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Question For Steve - Coil Problem


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3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The original black box Goldmaster II was the first hot machine running at 50 kHz, a very high frequency at the time. The Goldmaster II preceded the Gold Bug 2 and for a time the Goldmasters were unmatched in sensitivity to small gold until the Gold Bug 2 came out in 1995. The Goldmaster V/SAT, Goldmaster 3, Goldmaster 4/B, and finally GMT at 48 kHz are all just variations on the theme and none of the newer models are appreciably more sensitive than the original 50 kHz Goldmaster II model.

Companies that do not answer emails within 24 hours are quite deficient in the 21st century. 

Well this post clinches it for me Steve. From what you said about this machine it doesn't look like I could do any better with a newer one.

I worked about five hours today in the new hydraulic pit I found and found a few square nails, a very thin, flat bullet fragment and lead shot.

I guess it is like you have said for years, "if you can find these things you just need to get the coil over gold".

Now I have to work on my patience, especially when there are very large steep areas to work. I find myself getting sloppy because of the amount of ground to cover.

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On 12/2/2016 at 11:43 PM, G.B. said:

After time the earth wire (l think it is the earth wire) comes loose inside the coil. It is usually attached using adhesive tape or glue. lf the wire comes loose it will give false signals at the slightest bump or touch. lt can be fixed by removing the cover plate of the coil and renewing the tape or adhesive being careful not to damage the shielding.  Warning if the coil is under warranty l would not attempt the proceedure as will void warranty but if an old favorite it may be worth the effort to save old faithful.

That was my thought as well.  In the US we call it ground/grounding (attaching something conductively to the chasis) but I know elsewhere (e.g. Europe and apparently Australia) the term 'earth' is used.  (Earth = Ground.  Makes sense!)

I've been working on one of my SPP coils.  The inside of the coil's plastic housing is coated with a conductive paint and a wire from the cable is epoxied (with conductive epoxy) to the coating.  Both halves of the housing are coated and attached.  This serves as both an electrostatic shield (for preventing frictionally generated electric charge buildup&discharge -- think about walking across carpet on a dry winter day and touching a screw on a light switch -- zapp!) and also an electro-magnetic-interference (EMI) shield.

I've had this issue with a 1970's detector I still own, and don't remember if it is inherent in that detector from the beginning or whether the problem developed over time (as yours=Jim's has), but probably the latter.  In at least one of Charles Garrett's books he talks about things one should look out for when buying a detector, and the sensitivity to vegetation (leading to falsing) is one of them.  So apparently cheaper detectors way back when were made by cutting corners and not properly grounding the coil housing.

I don't know how easy it is to open the coil housing.  I suspect some manufacturers seal their coils permanently that it can't be done.  But if your coil housing can be opened (e.g. carefully breaking the seal with an Exacto or other sharp, thin knife) then you might just find a disconnected wire which can be reattached.

Seems like there ought to be repair shops out there that can do this for you.  Of course we live in a "don't fix it; throw it away" society -- not like back when there were radio&TV repair shops that could fix about any electric or electronic device.  So maybe not....

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Thanks for the information GB. In looking over the coil  it doesn't look like it can be opened without just arbitrarily cutting it somewhere, which I am reluctant to do. It looks like it is all one piece.

I think my best bet is to see if White's will look it over.

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All I know is I had a VSat for two years and found ONE small nugget.  I bought a GB 2 and found a 70 grain nugget within 15 minutes of turning it on and paid for the machine in two weeks.  Same ground.

I know people swear by them.....

If I had a brand new one, I'd give it to you Jim.

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Thanks for the thought Harry, you are one of a kind.

I really do have to admit that although the small coil I have may be defective, most of my problems are impatience and not using the detector as much as I should.

I put the original coil on the machine today, but have not had a chance to get out hunting. I tried bumping it and there was no false signal like I had with the small coil.

People like you and Steve and others are persistent, that is what produces. You work at it and your results show it.

I never have worked at it like I should, I just get discouraged too quickly. And now my physical problems are really starting to show. As you have seen when we meet, my instability because of my feet and legs is worse. Trying to just stand upright on these hydraulic pit hillsides is intimidating, then trying to swing a detector makes for a precarious outing.

It is extremely difficult to maneuver rough ground using a cane and trying to detect too. I have always thought that once I got to where I couldn't do other types of mining, I could always fall back on detecting, but now it is obvious that I probably won't be able to do that either.

For some of us old age is not what it is cracked up to be.. Fortunately I can still sit on bedrock and clean cracks and that is something I like to do.

Thank you for the kind thought Harry.

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