Hi Alan, I purchased your set of sluice box molds this week, they arrived today, and will be making some silicone mats this weekend. Thanks for the how to videos.
Thank you very much for uploading this video very helpful and will save us all a ton of money buying molds when we can design and make our own molds thanks again a subscriber who enjoys all of your videos
I just tried the molds I got from you. I accidentally bought 100% DAP silicone that was white instead of the clear I intended to buy. I didn't notice it until I started squeezing it into the soapy water so I used it anyway. Looks like that brand colored silicone does work. I just finished the 4th tube making one long strip alternating between the two molds. I'm going to make a custom 6 inch wide sluice box just wide enough to use these mats. Thanks. The molds work great.
Thanks for letting me know that colored DAP will work I will have to give it a try. When I tried colored chalk it was GE and I had nothing but a mess and ruined the mold so I never tried again. Good luck with the mats.
That was an excellent tutorial Alan. Though I probably won't get into making my own sluice mats, I do have some modifications to the commercial mats in mind that this technique will work very well for. Thanks!
Absolutely a superb video Alan !! Thanks for taking time to share this. Love the details and tips ! I'm sure many DIY folks out there will greatly appreciate it. Good luck to you and your prospecting adventures !! 🤠👍👍
Thank you Allan. This sure has been a fun project I could have bought 10 sets of mats for what I have put into this in the long run I think I will catch a lot more gold with the silicone mats. Thanks so much for watching.
Thanks Alan, I have watched your video twice and intend to watch one more time before I give it a go. I haven't bent up the sluice as yet but that is just a short process. Thanks again wish me luck.😎👍👍👌👌⛏⛏
Good luck. You will do great for the molds you have it will probably take a tube and a half If I get to make my mat before you do I will let you know how much silicone it takes as you can see you don't want to come up short.
@@alanrobertson2510 I will wait not by choice. One of our claims has someone open up the bank for about 60'. I need to get a crew and repair before the FS sees it.😎👍👍👌👌⛏⛏
Use Acrylic paint as coloring. It mixes with the silicone and even triggers the curing as it contains the moisture needed. Much easier than trying to mix in water based food coloring in silicone.
@@alanrobertson2510 Another tip for mixing the silicone and paint/color is to put a wood dowel in a hand drill. The swirling motion seems to knead the color into the silicone a lot like how it is done at factories with rollers. Result is a lot less air bubbles and not as tiring on the hand as using a stir stick.
Excelente mi amigo.. Se agradece que ud comparta sus conocimientos y experiencia y eso enriquece a muchos.. Si me permite una sugerencia y dado que su trabajo es visto en muchos países hispanohablantes si fuera posible que algunos datos fueran dados en español. Saludos
Alan thanks, an in Africa how can I be able to acquire those molds am interested in v ribbed, deep riffles and saw teeth, and any other for catching fine gold, are you in a position to send them if I purchase them?
Hello I have never tried flex seal before. Many people have thought about it but I have never heard of anyone actually try it. The cost is the big reason. The gold sticks to the silicone not sure about flex seal.
Hey Alan, thanks so much for this video, I learned a lot on how to make those mats. What are some of the other mat types do you use? I guess you could do the same thing for drop ripple v mats, high low v mats to right? So what other mold forms do you make besides this one? What is the cost of them? Thanks again, will be watching your videos, great job. Oh, I meant to ask what your friend's name is down in Arizona.
So right now I make the main sluice mold the hi low v mold the drop riffle v mold and the U mold for making the mats two sided to catch the fine gold. My friends name I think you are referring to is Bruce.
No it is not to soft I have been running silicone mats for a year and a half now. The silicone has to be 100% silicone moisture cure I get mine from Silicone Depot now in black or clear.
You will have some air bubbles in the mats. Try and need the silicone like bread dough in the the water that seems to help the warm water will make the silicone set up fast.
@@chuckbyers7670 Hi Chuck The other way to make the mats without the air bubbles is to squirt the silicone directly in to the water mix this will work with the black silicone from silicone depot as there is no way to mix in food coloring to color the mats. Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Good question I ran the same mats all summer and show no signs of were at all. I would guess I ran about 10 yards of material over the mats. That what I know.
