I have a pic request. :smile:

[MarkCZ]

Okay, I laid back on this thread before I posted my stuff and my brother's stuff and I'm sure they're are HUNDEREDS of other people that have been just as creative or more so than what's already been posted. Those of us that have been around this hobby for 30 plus years had to be innovative for a number of reasons, like!
Things that the detecting hobby market didn't supply at the time!
Health problem aids! (Deaf, Blind, Broken down, bad back,)

In the early days a lot of this stuff we can buy now didn't exist!
Pinpointer's
Brass probs!
Fancy expensive diggers of all shapes and sizes!
Finds pouches!

And where the entire market of these items came from started with creative minds fabricating, modifying, and just being creative.

In the early days of detecting my detectors ran on 14 Double AA batteries and some little crap system to charge them, so I got creative and built a charging system that would charge all 14 at one time, and I even included a select switch that you could switch to a very low store charge that would keep those old NiCD'S fresh and ready for the next hunt.
Over the years much of the stuff I made I no longer have, many detectors I've had over the years I had to make little things for them to just make things easier and some things were good in theory but didn't work out that great in the real world.
So, I'm fairly certain that the older folks on the forum is holding back with their stuff, WAY more than what's been posted so far.
Tool belts,
Home Made Pack packs,
Detector stands,
Headphone regs.
Probes, diggers,
Coin poppers,
lights,
Water proofing things,
Stuff for detecting in the Cold! (I'll pass but others are game)

For me the one thing about this hobby that I've always enjoyed is the very nature of need to be creative about the different aspects of it, even the next detector may turn up a need for a creative mind, its endless!

Mark

 

[ironsight]

Hey Mark, half the fun of detecting at least for myself is coming up with ideas and gadgets.

Yeah, in the olden days, you're right, no hand held pinpointers, no cool digging tools, etc. But then again, back then most targets were a lot shallower not to menion more plentiful!
Ahh yes, those good old days when there were hardly no other detectorists around, no hunted out parks and no TV shows like diggers!

 

[ironsight]

Here's a couple other minor simpler things i did to make detecting a little easier that i also posted on other forums here.

Tired of scraped 'n scratched watches or having to pull out your cell to get the time?
Picked this thing up cheap for a couple bucks at the local auto parts house and double sticky taped it on to my detector. Works great with no sun glare too!

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/clock1_zps4ae89b47.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/clock3_zpsb5a288a2.jpg


No where to put your pinpointer? Fastened it on to my detector with tie wraps. Its always there when i need it.
I later fastened it further back to help balancing the detector a little better.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/Holder1.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/Holder4.jpg


I wear out the foam hand grip every detecting season. Bought this pipe insulation tubing at the local home improvement store. Its got douple sticky glue already there to fasten the ends togather plus a large sticky tape also to cover the ends. As extra fastening insurance i applied some contact cement to all the joined ends.
The foam is soft and after a short while it comfortably custom conforms to to your hand grip. For a 6 foot length of this tubing insulation and for only a few bucks at that, it'll last for a lot of seasons.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/Grip_1.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/Grip_2.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/FollowUp_1.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/FollowUp_2.jpg

 

[MarkCZ]

I hope nobody is getting tried of my post, I wasn't going to post anything in this thread at all, that's why I was so long posting at all. Then some stuff happened here and I got depressed and in a bad mood and decided, what the heck, it helped to take my mind off things.
Well, I'm digging deep now LOL!
Here is probably one of my first contraptions, "Tool Holder"
Its simple and I used it FOR decades! (I'd say I made this around 1983)

Start with a VERY large, high quality, butcher knife of some sort! cut away about one third of the blade. (Our dad brought these knifes into the house and they were to big for any home use, but to good to get rid of, and for YEARS they just followed me and my mother, until one day!)
Get a piece of some nylon cargo strapping. (Folded it in half for the blade pocket) (I used a heated nail on the stove top to melt holes in the material)
The shell of a Bic Ink Pen.
A couple of small cable clamps.
A short piece of coat hanger wire.
A couple of small screws with nuts.
One now very rare 8" flat tipped small shafted screwdriver and round off the tip. (Someone would probably die if they were to try and take this away from me LOL!)
And you have my digging tools and the sheath/case to carry them. The finds/trash bag was a common cloth nail apron!

