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Coil Ears Finally Break Off...


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The ears on my 15x12'' coil for the Equinox have finally broken off.. I knew they were a weak point but I'm surprised at how long they lasted, nearly 3 years of daily grind on the beach and in the sea.. I'm really impressed with the old workhorse rather than disappointed.. I'll chalk it up to wear and tear.. 😕    

coil ears.JPG

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Still under warranty then?  Hope so!  I'm a big fan of that coil.

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That is also my favorite coil for the Equinox, but it reminds me of exactly where my coil ears broke for the CTX 17".

This is the flaw in the Minelab pinch system.  If you notice where your coil ears broke it was in line with the outer edges of the tightening screw.  That edge tightens very close to the area where the coil ear comes off the coil.  There is no flex at that particular point.  This plastic can't move to tighten against the bushing or the shaft so over a period of increased tightening and bushing shrinkage it must snap.  Mine did.

I do not tighten my Equinox as much based upon my experience.

My suggestion for Minelab is to make the coil ears work without breaking is to lengthen them.  Put the hole farther away from the coil on the ears and allow them to flex.  It might only need 3/4" of an inch more above the coil and then it will tighten without breaking at that spot.

The ear breaking at the eye/hole requires a different idea, but I think mine broke like yours when there was only one ear working and/or I glued a broken single ear several times before the second ear broke off.

At the time my 'ear' broke off I didn't even know what you called it.

My 17" coil for the CTX still works perfectly.  My solution was to buy a 'jig' for the end of the shaft that let me attach the smoothed off shaft (no ears) with tie straps.  It doesn't shift or jiggle so I'm fine with it 5 plus years later.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I used a section of 2” pvc pipe heat molded into a “U”, ground off the remaining ear remnants, and used epoxy putty plus pvc pipe glue to fixate it to the coil. It has worked for over a year. I also bought a 3D printed part that may work, it’s on a backup machine though. I suspect the material is not very strong. 

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On 11/23/2022 at 2:23 PM, bklein said:

It has worked for over a year.

That's a great fix Bklein.. 

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  • The title was changed to Coil Ears Finally Break Off...

I epoxied my ears back and added a Detecting Adventure coil support and have had no problems since.  https://www.amazon.com/Detecting-Adventure-Support-Minelab-Detector/dp/B0B7K9VXFN?th=1

 

 

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If it's still under warranty, maybe they will swap you for one of the new Equinox 700/900 coils. Minelab said they are interchangeable with the 600/800 coils. You might want to contact them.

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3 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

If it's still under warranty, maybe they will swap you for one of the new Equinox 700/900 coils. Minelab said they are interchangeable with the 600/800 coils. You might want to contact them.

I don't think that will happen until current stock of old coils runs out.  I feel for dealers IF all 3 coils have improved ears with older coils sitting on their shelves.  Unless Minelab helps in some way they're going to struggle to sell them if they have the new version sitting on the shelf which is backwards compatible with the older Nox anyway.  So far from what I've seen they've only indicated the 11" coil is different, this might be intentional, less people swing the 15x12" coil so less ears breaking, the 6" is very unlikely to break at the ears.  The 11" is the most used coil, and if you look at the photos of people breaking off ears its virtually always the 11".

Minelab seem to be taking a calculated risk leaving the 6" and 15x12" coil with the same ears and upgrading the 11".  Doesn't help with your ears though Erik 🙂

On the Equinox 900 page they just link to the original 15x12" coil for the coil for it which has the original ears.

https://www.minelab.com/anzea/accessories/eqx-15-double-d-smart-coil

And If you look at the photo of the included coils with the Nox 900 it comes with the standard 6" coil with the old ears and a new model 11" coil with new ears.

2087447326_Nox900coils.thumb.jpg.278a76b3861d8b75b4964e6ee953914a.jpg

 

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Crank em down extra tight Blokes.Just before the warranty gives out. 

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