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Which trimmer controls the Disc then? Thanks, -Tom

I got out with my modified Lobo this weekend. At my sisters house in downtown Indianapolis, I was forced to turn SENS down to about 4.5 as the Lobo chattered too much and I could not pick out good targets. At a playground in west central Indiana, I had the same problem in a gravel tot lot, even tho I was out in the country. I was able to run the LST in Black sand mode flat out with no chatter in the gravel. Next, i tried a small sledding hill and had NO problem.This hill was thick ,rich black topsoil.I could run in Normal mode, just into the orange on Sens. No old coins but the deepest was a measured 7.5 inch on a clad dime. I think I will just crank the Sens down manually instead of readjusting the inside trimmer for when the unit chatters. Dunno why it did so well in black dirt vs all that chatter in gravel or in town? I am using the 9x8 coil, my favorite. I learnt long ago, to tell bottlecaps and rusty metal washers by the sound on the machine.They make an extremely high pitched sound and very hard to pinpoint, whereas coins and tabs and rings are more mellow and easier to pinpoint. -T

Bob, Can you tell us the story of how you acquired the nugget to show for this inspiring video? Was also wondering what it sounded like on a VLF machine, like an MXT? And why the trash signal vs a good signal? Thanks for the inspiring words at the end of the video too..made my day... -Tom

Ok, Temp was almost 70 today in late October in Chicagoland so I am packing up to go gold mining in Indiana this weekend, plus I did some air testing on the Lobo at a local park, away from my home interference issues. I set the Lobo on a park bench and got out some spare change and my tape measure , so there was no guessing. I was able to crank Sens to just inside the Orange area before it chattered a bit.. I had set the R33 trimmer to max CCW but turned it back 1/8 turn. It was orginally set at 1/4 turn back from full CCW from the factory. Air test results with speaker only: Clad dime- 7 inch Modern Lincoln Penny- 8-9 inch Jefferson Nickel- 10-11 inch Clad quarter - 10 1/2 inch I didn't have headphones with me but might expect another inch with headphones and listening for weak sounds. Originally, I could never do better than 8 inch on a clad quarter. I am a much happier camper now.Just have to see how I do in the ground at this point.... -Tom

I cranked the R33 to Max CCW position but due to interference, I cannot crank up Sens pst about 8-9. Fermi Natl Accelerator Lab is just a few miles north of me and a natural gas powerplant and hi tension power lines just a mile east of my place. Altho,I am usually ok in our local park, which is a bit odd? I'll have to take the Lobo to a park where my MXT was hitting clad quarters at 6 inches and see if anything deeper is found...

I got brave and started on it. I was able to pull the Lobo circuit board out of the hard plastic case but with the battery packs still connected. I turned the unit on, cannot put into red zone due to interference issues at home. Then I cranked the R33 trimmer Clockwise and depth got less, turned it Counter Clockwise and depth seems to be increasing. Need to get a plastic ruler or mark a piece of cardboard to check airtest depth.

I may pay a visit to my old Fisher detector dealer as he seems to still be in business,albeit only 1 day a week. I will ask him if he can get us the Fisher Goldbug 2, 2 stage GB control unit with fine and coarse ground balance ? Dunno if it will work with the Lobo but Scott Warner ought to know...

Here is the correct trimmer pot, R33, to adjust on LST for depth per Keith S and our friend from Germany. This Nikon L830 camera does a quick autofocus and shoots crisp shots even in mediocre light. Best camera yet for me..

Keith sent me an email and confirmed it is the R33 Trimmer pot, not the U4 pot, the one in back of the circuit board,at the corner, by the coil connector. He says to adjust it a tiny bit at a time, test for coil depth, and continue..also disc will be affected so need to find out where nails are rejected afterwards. M, how did you get that big vernier dial and toggle switch mounted ? What do they do exactly? Did you remove the built in speaker? I'd also love to have a 2 stage coarse and fine adjustment GB control like is used on the Fisher Goldbug 2. Fisher refuses to part with any electronics for experimenters tho. Wonder where they get that GB control knob? I was able to view the YouTube video this time, thanks.

M, Our Lobo circuit boards look different? Is yours the Lobo Supertraq or the old original Lobo? The white cube looking things on my board, seem to be yellow on your board? The large blue capacitor near the front of your board, is Silver on my board. -Tom

MSCH, I cannot view your YouTube video as it is marked Private . Can you view my photos and tell me if the U4 pot trimmer is the right one to adjust or not? Keith told me the V4 pot, but I could only find a U4 pot back by the coil connector..

