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GoodAmount

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  1. GoodAmount
    I’ve got a NF 17x13 and haven’t used it since getting the X-Coils 8” and 15” CC. I’ve found most of my gold with the 8” - It’s significantly more sensitive than the NF 17x13. It’s both super sensitive to tiny gold and easy to poke into spots that other coils can’t get into. This is a winning combination in areas that have been hit hard for decades by other detectors and coils. It doesn’t cover much ground though, so it’s worth having a bigger coil for patch hunting over larger areas.
  2. GoodAmount
    Nice work Mitchell! What timings were you using? The 15” CC should ping pieces much smaller than that too …and the 8” and 10” even smaller still. I find if the ground I’m hunting is heavily mineralised and variable, it’s worth running over it in HY Difficult with sensitivity bumped up as high as I can go. The 15 CC purrs along quietly, but still stays sensitive to the small stuff. I find Normal typically hits deeper targets (in mild ground), but hear the teeny-tiny shallow bits better in Difficult.
  3. GoodAmount
    I’ve been designing myself a new anti twist carbon-fibre-shaft kit for my 7000 so I can collapse it down to fit it in my ebike pannier and the lower shaft was originally made of carbon. It worked out great, but the machine was running noisy for a reason I couldn’t figure out, so when Gerry originally brought up this topic I ran a piece of shaft over the coil and sure enough it sounds off like nobody’s business - especially with an 8” X-Coil. I swapped out the carbon lower for a plastic one and the machine now runs noticeably quieter. I don’t own a 6000, but if it made this much difference on my 7000, it’s definitely worth swapping out your lower shaft for a glass fibre one.
  4. GoodAmount
    That’s devastating news Doc!! My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.
  5. GoodAmount
    I can certainly understand you feeling like the detector should be able to give you more than your ground will allow. Running it maxed out all the time takes away some of the joy in decision-making and using your nuanced detector skills from the detecting experience. It would be great if Minelab were doing what Nokta are doing with their software development and responding dynamically to user needs. Imagine a 7000 with a beast mode! Your experience is very different from mine. I’m rarely able to run my machine maxed out and love it when I can. Today I was only able to run it in HY Normal for about 10 minutes on a 2x2m patch of quiet(ish) slaty tailings. Even then I had to knock the sensitivity back to 15 to reduce the moaning and groaning. It paid off with a nice specimen that I’d missed on a previous hunt in that spot where I’d left it in HY Difficult. Some of the people I’ve bumped into here in Victoria swear by running HY Normal Sens 7-8 in difficult ground, but I find I miss a lot of the small gold that way. But truth is that I should be making use of all the timings and coil selection on my patches to maximize yield, which takes discipline and time I many times lack. 🙂
  6. GoodAmount
    @phrunt I didn’t realise there was a sensitivity decrease for V2 coils. Interesting, I thought it would have been the opposite. The 12” spiral would be a good option, especially if it has the sensitivity of the 8”, but its weight is 1100gm, making it less appealing for scouting sidewalls of trenches and sharply inclined gullies. It would certainly suit some of the ground I hunt - I wish I could afford all of the coils! 🙂 @davsgold That looks like noisy ground for sure. Thanks for letting me know your settings - they’re similar to what I use, but I can usually bump up the sensitivity to 18-20 in HY Difficult if I’m running the threshold at 12. In really variable ground with the 15” CC I’ve been finding I can still ping tiny specs at reasonable depth if I drop the machine back to HY Severe THS 12 and keep sensitivity high. Even though the machine is desensitized, it runs nice and quiet so I can hear the faint signals that get lost in the noise of the higher timings. This strategy doesn’t work as well with the 8” though. @fourtyniner The 8” was the best investment I’ve made for the Zed. It’s paid for itself many times over. I’ll certainly buy another one if it ever breaks.
