using homedepot yard sticks or other stuff.
Those are some great ideas! One thing I didn't mention in the video is that I was looking to sell these for $10. If you make it yourself it's only like $6 per sluice, but you can't buy any of it small enough for just one. Besides even if you could it would drive the cost up..
My ultimate takeaway was that the sluices you buy online, I suppose, are really truly worth what you pay for them. I'm just trying to come up with somethign that's .. I dunno, like a paper cup disposable version LOL
Great job on the build.
Thanks Kris!
Dollar store ribbed carpet might surprise you with its gold capture ability. With smooth and even laminar flow (unlike the scouring flow you had), a moderate feed rate and a damper flap, the capture rate for gold is extremely good - probably 100% of the coarse gold, and 85% capture down to 200 mesh. Tip - a 12 inch wide x 36 inch length plastic boot tray is $3 from the Dollar Store and is much more rigid than that aluminum you are using. Just saw the bottom and top of the boot tray horizontally to turn it into a river sluice. Good stuff!
I found the dollar store rug literally 5 minutes after getting the other thing! I'll definitely look at that for the next one.
I'll see if I can find that boot thing
I appreciate DIY at low $. Great vid!
Thank you!
As a recent machinist...I can appreciate what you were trying to do here. 👍
What kind of machining did you do? I worked on Brown & Sharpe single spindle screw machines
@@goldnoob Well...here goes it...I'll try and keep it short. I'm a 3rd generation machinist. Worked next to my father and grandfather growing up. I started sweeping at age 9...saw/deburr age 11....was reading mics at 13 and full on mill hand by 15. That was before cnc...all manual....mill saw lathe and grinding. That was down by Detroit. Then The folks moved up here to Wisconsin while I shifted to landscaping in Detroit. Fast forward to 2007 and what my folks built up here was a world of difference. I moved here and learned cnc. After and intense couple years I was able to work independent from print to product. We became iso and aerospace certified. We also built a 2nd location around a giant boring mill. That became my baby and I also managed that building. Without to much detail (NDA) I 3D machined some large naval ship components. With all of that said I needed a break...which I am using to start all Gold and silver related hobbies.
That's an awesome story!
Just made my own mini sluice from some funky textured steel sheet metal from scraps from my stove vent, might be interesting to see how the added textured low spots catch gold with or without moss, matting, or diamond mesh.
I dont have a brake press, but had a bench vice, plenty of wood scraps, and two wood clamps i repurposed as such. Turns out 2x4s have a pretty decent bend radius for the material thickness i used.
Since i was working with scraps i was limited in my dimensions, but the two pieces i had worked out pretty well in the end since they were the same dimensions. Ended up with two sluice channels that were 15" L x 7.5" W x 3" H, i plan to rivet the two together so they can hinge and fold making it more compact while giving me a 30" sluice. Just need to source some cheap or free matting, riffles, and moss.
Whole reason I built it was so i can process material from deeper spots in the winter and keep my hands dry and out of flowing below freezing water lol.
That's really cool! Matting is really the challenge. I tried a bunch of stuff - if you have fine gold where you are, have a look at marine carpet. Just make sure it's textured. I think I have a link to what I used somewhere
This video here, I used the marine carpet but I guess I didn't link it :(
th-cam.com/video/aMIQTRTHeGw/w-d-xo.html
🎉
Clearly he enjoys rubber cement.😂 Lead shavings? 🤔 He's ticking all the boxes. Cool video. Thank you for the cool content.
Lol😂😂
This is excellent, although we need to send ya some gold to run through it! Haha. You left us with a bit of suspense when you chose such light material for your metal, but it stayed put in the river! Well done man.
Thank you!
Love DIY Just Sluice It !!
Thank you!
Awesome video, thank you! And I already have a circular saw with a sharp blade, so I hope to stay in budget. I’m putting a few in stream beds on my land. I don’t get out often, so this can vastly improve my chances of finding some flake. Maybe there isn’t any gold around here, but I’m not far from known deposits. I’ll lyk how I address flimsiness when I make mine.
