Doc

1 hour ago, bklein said:

I use Bose NC headphones with mine….sync’d to Spotify. 
I guess you could invent a feedback system to give you a modulated tone in proportion to the dirt detected.

You know the vacuum cleaner actually as a red light green light.  When you're vacuuming if the light turns red it means you are picking up dirt.  I have never seen it turn red with the exception of when I dropped a glass jar of instant coffee on the kitchen floor.  After picking up the glass I vacuumed up the crystals.  I yelled at my wife.  Hey something is wrong with this vacuum there's a red light than keeps coming on.

She comes out to see what I'm talking about, and says, "You idiot, the red light just means you are picking up dirt, or coffee crystals in this case."  I said, "Well why have I never seen it come on when you're vacuuming?"  She gave me this look that would kill a snake and says, "Because I don't let my house get that dirty."   (Apparently it's "HER HOUSE" I just am allowed to live here.)

Doc

 

11 hours ago, mn90403 said:

You can sell more swing arms for mops than for detectors. Quick Simon, patent that thought!

Damn, you might be right.

Doc

7 hours ago, Gold Seeker said:

It's sorta like it raining before metal detecting, it's sometime enhances the signal, with the wet mop it connects you to the floor better.

I actually learned that as a youngster doing things my parents called "chores" back then.

Well I vaguely remember chores.  But that is why I got married.  Being the male chauvinist pig that I am, I thought your wife was supposed to take over all the chores your parents made you do.  Otherwise, what is the point of getting married?  I could have stayed in my parent's basement and kept playing with my Xbox.  I mean we didn't have a basement and Xbox's weren't invented then, but still...   🤣

Doc

This is the old girl!  And our 2 sons and daughter with their spouses and our grandchildren.  Our youngest grandchild, Oliver was not born at that time.  But here is Oliver helping Grandpa a couple of weeks ago celebrating my 75th birthday.

1 hour ago, dig4gold said:

What feedback was the mop giving you? Hope you were properly ground balanced & not too many false signals.

Sounds like you can't get a break when wifey goes outdoors with you. Bit of a jinks going on there. Or are you pulling our legs. April fools was a month ago.

D4G

No it's legit.  Everything I talk her into doing, seems to go awry.  However we have gone to Minelab Partner conferences, once in England and once in Sardinia, and she really enjoyed those trips.  She loves to sight see.  I'd go to the talks and she would sit around and read and relax. 

8 hours ago, HardPack said:

Give the “Qweegle” a try, it”ll save your back. Any finds?😁

My wife is such an amazing woman.  Before we got married she told me.  I will work and help put you through college because I have no desire to go to college.  Then I want to be a stay at home mom and be a professional house-wife.

Well she has fulfilled that promise and then some.  I live in an immaculate home.  She is a mind boggling cook and a baker, and she loves going around the yard tending to the plants.  Then she gets a bag and one of those grabber tools and walks the neighborhood picking up whatever debris has blown in.  She is a bit on the OCD side when it comes to cleanliness.

She actually loves the outdoors.  She was from a small farming community called Morton Illinois.  I always say I married a "farm girl."  She says I did not live on a farm!  I say, OK, then tell me what you did for a job for three summers when you were a teenager.  (She worked detasseling corn!)  I tell her only a farm girl would detassel corn

We have three children and she gave birth to all of them naturally.  Absolutely no drugs, she just did Lamaz.  She is loving and family means everything to her.  But she is tough as nails.  Especially when you consider our second son weighed 9 lbs 13 ounces.  The doctor was begging her to let him give her an epidural.  She said no way, and if you say it again I will fire you.  I said to the nurse, "She can't fire her OB right in the middle of giving birth can she?"  The nurse said, "I have a feeling that your wife could do just about anything she puts her mind to."

Doc

2 hours ago, klunker said:

 I believe Nugget Finder makes an aftermarket coil for that dust mop that is specifically for fine dust. You'll have to ask your wife how to adjust your sensitivity settings.

Is it a mono or DD.  Better yet I need an ANTI-INTERFERENCE because it's bad enough that she made me mop she had to keep telling me how to do it, and that I was doing it all wrong.  Apparently, you have to put the mop in the bucket and get it wet before you start swinging it on the floor.  "Who knew?"

Doc

My wife really isn't the Princess I make her out to be.  I mean she is in my mind.  She's a wonderful woman.  55 years with the ol' gal.

However, every time I want to take her on one of my adventures circumstances are such that things go wrong and she never wants to do it again.

I take her on a 3 day live aboard SCUBA Diving trip.  She doesn't dive but I do.  But I thought it would really be relaxing for her.  Really great meals every day.  Beautiful Ocean whale watching.  She was sea sick for three days puking her guts out.  And that was with a Scopolamine patch on.  I've never seen anyone get sick with a patch!

