f75ltd mod to reduce hand stress

[osgood]

Gettin older, my hands fatigue sooner, pain in evening etc. Heres a mod only a true Fisher Fanatic could do. I put the arm troughs from both my F4, and F70 on my F75ltd. After a lot of thoughts on using tubing and such, it seemed the way to go. Im glad the holes align and screws fit on all three models. Both forearm pieces have slots for velcro straps, so I am using two straps, although one not showing in pic. Note the velcro on the handle shaft and glove.- yes they line up when Im using the unit and the glove. The object in this case was to stabilize my wrist and suspend as much weight passively, that is without using my grip. I can even swing it without using my hand! I have to tweak some things, but honestly on an hour test run this evening it seemed to help. On a long day will see if it affects upper arm muscle groups. As I used to do when I was a therapist, would love to custum fabricate a hand piece with a tunnel opening for the thumb, now that would make a good handle. Good Hunts All, CO

 

[jim tn]

Interesting! Hope it works out for you. I found 15-20 minutes daily with various arm weight exercises helped me a lot. Good luck! HH jim tn

 

[mudpuppy]

Wonderful job on that! That's something that could potentially be marketed...custom grips like Hogues or Pachmeyers the pistol shooters use..I think you are on to something here..if a person grips the machine to tightly, those arm muscles start to feel it...yeah, a Cochise thumbhole stock would be cool!
Mud

 

[Elton]

Nice set up..Have you ever considered a Harness outfit that's made to take the weight and stress off our detectors as we swing them. Doc makes a nice one that really works.

A friend of mine went from being able to detect about an hour to 5- 6 hours with no pain.. I tried it one day on my Exp II a few years ago. I was very impressed with the just" lightly hold, and swing it allowed"..

 

[Cajuncoinhunter]

I'm with Elton. CCH

 

[osgood]

Thanks for your responses. I have considered the swing things, and experimented with some of my own. I imagine those are better in the open terrain. that is in the woods, and cellar holes might be too much brush around to snag one, etc. Mud put it right, squeezing all day, kind of triggers off a bunch or stuff also in other areas like the upper arm, neck, etc. Did several hours today with my new set up, it really did seemed to help. Even if fisher put , on the 75ltd, a slot for a strap or included one with a slot, I think it would help. As light as the unit is it still gets to my hand as that is the main support. I know they say the arm trough metal, is somewhat malleable side wise to fit your fore arm better. But i think im going to look for a material, how do i put this? Say like a tube, say perhaps as long as the trough, and sliced length wise, so like half a tube, that i would put with some type of hinge, onto the trough. So closed it forms the upper part if a tunnel, you slide your arm in and out of when you pick up the machine. That would be quicker than using straps, but like using good fitting straps, the weight of the unit would mostly be supported by larger muscle groups instead of your wrist and fingers. The other option is replacing the trough, with a tube, but it has to be graduated , you know as your forearm tapers, towards the wrist, and is larger towards the elbow etc. Good Hunts all, CO

 

[WV62]

Here is an idea for a home made detector sling, you can adjust to take off as much weight as you want.

Ron WV

 

[osgood]

hey didnt think of using the zip ties, they are used in a handy fashion there. Thanks for the suggestion. It takes fine tuning, one thing I noticed is the swing is not always an equal arc, that is throughout the swing there is a point where the bungy might resist you, unless of course you shorten the swing. has that happened with your set up, just wondering. thanks again, CO

 

[WV62]

hey didnt think of using the zip ties, they are used in a handy fashion there. Thanks for the suggestion. It takes fine tuning, one thing I noticed is the swing is not always an equal arc, that is throughout the swing there is a point where the bungee might resist you, unless of course you shorten the swing. has that happened with your set up, just wondering. thanks again, CO

I am sure you are right on with thoughts, as you said it takes a little fine tuning. I noticed if you take all the weight off at some point you would be pushing down a little at some point on the swing. I adjusted mine so that I still feel a little weight, and I don't notice any or much difference during the swing. I think if you were using a hard trap without the bungee you would have some real problems.

If you noticed I have a large open bungee hook on the end that attaches to the open loose fitting zip tie at the base of the hand grip, now when I go down for dig I will unhook the detector. Now you kind of get to the point of thinking the sling is not doing anything, until you forget to hook it back up, about one swing and you will be hooking it back up. It works for me and I set out to make it so I could hook and unhook the detector with ease, also as long as I have my wire tie at the base of the hand grip area of the detector I can change detectors. I have store bought sling that works but you have a bunch of junk attached to each detector so I trashed that and made my own.

If you try it I think it will help, if you have any questions just send them along.

Good luck,

Ron in WV

 

[GoVidGo]

those are some great mods! gotta love creativeness! You guys just be lucky the F75 is a lot lighter than my Etrac and V3i, which is double the weight! LOL! I switch arms swinging so I don't end up with muscle arms on one side and string beans on the other...