Garrett ATX Strip Down & Rebuild

[kac]

Is a good idea, doubt Garrett will adapt it. They seem to lock their designs down and maximize part usage across machines, this is really good for costs and tooling but can inhibit improvements/features in some cases.

[rled2005]

On 3/1/2017 at 8:51 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

Oh, I knew it would get done. One hallmark of my personality type is once I start something 99% of the time it will be followed through to completion. I can't stand leaving things unfinished so eventually I am almost forced to get them done or it just keeps bugging me.

Here is the Garrett LTX in better light. Click on photos for closeup. With 5" x 10" DD coil (4 lbs 11.7 oz or 4.73 lbs with batteries) and then also with 3" x 7" DD coil (4 lbs 6.2 oz or 4.39 lbs), and a closeup of the control box (2 lbs 6.1 oz or 2.38 lbs, hip or chest mountable).

Does the infinium coils work just as good as the ATX coil? Also, will the new Axiom coils work with the ATX circuitry?

[Steve Herschbach]

Does the infinium coils work just as good as the ATX coil? Probably not since they are not tuned for the machine. But they do work and might be “better” for situations where the size itself is advantageous.

Also, will the new Axiom coils work with the ATX circuitry? I don’t know. In general there is no magic to be had using coils not specific to a detector. They may work, but usually have issues due to a mismatch. For instance, ground balance may be off. PI are more forgiving than VLF though.

[rled2005]

56 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Does the infinium coils work just as good as the ATX coil? Probably not since they are not tuned for the machine. But they do work and might be “better” for situations where the size itself is advantageous.

Also, will the new Axiom coils work with the ATX circuitry? I don’t know. In general there is no magic to be had using coils not specific to a detector. They may work, but usually have issues due to a mismatch. For instance, ground balance may be off. PI are more forgiving than VLF though.

Sorry, I didn't catch that bad grammar. How are the Infinium coils working with the ATX circuitry.

[rled2005]

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Does the infinium coils work just as good as the ATX coil? Probably not since they are not tuned for the machine. But they do work and might be “better” for situations where the size itself is advantageous.

Also, will the new Axiom coils work with the ATX circuitry? I don’t know. In general there is no magic to be had using coils not specific to a detector. They may work, but usually have issues due to a mismatch. For instance, ground balance may be off. PI are more forgiving than VLF though.

I’m just referring to your modified ATX build.

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, rled2005 said:

Sorry, I didn't catch that bad grammar. How are the Infinium coils working with the ATX circuitry.

They function. How well they work depends on what you are doing. My modified build has nothing different in the circuitry - it’s just an ATX in another box.

 

[Off Grid]

Quite a while back I decided to follow in Steve's footsteps and made up own ATX-lite. That being the ATX box as supplied but slung from my left shoulder using an old laptop bag sling + an Infinium 10x5 DD mounted on an old Gold Bug shaft. The main reason being to reduce the weight on by right arm and increase detecting time between cramps. I don't like the bungee Garrett supplies with the ATX.

The ATX-lite set up is a bit clunky as the box swings around a bit on the sling but I like the ability to play with sensitivity, threshold, ground balance on the go. The Infinium coil on the GB shaft is just perfect. Even lighter than the GB2. 

Of course in the meantime Garrett developed the Axion which (for a price) makes my mods redundant and it looks like I have the smallest niche setup in detecting history with a total addressable market of 1!

N.B. In due course I'd be interested to know how what the Axion can do that the ATX can't do on dry land.

Anyway, just got back from a trip where I was lucky enough to find a new patch (on the last day of course!) and try out the ARX-lite against my work-horse GB2 with 10" and 6" coils. I probably have a few hundred hours on the GB2 by now and maybe 50-100 on the ATX original and ten on the Lite.

To be fair I think my conditions are just about perfect for the GB2. A few inches of bone dry soil over sandstone and siltstone. Close to zero magnetite but I must do a test next time. It's hard to get scientific when there's nuggets to be found. No EMI at all, not even 1 bar on the mobile. Very few hot rocks but the sound is real distinctive (like a cracked bell).

I run the GB2 on sensitivity 7-8 , low mineralization setting, audio boost. Ground reject about 6.5.

The ATX-lite sensitivity around 10. Headphones on both machines (Garrett as supplied & a beat up old Phillips on the GB2).

Seventeen nuggets, 9.5g total. Largest 3g but most cluster around 0.3g. Most I found with the 6" GB2 coil (that happened to be on the machine) but mid-afternoon I switched to the 10" to cover more ground. It worked just as well. I am biased towards the GB2 as we are old friends and the iron discrimination saves me lots of work. Every time I've dug something that sounds like iron on the GB2 that's what it was. So, it just so happened that the GB2 tended to be the first pass machine and found all the nuggets. Those I then checked with the ATX/Infinium also registered except maybe the very smallest (0.25g). Next time I promise to resist the temptation to dig before I've swung both machines over the same patch and note ATX signal strength but it's a long, long drive and next year only.

What I can say is that the Infinium coil balances easily and is very quiet (once I taped the cable down and stopped it swinging about). Low knock sensitivity. The iron-grunt check is pretty reliable (it sounds just like a hippo if that means anything west of the Atlantic?). I did find small boot nails with the ATX when on first pass but iron-check is more subtle than GB2 iron discrimination.

All in all I think I have two great and inexpensive machines but I just don't need PI under those dry conditions. I just need more hours on PI to get my comfort levels up. That said, when it rains and the soil turns to clay it's a different story and the 71k GB2 just crashes and burns. There is another Fe-rich area where the ATX has the edge but I just haven't found gold with either. Yet.

 

 

 

 

[rled2005]

12 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

They function. How well they work depends on what you are doing. My modified build has nothing different in the circuitry - it’s just an ATX in another box.

 

When you dug into the ATX, did you notice if the 2 battery packs are in parallel or series, i.e., does it run on 6vdc or 12vdc?

[Steve Herschbach]

Everything I know including battery arrangement is in this thread.

[HardPack]

On 4/29/2017 at 8:29 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

I obviously would love to see an ATX in a TDI box (with better coils), as I honestly believe it is the superior circuit design. Sigh. Maybe Nokta will show them both up!

Me too!