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Equinox Golden Mask Shaft Conversion


Condor

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I really needed the Equinox on a collapsible shaft so that I can put it in my backpack or stow it on the Rokon for riding cross country.  I already had the Golden Mask shaft that I had modified for the Deus, so I started tinkering.  The original Equinox shaft has a smaller diameter than the Golden Mask, so the shaft mounts will not mate up directly.  I took the dremel tool and relieved the areas around the screw holes just enough to get the Nox handle brain/screen section to snug up to the Mask shaft.  I removed the original Mask handle and fitted the Nox in the same location.  (Mask handle is bolted and glued to the shaft, it takes some work to get them apart.)  I then used longer NOX sized metric bolts (shown below)  snugged them into the NOX handle around the Mask shaft.  Its a very tight fit so the bolts end up a little bent.  I then cut the heads off the bolts to make them more or less studs.  I cut and drilled a hose clamp band, fitted it over the studs, then pulled them down tight over the shaft with a nut and washer combination.  I added a little black paint and the whole thing is really stable.  I'll had a little black Duct tape to the whole mess so that it doesn't hang up on my shirt or pants. 

It collapses to 24 inches and fully extends to about 50 inches.  The Golden Mask shafts are all carbon fiber so corrosion, weight and shaft wobble are not a problem.  I gave it a test run this morning was quite impressed.  For whatever reason I can not explain, my bump falsing was cut by about half.  That was the first thing I noticed so I went through all the set up functions to make sure I hadn't accidentally changed something like Sens or Recovery.  Nope, all my same settings, but now a noticeable reduction in bump sensitivity.  I don't know how, but I'm liking it a whole lot better now.   

golden mask 001.jpg

golden mask 002.jpg

golden mask 003.jpg

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On 4/14/2018 at 5:14 PM, Condor said:

For whatever reason I can not explain, my bump falsing was cut by about half.  That was the first thing I noticed so I went through all the set up functions to make sure I hadn't accidentally changed something like Sens or Recovery.  Nope, all my same settings, but now a noticeable reduction in bump sensitivity.  I don't know how, but I'm liking it a whole lot better now.  

I noticed that bump sensitivity, believe it or not, appears to be related to GB setting.  For whatever reason, modes that typically tend to auto GB to higher numbers will have greater bump sensitivity.  This primarily applies to the “hot” or sparky modes (Park/Field 2 and the Gold Modes) but any mode that balances above 50 or so appears to be susceptible.  I noticed this in a cornfield when in Field 2 and GB’d above 50 or so.  I could just shake the detector in the air and get falsing.  I was concerned I had a loose coil connector or worse, but the issue didn’t happen as I cycled through the modes which were set near their default GB setting of zero.  Restoring GB on Field 2 to the 20 or 30’s in a different part of the site made the problem go away.   Encourage you to try this yourself to see if you can verify my observations.  Thanks.

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Anyway, the problem with the Golden Mask rod is that the way it collapses so short is that the rods all slide up into the upper rod all the way to the end. That means that not only is the upper rod a larger diameter than normal but that drilling holes in the upper shaft for lock pins or mounting pins is a no go. You have to figure out a way to mount externally as Steve has done.

golden-mask-universal-metal-detector-rod-assembly.jpg

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1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Well, no experimentation needed to confirm. I happen to know for a fact that the ground balance setting on any detector that is riding the ragged edge will have an impact on coil knock/bump sensitivity.

Thanks, Steve. The thing is, the GB was set by pumping (Auto) so it was supposedly "balanced" so not sure it was "ragged edge" unless that is another way of saying high (absolute) ground phase reading/setting.  Apologies if I am getting my terminology mixed up.  

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All I mean is detectors that are running at such high gain settings that knock or bump sensitivity is even an issue. Most detectors have been designed for "safe driving" in the past. Now in the arms race for more power, companies are pushing gain as high as it can go and then some. This results in more detectors now that overload or have coil sensitivity issues at the highest gain settings. Nok/Mak detectors are all prone to overload due to having very high gain levels. My Makro Gold Racer and Minelab Gold Monster both have coil knock issues at the higher sensitivity levels, as does Equinox.

I like detectors that can be "overdriven" or redlined, but it raises issues with people who on one hand have problems at the highest sensitivity levels, but at the same time do not want to lower the sensitivity to eliminate those problems because it results in less sensitivity to desired items. A Catch-22 type issue.

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