Gday Alan Could you post an image of components/ chemicals are in the Dawn dish soap. I cannot find that brand in Australia. I had 2 x failures so far and think it might be the soap? It seems to be set but when I try t o pull it out of the mould it sticks to the mould in places and rips out the groove' s. I am usind a rudder 3mm v mat as well rhe mould and I also sprayed the matt with same soapy water thinking it may help it release? It was 1.5 hrs drying if you that makes any difference? Or maybe not enough soap? It did not stick to me and worked into a ball real good. Any thoughts to my problems?
Hi Peter I can't post a image on here if you want to send me a email I can send you a picture. You might want to try and make up a strong mix of soap and water and squirt in a small amount of silicone and wait and see if it hardens if it doesn't it is either the silicone or the soap. My email moldsandmats@gmail.com
@@alanrobertson2510 pwdavonplumbing@bigpond.com Thanks for the Reply Alan. I am going to have another try, just wanted to see whats in your soap. Will do the test with a few different soap mixtures to get my head around how much soap. (I think maybe not enough soap) If I can match the soap ingredients I think I will be right. As for the silicone its 100% neutral cure or should I be using acidic cure? Is it ok to use a rubber mat as the mould? And should I put soap mixture on the mat before I put the silicone in? (Thinking it would help with release) Thank you again for your time. I will let you know how I go next time.
Perfect 👌🏾 just got home with some silicone and gonna start getting my 4fter matted. Such a cool invention buddy. 😎😎 See ya the claim soon. Gonna try to get up there next week on my days off. Dunno if you’ll be there but if you are I’ll for sure say hello 👋🏾
Allan..... couldn't comment on the blue bowl video....but you should try making Ur silicone recipe n insert it into the blue bowl ...might make those little escapes stay at home with their brothers n sisters.
Have you or anybody out there used red devil 100% silicone from dollar general? Just curious, because Walmart is over an hour away, but DG is 10 minutes away!
John R. Thanks John. That is my adult Lego toy. 😝 I have tooo many attachments for it and I'll be making a video here shortly on a crevicing attachment for one of my subscribers. Just came in from making another Silicone mat with some GE Silicone. Stuff sets up fast.
Great instructions Alan. I would just add a note to make sure to use Silicone 1. Silicone 2 does not work and will make a huge mess! GE and DAP work great for me.
Thank you Mr. Robertson for sharing an excellent video with the rest of us. Also I want to thank you for the 3D printed Mold and been making the silicone mats with the one that won on Ebay a few days ago and decided to get another just to have on hand. Once I knew or figured out what to do with the soap and silicon, I started getting some good looking mats. Mr. Robertson I would like to ask if it would be possible to get an email/PM from you that I may do some correspondence with you? If not, that's okay, just thought that I would ask. I can send you my email address thru Ebay if you would like. dd
You are welcome. So glad you are getting the hang of making the mats. I am sure you will love them when you are done I just ran some beach sand on mine today and the results look amazing so far. Sure you can email me let me give you my email in a separate reply that I can erase when you email me. Talk to you soon.
@@alanrobertson2510 Okay,Thank you Sir, that's why I mention that I could email you thru ebay with my purchase with ask a question section. I wish that I had some gold to try out the mats with, was planning on getting out but my only truck and only vehicle that I have now it blew the head gasket and will not get out of the shop until sometime after the 9th. So this year is going to be really short for me, as I also got a hard rock rose quartz/amethyst/gold claim that I am working with the forest service and waiting for the district Ranger to sign my plan of operations and mail me back the paperwork. It's all done and he said he was going to sign it so I should see something in the mail sometime next week, as my bond has been paid and that was the only thing that they needed from me to finish with all the paperwork, and then I will be ready to start mining at my mining claim then.
Hi Alan, I purchased your set of sluice box molds this week, they arrived today, and will be making some silicone mats this weekend. Thanks for the how to videos.
Thank you for the order and you are welcome for the how to. Good luck with the mats you are going to love them.
Good tutorial Alan. That's easy to follow and will work for those who are making their own molds as well.
Thank you. Good luck with all your projects.
Alan Robertson
Thanks. Getting too many to try and keep up with.😄
This video is very informative on how to make your sluice box mats. Thank you Alan.
Thank you.
@@alanrobertson2510 your welcome
Thank you very much for uploading this video very helpful and will save us all a ton of money buying molds when we can design and make our own molds thanks again a subscriber who enjoys all of your videos
You are welcome. I think it is great now with the silicone mats if you can think it up you can make a mat. Thanks for watching.
