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Prospecting Hints and Tips


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Just thought I would share some of the money/time saving ideas that we use to make our prospecting trips a little easier.  I'm sure that others have these as well and would like to hear from you about them.

 

-To hold our daily nuggets we use the Coleman orange match case/safe that costs $1.00 at Walmart.  Can be bought online too and I just got 10 from them.

 

-The GP 3000 and 3500 batteries cost around $100, but battery stores and some True Value stores have the exact same battery used by Minelab for $19.99.  Simply pry off the black plastic dome on the used up battery and reconnect to the new battery, making sure positive is on positive and wrap with duct tape to secure.  I've done this many times.

 

-A good friend of mine made me a pick from a truck spring with a two inch piece of 1 1/4 inch pipe welded to the underside. I used a long handle from a sledge hammer secured into this pipe nipple and I use it as both a pick and crutch.

 

There must be thousands of hints that are used to find, dig, feed and help us get the gold.

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Well butter me like a biskut! Hotdam them ol truck springs make good knives too! Yep, yep, yap back a decade ago I'd too get my minelab batteries on the cheap and rewire em for under $20. Good on ya pard!

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Great tips! I usually have an old 35mm film cannister...but last time out,couldnt find it,brought empty copenhagen tin...luckily I didnt find any gold,lol.

That explains the duct taped "new" battery I got with my used gp extreme.

Gotta love them leaf springs...I know fellow roofers that use them as roof tear off tools. Thanks for the tips..and thanks for the laugh Bob!!

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  I no longer use coil covers, I apply a good thick coating of flexx seal spray on rubberized coating. Wally world sells it in white, clear or black. As it wears just reapply on the wear spots. Waterproofs and protects the coil.

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Fetch me my spectacles! There be more than one pig in the poke when it comes to powering your older machine. Feast your iballs on these here links. Now n then you can find one of the ol Pocket Rocket L-ion Systems for sale too. 

 

http://www.billandlindaprospecting.com/gpxbatterysys.html

 

http://www.nuggethunting.com/coiltek_li-ion_battery.htm 

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Brogansown, would this work for a ML Extreme and 2200? Thanks.

Steve answered the question.  These batteries are also online right now.  Type "six volt rechargeable batteries" and several sites come up.  But of course they charge shipping and handling, but still much cheaper to redo your own.  You can also rebuild the small half size battery too.  Both are six volts of course and the regular size battery is 10 ah or amp hour and the small one is six volts and 4.5 ah.  Use the dome top from the used-up small battery the same way.  I think it is important to know how to rebuild your own, because someday you won't be able to buy one anywhere as Minelab shifts to different models and battery types.

 

I suspect the Li-ion batteries are a little harder to remake as they have a built-in amplifier and there are either six or eight (I can't remember which) small batteries soldered together inside the aluminum can.  But here again, those small batteries are out there for sale and we may have to make our own when Minelab and others stop selling them.  And they are really expensive, so great savings possible here.

 

I've had to repair my coiled battery cable many times also and when I do, I make them many times more rigid than the ones you buy. They seem to break right at the connection to the battery.  Just make sure that you get the wires on the right pins.  On the GPs there are two small headphone wires and two larger battery wires.  I haven't attempted the GPX yet, but suspect that someday I'll have to repair them too.  Minelab got smart with the 7000 and all those wires are internal, which is a good deal. 

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  • 1 month later...

Yesterday was a nice day here in Eastern Oregon, so I Gold Bug 2'd for a few hours and got 9 small nuggets.  But in doing, so I noticed some new "holes" and none were filled in.  The ranchers on whose land we detect are very generous with us, but I imagine they appreciate it if we fill our holes and I know we should do so on BLM land.

 

Reading tvanwho's restrictions he will encounter up in the Northeast reminded me that there are folks out there that will use any excuse to restrict or deny our access for any reason.  So I remind everyone to fill them in and even fill in holes you find if you can.

 

Tip - Swing low and very slow and fill in the holes.

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