Mark

 

[MarkCZ]

Ha! I knew the Badger Bros couldnt resist! They turn out some cool gear Love that fast sandscoop with the hoe there, Dodge!!

Hey MarkCZ, I've been running that straight 'Hank' cable set up for the past few years on both my rigs too...instead of collapsing the shaft, a guy can just push the upper detent button and pop the rig apart at the top knuckle right below the control box, and fold the whole thing in half for transport..the camlocks after a while get all jammed up and are just in the way anyhow, so I remove them...plus I run a very long rod set-up, so theres more of just a small "u" shaped length of coil cable left over up at the box, not a full coil circle...

I think the next mod I may do will be to drill a few holes and route the coil cable inside the shaft for those of us that never change coils, or adjust/collapse the lower shaft, it would make for a clean package...

Some guy posted a cool headphone cable done that way on the AtPro on the Modification forum @a month ago...I liked the looks of that and thought to just up and do the coil cable at the same time...of course a guy would have to cut the cable and do a bit of splicework if the main fitting is not easy to work with..the AtPro coil or headphone fitting is not easy to take apart or resolder...so a cut and splice would be something we could manage I think..
Great stuff here guys!
Mud

Mud, I bet you've got stuff if you dug around the house that you made and long forgot about!

Mark

 

[MarkCZ]

Yard Sticks and Paint stirring paddles = Combination air test swing sticks
Those thick $1.00 yard sticks, cut to length.
Paint stirring sticks.
Nylon bolts and nuts (snugged just enough to take out the free play)
Some hot glue,
And, Pull tabs, iron nuts, pennies, dimes, quarters, nickels, Zinc pennies,
And you have these! (for just coins I've converted over to the plastic swing sticks I posted earlier, one pocket and just about any coin.)

Mark

 

[mudpuppy]

I seriously like that knife/probe combo!

Also that little stick on clock is a good idea since its easy to lose track of time...perhaps even a pedometer would be interesting to know how many miles a guy has walked hunting per yr/mo or something...for clad guys, it may even be neat to have some sort of fast coin counter attached to the side of your rig, so as you drop coins into the pouch, you push one button for the coin and another for the denomination? So a guy knows how much he's getting and how close you might be to a record day instead of stopping to try to do a count estimate in field...cladders always try to get at least a century day per outing, and it would be good to know if you are close and can push through the pain!...

I'd like to modify my wetsuit with loops and tabs and pockets and whatnot, ...I may do that this winter..especially a loop for a bottle of water someplace out of the way, a few loops on top of the shoulders to tuck those little waterproof cases for keys on one side and maybe the phone on the other?

I bet somebody has pics of a modified vehicle... maybe motorcycle or bike or car that they use for detecting? Its all good!
Mud

.

 

[ironsight]

Last Summer while out relic hunting a field, i quickly laid my detector down for a real promising dig. The dam tangled spring loaded headphone cord pulled the headphones off my head right into my sunglasses hard enough to give me a shiner. Right then and there i had it with corded headphones. That cord is a real PITA in a lot of ways.

Not really an innovation but an accessory. The absolute best accessory i bought for my detector. No more headphone cord dog leashes!
This Rapoo wireless headset works with no delay RF technology and NOT bluetooth which has inherent delay.

It cost under $60 online and worked right out of the box. Only had to buy the 1/4" to 1/8" phone plug adaptor for a few bucks.
This wireless headset worked so good, i bought a 2nd backup set.
The USB rechargeable batteries easily last for a 4 hr. hunt which is about my limit before i had enough. The batteries are advertised to last 6hrs. before a recharge.
Once you go wireless, you won't go back to wired headphones. A plus is that there not full ear headphones which eliminates the sweaty hot ear syndrome.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/Wireless_2_zps06f79214.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/Wireless_1_zps477c2ab5.jpg

 

[MarkCZ]

Ironsight, which model headphones do you have?
Does yours have the built in mic?
And I also noticed that some of that brands models are Bluetooth, you did say yours wasn't right?
Do they have pretty good volume (loud enough)?

