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Equinox Coil Ears


mn90403

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I own an Equinox 800.  I've had it as one of the first ones in the United States and was the first one to find gold nuggets with it after Steve H who found his during testing.  I now have 6, 11 and 15 inch coils.  None of them has had a 'coil ear' problem.

When the Equinox came out with this particular coil design I was very disappointed and knew it was only a matter of time before coil ears would break.  How did I know this?  It is because I had coil ears break on my 17" CTX 3030 many years ago.  At the time the ears broke I didn't even know what to call them.  I tried to heat and melt them back into position.  I tried every glue and epoxy and it would still re-break.

I was on another forum at the time and some suggest an individual who made a 'yoke' out of space age rubber.  You see the problem with my ears was that they just did not flex enough to let me tighten the coil to keep it from flopping around.  The ears broke laterally just above the coil.

The first yoke I received from the guy was not really very good.  It was designed to be glued on to the broken coil after you smoothed off the old ears.  A few months later the guy in New York sent me his next fix and it still works today.  You attach that yoke to the detector with plastic ties.  I haven't had any problems.  Maybe some of you have fixed your coils the same way.

 

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Seems a reasonable fix, seeing the coil was broken anyway I would have put a big wad of good epoxy under it before cable tying it down, you'd probably end up not even needing the cable ties.

On a side note, I wish they made that coil for the Equinox!!!!

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9 hours ago, phrunt said:

On a side note, I wish they made that coil for the Equinox!!!!

Me too. A lot of old timers laugh at me for having it on my CTX. They like the tiniest little coils no matter where they go. Have you found much of a depth increase with it phrunt? I haven’t myself, just better coverage. A little off topic, but it’s not often I see someone with this combo. 

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Yes, I'm quite new to the CTX, only had it a few months and haven't had it out all that much since getting it, I'm not sure if the 17" coil  is all that much deeper yet than the 11" as my targets are always around the same depth and both coils hit them fine, about the depth of a Garrett Carrot but it covers ground better which is good in my park type areas with sparse junk and plenty of silvers to be found.

I guess some find it heavy and I can see why, but after swinging my GPX and GPZ for a few years now and I was never one to use any bungees the CTX feels light, even with the 17" coil 

The attributes that mean the most to me in a coin type detector are outright depth, while maintaining target ID at that depth in very mild relatively junk free soils and the CTX has proven itself for that, prior to it the Equinox and Vanquish were the kings for me, since getting the CTX it's been able to out perform them in my situation, although they're still outstanding for what I do.

I can imagine that 17" coil is great for Mitchel doing his beaches, such big areas with a lot of ground to cover, I'll certainly be using it on the rare occasion I hunt a beach here, they're a similar situation with not all that much junk, mostly pull tabs so I think it'd be good.

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I got a full set of coil ear protectors from a local guy, he seems to have used very strong 3D printing plastic for them, some 3D printing is brittle and snaps if you do much with it, I gave these a good flex and they're fine.  Now I need to decide if I want to epoxy them on or just use them as is.  I'm thinking I'll use them as is, I've gone a couple of years now without breaking a coil ear so the little bit of added protection they give should be enough to prevent any incidents I hope.

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One for each of the Minelab coil sizes, I'm not too worried about the Coiltek 10x5" that I've got, I haven't seen any issues with their ears.

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This is the one I'm using, it has slots for two zip ties. Person named Snowdak on eBay. It's $15, but it's tough.20210823_203515.thumb.jpg.7c4ee7033f8d55cee131178bc6c067a7.jpg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-Minelab-Equinox-600-800-11-Coil-Yoke-Strengthener-or-Repair/293707843210

I'm pretty sure he makes them for the 15" too.

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I printed my own from this free Thingiverse file.

Coil Ear Protector for Minelab Equinox

I printed it with Polycarbonate filament using 100% infill (no internal gaps). I also changed printing orientation to print it from the side instead of the bottom. This aligns the filament layers perpendicular to the common break lines of the tabs instead of parallel to the break points. It is much stronger this way. I've had it on for a year with no problems.

 

Coil-Support-1.JPEG

Coil-Support-2.JPEG

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  • 1 month later...

Last weekend I pulled the Equinox 15" coil off with the rod to swap to the small Coiltek coil. It was then that I noticed one of the ears was cracked. I have had the coil for about 2 1/2 years; I wasn't sure of the date I purchased it, but I called the Minelab repair center and got the good news that all is under warranty. 🙏 It has seen it's share of junk targets, coins, and gold items. I really like the coil and think it covers the turf very effectively while still finding very small tidbits.

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11 hours ago, Againstmywill said:

Last weekend I pulled the Equinox 15" coil off with the rod to swap to the small Coiltek coil. It was then that I noticed one of the ears was cracked

Don't mess around when you get the new one. Get a quality stiffener and epoxy it to the ears and coil. HH

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