Looks like Frys Electronics is the place to go for the pot trimmer adjustment tool. I tried Bestbuy, RadioShack,and TigerDirect,none of them has the tool or even knows what it is. Over at Frys, it is called a Potentiometer Trimpot Tool, cost $1.89,part # 63-8608.

Do you have some photos of your German GB control changes to the Lobo and how to install on the circuit board? Thanks for the update to this thread. How deep can you get an American quarter in the ground now or half dollar? Thanks -Tom

Looks like it is called a Trimmer Adjustment Tool, cost under 5 bucks, will ask at Radio Shack and Best Buy.

Ray, Keith told me to adjust the U4 trimmer pot back by the LST coil connector.Leave the other pots alone or disc will be messed up. The trim pots ALL have labels altho you might need a magnifying glass.Don't ferget to mark a reference point so you can reset U4 back to where it was originally, if needed. I got me some jewelers screwdrivers but they are metal. Where can I get a hard plastic tiny flatblade? Just concerned if I slip and the Lobo is turned on, sure don't want it to short circuit the board? I had to pull apart the white plug on the main battery connector to pull the board out of the control box and get access to U4. It may be a bit tough to adjust the pot a touch, reconnect the main battery plug, test detector, and repeat many times, we will see.... -T

I got my Lobo apart and circuit board exposed and was finally able to get hold of Keith S tonite.Tomorrow, I will get brave and turn the tiny trimmer pot he told me to turn and see what happens...wish me luck...I've never fooled around inside a detector before so am kinda gunshy about it..I will mark the pot trimmer position before I turn it for a reference point ..like doing the timing chain on a car I guess...wish me luck.. -Tom

There is a video on YouTube from Keith Southern who claims to have tweaked a certain pot inside his LST and getting the depth I want on coins, like 10-12 inches in hot ground atho he doesn't actually dig any of his test targets I noticed. .And he doesn't show which pot it was of the 7 on the circuit board. Guess I need to try to pm him if can find his email address? I only keep my LST around cause it was my fave detector and could run rings around the Shadow X5 I bought some years back for Civil War relic hunting in Ironton, Missouri. The spot I was hunting was on top of an iron mountain.Heck, there was an iron mine right acrosss the street and another one on top of the hill during Civil War days. The Shadow was useless here, beeped every step.My LST totally ignored the hot ground and got me globs of lead, lead bullets, even got me what I later learnt was a brass cannon primer thing and these coiled up wires which must have been used with the primers to set off the cannons. I am having a dealer on Ebay check the Detech and NEL 13 inch coils on a Lobo/Vaquero. He is claiming 10-12 inches air test on coins. Guess I better check his return policy if I don't like the coil? -T

Why would this detector get better depth on a mens gold ring vs a silver quarter? Isn't Silver more electrically conductive than gold? I could get 10-12 inches on a quarter in the ground with a Tesoro Tejon but it made the same audio response on a target whether the item was an inch deep or a foot deep, which I don't like. The LST on the other hand has the audio modulation that I like,softer signal =deeper target. Now ,if I could just have the Tejons depth and the audio modulation of the LST,I'd be a happy camper... -Tom

Does anybody know if those Detech or NEL coils made for a Tesoro Lobo ST will actually get better depth than the Tesoro coils before I go and buy one and can't return it? Any recommendations on the best coil of these 2 brands for deep silver hunting? I have all of the Tesoro coils made for my LST, but I could never get more than 8 inches on a silver quarter even after having the detector tuned to the 9 x 8 coil in Disc mode at the factory. My buddys with Minelabs can get several more inches or so they claim. The LST was my fave all time detector and the only one I ever paid for with finds,mostly gold jewelry.Heck,it will 'see ' a mens gold ring at a foot deep air test in All Metal,so I don't understand why I can only get silver coins at 8 inch max in Disc and a touch more in All Metal? Thanks, -Tom