  7. GoodAmount
    Thanks for the tips phrunt and davsgold. The key thing for me here is the weight of the coil vs sensitivity when patch hunting for days at a time. I’ll usually swap from a larger coil to the 8” after I’ve pinged my first bits and move very slowly if there’s gold to be found. Then swap back to a larger coil afterwards to pick up any of the deeper bits I’ve missed - which quite often isn’t very many. @phrunt, you’ve been a great advocate of the 8” and I’d be interested to know your experience with owning both the 8” and 10” given the size difference isn’t that great. The 10” is about the same weight as the 15x10” DOD - could the 10” suffice as a patch hunter? In your opinion, does it give adequate coverage for that function given it doesn’t lose too much of the sensitivity of the 8”? @davsgold I’d be interested to know how mineralised/variable the ground that you hunt is? How noisy is the 15x10” spiral in it and can you comfortably swing it for days at a time? I’ve got to run the 17x12” at a lower sensitivity in the ground I hunt, which is why I’m wondering if a 15x10” DOD might be a better option.
  8. GoodAmount started following X-Coil 15x10" DOD Experience?
  9. GoodAmount
    I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 15x10" DOD X-Coil on the 7k? I've currently got the 17x12” spiral, 8” DOD and 15” concentric and have found the majority of my gold with the 7k using the 8”, cleaning up the crumbs in surfaced areas and rocky terrain that have been hit pretty hard by other detectorists. It’s been a fantastic coil, being super sensitive, surprisingly deep and pretty stable in variable ground and I can push it into nooks and crannies and into the undergrowth where it’s not possible with a bigger coil. I owe it big time, but ground coverage is obviously very limited and I’m finding I’m increasingly using the 15” concentric to cover more ground. It’s a fantastically quiet and sensitive coil, but it’s giving me tennis elbow and a dicky wrist as a result of swinging it many hours a day. I’m also sure I’m missing targets close to trees and obstructions given its lack of edge sensitivity. I haven’t used the 17x12” spiral for a very long time - it’s heavy and noisy in the ground I hunt, so I’m thinking of selling it and buying the 15x10” DOD. I’m interested to hear how it compares with other X-Coils, particularly for regular day-long patch hunting. It’s pretty appealing on paper, given it has double the ground coverage of the 8” while being only 130gm heavier and it’s elliptical profile is good for maneuverability. How is it for sensitivity, stability and depth?
  10. GoodAmount
    Well done Hunterjunk, I think this is brilliant! You might just be creating a subculture of timber-shaft enthusiasts. How is it for stiffness?
  11. GoodAmount
    For those who have access to a 3D printer and are interested in testing a non-conductive lower shaft on their Manticore as a temporary measure before sourcing one from steveg, I've uploaded stl files to the downloads section of the forum. I don't own a Manticore, so I went to a friendly dealer to measure up the Manticore's lower shaft and designed the parts. I haven't been able to test how the machine performs with it since though, so I'd be interested to hear from anyone who can. I know my 900's operation has noticeably improved since using it's new lower-shaft extension. I hope this helps!
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  12. GoodAmount started following Nox 900 Carbon Fibre Lower Shaft Non-Conductive Extension and Manticore 3D Printed Non-Conductive Shaft Extension
  13. GoodAmount
    More information about "Manticore 3D Printed Non-Conductive Shaft Extension"