I like the idea of wireless headphone and I've thought about them many times, but about every set I've read about there was always problem with them, or they were just to pricey, or not available in the US, no longer available at all.

Right now I don't have the money for a set but, If they work I can shop and watch for a deal and maybe a windfall of money.

I think my badger brother (Ron) may also be interested in something like these as well.

And unless I open up a drawer and find something I've forgot about, or Ron sends me some more pictures I'm fresh out of stuff to post in this thread!

Mark

 

[ironsight]

Mark,
the Rapoos do NOT use blue tooth technology.
Blue tooth headphones work OK for home use but NOT for metal detecting use.
IMO, do not use blue tooth headphones for metal detecting.
The problem with blue tooth is its data protocol which transfers blocks of data along with error checking. Worse the blue tooth data stream has a built in lag in the event of an error, similar to the built-in delay of satellite cable. All that can amount to an intolerable delay for metal detecting.

The Rapoo headphones use real time audio Radio Frequency (RF) technology with minimum delay. I did not perceive any audio delay whatsoever while using these things all last Summer.

The volume can be adjusted on one of the earphones in addition to the detector's volume setting. I've not had any volume related issues..more volume than i need.
I think they're microphone capable but the mic if i remember is wired. I could be wrong about that.

The model # is H3070. Just looked on the big S. American river website and seen em going as low as $40.

Couple things to keep in mind:
-If your detector has an optional wireless headphone set available, that could mean their using some spooky proprietary audio setup in order to buy their wireless headphones. If your detector like most has pure stereo audio output at its headphone jack then these should work just fine.

-The sets are not interchangeable meaning a transmitter from one set will probably not work with the headphones of another set. I think they designed this on purpose (different carrier frequencies) if more than one set is in the same area they won't interfere with each other.

-The positioning of the transmitter in relation to the receiver part of the headphone might be critical. Just need to experiment with it.

-My backup set had serious audio lapses. Returned it as defective and promptly got a second set which works as good as the first set.

-Most detectors have a 1/4" female headphone jack. The Rapoo transmitter has an 1/8" male stereo plug requiring a 1/4" male to 1/8" female stereo adaptor if the detector has a stereo output which most new detectors have. If your detector does not have a stereo output then you need to find a specialty adaptor or home brew one yourself. With my eTRAC and the adaptor, it worked right out of the box.

-You'll need a USB port for recharging the batteries. Either a PC USB port, car cigar lighter USB adaptor or a standalone USB charger. They come with a Y cable for charging both the transmitter and the headphone batteries simultaneously from a single USB port. I use a standalone charger which fully charges in about an hour.

I'll tell you what, after using this Rapoo for a few weeks, one day last Summer i got out to detecting and discovered, actually shocked that i left the Rapoos back home. Was forced to use my wire'd headphones that day. I will never forget those wireless headphones again. Never.

 

[MarkCZ]

Boy this was hard to find LOL!
A few years ago I had my own web site that I had on my own web space that my ISP provided. Well I took down my page but I still have the available web space, so a year or more ago I had used this space to unload a couple of video's to, one was a pinpointer mod and the other was a video of the plugger (digger) I posted pictures of.
Well, I had the idea of doing a video of the digger in use but my grandson had his ideas as well and so for fun we made a video and I had uploaded it to my web space.

The problem is that its been so long sense I accessed the files that I had forgotten the url text and even how to excess the files Then this morning I stumbled upon an old url string that was enough for me to figure out how to at lest view the video, I had even forgotten what the uploaded files name was, I just guessed at that.

Here is the link to the video, now keep in mind that this was just a practice video with my grandson and was not ever intended to be a final production! but it does show the digger in use. (if the url works)
http://users.zoominternet.net/~markc/digger.wmv

And for the moderators on here this url isn't to an actual web site, its just to an uploaded file on my personal web space! I don't have a youtube account! I did this kind of stuff by the book of "Old School"

Ah, what the heck! it seems that the video of the pinpointer mod is still there as well, so for kicks here is the url to that as well,

http://users.zoominternet.net/~markc/pinpointer.wmv

Mark

 

[ironsight]

Hey Mark, my brain is losing memory cells as i type this!
Case in point.
That relic/field shovel i posted earlier, while trying to get my ATV started in the barn to plow that dam snow the other day, i glanced at that shovel sitting in the corner with some of my other detecting gear.
Well i totally forgot i modified it last Winter making it a little shorter with an improved extension lock similar to the lock on my home brewed park shovel. Gonna have to take some new pics of that there relic shovel. Last time i used that relic shovel was early last Spring and it got a workout at that.

