Tweet
Last week, I was talking to a friend "Bill Lahr" here in California introduced to me by another friend "Jerry Talley" several years ago, Bill mentioned he had run across his original 1991 prototype for the White's Surf PI. He offered to send a couple pics of it, so I asked if he would mind if I posted them on the forum. He said okay, so here they are. Thought you might be interested in seeing them.
Bill Lahr is the inventor of the Whites Surf Pi and designer of other detectors and created a 4-tone feature for the Whites 5900 & 6000 Di-Pro SL models as well, He still lives in Ca. but prefers to stay behind the scene to enjoy his retirement. The added on 4-tone feature to the Whites 5900 & 6000 Di-Pro SL models was something Bill did on the side and for friends only, He added on this 4-tone setup to my 6000 Di-Pro SL and what an improvement it had.
In 1991, he tore apart a broken Surfmaster II someone had given him for parts, using the gutted Surfmaster II housing, he hand built a PI board to fit the case and from here Whites introduced the Whites Surf Pi and the rest is history. Now this is only a prototype but still similar to the Whites Surf Pi.
He tore the Surf II coil apart and wound the PI coil into the case. (The old cases were glued together on top. Note the nylon bolt and wing nut. The Surf II had a metal screw back then.) White's sent him that label a few months later, when they were experimenting with different designs. They made a few minor changes to the circuit before they put it into production. The prototype was built in December of 1991 and, before you ask, yes, it still works.
Bill is still proud of this prototype Pi and before we finished our conversion the other day, Bill said he is just a normal person like you and I........I say dreams can come true if one puts his/her heart into it like Bill did
Paul (Ca)
Bill Lahr is the inventor of the Whites Surf Pi and designer of other detectors and created a 4-tone feature for the Whites 5900 & 6000 Di-Pro SL models as well, He still lives in Ca. but prefers to stay behind the scene to enjoy his retirement. The added on 4-tone feature to the Whites 5900 & 6000 Di-Pro SL models was something Bill did on the side and for friends only, He added on this 4-tone setup to my 6000 Di-Pro SL and what an improvement it had.
In 1991, he tore apart a broken Surfmaster II someone had given him for parts, using the gutted Surfmaster II housing, he hand built a PI board to fit the case and from here Whites introduced the Whites Surf Pi and the rest is history. Now this is only a prototype but still similar to the Whites Surf Pi.
He tore the Surf II coil apart and wound the PI coil into the case. (The old cases were glued together on top. Note the nylon bolt and wing nut. The Surf II had a metal screw back then.) White's sent him that label a few months later, when they were experimenting with different designs. They made a few minor changes to the circuit before they put it into production. The prototype was built in December of 1991 and, before you ask, yes, it still works.
Bill is still proud of this prototype Pi and before we finished our conversion the other day, Bill said he is just a normal person like you and I........I say dreams can come true if one puts his/her heart into it like Bill did
Paul (Ca)
Comment