    Version 1.0.0

    16 downloads

    The Manticore 3D Printed Non Conductive Shaft Extension was designed to alleviate issues caused by having a conductive carbon fibre lower shaft bolted directly to the coil. This is particularly important for gold prospectors who experience knock sensitivity when laying the shaft flat against the coil during target recovery, but it may also have benefits during the target search, especially when working tight rocky terrain where the coil is constantly being knocked and/or rotated relative to the shaft. The product has been designed in three parts so that the layers can be 3D printed in line-of-force to increase strength and prevent delamination during use. You will need to buy 2x 40mm M8 nylon hex bolts and nuts - I sourced mine from here. For each assembly, you will need to 3D print 1x shaft extension, 1x clamp, 1x clevis and 2x thumbwheels. To assemble, glue the clevis to the front of the shaft extension (preferably with epoxy) - it’s been designed to only fit to the front to avoid mix-ups. Glue the clamp to the rear of the shaft extension, making sure that it’s oriented in the same direction as the clevis mount (facing upwards). Seat the M8 nuts into the clevis and clamp rebates and the two 40mm bolts into the thumbwheels. It's helpful to epoxy the bolts and nuts in place, but be careful not to get glue in the threads. Snap the shaft-extension assembly to the Manticore’s lower shaft, thread its stock bolt through the clevis and tighten in place. Thread one 40mm bolt/thumbwheel through the rear clamp and tighten (avoid over tightening) and the other to mount your favourite coil to the 3D printed clevis. Happy hunting! Creative Commons licence - CC BY-NC-SA
  14. GoodAmount
    I wonder if the CF lower rod might also be responsible for Nox 900s occasionally behaving erratically. Mine's done it a few times now for no apparent reason. Could the shaft be sending the detector into a feedback loop?
  15. GoodAmount
    I can relate to your experiences with low quality 3D prints. The industry has come a long way in the last few years though, with some automotive manufacturers even using it for production parts. Yes, it does rely on the correct plastic being used, but also on the printing process (FDM, SLS, SLA, etc) and quality of the 3D printer to get high quality parts. Not all 3D printers are created equal and not all people using them know how to get the best out of them. The product also needs to be designed appropriate for the printing process and oriented correctly in the machine to make best use of layer adhesion (which is why I've designed this in multiple parts to get the grains running in the right directions appropriate to force). It is worth using a reliable 3D printing service if you don't have your own machine and you have to pay retail prices, but the big advantage for people with 3D printers is that if a part breaks you just print another one. But yes, you definitely want to design parts for best longevity in the first place. In cases like this though it allows us to innovate quickly, testing functionality without investment risk and finding alternatives in an open, distributed and collective way. I'd be keen to see others riff on the design and improve it over time. But at the very least, it's a good way to test whether a non-conductive lower shaft will meet your prospecting requirements - especially if you have your own 3D printer at home. It's free (except for material cost, which is around $2-5)!
  16. GoodAmount
    Just letting everyone know I've uploaded the 3D printed Nox900 lower-shaft extender I designed to the downloads page. I know everyone is super keen for Steveg's Kevlar lower shaft, but this might suffice for now for some people. I've been using it for a few days and it's proving to be quite robust and pleasant to use, particularly when swapping coils. I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts about it, so let me know how it works out if you make one. I'm thinking I'll make a Manticore version too. I don't own one, but I'll pay a visit to Miners Den and get a lower shaft for reference. Anyway, I hope this helps a few folks out. 🙂
  17. GoodAmount
    More information about "Nox 900 Carbon Fibre Lower Shaft Non-Conductive Extension"

    Version 1.0.0

    8 downloads

    The Nox 900 shaft extension was designed to alleviate issues caused by having a conductive carbon fibre lower shaft bolted directly to the coil. This is particularly important for gold prospectors who are experiencing knock sensitivity when laying the shaft flat against the coil during target recovery, but it may also have benefits during the target search, especially when working tight rocky terrain where the coil is constantly rotated relative to the shaft. You will need to buy a 40mm and 60mm M8 nylon hex bolt and 2 nuts - I would suggest just buying two 60mm bolts and cutting them down to size. These are the ones I sourced - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003554528145.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.138c674cdkh3Wv&algo_pvid=949ce8d2-8033-47ba-8524-5b8b03a83770&algo_exp_id=949ce8d2-8033-47ba-8524-5b8b03a83770-0&pdp_npi=4%40dis!AUD!24.72!12.12!!!16.16!7.92!%402103011017185920473694307e26fe!12000026266634715!sea!AU!136322599!&curPageLogUid=mOIvLzytoqPb&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch|query_from%3A For each assembly, you will need to 3D print 1x shaft extension, 1x shaft extension clamp, 1x clevis nut seat and 3x bolt thumbwheels. To assemble, glue the clamp to the rear of the extender (preferably with epoxy), making sure that the area that mates with the stock shaft clevis is in the right orientation facing upwards. Seat the 60mm M8 bolt into the clevis nut seat and the 40mm bolt into one of the thumbwheels. Seat an M8 nut into the other two thumbwheels. It's helpful to epoxy the bolts and nuts in place, but being carful not to get glue in the threads. Remove the rubber inserts from the stock carbon-fibre-lower-shaft clevis and place them in the 3D printed clevis. Insert the clevis-nut-seat/bolt into the stock carbon-fibre-lower-shaft clevis and use one of the thumbwheel/nut assemblies to tighten in place. Snap the shaft-extension assembly to the stock lower shaft and thread the 40mm bolt through the clamp and tighten with the other thumbwheel/nut assembly. Attach your favourite coil. Happy hunting! Edit: Creative Commons licence - CC BY-NC-SA
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