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Everything posted by GB_Amateur
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I meant scale units -- grams? Given the extent of the data, that seems to make the most sense but there are other units that are possible, I guess. Thanks for the file but I'll have to wait until a later time to absorb it. I'm frantically preparing for a month long trip. (I shouldn't even be using my time posting here...?)
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Nox No Longer Charges.. Any Advice?
GB_Amateur replied to Erik Oostra's topic in Minelab Equinox Forum
How dangerous is all of this? Lithium batteries are known to explode when shorted. (I've seen it happen -- wouldn't want to be standing next to it, for sure. There are often built-in protections, e.g. diodes, but...) You say 'parallel' so positive terminal to positive terminal and negative to negative. Just don't accidentally do the opposite (positive to negative...). I'd recommend at leasat a good eye shield.... Always need to ask if it's worth taking safety risks to try and save a few (tens of?) bucks. I recall 30 years ago when working at a well known national lab, an engineer put a large lithium multicell in a lead lined concrete vault meant for (and containing!) high intensity radioactive sources. All I could think of was "what is wrong with this picture???!!! -
Final Hunt On My Silver Beach For A While
GB_Amateur replied to schoolofhardNox's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
Correct. 35% silver x 5.00 g = 1.75 g of silver in a Warnick. 90% silver x 2.50 g = 2.25 g of silver in a (silver) dime. 1.75/2.25 = 7/9 = 0.778 ratio of silver in a Warnick compared to silver in a dime. -
California Gold Rush Camp Hunt
GB_Amateur replied to CVISChris's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
Impressive condition of that dime -- I'd estimate its grade at VF-30. You continue to amaze with your early California finds. -
In my experience (and that includes my soil's mineralization), the depths are more/less comparable for coins, but the Minelab Equinox holds its TID much better than the Fisher F75, which tends to make deeper coins sound ferrous. I recall reading some reviews on other metal detecting sites saying something about the F75 being a great relic detector but not a coin killer. Since some relic hunters dig it all (because iron relics can be prized), that kinda makes sense based upon my experience. I'd be surprised if the F75 performed much differently than the T2.
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Final Hunt On My Silver Beach For A While
GB_Amateur replied to schoolofhardNox's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
I think it's between 75% and 80% as much silver as a 90% silver dime. So not too bad. (Considered that way, 10 cents worth of warnicks has considerably more silver than a 10 cent silver dime.) Around where I live, they tend to come out of the ground looking much nicer than the typical 5 cent 'nickel' coin. The acid in the trees (mostly the leaves, I think) does a number on 25% nickel, 75% copper -- same composition as the outer layers of actual clad dimes, quarter, halves, dollars which can also look pretty wretched when recovered. Ironically, warnicks found in circulation are dull gray looking compared to standard nickels, just the opposite of what comes out of the ground. -
Final Hunt On My Silver Beach For A While
GB_Amateur replied to schoolofhardNox's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
So does that count as your 200th silver coin of the season? -
How Bad Is Minelab Customer Service?
GB_Amateur replied to Edward78208's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
Maybe they were getting so many calls containing "...where the hell are the GPX6000's?!?!?!" that they decided to quit anwering the phone until those arrive in the USA. OTOH, why didn't they just block Gerry's cellphone number? -
Which star was he looking at? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_David
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All I can say is if this were found on Oak Island, Gary Drayton would be going into orbit. Templar, baby!!!
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I was thinking the same thing, but (note: I haven't read or watched the link) if that's the case he should have been more explicit with details. I recall when experimenting with the ML Equinox IB that at least on one occasion a 6-8 inch deep silver dime (don't recall the depth more accurately than that) gave more ferrous tones (along with some non-ferrous tones) than it did with IB minimized. Some have mentioned the possibility that ferrous that is nearby non-ferrous sounds off more when IB is set high, so that could be what I was experiencing. I'd like to be able to provide more details and more examples, but that's what I've got so far. For my parks and schools I haven't found any need to use IB setting other than F2=0. I leave Tuesday for a month out west. I'll definitely be playing around with IB (among other setting adjustments) as I expect to experience considerably different ground and trash environments than around my docile sites. I don't suppose you noticed if the coin was oriented horizontally or vertically.... ?