Then I get the toy hauler.  I tell her lets take the dogs and drive North of San Franciso up through the redwood forest and we will camp at this really neat place right by the ocean.  We will eat at great sea food restaurants.  We will have a blast.  So she loves the scenery, and enjoyed the drive.  We get to the campgrounds and the regulators on the propane don't work.  We can't run the generator, we can't lite the stove top, or the oven.  We can't keep the toy hauler warm.  It was freaking freezing being on the ocean with that wind blowing in off the ocean.  We couldn't take a shower because we had no warm water because of no propane.  That was the last time she went with me anywhere in the toy hauler.

This was the first time after buying the toy hauler that I had taken it anywhere.  Well people in the know said, "ARE YOU NUTS?"  You never take a long trip in a new trailer!  You have to do a break-in trip.  Got to a campground in your own town, hook up and make sure everything is working properly.  New trailers always have some bugs that need to be worked out.

WHOOPS.

Then there was the time when our daughter was a about 5 months old and I thought it would be fun to rent a motor home take our two older sons and go on a family vacation to California, Disney Land, Knotts Berry Farm, San Diego Sea World.  The whole 9 yards.  This was the motor home from hell!  It's a long story, but just an idea of how things went.  80 miles outside of Las Vegas the door fell off the refrigerator.  That was just the beginning.

We get to a beautiful campground in Newport Beach.  Some how on the trip over to California, by wife and my sons all thought it would be amazing to use the bathroom facilities while going 70 mph.  Because isn't that on your bucket list?  Taking a dump while going 70 mph?  I get to the campground and it stinks so bad in the motor home I figure I need to dump the tank and add chemicals.  They gave me 30 seconds of instruction from the place I rented this nightmare of a motor home.  So I get the DOOKIE tube out and put it in the sewer and open the gate valve and the hose like turned over on itself and got a kink.  The hose was really old.  So I try to lift it to un-kink it and the DOOKIE tube splits in half and dumps DOOKIE all down the front of me from my knees into my shoes.

And that was just the start.  The compressor on the air conditioner blew up and blew the grill off the front of the motor home.  Propane was leaking.  I'm at a repair place in San Diego parked in the lot trying to see if I can get the leaky propane fixed, and another motor home backs into our motor home going 20 miles an hour and caves in the whole side of the motor home.

Bottom line is, this motor home was so bad the rental company gave us a complete refund and made us sign a waiver that we wouldn't sue them.  The details of this trip would have rivaled any Chevy Chase family vacation movie.

Doc

7 hours ago, Digalicious said:

BTW- Be sure to tell your wife that it's not Mr. Metal Detector. It's Mr. Metal Detectorist 🙂

So what should I be called now?  "Mr. Mopperist?" 😁

11 minutes ago, Digalicious said:

Glad your wife only saw you swinging and not digging. Otherwise, she'd really set you up with some back breaking work!

BTW- Be sure to tell your wife that it's not Mr. Metal Detector. It's Mr. Metal Detectorist 🙂

I told her the pick is just to kill snakes.  The nuggets are just laying on top of the dirt. 😁

5 minutes ago, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

Just hook up the swingy thingy to the mop and she'll feel sorry for you again. 

She would love using the Goldmonster if you can get her on some jewelry sized gold. 

Not going to happen Ron.  My wife's idea of roughing it is staying at a 5 star hotel that doesn't have room service after 10pm.

Doc

23 hours ago, GotAU? said:

Those look useful. That larger stash will be handy when picking up other small stuff I find like topaz crystals and fluorescent pebbles and other mineral samples. But Doc, will I find larger gold nuggets if I order a larger Nugget Stash? 😉

A guy I know dropped his snuffer bottle with gold in it and it floated away down river. He needs a stash that comes with a leash!

That would be a lanyard...

23 hours ago, GotAU? said:

Those look useful. That larger stash will be handy when picking up other small stuff I find like topaz crystals and fluorescent pebbles and other mineral samples. But Doc, will I find larger gold nuggets if I order a larger Nugget Stash? 😉

A guy I know dropped his snuffer bottle with gold in it and it floated away down river. He needs a stash that comes with a leash!

I can't guarantee that.  But, being I am Catholic I can bless them with Holy Water if you think that will help? 

By the way St. Barbara and St. Anne (the mother of Mary) are the Patron Saints of Miners.  We have a Patron Saint for everything.  Us Catholics started this whole thing you know.  That thing about "There's an app for that..."  Us Catholics started that with, "There's a Saint for that..."  LOL 😁

Doc

I know many of you have my small Nugget Stash that you carry your gold nuggets in.  People love the convenience of a container that can be opened with one hand.  On the other hand many prefer an old amber prescription bottle because it's just bigger and easily found in your pocket.   So what about combining the convenience of one hand opening and the size and shape of a RX bottle?

Introducing the new Nugget Stalker® Nugget Stash. 

