My Metel detector works now for the coil case

[davros]

I have been thinking about the coil housing for my Hammer head Pi and there are a lot of easy ways to do it and harder ways i suppose.

I have been looking at shapes people use and found this template ,after printing it out and seeing if i got the size right my coil fits with in it .

So i am going to cut this out and use it to cut out some plywood 2 copies and sandwich the coil between them, i will cut out the brackets for the slots as well then i will fiberglass around the thing .

I was thinking perhaps just cutting out the shape from a card board box with the fiberglass it might be strong enough as well ? perhaps i will try both to see .

[sinclairuser]

some of the lads on here seem to frown on ply, but if coated in resin from my tests its fine.
i also used frizbees as well, i added a plastic clamp to mount to the handle on the top , fitted in my home made coil (potted with epoxy just enough), then epoxied in a flat disc of plastic in the bottom, when this was dry i drilled a small hole in the bottom disc and filled with expanding foam.
once that dried i put a blob of epoxy to seal the hole, and spray pained it with black plasicote, super light and robust.

[davros]

some of the lads on here seem to frown on ply, but if coated in resin from my tests its fine.
i also used frizbees as well, i added a plastic clamp to mount to the handle on the top , fitted in my home made coil (potted with epoxy just enough), then epoxied in a flat disc of plastic in the bottom, when this was dry i drilled a small hole in the bottom disc and filled with expanding foam.
once that dried i put a blob of epoxy to seal the hole, and spray pained it with black plasicote, super light and robust.

[ATTACH]27925[/ATTACH][ATTACH]27926[/ATTACH]

Hi the thing with making stuff if you don't try you never know and i see you have given it a go ,i am only using very thin plywood and it will be incased in fiber glass just like a surfboard .
I think you could use any thing that holds its shape for a fiber glass version ,perhaps even the card board from a old packing box might be thick enough...depends what you have handy most of the time when you make something .
I was going with the Frizbee idea but could not get it out of my head theres a frizbee at the end of my metal detector if i do it ,the one i have is again spot on for my coil.
I think like most of the people on the forum you end up making more than one coil ,this will be my first .
My idea is i cut out the print out of the template i then glued it to my plywood then jigsawed it out (which i have ) need to cut another out for the bottom ,i will sandwich the coil between the plywood layers.
To not make it look to thin i may use some Styrofoam to give it a better shape between the plywood ..then its just a matter of fiber glassing it and panting it black ...in my head it works so far so good ; )
Your frizbee case does look good ,what did you use to bracket onto the frizbee ,and did you use a socket for the cable to frizbee i was but i can hear it is picking it up .

[sinclairuser]

the mounting bracket is made from pieces of perspex superglued together into the right shape glued onto a flat shaped piece of plastic, proper "plastic" super glue is a must.
the outlet for the coil wire is the neck and top of a pop bottle (in the pic is the first i made), the next one i made is identical to that but has a proper strain relief fitted, using those just requires soldering the coil to the wire the only metal in the coil head is the two tiny blobs of solder connecting the wire to the coil, the shield connects to the negative side of the coil.
i chose frizbees as they were the right shape, size and cost(way cheaper than proper coil shells), ive made two 8 inch coils for the baracuda this way.
i'm still looking for something about 12 inches for a basket coil i have made but not found any thing as yet.

[davros]

the mounting bracket is made from pieces of perspex superglued together into the right shape glued onto a flat shaped piece of plastic, proper "plastic" super glue is a must.
the outlet for the coil wire is the neck and top of a pop bottle (in the pic is the first i made), the next one i made is identical to that but has a proper strain relief fitted, using those just requires soldering the coil to the wire the only metal in the coil head is the two tiny blobs of solder connecting the wire to the coil, the shield connects to the negative side of the coil.
i chose frizbees as they were the right shape, size and cost(way cheaper than proper coil shells), ive made two 8 inch coils for the baracuda this way.
i'm still looking for something about 12 inches for a basket coil i have made but not found any thing as yet.

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Hi There i think you did a pretty good job of yours !
I am going to make perhaps another 2 metal detectors for the family .
I do like the wire cage look to the coil housing i have seen it cut out of wood too with the old jigsaw ,theres a you tube video of a guy in russia that made one looked good.
Suppose you could make it out of resin but would have to spend a bit of time making a mold perhaps old playdough wonder it it would stick to that stuff .
I worked on mine again today
I think i can fiber glass soon

[sinclairuser]

once its got resin on you will probably find that its fine, as i said mine is a baracuda and although the 8" mono works fine as does the 12" basket thats actually the wrong way round, the original coils were 8" basket and 12 mono.
i have not done yet though i plan on making a 8" basket but i am short of a good build plan, i bought a silverdog baracuda and returned it back to original specs, so i would like a proper 8" basket coil for it.

[davros]

once its got resin on you will probably find that its fine, as i said mine is a baracuda and although the 8" mono works fine as does the 12" basket thats actually the wrong way round, the original coils were 8" basket and 12 mono.
i have not done yet though i plan on making a 8" basket but i am short of a good build plan, i bought a silverdog baracuda and returned it back to original specs, so i would like a proper 8" basket coil for it.

Hi there
Sounds like you will be making a few coils for your detector !
Yes that cage look is harder to make and i do like the look of those .
Have you found any thing with your detectors ? being in the UK i think there must be hundreds of years of lost stuff in the ground your way .
I would be happy will a few coins found at the beach .
I got the fiber glass resin today and the sheets to use but forgot at the hardener so have to go back before i try that.
Found some plastic bolts used for the old toilet seat now this is going to bother me ; ) i need to paint that black !!!!!

[sinclairuser]

ha ha! great minds think alike, the first two coils i made i used those same nylon toilet seat bolts, though i then bought some "proper" ones of ebay uk, another tip those small nylon number plate bolts can be used if you need to bolt your coil pieces together, they are not long enough to hold the shaft on, but they do a good job of holding the flat plate with the coil ears to the disc holding the coil, and because they are nylon they can be left for extra strength after the glue sets.

[davros]

Well the bolts came in a pack of 8 and 2 were different as in happy with the look of them .
I had a good look at both our big hareware shops and that was the best they had for this sort of bolt.
I would buy them off ebay too but apart from having to paint them this will do for this one .
Well i can live with a toilet seat bolt a toilet seat its self would really bother me ; )
Nylon brackets and bolts are hard to get here i have not seen them any where yet so just try to do the best with what i have and can get .
I didn't do to much today just drilled the bracket holes and glued those in and painted the bolt and nut washer and brackets black .

[Thomas]

Well i can live with a toilet seat bolt a toilet seat its self would really bother me ; ) .[ATTACH]27985[/ATTACH]

Well I was going to suggest a coil case...OK, here it is, latest tech.

[WM6]

Well I was going to suggest a coil case...OK, here it is, latest tech. [ATTACH]27998[/ATTACH]

Very useful as relaxing seat over empty hole.

[Qiaozhi]

Well I was going to suggest a coil case...OK, here it is, latest tech.

Dose it make you go faster?

[Thomas]

No, but I find nuggets.

[davros]

That mother with a coil should be able to go a meter down ? comes in handy if your caught short in the bush ; )

[davros]

Heres a quick mock up of ideas
i was just seeing what bolts will work to bracket the real PI case on.
It comes apart ...funny how half a rubber boat oar and a half a crutch fit together so well .