FM2 on steroids

[MartyJ1963]

Hi Dom,,,That's great! Is it possible for you to share the Prospector pcb at all? I've searched for the last 4 days/nights, and only managed to collect all the first original Terminator layouts up to the Terminator 'M',,haven't been able to find much on the Prospector. I'd like to have a go at building it if possble. I'm going to put that 'Probe' together tonight and test it in the yard tomorrow,,,there's a big electric pylon about 50ft from the house though so if I get any major interference (like I do when I test the PI's) I'll have a walk to the fields to try it. The house where I live is surrounded by farmland so it may be a better place to test it. Good luck with the Prospector,,,it sounds like a great detector. Regards,,,Marty

[dom44]

Hi Marty if you want to build the Terminator detector where do you intend to use it if your going for coins better with the trio 2 tone has ground balance and discriminate it is also a good detector. i intend to use it in Australian mineralized ground thats why i am building the prospector has ground and iron exclusion controls no discriminate control but has tone discrimination and you can hook up a VDI display I will give you both. make sure you get unbuffered 4069 chips or wont work have to be marked 4069UB.





I will post the PCB tomorrow have to check have the right ones.

[dom44]

here you go I would check them first.

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=60540930873157842358

this is how well it works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulOKuHJVPF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aao8EU6Dn-s

[MartyJ1963]

Hiya Dom,,,,,Thanks for the Terminator Layouts,,really appreciate it. I'm not certain which one to build yet,,as you, there's not much gold to be found here, apart from one place in England where they are still finding small gold nuggets still actually in the grounds of a forest,,I'm hoping to go there late Spring, early Summer. If I've got enough large sized copper clad I might make both so I've got some projects to keep me busy while I'm learning how to null those 'DD/Concentric' coils. The weather was a bit bad here yesterday so I wasn't able to test that first FM2 in the fields yet. I've etched another board for the FM2 OS because I can't seem to find the faults on it,,,still searching though,,lol. Having found this Detector hobby now, I'm constantly wishing that I'd never left Australia,,back in the 70's I used to go survival camping and I loved it,,I know that had I not left, and discovered this great hobby back then I would've been building these years ago and probably spent more time in the bush prospecting and camping than being at home,,,Had no choice back then though,,,my Mum and Dad were born here in England and emigrated to Australia in 1962,,He decided he wanted to come home when he won the pools and I was only 14 years old. I like England, but I've never adapted to it,,I still can't cope with the cold, hate snow and survival camping over here isn't a patch on Oz,,,everytime I read your posts I get homesick,,lol,,,Anyway Dom,,just going to have a look at those vids you posted and I'll let you know what I decide to build,,,I haven't forgot about the photo's etc for the FM2 OS/(1st)FM2,,just waiting for the weather to lift,,,,,Have fun prospecting and hope you find something good! Regards,,,Marty

[MartyJ1963]

Hi again Dom,,,,I watched the videos you posted,,,it looks like a really good detector,,brilliant and seeing ferrous targets over iron,,,,,I'll have to build the Terminator trio 2 Tone because the Prospector layout is SMD and I've nnot got round to having a go at that yet. I've got all the eqipment to do it (apart from SMD Components) but never tried so I'll order a SMD Practise board to start learnng. The biggest copper clad boards I have are 100mmx70mm so Ill order some bigger boards while I'm at it. Do you have any coil data for it? and do both the Prospector nd Triio use the same coil? Hope I'm not bugging you,,lol. Thanks again Dom for the projects and the little lessons you keep teaching me. Regards,,,Marty

[dom44]

I could not find any data on the coil so I used 30T center tap for the transmit coil and 100T for the receive coil I set mine to resonate at 10khz and the receive coil at 9.8khz got that from one of the forum posts, I was having trouble getting it to work at first could not find the problem then I remembered something, I have two lots of 4069's the first lot are marked CD4069UB they did not work so I substituted them for CD4069UBE and all of a sudden it went quite and started working you need the right chip i suggest you order the HEF4069UBP as marked on the schematic ebay has them but you have to make sure they do not substitute a different one.
All i need to do now is set it up properly and do the final nulling of the coil and box it it looks good so far.

