My Warehouse Is A Black Hole Where Merchandise Goes To Never Be Found Again, Except... Hip Stick Sold Out

[DSMITH]

40 minutes ago, phrunt said:

For those that missed out see this thread for the ingredients required to cook up your own, it's absolutely simple and my daughters little Lego kits require far more skill than making one of these things, and they're ages 5+.

 

I will agree with what phrunt stated, I just put one of these Hip Sticks together, it took longer to get the parts needed due to how slow shipping is than it took me to put it all together finally yesterday I was able to complete my hip stick

Below is a photo of the Hip Stick I put together yesterday, it took longer for the Gorilla  Glue to set up than it took to put the whole thing together LOL

 

[Doc]

5 hours ago, DSMITH said:

I will agree with what phrunt stated, I just put one of these Hip Sticks together, it took longer to get the parts needed due to how slow shipping is than it took me to put it all together finally yesterday I was able to complete my hip stick

Below is a photo of the Hip Stick I put together yesterday, it took longer for the Gorilla  Glue to set up than it took to put the whole thing together LOL

 

I'd say that's a darn good effort.

The thing I always found a bit wanky about the Hip Stick was the fact the ball would not stay in the socket.  Sort of like us old people and our joint problems. The only movement I would contemplate you would need would be forward and back.  So I'm wondering what would it hurt to anchor that ball in the socket with a small nut and bolt from the back to the front through the back of the socket and through the ball, and use thread lock on it.  You would not need the little tie down bungee.  The ball would be locked in the socket, and it would pivot front and back.  Just thinking out loud.

Doc

Doc

[DSMITH]

3 hours ago, Doc said:

I'd say that's a darn good effort.

The thing I always found a bit wanky about the Hip Stick was the fact the ball would not stay in the socket.  Sort of like us old people and our joint problems. The only movement I would contemplate you would need would be forward and back.  So I'm wondering what would it hurt to anchor that ball in the socket with a small nut and bolt from the back to the front through the back of the socket and through the ball, and use thread lock on it.  You would not need the little tie down bungee.  The ball would be locked in the socket, and it would pivot front and back.  Just thinking out loud.

Doc

Doc

Your mind works like mine Doc LOL

I have been  setting here trying to figure out how to anchor that ball into that thing that goes on your belt, instead of using a hair tie

My thoughts as an experiment was to take a 1 inch nylon washer which i already have, drill a hole into the bottom of the Delrin ball then thread that hole, use the 1 inch cupped washer I have with a nylon bolt screwed into the bottom side of that little white ball, then  use some gorilla glue on the threads of the small bolt, that would allow a little bit of side to side movement and movement front and back but it would keep that little ball in the cup,my problem is I do not think it would hold up very long and most likely the nylon bolt would end up snapping off

I did have to shorten the hip stick I made because it was just awkward at the length I had it, shortened it to 16 1/2 inches and it changed the way it worked completely for the better, the Delrin, white ball bearings I used I had to drill the holes to put the Rod in, those are self lubricating and I am not noticing any odd noises as @phrunt described.

the key in my mind to making the hip stick work good is to get it to the correct length on the main rod, to long as I had mine it just feels really awkward to use, and to short it most likely would not work as it is supposed to, I had to cut mine a couple of times before I finally got it to where it felt correct for me, and was actually a pleasure to use, I have not been in the field with it yet, all my testing was out in my yard just trying to get it adjusted to the proper length, once I got that figured out I could tell that it was going to remove even more weight off the detector and pressure off my lower back.  

[phrunt]

I think you'll notice the noise of the ball grinding once a bit or dirt and dust gets in there, but maybe not with your improved design.   

The pole length is somewhat of a preference, the sizes they come in are as follows

Small 16" (Under 5' 8")

Medium 18" (Up to 6")

Large 20" (Up to 6' 3")

XLarge 22" (Over 6' 3")

Sounds like you've got it all figured out.

Old car transmissions had those leather covers over them yet the stick still moved fine, it'd be funny to see a little leather cover over the ball like a car gear box with a little plastic 3d printed cover to hold the leather cover down that you could glue onto the blue mount for the ball. 😄

[Doc]

47 minutes ago, DSMITH said:

Your mind works like mine Doc LOL

I have been  setting here trying to figure out how to anchor that ball into that thing that goes on your belt, instead of using a hair tie

My thoughts as an experiment was to take a 1 inch nylon washer which i already have, drill a hole into the bottom of the Delrin ball then thread that hole, use the 1 inch cupped washer I have with a nylon bolt screwed into the bottom side of that little white ball, then  use some gorilla glue on the threads of the small bolt, that would allow a little bit of side to side movement and movement front and back but it would keep that little ball in the cup,my problem is I do not think it would hold up very long and most likely the nylon bolt would end up snapping off