I carry one to put my gold in and another to carry my Tylenol and Blood Pressure pills in.

-Doc

Available at docsdetecting.com or Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/326106239673

(Nugget Stalker® is a Federally Registered Trademark in the U.S. and Australia. Gold Stalker® is a Federally Registered Trademark in the U.S. both registered to G.M. Lousignont "Doc")

-Doc

Personally I don't know where they would go with technology above and beyond the GPZ7000.  Not unless they added GPR which they already have that technology in their Mine Sweepers.

People love the Zed.  However, the one thing they do not love is the weight and the lack of discrimination.  Minelab seems to want to ignore that the reason the GPX5000 has held on so long here in the U.S. is that the Civil War Relic hunters love that depth, but they want the discrimination.

I think that the AXIOM and maybe even the ALGO Force may have stirred some thoughtful conversations.

I've always wondered what would it take for me to give up my ZED?  Well, it wasn't the GPX6000.  

However, give me another ZED iteration, but make it lite, make it have discrimination, and maybe a bit more visual feedback like the AlgoForce.  It would be hard to imagine a detector that could out perform the ZED.  The pure unadulterated power of the GPZ7000 and it's ability to find darn near all sizes of gold and find them deep, is mind boggling.  When I got the GPZ7000 I went back to every patch I had ever found gold at.  I had beaten these patches to death.  I averaged 6 new nuggets a patch.  I ended up with 132 nuggets in 3 months.  The most memorable was 2.1 grams at 22 inches.

So all I want is a machine that performs like the ZED that either has a free lifetime pass to a Chiropractor, or make it lite enough that I don't need a Chiropractor.  Give me discrimination and some visual clues as to what might be in the ground that is giving me a target signal.  And I will kiss my GPZ7000 goodbye.

By the way, strangely enough the cover I made for the Manticore, fits the AlgoForce beautifully.  So yeah, if they happened to design a new machine that would fit a cover I've already made that would be a bonus.  (It would never happen.) 😁

Doc


 

The side of the clip has the groove, is the adjustment side.  In other words make sure that the plain side of the clip that has NO groove is the side you attach to the rod of your detector.  The side of the clip that has the groove is the side where the bungee should not be attached to anything.  This is the end of the bungee that you pull up into the groove to lock the adjustment in.

This is precisely why I designed the QWIPPLE clip with adjustments on both sides.

May I suggest that you take the loop that you attach to the rod of your detector, on the side of the clip with no groove and put a piece of colored tape on the bungee down by the loop.  So you always grab the right end to attach to the rod of your detector.  Then use the other end to pull up into the clip groove.

Doc

Call me.  702-419-3070

Doc

On 4/11/2024 at 7:25 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

 

It's right there in the main chart on my GPX timings reference page. What you are posting is derived from the full chart but the version you posted does keep it simpler as long as people know how to read it. The most important part is the methodology for finding the proper setting, which the full chart includes in bottom right. In general the paradox of PI is that as you follow the chart left, the settings are progressively less powerful. Yet they actually perform better in increasingly bad ground. Ultimately it is no different than what we have to do with VLF - AS CONDITIONS WORSEN, REDUCE THE POWER/GAIN/SENSITIVITY! A very simplified way of looking at the Minelab GPX timings scheme is to treat it as a base level gain setting. Minelabs recommended methodology is exactly what I have done with both VLF and PI for decades. Learn to tune the detector to the edge of ground feedback, and ride that edge, adjusting as needed when ground conditions change.

 

That's great Steve, thank you for posting it again.

Doc

On 5/6/2016 at 8:40 AM, fredmason said:

If you mount the hipstick on the harness belt it all comes off together. I can, if need be, answer certain urgent calls without removal of the harness...

I tried the swing arm long ago when they first came out...just another piece that is not needed for my style of detecting...

fred

Fred you are remembered!  See you on down the track.

Doc

On 3/31/2024 at 5:03 PM, strick said:

This apparatus goes under several names detecting pal..detecting pro. Serious detecting has them as well as Amazon...I use one when beach detecting with various machines....allows you to let go of the detector when retrieving the target as well as relieving the pressure on your arm and shoulder. I have fused vertebrae in my neck and it does not aggravate it what so ever...Have not used it however with the 7000. use the minelab harness for that or go buck naked..

strick 

Well anything that takes the weight off of your arm is going to be very helpful.  Good to know it does not bother your neck.  Even with my Ultra-Swingy Thingy if you do not adjust the harness on the back to keep the horse shoe padded shoulder straps away from your neck, you're going to be miserable, because the rig pulls on your neck instead of transferring the weight to the back of your pants.

Most support harnesses will allow you to let go of the detector as long as you place the attachment point of the detector just back from the balance point.  I always advise customers to attach their bungee rig to the detector, and then carefully try to suspend the detector by just the bungee.  Don't completely let go you don't want a teeter totter effect where one end of the detector smashes into the ground.  Once you find the balance point, move the attachment point back so the detector naturally tilts forward with the coil on the ground.