Awesome!! Yeah definitely let me know!
Your sluice box could work much better if you used it properly: the current is way too strong.
I do not know if you are using this tool often but with that fast water flow in that amount, it is surprising that you got 40% back.
I doubt your skills but trust your ingeniousness :)
I have never used a river sluice in my life lol! There's no gold in Texas, so there's never been a need. The one claim I've been to was in New Mexico where I took buckets of dirt and ran them through a highbanker
If I send you this thing, I would absolutely love it if you tested it on camera and sent me the video! I don't care if you say it's horrible lol, my whole thing is telling the god's honest truth
@@goldnoob I will build mine similar to yours. Thank you very much for idea.
That's awesome!! I'd love to see a video of your efforts!
@@goldnoob next spring I'll have it done ready to go, maybe faster but it is big and will only use it next year.
Sounds super awesome!!
I love this and was so hoping on a $20 sluice! I like the concept. I just wonder if you add some sort of support on the bottom if that would make it less flimsy??
RPE all the way
Do you have a model that goes for $10? Last I checked, it was $40
Kathleen, I have a few things I'm thinking about.. like a little bridge thing over the top and i think the riffles will firm it up. But adding stuff bumps the cost up
@@goldnoob no but I have a video that showed you how to make one out of a window shutter
Cool! Would you mind commenting with a link to it here?
Nice Job!
OMG Jack thank you so much!!! I love your videos and took a ton of inspiration from you when I made this one! Thank you!
For support try using slips from heating duct on the sides and bottom
That's a really great idea, thanks!
Maybe you could do a few more design tweaks to help with the rigidity.
I’m thinking maybe single piece but double layered and some sort of hammered ribs running length ways?
Maybe a less flexible light weight material in between layers?
Folded edges to help hold its form?
I really love the fact that you’re trying to show people that it really doesn’t take a genius, a master craftsmen or hundreds of dollars to get into the hobby of prospecting!
Awesome job mate, cheers from Australia 🍻🍻🇦🇺
Thank you for your thoughts!
I was trying to be quick yesterday but I wanted you to know I'm seriously thinking through your suggestions
Since you have more flashing, use a hole punch and make your own expanded metal to go over your mat... up the gold recovery
Diy built America 😃✅✅✅✅
It sure did!
Not done with the video, but I was thinking of a plastic, paint roller tray with the textured shelf liner material. Wally World has, EasyLiner Select Grip 12 in. x 10 ft. Shelf Liner, Black. I would cut the end wall of the tray shorter and maybe screw some washer on bottom to give some weight.
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Re-enforce the structure at the top with bars/etc so it would hold the form better. Don't use carpet as it's not good for this but get the proper mats. Also, I don't think you can get away with a 10 AUD version of it. Just not going to happen. I have a design in my head that I would make but am so far away from gold country isn't not funny. But I would set up three sluices that perform different functions if I could do it. First one removes the magnetics from the flow by using neodymium going across the sluice. There would be about 8 or so magnets to capture the magnetics. Yes, you could trap gold there but in order for it to trap it; it would have to have iron in it. Else it will go to the second one. Because it will add as ridges to trap small gold. You can dump sluice one into a cons bucket and go through it later. Plus it makes it easier on the second and third as you will have have to deal with the black sands. The second one will remove anything that is 1/16 in and above. Some like to capture gems as they go and it will row off and allowing the under 1/16 in to continue to the third. The third is the last chance capture of gold prior to running off. This entire system is feed by a trammel that is connected to the first one. For me this would work as I would process the raw gold into refined gold as am more interested in the refinement bit of it. The black sands at a given stage of the process would remove gold from the solution and take iron into the solution.
Great ideas but it would make the sluice another of hundreds of products that cost $100.
