99% of the time that you run the amalgam and it fails, the reason is that you didn't have ketone, or at least enough ketone to gain an observable quantity of amine in your extractions. I've heard the Al/Hg described before as newbee-proof. Get yourself some proper thermometer readings and learn to use a nomograph to estimate temperature and take proper fractions. Measure the boiling point as you distill under vacuum and collect the fraction you have calculated to be in line with the boiling point of the ketone. If you want an alternative to this, although I wouldn't reccomend it, a bisulfite verification would do. You don't just follow the procedure to a "T" and it fails, as if you had followed the procedure correctly it would not have. There is no magic chem-fairy that determines the success of your reaction, you do, so you need to know precisely what you are doing and what you have done if you expect any answers.
The best advice I can give you is to make sure that you have quality reagents, properly distilled precursors, and try not to sniff the solvents too much, as that has ruined many-a-good reaction
It's good to take notes along the way, that way you can go back and remember what you did wrong, or in some cases what you did right, or, you know, just what the hell it was you were doing before you passed out.
Pr(+)tium