XP Deus HF / Golden Mask Rod Conversion

[Condor]

It's a mere 114 degrees here in the Desert Southwest and I've got another bunged up knee.  No stitches this time, just a bruise on the critical moving parts, but it gave me an opportunity to futz with my Deus conversion to the collapsible Golden Mask rod.  The problem with the Deus HF coils is that the battery is stored in the rod tube, so you have a critical wire lead from the battery to the coil.  Deus solved it by making the rod connection to the coil ears a hollow split design so that the battery wire runs straight up the rod with a curly wire section that acts like a spring to keep the wire under tension.   The Golden Mask rod has a solid tip at the connection to the coil ears with no place to run the battery wire of the new Deus design.  So, I got out the saw and the Dremel and started making some modifications.  

The first thing I had to do was cut off the Golden Mask solid connection tip that bolts to the coil ears.  The tip is solid HD plastic that inserts into the carbon fiber hollow tube about 2 inches.  So, I cut the carbon fiber above the insert so that I could reuse the insert.  I then used the Dremel to cut a slotted path for the coil battery wire to run from the bottom of the coil ear connection insert with sufficient clearance for the wire to slide smoothly.  The portion of the coil ear connection that inserts into the carbon fiber tube is more or less hollow, so I continued my wire path through the outer wall into the hollow section.  That way, I could run the coil wire through the groove, then slide the wire inside the tip connection and when I re-inserted the tip section the whole mess is captured inside the tube, very close to the Deus type design.  The battery pack fits squarely inside the 2nd segment of the Golden Mask collapsible tube with just enough tension to keep the wire sliding freely.  I then put some black electrical tape around my grooved section to keep the wire firmly inside the groove.  The only other thing was a rubber washer 5/16 X 3/4 from Lowe's hardware to shim up the coil ear connections for a tighter fit. 

What I end up with is a detector that weights less than 2 lbs, collapses to 24 inches and extends to a maximum of 51 inches.  My goal has always been to make the Deus into a discriminating pinpointer to augment the Minelab 7000.  Some of my Baja prospecting excursions have resulted in way too many deep holes to recover ferrous trash that falls off the turn of the century type drywashers the oldtimers used down there.  At my age, it's all about conservation of energy.  You can only dig so many 2 ft holes in 85 degree temps before your day is used up.  If my new discriminating pinpointer can cut my digging time in half, I'll be thrilled. 

By way, I had the opportunity to compare the Deus side by side with the Gold Monster on undug targets in N. NV.  I was certainly impressed with the GM target audio responses and its ability to quickly adjust to changing conditions.  If I were starting out gold prospecting and could only afford VLF, I'd certainly make it the GM.  I like my Deus as a supplement to my Z7000, but it is not a turn on and go machine.  I think at the end of the day, GM users would cover more ground simply because it's so simple and target responses are unmistakable. 

[RickUK]

Thats a very tidy conversion,i also use the exact same GM shaft for my backup Deus,works well with the original Deus coil better as the battery is in the actual coil,rather than in the lower shaft of the newer HF coils.

[Steve Herschbach]

Very nice Steve. I do like that Gold Mask rod assembly a lot. It is very high quality, much better than what we get with a lot of detectors.