I just tried the molds I got from you. I accidentally bought 100% DAP silicone that was white instead of the clear I intended to buy. I didn't notice it until I started squeezing it into the soapy water so I used it anyway. Looks like that brand colored silicone does work. I just finished the 4th tube making one long strip alternating between the two molds. I'm going to make a custom 6 inch wide sluice box just wide enough to use these mats. Thanks. The molds work great.
Thanks for letting me know that colored DAP will work I will have to give it a try. When I tried colored chalk it was GE and I had nothing but a mess and ruined the mold so I never tried again. Good luck with the mats.
thanks for the time and effort you put into these projects for our benefit. highly appreciated
Thank you Louis.
You've got these totally down! Awesome!! the saran wrap with a board or glass pressure, squishing out silicone is absolute great....
..
It made all the difference in the wold.
That was an excellent tutorial Alan. Though I probably won't get into making my own sluice mats, I do have some modifications to the commercial mats in mind that this technique will work very well for. Thanks!
Thank you I am glad the video help you out good luck with your project.
Absolutely a superb video Alan !! Thanks for taking time to share this. Love the details and tips ! I'm sure many DIY folks out there will greatly appreciate it. Good luck to you and your prospecting adventures !! 🤠👍👍
Thank you Allan. This sure has been a fun project I could have bought 10 sets of mats for what I have put into this in the long run I think I will catch a lot more gold with the silicone mats. Thanks so much for watching.
I really think this revolutionizes fine gold recovery.
Me to.
Thanks Alan, I have watched your video twice and intend to watch one more time before I give it a go. I haven't bent up the sluice as yet but that is just a short process. Thanks again wish me luck.😎👍👍👌👌⛏⛏
Good luck. You will do great for the molds you have it will probably take a tube and a half If I get to make my mat before you do I will let you know how much silicone it takes as you can see you don't want to come up short.
@@alanrobertson2510 I will wait not by choice. One of our claims has someone open up the bank for about 60'. I need to get a crew and repair before the FS sees it.😎👍👍👌👌⛏⛏
@@CandSMINING OH man that stinks that someone would do that. It is work day for us to at our club claim this weekend.
awesome vid thank you for all the projects you do.
top job mate i make a lot of my own gear as well just out of scrap and items i have laying around the yard to miten look great but works
We think just alike.
Can you put the food coloring in the soap and water mixture and then put the silicone in after it’s mixed?
I have never tried that. I would think you would need a ton of food coloring. If you decide to try it let me know how it goes.
Use Acrylic paint as coloring. It mixes with the silicone and even triggers the curing as it contains the moisture needed.
Much easier than trying to mix in water based food coloring in silicone.
Thanks for the tip I will have to try it out.
@@alanrobertson2510 Another tip for mixing the silicone and paint/color is to put a wood dowel in a hand drill.
The swirling motion seems to knead the color into the silicone a lot like how it is done at factories with rollers. Result is a lot less air bubbles and not as tiring on the hand as using a stir stick.
@@1kreature Thanks I will give it a try I need to make some new mats for a new project.
Excelente mi amigo.. Se agradece que ud comparta sus conocimientos y experiencia y eso enriquece a muchos.. Si me permite una sugerencia y dado que su trabajo es visto en muchos países hispanohablantes si fuera posible que algunos datos fueran dados en español. Saludos
Thank you for watching. I am not sure how I would make the video in Spanish.
Great video
Thank you.
Have you done a so called 'dream' mat with the owl eyes? What would you use if you didnt have a 3d printer as I dont?
so before the printer I used Legos, also used clay with dimes. I did like the leos as the gold would stick in the holes.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
You could try to use painter's tape on the frame of your mold to make clean up easier.
Good idea but I have gone to a aluminum frame that the silicone doesn't stick to.
Many Thanks. well explained. greetings Goldjunge Tom
Thank you.
Another on core performance with added seam seal.
Thank you
Have you tried a mold release? Like a silicone spray?
No I have not tried the silicone spay I have tried some other methods other than the water and soap mixture and they mostly tuned out to be a mess.
Ok, you doing a great job. Thanks!
Hi ,do you reuse the water soap mixture . Love your vids , keep up the great ideas. Thanks
Yes I do. I usually use the soap and water mixture for the day and then throw it out. Thanks for watching.
