Garrett ATX Strip Down & Rebuild

[Bearkat]

This is cool... 

[gambler]

that might affect your warranty

[Steve Herschbach]

On 12/10/2014 at 7:23 PM, gambler said:

that might affect your warranty

Oh oh, did not think of that!

OK, making progress. The control box enclosure has been shipped. The coil is basically done. Surprisingly the cable on the stock coil when made straighter is the same length as the Infinium coil cables, which are designed to be hip or chest mounted. It is about 6.5 feet long. Plenty long for chest or hip mount applications.

The downfall of the ATX as far as weight is the stock coil. Even stripped down it is an epoxy filled coil and so on the heavy side. Mounted on the White's rod assembly the entire thing with scuff cover installed weighs 3.2 lbs. This is a dream compared to the 6.9 lbs of the ATX in full dress, but it is nose heavy. I planned on mounting the control box under my arm but I think the position of the hand grip is such that it will still be nose heavy. It should work perfectly with the Infinium 5" x 10" DD coil. It would also be good with the ATX 8" mono coil but I am still being too cheap to buy another one to cut down. I just may do it though. I would not need to modify the coil pivot as it is less an issue with the 8" coil. I would lose the discrimination ability but it would match the depth of the stock coil and still be lighter. When I get time I will do some serious depth tests on the stock coil versus Infinium coils to see if they keep me in the ballpark. If not, I may have to get another mono coil. Maybe I can talk Garrett out of one in the interest of science!

In any case, with my GPX 5000 heading out the door I now have a fiberglass upper rod sitting idle. I just ordered a Minelab handle for it, the earlier version without the button on top. This will give me a straight rod assembly instead of the S-rod and allow me to mount the handle far enough forward to balance with the control box under arm. Gee, see why Minelab did that? This is shaping up well enough I may not actually do any hip mount work but if I do the White's handle still might come in handy as I like S-rods.

At just over 3 lbs if I can keep control box under 2 lbs I just might squeeze in under 5 lbs with the stock coil. Let's just call it five pounds, so I will have shed 1.9 lbs. The real key to getting the weight down is a lighter coil. A non-epoxy filled version of the stock coil would be best - I will cross fingers for the aftermarket to provide me with a miracle. Or an 8" mono. But if I can get this baby down to 4.9 lbs with the stock coil but without the scuff cover I will be very happy. That would be a solid 2 lb weight loss or 30% less than the ATX as shipped.

[Shelton]

Great topic. Thank you Steve... I like this kind of workshop jobs! Very interesting and difficult engineering idea.

[vanursepaul]

I like the ATX sticker;.;;

[AussieMatt]

Great idea/work Steve - when are you starting on the SDC conversion

[Steve Herschbach]

I would love to do the SDC for the same reason. Do desert prospectors need a waterproof to ten feet detector, and in the case of the SDC with a hard wired coil? Imagine a SDC that was designed from the ground up for prospecting instead of leveraging the expense of an already developed military housing. How about an SDC stuffed in a Eureka housing and with optional coils?

Anyone get the feeling that the companies think prospectors are only worth getting leftovers? Yet it is prospecting that has been driving millions in sales around the world.

[AussieMatt]

How good would a SDC in the Eureka housing be just as a lower cost option even for those that don't necessarily want or need the waterproof + compact/fold-up side of things. Can't see me duck diving in creeks for gold with the SDC but I do like how it folds down though.

Interchangeable coils would be great & something I hope may still come to light in the future? Something around a 10"x5" > 14"x7" elliptical & a 12" > 16" round would be awesome.

On 12/26/2014 at 6:42 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

Imagine a SDC that was designed from the ground up for prospecting 

With input from people in the design stage rather than the testing stage so that something more practical could be developed. An already great detector could have been so much better.......... but in saying that I still love it   

[Steve Herschbach]

Sadly, I do not believe most companies care to know what you want at the design stage. They are businesses and they are trying to figure out how to make money. They have accountants telling them to do things like put a prospecting detector in a coin detecting box because it is more cost efficient and easier for the company, because above all, they have to make money. I 100% believe that both Garrett and Minelab started purely with a desire to develop a consumer product based on an existing military housing. That was job one, that was the main consideration. Now, with that in mind, who do you sell to? Park coin hunters? Of course not, those people are not stupid. "Hey Jim, those prospectors, they will pay big money for a detector that has spikes in the armrest if it finds them gold - let's stuff a gold detector in that box!"

And that is how I end up standing in the desert with a 7 pound detector waterproof to ten feet!

Yeah, I really like my SDC and my ATX for that matter. I actually am a water hunter also so the current ATX design works just great for me on that level. And the SDC really is - well, cool! But a three piece rod would have folded up just as well for a couple thousand less.

Sooner or later somebody is going to start the process with the end use in mind. The original Gold Bug was one of the very few detectors ever ergonomically designed specifically for prospecting. Light, compact, with hip and chest mount options. To this day it remains perhaps the best most useful physical design for a prospector ever made, and it was done 25 years ago. So much for progress!

[Steve Herschbach]

This is starting to look a lot like a FORS Gold. I fashioned a rail mount on top of my control box that can work with a Minelab clamp on arm cuff. That way I can use whatever rod I want and mount wherever I want. In order to allow for hip or chest mount it all needs to be in one box, so side flush mount controls was the expedient way to go.

Waiting for paint to dry.