[MartyJ1963]

Hi Dom,,,,That's great news,,I'm glad you had a successful build,,,I know sometimes it difficult when you see and hear about some of these good detectors on foreign sites that you really want to build and then have problems trying to collect every piece of information you need and then have to translate it to understand how to build it! I like those foreign sites,,there's a lot of clever people out there. I've got a russian document that descibes the coil in good detail,,,I'll try and translate it all and take snapshots of the diagrams and photo's,,if I can, I'll make a PDF file of it and post it for you. In the meantime I'll keep looking for more info,,you never know, there might still be something we don't have on it. I'm ordering some bigger copper clad on Monday so I can have a go at that 'Through hole' Terminator Trio PCB. I'll make a list of everything I need to build then order them at the same time. on the Transmit coil, is it 15 turns then-centre tap-15 turns? What gauge wire did you use? Can't wait to hear that the prospector has found you a heap of gold nuggets!!!,lol. Regards,,,Marty

[dom44]

Hi Marty I have respect for our Euro cousins I like the way especially the Russians think outside the box, I mean who would think of designing a detector with digital ic's used in the linear mode could only be them, I have noticed with the Russians they make do a lot and use what they have, or what ever they can find.
So far the detector works just as you see on the vids high tone for non-ferrous and low tone for ferrous I am still working out the switches, One pot translated as sensitivity but acts more like threshold adjustment goes from quite to mixed tone with a sharp cut in the one marked r39 in the two tone.
yes i used 15T+15T if you have the data should not be hard to work out the turns i used about .3mm for the transmit coil and some finer wire for the receive coil what ever i could find here prob about .15mm or so.

[MartyJ1963]

Hi Dom,,,,,,Just like Geotech, the Russians are quite amazing people when it comes to some of the gadgets they've designed or modified,,I'm always surfing their sites cos' it all amazes me so much. Thanks about the coil info, What size did you make the 'D's,,r did you make Concentric?,,,I had a go earlier at translating that document,,It's going to take me a bit of time so I keep saving my work, doing a bit more, save it,,etc,,,Can't wait to get the boards and parts to start this new project,,I completed a 5th Minipulse earlier this evening that I've been slowly putting together over the last 2 months,,didn't really need another minipulse but I had no different projects to build,,lol. Still trying to get my pinpointer to work but can't find where the fault is so I'm going to build another. My first FM2 gave a few false signals outside in the yard when I tried it today. I don't know if it's the electric pylon (about 50ft from the back yard) or the coil. I'll take it to the field tomorrow if the weathers better cos' it's been pretty cold and rainy the last few days.Thanks again Dom. Marty

[MartyJ1963]

Hi Dom,,,Hope you had a good weekend,,,Did you have any time yet to do any testing on your new Detector yet? Hope it's all going smooth. Regards Marty

[dom44]

Hi Marty I have been a bit busy still setting up the coil and working out the switches also working on another version the pro version I think it will be more sensitive, redrawing the PCB right now it should be a bit easier to set up than the prospector has less controls will keep you posted.

[MartyJ1963]

Hiya Dom,,,,,Hope it's all successful for you,,thanks for keeping me posted, I appreciate it. I've been looking at another pinpointer circuit,,it's Russian,,you can use a TL074 or an LM324 in the circuit,,from what I've read it seems a good pinpointer and supposedly easy to set up. Just contemplating whether to print it off and give it a try or not, Have you seen it before? There's no particular name given to it,,,there's a through hole version and SMD. Anyway Dom, keep us posted and hope everything goes well with the PCB drawing. Regards, Marty

[dom44]

I probably have seen it whats it called?

[MartyJ1963]

Hi Dom,,,It doesn't seem to have a name,,you'll have probably seen it before though. I've posted the layoust I have for it for you to check out. There's the original, a Variant and an SMD Layout of it. I've translated the Info from the russian site and put it iin a text file. Regards,,,Marty

[dom44]

looks interesting I have not seen this one might have a play around with it later where there any video's of it working.?