Alan thanks, an in Africa how can I be able to acquire those molds am interested in v ribbed, deep riffles and saw teeth, and any other for catching fine gold, are you in a position to send them if I purchase them?
alan, have u ever tryed flex seal to make mats?
Hello I have never tried flex seal before. Many people have thought about it but I have never heard of anyone actually try it. The cost is the big reason. The gold sticks to the silicone not sure about flex seal.
Hey Alan, thanks so much for this video, I learned a lot on how to make those mats. What are some of the other mat types do you use? I guess you could do the same thing for drop ripple v mats, high low v mats to right? So what other mold forms do you make besides this one? What is the cost of them? Thanks again, will be watching your videos, great job. Oh, I meant to ask what your friend's name is down in Arizona.
So right now I make the main sluice mold the hi low v mold the drop riffle v mold and the U mold for making the mats two sided to catch the fine gold. My friends name I think you are referring to is Bruce.
Thank you again for sharing all your ideas,i think they misplaced the mold after you were made though.Your a class act friend.
Thanks It's probably good there is no more of me. I sure have been having fun.
Isn't that silicone to soft? Is there any difference between the white and the clear silicone in terms of shore hardness?
No it is not to soft I have been running silicone mats for a year and a half now. The silicone has to be 100% silicone moisture cure I get mine from Silicone Depot now in black or clear.
@@alanrobertson2510 thank you
Gracias por responder, mis respetos por su consideración y deferencia. Saludos.
Great video and info thanks and prospect on.
Thanks Larry
pretty neat how you do that !!!!
Thank you.
Great info Alan. This goes good with the molds I am going to win.
It sure does good luck on the giveaway.
PRESTON HERE WHAT TEMP IS THE WATER WARM COLD OR DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?
Cold water hot water makes the silicone setup to fast.
Made mat lot of air bubbles. Not good. Should I use warm water?
You will have some air bubbles in the mats. Try and need the silicone like bread dough in the the water that seems to help the warm water will make the silicone set up fast.
@@alanrobertson2510 ok thank you.
Gold pan chuck, from kooskia idaho.
@@chuckbyers7670 Hi Chuck The other way to make the mats without the air bubbles is to squirt the silicone directly in to the water mix this will work with the black silicone from silicone depot as there is no way to mix in food coloring to color the mats. Good luck and let me know how it goes.
I’m going to be trying this sometime soon.
Good luck.
Nice instruction video.
Thank you The mats are turning out great now.
Alan, where can i buy the molds? Thank you
Hello You can get the molds at printingprospectors.com
How well does silicone hold up?
Good question I ran the same mats all summer and show no signs of were at all. I would guess I ran about 10 yards of material over the mats. That what I know.
Alan Robertson thanks for the reply and the info
Thanks for the info
do any irregularities in the gluing of mats together effect its performance?
Not that I have had. If some one is worried about the seem they could glue two molds together to make it seamless or I do have some 10 inch mold now.
Gday Alan
Could you post an image of components/ chemicals are in the Dawn dish soap. I cannot find that brand in Australia.
I had 2 x failures so far and think it might be the soap? It seems to be set but when I try t o pull it out of the mould it sticks to the mould in places and rips out the groove' s.
I am usind a rudder 3mm v mat as well rhe mould and I also sprayed the matt with same soapy water thinking it may help it release? It was 1.5 hrs drying if you that makes any difference?
Or maybe not enough soap? It did not stick to me and worked into a ball real good.
Any thoughts to my problems?
Hi Peter I can't post a image on here if you want to send me a email I can send you a picture. You might want to try and make up a strong mix of soap and water and squirt in a small amount of silicone and wait and see if it hardens if it doesn't it is either the silicone or the soap. My email moldsandmats@gmail.com
@@alanrobertson2510
pwdavonplumbing@bigpond.com
Thanks for the Reply Alan.
I am going to have another try, just wanted to see whats in your soap.
Will do the test with a few different soap mixtures to get my head around how much soap. (I think maybe not enough soap)
If I can match the soap ingredients I think I will be right.
As for the silicone its 100% neutral cure or should I be using acidic cure?
Is it ok to use a rubber mat as the mould?
And should I put soap mixture on the mat before I put the silicone in? (Thinking it would help with release)
Thank you again for your time.