It's funny you mention not being near any gold - I'm in North Texas and the nearest gold is hundreds of miles away. I thought this challenge would make for interesting videos and let people with extremely low budgets see how they might be about get into the hobby.
making a "$10 sluice" with equipment worth 1000$...ok...i made a wooden one to my son from old wood frame packing materials from a fridge with a hammer saw some nails and 40 yr old old moldy mat from the cellar
You may be thinking of somebody else's video lol. I used a $40 circular saw, a $3 2x4, and a broken fence picket
I think you could improve the recovery with some expanded mesh over the top
Yup. I plan to add miner's moss, expanded metal and riffles
Try a heating and air sheet metal is a little more durable and the cost is right.
Thank you for the tip! Any idea where I might find that?
Seems like you spent more than 10 dollars😂 Nicely done though❤🎉🎉❤
Lol! Well, in truth the $10 number is what I intended to sell them for
6 inch ribbed drain tile. Cut it in half and then you have 2 sluices.😊
I definitely need a good sluice
I have upgrades planned for this one
Never glue the carpet to the sluice. You need to be able to remove it and clean it upside down in a pan to recover the gold
There needs to be a way to keep the mat in the sluice that meets the requirement of keeping the cost of the build such that it can retail for $10. I choose rubber cement because it's waterproof and comes off easily.
Did you buy the rubber back rug? Cause those aren't cheap in my area and besides the needed saw. Pretty nice build, what's your total price? Take care. ✌
I did use the rubber backed rug for my first sluice. It absorbed water and helped it stick to the riverbed, but yeah, I needed to bring the proce down. My second sluice (there's a new video on that one) I used marine carpet which was MUCH cheaper, but it didn't weigh the sluice down so it tended to get away from me.
My problem is the gold note the sluice lol
LOL!!! Me too brother
Buy a piece of plywood, attach it to the bottom of the sluice
Wouldn't it float?
Buy a cheap lightweight plastic sluice from Geo Sluice Mining.
I'll check it out!
@@goldnoob Yes, Geo Sluice Mining (in Oklahoma) has both plastic highbankers “and” river sluices. In both drop riffles “and” dual-ramp or 2-step riffles in the Le Trap and Le Trap Mini. I love the large size Le Trap, it is very, very good at catching fine flour glacial gold, famous, and has been around since the 1980’s is when I purchased one about 37 years ago. A disadvantage is it needs even water flow and no surging (no start-stop-start) of water which blows out gold. >>But the drop riffle plastic sluices withstand surging better I think.
That's awesome!
You get what you pay for.
Naturally, but sometimes one can't pay for what they want. In those cases, something - anything - is better than nothing at all.
I'm sorry, but in what universe does this add up to $10? That roll of flashing is $25. The saw, clamps, wood, etc were not free. This is much closer to $100 or more than it is $10. Thanks for the false advertising click bait title. Great idea and design. Just be more honest with the title. Maybe say, DIY Sluice box for $100 or less, instead of $10.
Hi, thank you for your interest!
This video series documents my attempts to design a sluice that I can sell for $10.
That said, I bought a roll of flashing for $25, but it's 10 feet long, making the amount I used for this project $2.50
The matting is similarly inexpensive.
I'd like to put these up for sale, but there are still some issues I need to work through.
As far as tooling, no project instructions ever include the cost of tools. Recipes don't include bowls and ovens in ingredient lists, etc. That said, I don't use any specialized tools or tools that require special skill. In fact I don't have any diy skill or tools at all myself, having to buy them all and learn how to use them as I go.
If you were to use the method I demonstrated here, the end product would only consume less than $10 of materials. There are ways of getting smaller pieces, such as talking to contractors and buying scraps from them, etc.
Meanwhile if you're interested in a sluice in the short term, I absolutely shouldn't mind selling you the prototype I made in the video for $10. You can contact me at goldnoobvideos@gmail.com
@goldnoob hmm. Wonder what shipping would cost for such an item. I'm sure, if it's not too much, you could get some business going. People closest to you would be your best customer base. Also curious, how it would hold up to the many careless people whose hands this passes through during transportation.
@@dickie8015last time I shipped one it was less than $10 for shipping. They're light but they have to go in a box that accommodates the size.
I do use corrugated cardboard though so there's no opportunity for damage. But you're absolutely right that the thing is not rugged at all.