I did have to shorten the hip stick I made because it was just awkward at the length I had it, shortened it to 16 1/2 inches and it changed the way it worked completely for the better, the Delrin, white ball bearings I used I had to drill the holes to put the Rod in, those are self lubricating and I am not noticing any odd noises as @phrunt described.

the key in my mind to making the hip stick work good is to get it to the correct length on the main rod, to long as I had mine it just feels really awkward to use, and to short it most likely would not work as it is supposed to, I had to cut mine a couple of times before I finally got it to where it felt correct for me, and was actually a pleasure to use, I have not been in the field with it yet, all my testing was out in my yard just trying to get it adjusted to the proper length, once I got that figured out I could tell that it was going to remove even more weight off the detector and pressure off my lower back.  

I would think, the appropriate length would be about 1 inch give or take right at the "D" ring on the harness.  Too high it's going to poke you in the face.  You want it short enough to take the weight of the detector and transfer it to your waist without it pulling on the "D" ring down and transferring the weight to the shoulder strap.

When I was playing with the Hip Stick years ago, it actually felt most comfortable when I moved the Hip Stick back on my waist a bit so from the side view it would have about a 20 degree angle tilted forward. sort of like this angle /  then the bungee going to the detector from the Hip Stick would be about this angle \.  So the weight distribution is not straight down, its more down and back.

I like your idea of the bolt into the bottom of the socket.  But I would make the hole in the socket larger than the bolt, but not as big as the head of the bolt or use a washer.  Then don't screw it in all the way.  That allows the ball to wiggle in the socket and have more play, but it won't come out of the socket.

One of the other issues I had with the Hip Stick is that it was not infinitely adjustable.  It needs to be telescoping so you can putz around with it until the length feels comfortable.

Doc

[DSMITH]

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

I think you'll notice the noise of the ball grinding once a bit or dirt and dust gets in there, but maybe not with your improved design.   

The pole length is somewhat of a preference, the sizes they come in are as follows

Small 16" (Under 5' 8")

Medium 18" (Up to 6")

Large 20" (Up to 6' 3")

XLarge 22" (Over 6' 3")

Sounds like you've got it all figured out.

Old car transmissions had those leather covers over them yet the stick still moved fine, it'd be funny to see a little leather cover over the ball like a car gear box with a little plastic 3d printed cover to hold the leather cover down that you could glue onto the blue mount for the ball. 😄

the gear shift covers were or are just a cosmetic thing, but yep that would be the ticket if someone could come up with something that was functional and would keep that little ball down in the socket, as well as keep dirt and grit out.

[cobill]

6 hours ago, Doc said:

I would think, the appropriate length would be about 1 inch give or take right at the "D" ring on the harness.  Too high it's going to poke you in the face.  You want it short enough to take the weight of the detector and transfer it to your waist without it pulling on the "D" ring down and transferring the weight to the shoulder strap.

When I was playing with the Hip Stick years ago, it actually felt most comfortable when I moved the Hip Stick back on my waist a bit so from the side view it would have about a 20 degree angle tilted forward. sort of like this angle /  then the bungee going to the detector from the Hip Stick would be about this angle \.  So the weight distribution is not straight down, its more down and back.

I like your idea of the bolt into the bottom of the socket.  But I would make the hole in the socket larger than the bolt, but not as big as the head of the bolt or use a washer.  Then don't screw it in all the way.  That allows the ball to wiggle in the socket and have more play, but it won't come out of the socket.

One of the other issues I had with the Hip Stick is that it was not infinitely adjustable.  It needs to be telescoping so you can putz around with it until the length feels comfortable.

Doc

@Doc Thanks for helping me last nite on the hip stick order! Your engineering knowledge & manufacturing background + metal detecting experience will greatly improve future hip stick & harness designs(better than ML Pro Swing). Keep us informed on the next accessory to purchase, we need you!😁

Bill Moore

Laporte, CO.

[GotAU?]

Sold out, my eye! We know your warehouse has more in it somewhere, including all those little hard to find Minelab pouches and a truck load of Thompson drywashers!  😉

[phrunt]

You may have a few large boxes of unsold Pro-Find 35's in there somewhere although not worth putting much effort into finding, rumour has Minelab dumped millions of them in a landfill just outside of Adeliade where Minelab is headquartered.  A bit like Atari did dumping millions of ET Atari cartridges in the New Mexico desert when it was labelled the worst game in history and caused a crash in 1983 of the gaming industry.  😁

[mn90403]

We had a 1 in 3 chance of getting a Gold Monster but got a Pro 35 ($99) instead in a raffel on Saturday.  My wife wants to use it on the beach and in the parks.  Will it work?