DIY Detecting

Intro: 

Hey Everybody. Welcome! To Episode 69 of the metal detecting show podcast. My Name is Ciaran and I have been Metal Detecting for nearly 30 Years. This week I simply want to give you an update from my world of metal detecting and I want to Talk about DIY metal detecting

Music

Hey everyone before we start I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and I hope you enjoy the episode this week  If you want to support the show there are many options available from the links in the episode notes below and if you want to interact with me and the show that information is there too.  

but most importantly If you like this content please don’t hesitate to tell your friends and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.

Content:

Hey Everyone welcome to the podcast,  I hope you have had a great week whether your were hunting or not last week. 

So im just back from a short camping vacation with zero opportunities to hunt but that’s ok, I did do some work on my kids metal detecting book which will be hammered into shape next week as I have taken some time off work to specifically finish it out or at least get it a close as I can in the time allotted.

I don’t know what was in the water this week but I got some great written reviews on apple podcasts which really brightened my day so thanks to all who have taken the time to put down your feelings about the pod, 

its great when I get to elbow my wife and go here look at this just so I can watch her eyes roll to the back of her head hahahah it doesn’t impact the download rate but it does offer some social proof of quality for a prospective listener. 

Listen I love reviews so keep them coming but I do have a favor to ask and I don’t normally do this and I won’t do it often but I’d love it if rather than writing me a review which is great like I said 

but if each of you told one person about the podcast this week that would be great and double the shows downloads maybe fingers crossed,

More Downloads mean I will be in a better position for review units or sponsorship all of which will ensure the longevity of the pod, now you might need to explain what a podcast is to some but that’s fine just say it’s like a radio show you can listen too on demand. 

Anyways enough begging this week I want to chat about DIY Detecting or homebrew customisations or tools people have developed to either better the design of a detector or as a bespoke accessories and as you know most main stream accessories began life as a cobbled together customisation on some dudes detector. 

I love this aspect of the hobby and I have done most, if not all of the standard ones but the one I am most proud of myself was with the wireless unit that came with the CTX-3030 the WM-10,

so how this unit worked was that you clipped it to your belt and connected a set of wired headphones to it and using minelabs wistream technology the wm-10 connected to the ctx allowing you to operate the headphones somewhat wirelessly. 

Now this all sounds great and I would go out with my grey ghost headphones connected up my wm-10 clip it on and go hunting.

now the only difference was that rather than connecting to the detector I now had a great big wire coil connecting to my belt resulting in me having to untangle myself every time I had to probe or dig a hole requiring me to change hands all the time to work around the problem.

so as you can imagine this drove me crazy and was useless for me so what I did was, I gutted the contents on the wm-10 ripping them out and inserting them into the spare space in the grey ghosts behind the ear sponge. 

that space was tight so it meant that I had to put the battery behind one cuff and the wireless circuit behind the other ensuring to connect the output from the wm-10 to the input of the grey ghosts.

on first test I thought I made a huge mistake as the audio was way too low and I thought I had scrapped two very expensive pieces of kit but what had happened was I had filled the cavity in the headphones that allows some form or any amplification resulting in a muffled sound.

so to get around this i simply added an inline 5v amplifier which powered itself off the usb charging circuit and bingo bango it worked like a charm 

that was id say 10 years ago and my franken wireless headphones are my goto set for the CTX till only recently when the lipo battery started to swell up so I just changed that out for a 18650 lipo battery which is the same battery used in teslas and it has been working fine since although it takes nearly 4 times as long to charge but also ages to discharge now. 

this is what I am talking about and to start lets talk about 2 DIY mods most beach detectorists make with the first 1 in making a DIY sand scoop from drain pipe 

essentially you take about a foot of 10 inch diameter plastic sewer pipe, in Ireland we call it a wavin pipe much like people call vacuum cleaners here hovers referring to the brand rather than the item itself.

anyways take your plastic sewer pipe or wavin pipe cap off one end and then taking a forsneor bit or a large diameter bit drill several small holes all over the pipe 

some people like to sharpen the cut edges at the open end with that done all that’s left is to add a handle. 

now this is by no means a replacement for a steel scoop but was the minimum viable product that came before all other mass manufactured sand scoops either metal or plastic. 

You will get a season or two out of one of these but save your pennies to eventually replace it with a mass manufactured one in steel but if your so inclined you can of course take this to the next level and make your own out of steel and some dodgy welding skills.

The second DIY job most beach detectorists take on is to water proof their detector now this is probably not needed any more with most new detectors being at least IP68 rating

meaning that zero dust will get in and the device can operate below water for several hours under pressure normally 1-3 meters 

but in my day the first thing you did was to water proof your detector by adding silicon caulking between your coil and coil cover which meant that you had extra protection banging it off stones but also you caulked around the coil connection to the coil itself this gave some level of water proofing till you got to the control box which was for the most part wrapped in a cover of some sort but still couldn’t be entirely waterproofed unless your wanted to fix and caulk the headphones to the control box with the same treatment for all seams now aren’t you glad you don’t have to do that anymore.

Other DIY mods come in the category of ergonomics in other words making the operation of the detector easier. 

For example any nox user is familiar with changing out the stock shaft for a lighter carbon fiber one reducing muscle fatigue greatly some go as far to cut the shaft to length so they don’t have a seam which can gather dirt over time. 

Another ergonomic mod is adding a counter weight to your shaft by adding a pipe to the cuff of the detector behind your elbow allowing you to adjust the balance of the detector by adding weight behind your elbow in the form of lead shot or sand in a tube this is handy if your finding that 17 inch coil a beast to swing and this can definitely help however I suspect unless you have had carpal tunnel in your elbow you will be completely oblivious to this MODification.

With the advent of 3d printers we are starting to see the community offer modifications to help the structure or longevity of a detector such as coil ear strengtheners or stiffners. 

I myself have one of these on my equinox and it has helped not that that I notice any difference but more of an insurance in case something does happen. 

we also see people offering probe mounts and control box covers and with the collective acceptance of usb as the power source of choice we see external battery pack MODifications coming to the fore these days 

these can all be done yourself if  you have a 3d printer or if you don’t, the files are readily available for you to send to shapeways which is a 3d printing on demand service however it may be cheaper to get a friend with a printer print it for you.

And Finally MODs have now entered the realm of personalization years ago personalization was using a fancy tape to wrap you shaft in camo followed by some text in whiteout but generally now you can still do that but you can add more flare with things such as snake skins for your coil wires. 

Bespoke grip designs or a thicker grip to ease use maybe that one should be in the ergonomics section anyways you get the idea with metal detectors you don’t have to take what you get out of the box you can customise it any which way you want to and that’s good. 

Do you have any customisations you have made that is not default if you have let me know the crazier the better.

Wrap Up 

That’s it for this week’s I hope you liked this episode of the metal detecting show podcast.

Check out our website www.themetaldetectingshow.com for this episode show notes. 

Check out our Patreon page if you want to help the podcast stay alive or just want to buy me a coffee. Actually if you want to buy me a coffee you can do so at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/metaldetecting also

If you would like to leave me a voice mail please do so on speakpipe.com/themetaldetectingshow the link will be in the show notes.

If you feel like taking your appreciation to the next level feel free to leave me a positive review on any podcast directory of your choice. 

If you like this content and would like more please don’t hesitate to tell your friends and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button.

Once again, I hope you have enjoyed this episode and we will chat to you all again next week. 

Get out there eyes down and Happy Hunting.