The clone of SUPERSCAN MK II

[omegamd]

The SUPERSCAN MK II was and is my favorite pulse detector potential, but its cost in the market is prohibitive. Because every time I had needed it, I borrowed it from a friend, I decided to make its clone and, after a lot of effort, the whole construction is a fact! Absolutely successful and improved! The cost of the machine from 3000 euros, is down to 300 euros now. The power supplies are improved, along with the preamp of the receiver circuits.
Absolutely stable, operating voltage 24VDC (double pulse output from almost all of the machines in market).
The performances INTO THE GROUND, are:
-With a 45cm coil.
-Alloy wheels 1,70 meters.
-Plastic box with various golden accessories 90 cm.
-Small box from bullets 1,60 meters.

[Silver Dollar]

It looks like a PI or 2 box design. Will you be sharing the details (schematic, layout)?
Or maybe selling pcb's or a kit?

[smity]

Such devices, dinosaurs are not relevant. Power supply 24 volts, nor any discrimination, the electronic unit as a suitcase. There are simpler and equipment have the same characteristics. I'll laugh for a long time, if Comercial project.

[omegamd]

Silver Dollar, I'll be back with schematics and layout.

It might be old, but it's like the good old wine, my friend smity. Tell me another new PI that is better than this one, because here in Greece it works perfectly in any type of soil.

[Kev]

Hi omegamd,
Nice tidy work, well done Sir!

Is this the one based on Eric Foster's design?
If so, I believe it was designed to handle difficult soil encountered on archeological dig sites, and I think impressive results could be obtained with this unit on BIG nuggets down DEEP.

Looking forward to more details "time make the wine, like love grows stronger"
smity, never underestimate an old fart, because it's not the age of the man or the tool in his hands, it's the wisdom of the man holding it that makes the real difference.

HH
Kev.

[omegamd]

Hello Kev, yes, I think it's based on Eric Foster's design! In my opinion, it's the best PI detector and many improvements can be made. It also has analog output 0-5 VDC which can be connected with a computer, if the software is suitable!

[kt315]

I do not think you are able do many improvements. simply because your name is not eric foster. forgive that...

[Kev]

I do not think you are able do many improvements. simply because your name is not eric foster. forgive that...

Yes true, but that analog output........imagine the possibilities a computer could provide

Regards
Kev.

[Xtrem]

I do not think you are able do many improvements. simply because your name is not eric foster. forgive that...

I respect Eric Foster, but i think he has 2 mistakes in his design, one in the +5 volt power supply, and one in the driver of the mosfet.
Eric Foster is teacher for me, but improvements are possible.
He is using after 555,for dubling the voltage, transistors that their max current are not big more that the output of the 555 ,200mA ,300mA,
this is noisy, i checking this with scope, better design is, not using of transistors ,and tripling the voltage with extra diodes and caps.( deepers
He is not using correct driver for the mosfet (switch off) maybe this is not neccesary in this design ,but improvement can be doe.
After 20 or more years ,i think a microcontroller is better for the timings.
kt315, the delta pulse, that making 1000 of people, has a big mistake in the design too, this is the reason of blowing up the mosfet and the one 1n4148.
the instabillity of the driver circuit (556) is a big mistake in the design, the switch off of the mosfet , and disscharging the inner capacitor of the mosfet thru
the 1n4148 is not logic.

sorry about my english ,i dont use translator.

[STAVROSNU]

Nice try omegamd but this is a very old design with a few bad habits.

It has wrong TX timing and is susceptible to mains interference. Practically is very unstable.

It has problem (false detection) with near the surface moisture and you need to press the zero button (reset) almost in every step you take.
Very difficult to distinguish a true target !

It is very heavy due to its power supply.

It has no ground balance.

Omegamd, I believe you should copy another metal detector, not this one. I own one but I gave it away a few years ago.
I could not bear it any more.

But for the time it was design, it was the best in the market. Respect to Eric Foster.