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Quick Trip Back To The Mill
GB_Amateur replied to rod-pa's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
And to add insult to injury, there were about 3 times as many -D's as plains (no mintmark so stamped in Philadelphia) -- the latter should have been your most likely version since you're on the East Coast, close the Philly and 1800(?) miles from Denver! Still a nice looking coin. Is the copper a half cent or large cent? Can you make out the date (I can't). Once again your keen imagination to determine the hot spots pays off. -
Magnetic Rake Mod Advice Sought
GB_Amateur replied to GB_Amateur's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
Update: I made two mods to improve performance. First is shown in the sketch. I replaced the supplied (weak) alnico magnets with neodymium N45's from Amazon. In addition, I modified the mounting bracket to bring the magnets closer to the wall, adding pickup strength just due to the inverse cube falloff strength of typical magnetic fields. The second mod is shown in the following photo. This clamp (with magnets shown aimed at the handle so in the 'off' position for transport) locks the internal frame and magnets in place so the internal frame/holder doesn't rotate unintentionally. The clamp is reversible (right to left in the photo orientation) to keep the thumb screw heads distant from the ground, depending upon whether the fork tines are down (to contact the ground) or up (to allow the smooth edge to leave the ground smoothed). The last mod (to be completed tomorrow) is to add an O-ring to the transition zone between hexagonal aluminum extruded tube and the black plastic endcap at one end. That will take up the slack and most importantly (hopefully) make a seal to prevent magnetic dirt/sand from sneaking inside and jamming up the works. -
Coiltek Nox 10x5 - Watch Out!
GB_Amateur replied to Chase Goldman's topic in Metal Detecting For Jewelry
How about going the other direction and reduce (with sandpaper, etc.) the OD of the screw's shank? I don't think screws come with warranties. ? Better yet, if you can get a 5/16 inch screw/bolt (easier in the USA...), I suspect that would work fine (based upon the photo Phrunt showed). I don't have the new Nox 5"x10" coil but I measured an Equinox screw. Here are some pertinent dimensions: Eqx screw shank diameter: 8.0 mm (0.32 in) Eqx screw diameter at threads: 7.8 mm (0.31 in) 5/16" screw diameter at shank: 7.84 mm (0.309 in) 5/16" screw diameter at threads: 7.75 mm (0.305 in) For reference 5/16" = is 7.94 mm (rounded to 2 decimal places) (Note: neither of these screws was perfectly round. In the case of the Eqx screw I rounded the measurements to one decimal place. For the 5/16" steel screw I happen to measur, I posted the largest value as I rotated it in the caliper.) My favorite stock coil attachment screw of my collection of detectors is the White's 3/8 inch diameter. Turns out a standard bolt for attaching a toilet seat to a toilet bowl in the USA is that very size, and plastic ones are available at pretty much every hardware store in the country. (But even in that case, the shank of a plastic toilet seat screw may need sanding down a bit. However if you happen to lose the White's nut but not the bolt, the toilet bowl nut works just fine unmodified.) Afterthought: 7/16" diameter bolts are also used for some toilet seats, so if you choose to go that direction with a White's detector make sure to get the smaller 3/8" size. -
Garrett Apex Superfly Air Test
GB_Amateur replied to George Kinsey's topic in Garrett Metal Detectors
That's a very important (new) piece of evidence and reduces the concern. It would be interesting if someone were to measure the angle at which the all-ferrous / some non-ferrous break occurs. An on-edge coin with its plane coincident with (i.e. containing) the coil swing path is the most difficult orientation for any(?) detector. I recall Randy Horton's advice on searching at the sidewalk-to-sod/dirt transition in his Understanding Your X-Terra monograph which is downloadable here. Maybe Garrett can alter the software and issue an installable upgrade, but sometimes fixing these rare(r) occurring anomalies is a bit like trying to accomodate for unicorns and run the risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. (How's that for a couple of cliche's? ?) -
Can you take a photo of that staple (and include something for scale)? I have both the 6" DD hockey puck and the 5"x9" DD (gold version stock coil) that both run at 18.75 kHz so I can do a test. (I'll need to find a similar staple, or make one. Since I have kept hundreds of trash targets and am a packrat on top of it, I don't think this part will be too tough.) Also, I assume your test was done in air, but how far from the coil do you pass the staple, and in what orientation?