Do not overdo it, because if it is too front heavy you will be using your elbow to counter balance it.  You want it to hang in the correct position naturally.  ALSO do not have the adjustment point too far forward where the detector is back heavy, because then you have to roll your shoulder forward to make the coil sit on the ground.

On flat level ground you don't need to constantly adjust the length of the device.  When Gold Prospecting you are up and down ridges and a way to quickly adjust the length of the bungee is essential to "fuss-free" detecting.  When you start up a ridge you lift the coil up and the bungee goes slack, now you are carrying the weight of the detector again, in addition to climbing a hill.  So having the ability to quickly readjust the bungee to take the weight off is a big plus.

Doc

42 minutes ago, RickUK said:

Doc,this is what i am on about its a short video that i found on YT,its a very simply device buts works exceptionally well even with GPX and a 18'' Coil.

 

So I have seen this device up close and personal.  Here's the thing I have learned after developing several Swingy Thingy's.  Under no circumstances do you ever want anything around your neck.  That is where the weight of the detector will be transferred to.  The Cervical spine is one of the most fragile parts of the spine.  At all costs do not put any unnecessary force on your cervical spine.  You will suffer the consequences.

You notice it says "FULLY ADJUSTABLE"  Fully adjustable is not INSTANTANEOUSLY ADJUSTABLE, which all of my rigs are.  You can change the length of the bungee in mid-swing without ever having to stop or miss a beat.

Just trying to point out the differences.  I think this device may be fine for lighter weight machines and flat ground where you are not having to constantly readjust the bungee length to accommodate changing and variable terrain.  Also the EASY SWING can be made instantaneously adjustable by just using a QWIPPLE™ bungee cord.

Remember everything I have developed as been motivated by me suffering injuries from detecting.  Torn rotator cuff, cervical disc degenerative disease, hand operated on two time, once completely opening my hand and cutting the tendon sheaths. And having the head of my ulnar bone in my right arm completely cut off due to injury.  I developed these things so I could keep detecting, otherwise I would not be able to.

Bottom line is, everyone has to use what works best for them, and there are certainly many folks using the Easy Swing, so apparently it is an asset to their comfort level.

Here's a video on how the QWEEGLE™ instantly adjustable bungee works, and it's not even the most recent iteration of adjustable bungee which is the QWIPPLE™
 

Doc

7 hours ago, RickUK said:

Have been trying a few permutations of harness and bungee combinations mainly on my GPX with the 18'' Coiltek Elite Mono coil on,and finally settled on a combination that i feel works well for me.I tried 2 full harness setups ie the Minelab one and a similar after market one and they do work ok of a fashion,but i hate being all trussed up like a chicken with all the cables and straps etc,yes it works well but i just hate using this setup.

So finally settled for a over the shoulder strap marketed by various companies i think Garrett also do one,attached to the centre of balance of the GPX shaft,i have a Docs gold screamer battery pouch coming so that will alleviate the heavy car battery from the waist pouch and thus far it works exceptionally well,i tried it with the 18'' Coiltek coil on and it can/could be swung all day without any major fatigue and also relatively comfortable as well.....i have tried the hipstick setup stup with a full GPX harness and it does work extremely well but i hate using a full harness.

So finally found a harness and bungee setup that works well for me,it took a while to find the ideal setup for my rig but well pleased with the finally setup.

Pictures???

1 hour ago, Swegin said:

The paddle idea has been around for awhile for those who knew.  Nice looking rig.  I do like the Bruce Willis vibe you have.  LOL.

 

My kids are always telling me I look like Bruce Willis.  Poor Bruce, fortunately my faculties are still intact, and my wife is way hotter than Demi Moore.

Doc

5 minutes ago, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

Very nice work Doc, looks like a winner for sure. The weight goes into the middle of the back or lower body so it removes the side tension probably all of it completely.

I think if Minelabs lowers the Zed prices a lot of people might reconsider buying one again now we have the  Dalas to attach to it.

Actually Ron it doesn't even go to the lower part of the body.  The way the Stick is designed it goes down, then back and then around in back and the force of the weight actually gets dissipated by pushing your belt out and away from your back.  If you were going to notice it anywhere it would be your belt in front tightens up because it is being pulled from behind.  Sort of what would happen if you grabbed your kid by the back of his belt and pulled.

I can't take credit for this re-direction idea as opposed to direct transference of weight like the Hip Stick.  It was first thought of by Minelab in their Pro-Swing, but the Pro Swing has some issues with adjustment and being tied to the harness, and the support strut on the Pro-Swing does not float, more times than not it ends up pulling on your shoulder because people are unsure of how to adjust it properly.

Doc