I will let you know how I go next time.
@@Free_Aussie There is your problem the silicone needs to be the acidic type.
Hi Alan,
All good with my 3rd try.
Got the silicone and the soap correct.
Thank you for your time & advise.
Suggestion...a video on what to do with your gold once you find it? Where to sell it, etc...
What to do with the gold after you find it. Keep it. All of it it will be worth more than money someday.
Thanks...I figured, but wasn’t sure if I were to sell it....but I have to find it first! 😄
Turbo cool technique
Thank you.
Perfect 👌🏾 just got home with some silicone and gonna start getting my 4fter matted. Such a cool invention buddy. 😎😎 See ya the claim soon. Gonna try to get up there next week on my days off. Dunno if you’ll be there but if you are I’ll for sure say hello 👋🏾
Hey good luck let me know what days you are going up.
Great video ! Are you still selling the molds ?? Don't see them on eBay ??
Sorry about that I sold out and had some bad filament just waiting for a new shipment and should be back up and running in a few days.
Allan..... couldn't comment on the blue bowl video....but you should try making Ur silicone recipe n insert it into the blue bowl ...might make those little escapes stay at home with their brothers n sisters.
Hi Matthew That idea keeps coming up I guess I am going to have to give it a try. The gold might be hard to suck up off the mat we shall see.
I need a few molds!!
You are in.
How u made the base mold mate?
I make these molds with my 3D printer I have several videos on how to make your own molds.
Thanks mate,
But if you know or have any other video to make the dream mat, or any other mat locally at home do share bro
That's cool
Thanks Raymond the mats are working out well.
You selling the molds?
Yes I am they are on E Bay search for sluice box matting mold as you should find them no problem.
@@alanrobertson2510 I looked and could not find them, Typed in exactly what you said.
@@hannahkost2007 This will get you There www.ebay.com/usr/fishingbigsky_0 Please let me know if you get this.
Have you or anybody out there used red devil 100% silicone from dollar general? Just curious, because Walmart is over an hour away, but DG is 10 minutes away!
I have not tried it but I have seen others use it in other videos. Good luck.
John R.
Hi John, yes I have used it and it works pretty well. They only put 9 oz in their tubes instead of the 10 oz's everyone else does.
utahavalanch thanks...I enjoy your videos as well, especially the diy super sucker out of pvc pipe!
John R.
Thanks John. That is my adult Lego toy. 😝 I have tooo many attachments for it and I'll be making a video here shortly on a crevicing attachment for one of my subscribers. Just came in from making another Silicone mat with some GE Silicone. Stuff sets up fast.
Science ! ! !
Thank you
why not just print the mats in tpu? would be a fraction of the price
Wow.
🖤🖤
Great instructions Alan. I would just add a note to make sure to use Silicone 1. Silicone 2 does not work and will make a huge mess! GE and DAP work great for me.
Thanks I was going to do that just thought it might be confusing to some.
Thank you Mr. Robertson for sharing an excellent video with the rest of us. Also I want to thank you for the 3D printed Mold and been making the silicone mats with the one that won on Ebay a few days ago and decided to get another just to have on hand. Once I knew or figured out what to do with the soap and silicon, I started getting some good looking mats.
Mr. Robertson I would like to ask if it would be possible to get an email/PM from you that I may do some correspondence with you?
If not, that's okay, just thought that I would ask. I can send you my email address thru Ebay if you would like. dd
You are welcome. So glad you are getting the hang of making the mats. I am sure you will love them when you are done I just ran some beach sand on mine today and the results look amazing so far. Sure you can email me let me give you my email in a separate reply that I can erase when you email me. Talk to you soon.
@@alanrobertson2510 Okay,Thank you Sir, that's why I mention that I could email you thru ebay with my purchase with ask a question section. I wish that I had some gold to try out the mats with, was planning on getting out but my only truck and only vehicle that I have now it blew the head gasket and will not get out of the shop until sometime after the 9th. So this year is going to be really short for me, as I also got a hard rock rose quartz/amethyst/gold claim that I am working with the forest service and waiting for the district Ranger to sign my plan of operations and mail me back the paperwork. It's all done and he said he was going to sign it so I should see something in the mail sometime next week, as my bond has been paid and that was the only thing that they needed from me to finish with all the paperwork, and then I will be ready to start mining at my mining claim then.