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Garrett Apex Superfly Air Test
GB_Amateur replied to George Kinsey's topic in Garrett Metal Detectors
Here's a link to that video. For starters, maybe I'm naive or overly conservative handling my detectors but I would never change coils with the detector turned on. The silver pendant has some kind of clasp or attachment loop. What is its composition? Finally, at least one of his tests resulted in mostly high tones (when the pendant was on edge). Regarding your air tests (coins being much better, IMO). Would you give more details, including settings? How far away from the coil were you swiping the coins? Which orientation(s) when on edge? What do you mean by 1-33 and 0 for digital TID's? Did you get any high tones with coins on edge or were they always iron grunts? I've seen Silver zone--> Iron zone wrap-around before. (Opposite direction, too, even more commonly?) When the Minelab Equinox was released, stacks of silver coins resulted in this anomaly. A Minelab software update alleviated that problem, at least in many cases; not sure if it was all of them. An in-ground test would be more realistic, if you have the ability to do that. -
Give it a try. I just tested my Z-Lynk transmitter-receiver pair in the back yard (w/Fisher F75 in motion all-metal with threshold cranked up; White's ProStar headphones) and could hear from at least 30 ft distance. (I ran out of room since I didn't want to hop the fence into the neighbor's yard. ?) My Minelab WM08 & Equinox will get this distance easily as well, but in its case it's important not to let your body get between the receiver and (embedded in control housing) transmitter. The Garrett Z-Lynk may be less bothered by that but good idea to have line-of-sight connection, anyway.
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Nice effort, and deservedly rewarded. Do you think this coil is providing improved separation, leading to finding keepers where you previously hunted with the same detector (but with larger coils)?
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Maybe My Last GPX Beach Hunt For A While
GB_Amateur replied to schoolofhardNox's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
Have you (or anyone reading) considered asking the grateful owner for possible permissions to detect? Seems like that would be a nice non-monetary reward. It's impressive that you're able to hunt so many hours in difficult weather conditions. (I'm recalling your sub-freezing hunts from this past winter.) And with a heavy detector on top of it. You definitely earn your loot. Have you pulled the dates and mintmarks off those silver coins? The Standing Liberty Quarter looks promising. I'm sure you (but maybe not everyone here) know how often those lost their dates to wear. -
I've wanted to see these kinds of plots ever since I got into detecting for gold (6 years ago). As long as a viewer keeps in mind the conditions/assumptions that went into it.... The creator makes no grandiose claims about what this represents, and mostly uses it as in intro to his more philsophical discussion which is the body of the video. Would you go into detail about what you mean by this? I.e. why does your plot resulting in a straight line indicate that you've cleaned up the patch? Also, what are the weight units of the horizontal scale? And were all of these nuggets found with the Fisher Gold Bug 2?
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Magnetic Rake Mod Advice Sought
GB_Amateur replied to GB_Amateur's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
I'll give it a decent workout and let you know. If it fails it won't be the first time I wasted $50+ on detecting gear.... -
Magnetic Rake Mod Advice Sought
GB_Amateur replied to GB_Amateur's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
Ordering today from Amazon. They are so inexpensive that it amazes me they weren't included in an otherwise well thought-out and executed design. I was concerned there was a good reason the installed magnets were weak which is my main reason for starting this thread in the first place. But no one has defended that; just the opposite, in fact. Thanks to all who responded. -
I agree. Regarding 'affordable' ground balancing pulse induction (GBPI) detectors, Garrett seems to be in the best position (outside of Minelab...) to fill this market hole, given that they have the know-how/IP for both the ATX and now the TDI. QED is already there but I don't even know how easy it is to get one of those in Australia. Fisher and Nokta/Makro are both working on PI's that hopefully will be affordable.... But hope is a precarious concept to count on, particularly in the metal detecting world. GBPI market leader Minelab has made one step (of the two desired steps) forward recently with the lightweight GPX6000. But they seem satisfied to stay in the high priced range. Obviously that's worked well for them, financially. Maybe people like you, Steve H., and I are naive thinking a moderately priced GBPI would be a money maker. The market researchers at the big (surviving) metal detecting companies seem to have decided that, in the past several years anyway. (Multiple tongue-in-cheak words/phrases in those two sentences! )
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Magnetic Rake Mod Advice Sought
GB_Amateur replied to GB_Amateur's topic in Detector Prospector Forum
Sure. I'm planning on using it near old buildings, camps, etc. to clear surface iron (nails, wire, etc.) to short circuit the problem of masking. (Buried iron will still be a problem, of course.) In addition, it hopefully can be used for clearing minor surface layer to get a bit closer to deeper tiny gold bits after running the detector over the surface first. For the latter I don't know how important the magnet is, but should help with small ferromagetic hot rocks, etc. My first time trying this so I'll be learning as I go.