How would this wonder mat do in a gold pan or maybe 1/4 of the pan surface, or up on the pans slope, might be worth experimenting with it? Ps, I got the cheap ABS Black Miller Table off Ebay for $ 50 shipped and altho it included a few extras like Teflon tape and a cheap ball valve, it is NOT as easy to get up and running as the YouTube videos implied. Altho,I have to admit I did NOT like the idea of using a 110 volt pump to power the setup, scares me to think of electric shock hazards? So, I found an Atwood 500 gph 12 volt bilge pump I had and am attempting to mate that to the ball valve.Had to go to Ace hardware and get 2 garden hose adapters with 1/2 and 5/8 inch barbs on them plus garden hose screw on fittings on the other ends, 1 female and 1 male. And finding a suitable tub to fit wasn't easy either.I finally acquired a 10 gallon tote from Ace hardware that is gonna have to work with the sides squeezed together a little bit and a small tub inside to catch my tailings. The cross bar that was provided for the table to set on was just that and no brackets to hold the table in place so I drilled and bolted on 2 right angle metal brackets today. I would say this Miller table is ok for lite duty home use but field use is doubtful unless you baby it.The ABS plastic is almost paper thin, not the rugged thick ABS black plastic like is used on Bazooka sluices, like it needs to be. I hope to have all the bits and pieces together tomorrow for a test run.I also just found my California Sluice Box company concentrator sluice so will try that too. I can fit a garden hose up to that one and it is rugged enough for field use. It uses those drop riffles in a narrow 3 inch wide x 2 foot long sluice to catch the fines and mounts on a 5 gallon bucket. Now,if I could just find my digital camera? It disappeared after my last mining trip.Small cameras are nice but they can disappear easily. KInda hard to wrap them in bright red duct tape like my shovels so they stand out better? -Tom V.

Do you have a better photo of the Miller Table setup? I acquired a black one similar to yours with the vial under it , off Ebay for $50, minus the water tubs /pails. It got here today and I actually did read the instructions, despite us men having a notorious reputation for NOT reading instructions.... How do I mount it and use a 12 volt bilge pump? They had it running off a 110 volt Harbor Freight aquarium pump as I recall , which didn't sound too safe? Running water and 110 volt electricity, with my bare hands in there, sounds pretty dangerous if you ask me....can't wait to try it out then compare to the Bowl. I also acquired a wire mesh strainer from the Kitchenware dept at Walmart.I think its called a tea strainer,cost about 5 bucks, shaped like a wire mesh bowl sorta.Wonder what mesh it is? Does it even matter? Please advise what to do now before using the Miller Table? This thread is getting pretty interesting and videos and photos make it that much better. -T

Thanks Steve

Ps, LipCA, I never can get that tapping the pan method to work right. Whats the secret? Any videos on doing it? Psss, my mini Bazooka sluice caught gold so fine at Gatesville,Indiana I could hardly see it. I was gonna throw it back in the creek so it would grow up but my fellow miners were trying to make a grab for it, so I kept the cons. Heck, I could shovel faster into that 1 foot long, no classification needed sluice, 2x as fast as they could shovel into their gas engine highbanker ,and I could do it standing up and clear the rocks off the grizzly with the tip of my shovel. Best little sluice I've ever had !!! And it fits inside a backpack or knapsack for sampling trips.Only bad thing is, it does require a FAST water flow, so will not work in a slow creek. -T

How do I classify my fines for the Blue Bowl without having to spend a lot of money on various mesh screens? What mesh is window screen? How about them colander things we use in the kitchen with the cone shape fine wire mesh? I watched several YouTube Blue Bowl videos but they don't really explain how the Blue Bowl works or the theory behind it? I never saw the gold results afterwards either? I actually do have one of these bowl things but never felt very confident on using it, so it sits on a shelf. Guess I need to get brave and try it out before winter gets here. I printed out some directions for using it tonite, will need to look it over and see what parts I have or need to buy yet. Thanks for all the responses. -T

Anybody got a cheap way to recover fine gold from concentrates that can be used indoors and is about idiot proof? I found some Miller table setups on Ebay and from Martin Prospecting in South Carolina but I'd rather not fork over more than $100 for a home setup. I know a GoldCube is made for this also, but $500 is a bit much for those of us on a tight budget. One thing I did like about the Martin Prospecting Miller table is the small hole at the head of the table into which you can sweep the gold with a tiny paintbrush which eliminates the use of a snuffer bottle. A vial is screwed into the bottom of the hole to catch your clean gold. They want $250 plus with shipping for this unit. I saw a homemade unit like this on YouTube made with wood and parts from Hobby Lobby. Has anybody made one of them? Thanks. -Tom V.