Best wishes to all

[sirbedevir]

Hello!
I am interested of this clone!
my email:
[email protected]
thanks

[Ferric Toes]

Is the Superscan no longer made by Mittas in Thessaloniki? I sold the design to them many years ago.

[eclipse]

Nice try omegamd but this is a very old design with a few bad habits.

It has wrong TX timing and is susceptible to mains interference. Practically is very unstable.

It has problem (false detection) with near the surface moisture and you need to press the zero button (reset) almost in every step you take.
Very difficult to distinguish a true target !

It is very heavy due to its power supply.

It has no ground balance.

Omegamd, I believe you should copy another metal detector, not this one. I own one but I gave it away a few years ago.
I could not bear it any more.

But for the time it was design, it was the best in the market. Respect to Eric Foster.



Best wishes to all

The device doesn't need ground balance, I mean it samples earliest at 40uS+ or so at minimum, at these timings you don't need fancy ground balance, also

you miss all small stuff like small coins and junk (if it beeps you dig!).

Often people punch in high gain setting, too high threshold and expect things to work fine. Yes you can get more depth this way but it's normal to get instability along with that.

In it's nature the device is close to mini pulse, just different timings and integration TC are different, also there's SAT auto tune stage in addition.

One thing can be improved - frequency can be dialed in to match exactly 100Hz/120Hz, could help reduce noise from power lines, I think the original numbers are between those 2.

[Ferric Toes]

The device doesn't need ground balance, I mean it samples earliest at 40uS+ or so at minimum, at these timings you don't need fancy ground balance, also

you miss all small stuff like small coins and junk (if it beeps you dig!).

Often people punch in high gain setting, too high threshold and expect things to work fine. Yes you can get more depth this way but it's normal to get instability along with that.

In it's nature the device is close to mini pulse, just different timings and integration TC are different, also there's SAT auto tune stage in addition.

One thing can be improved - frequency can be dialed in to match exactly 100Hz/120Hz, could help reduce noise from power lines, I think the original numbers are between those 2.

Yes, the Superscan was primarily for large objects, deeply buried. It used a coil configuration copied from that used in geophysical mineral prospection where you laid a large TX coil on the ground and searched within it with a smaller RX coil. With the Superscan we mainly used 10m x 10m TX on the ground and a 280mm diameter roving RX coil. This arrangement decouples the surface ground response anyway, so active GB is not necessary in most cases. Provision was made so that a normal mono coil could be used and then you could get a strong ground signal.
Lead acid gel batteries made the unit heavy but in many cases the Superscan sat on the ground with an operator taking readings while the portable RX coil on a long cable was moved by a separate person. Within the 10m square ground TX we often laid a nylon string grid which divided the area into 1m squares. Readings were taken every metre or half metre. That is the way archaeological surveys were done both with this instrument and a proton magnetometer.

[daverave]

I respect Eric Foster, but i think he has 2 mistakes in his design, one in the +5 volt power supply, and one in the driver of the mosfet.
Eric Foster is teacher for me, but improvements are possible.
He is using after 555,for dubling the voltage, transistors that their max current are not big more that the output of the 555 ,200mA ,300mA,
this is noisy, i checking this with scope, better design is, not using of transistors ,and tripling the voltage with extra diodes and caps.( deepers
He is not using correct driver for the mosfet (switch off) maybe this is not neccesary in this design ,but improvement can be doe.
After 20 or more years ,i think a microcontroller is better for the timings.
kt315, the delta pulse, that making 1000 of people, has a big mistake in the design too, this is the reason of blowing up the mosfet and the one 1n4148.
the instabillity of the driver circuit (556) is a big mistake in the design, the switch off of the mosfet , and disscharging the inner capacitor of the mosfet thru
the 1n4148 is not logic.

sorry about my english ,i dont use translator.

pulse detectors can work fine with just good old 555 timer chips and such like...micro controllers are nice but not the bee's knee's...all the detectors ive made use the normal analogue components and i get good proformance