$5 dollar metal detector rod idea

[juice2839]

I was thinking of what I could use to make a decent cheap metal detector rod. I looked at some aluminum tubbing and some other ideas, but came up with this. Its PVC electric pipe and water pipe angles. I am sure others have done this, but wanted to see what other people have come up with too. I chose this as it was about $5 dollars in parts from Lowes. I wiped it down with enamel reducer and painted it with Krylon Fusion plastic paint which works very well.

[Davor]

Looks good. What is the material water pipe angles are made of?

[wallker]

Juice that looks good.
For mine rod i completely use PVC water pipe 3/4 and two angles 45 degrees. Cost me 4 euro. Disassembles in three pieces so it could easily fit in every backpack. Battery is placed on end of pipe so it serves as counterweight for coil.
Some pictures :



Regards Marko.

[Davor]

This battery thing is superb! So you filled a tube with baby size nimh batteries and put a spring on one side?

[6666]

Good idea with the battery
I like this idea, belongs to somebody here at GT I think

[wallker]

@Davor Thanks Davor, I didn't use any tubes or springs for this.
I just put 10 NI-CD batterys in line (two by two) and taped them hard with insulating tape. On both ends I put some plastic covers (on one i made hole for output cable). For holder I used PVC pipe holders (the one which is mounted on the wall). See pictures.
@6666 Thanks.
Regards Marko.

[der_fisherman]

Some great ideas here, keep them coming please.

[Davor]

Very often we have C batteries on sale at Lidl, and they seem to be OK. Price is more than OK. I thought of using a piece of PVC tubing to fit a number of them with a spring on one end.
@walker, I can't imagine where you obtained nicd batteries nowadays - it must have been some battery pack of a drill or something. Anyway, it looks too good to be assembled by insulating tape only. Its just incredible.

[wallker]

@Davor Yes, the NI-CD's are from battery pack for drill (you can find a lot of those on some scrapyard-otpad), if you are unable to get some of those i would recomended to use some of lithium ion battery's from tablet PC's (they are small, lightweight and have good current capacitance, used those for my Barracuda) instead of usual C battery which could not be recharged.
In a couple of days I will finish IGSL and move to Surf PI, for which I already made plastic rod (similar to previous one, just with biger diameter, so that already mentioned NI-CD battery's could fit in) from two parts. In first part would be battery's and in second long version PCB and at end coil would be attached. All of this will be weatherproof with no outer switches or pot's. The unit will turn on when two rods would be conected (mainly this is the idea).
Marko.

[Davor]

I like your ideas
The C batteries I mentioned before are rechargeable nimh, and their capacity is much bigger than those nicd-s. Heck, even nimh aa batteries nowadays have more capacity than 800mAh.
I'm not fond of li-ion because of stupid charging, but as soon as I find some self-sufficient pack at about 12V with user friendly charging I'll go for it. Until then I'll stick to 9V cubes and nimh batteries.

[UFO]

LiPo 's charge like any other battery with the proper balance charger.
Just plug it in and press start.

As with all chargers, never leave unattended while in use.

[Davor]

I know, charging them 3 by 3 in a specialised charger is not unlike charging loads of nimhs. On the other hand I can find nimhs everywhere and they cost (almost) peanuts, and I already got a nice charger with conditioning.
I think wallker's idea rocks.

[UFO]

I should have mentioned I meant a LiPo pack used in hobbies, like the one pictured here. It only has one connection, separate from the "power" lines.

Either way, whatever works, have fun.

[wallker]

I should have mentioned I meant a LiPo pack used in hobbies, like the one pictured here. It only has one connection, separate from the "power" lines.

Either way, whatever works, have fun.

Hi UFO, where do you connect than 4 wire connector, to some chip I suppose?
Regards Marko.

[Davor]

The pack on a photo looks promising. So how exactly do you charge it, and by what name do I search for it.
I know that LiPos are a bit tricky.