Tried to look at those links but unfortunately they require extra Windows media player file downloads. Not a problem but then it required a connection to my old dial up system which is RIP. Might try again later.

 

[MarkCZ]

Hey Mark, my brain is losing memory cells as i type this!
Case in point.
That relic/field shovel i posted earlier, while trying to get my ATV started in the barn to plow that dam snow the other day, i glanced at that shovel sitting in the corner with some of my other detecting gear.
Well i totally forgot i modified it last Winter making it a little shorter with an improved extension lock similar to the lock on my home brewed park shovel. Gonna have to take some new pics of that there relic shovel. Last time i used that relic shovel was early last Spring and it got a workout at that.

Tried to look at those links but unfortunately they require extra Windows media player file downloads. Not a problem but then it required a connection to my old dial up system which is RIP. Might try again later.

I know there has been a lot of views sense I posted the url's but nobody else has commented about being able to view them or not? They are just uploaded files from my Sony CyberShot. The vid;s are only maybe two years old. Everything these days is setup for "Youtube" when I clicked the links I get an option to either Run, Save, Or cancel.

Mark

 

[Dirt slinger]

Wow, this thread really got some traction since I peeked in last! I gotta say there are some really talented people here, very nice guys, thanks a bunch for sharing!!

 

[ironsight]

Interesting, How does the lock mechanism work, bolt pressure? When you heat the blade, does it loose its temper?

I totally forgot i modified that shovel last Winter since i haven't used it since early last Spring out relic detecting. All park hunting since then.
Built the original as a Winter project a couple years ago.

Anyhow i updated the locking mechanism so i could adjust it at any length. I also shortened it a few inches as it was originally a little too long when extended.
The lock lever is a milling machine gib clamp tightener i picked up for a few bucks.
I took a connector nut, welded it to a collar then milled the slot through.
I also embedded a brass bearing in the split collar to help keep the shaft from getting nicked.
The steel piston is still there to prevent shaft wobble and add over all rigidity.
It works great.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20003_zpstat0qmap.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20018_zpsilzmy5dx.jpg

 

[ironsight]

I finally took some quick pics of my home brewed park stealth shovel.
It has an extendable handle, an optional horizontal handle which can be removed and small foot assists for digging deep targets or tough soil.
I installed a knob at the top which can be easily removed. I plan on fabricating a T handle and a typical Y shovel handle as accessories which can be changed out in minutes.
The blade was modified from a smaller utility shovel.
With the handle retracted, this thing can be tucked under the arm looking like an ordinary garden spade to any busy bodies or park attendants.

This is my goto digging tool for parks. I used it exclusively all last Summer/Fall.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20005_zpsgfjtt9nv.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20006_zps8fdxysly.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20012_zpsg38l4rhk.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20010_zpsfzn3sadb.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20009_zpslrimlfru.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/moparado/shovels%20008_zpswrkyoqyt.jpg

 

[mudpuppy]

Now THATS one cool digger!
Mud

 

[ironsight]

Now THATS one cool digger!
Mud

Hey thanks mud!
My motivation for fab'ing that park shovel was a couple Summers ago in a park area i was finding one merc after another. Problem was the soil was hard compacted not unlike concrete. Further, those merc were deep, some real deep. Dam near ruined my wrists digging them with an ordinary run on the mill digging tool. My wrist pain didn't go away til mid Winter.

Because of an unfortunate incident with another detectorist caught red handed using a full blown shovel in that park, all eyes were on detectorists there.
Couldn't and didn't want to use a shovel there as this site has produced a lot and i mean a lot of deep silver.

 

[AngelicStorm]

Okay so this thread has been brought to my attention because of Mudpuppy. Thanks
It looks like a really good one to expand innovative ideas.
What I am seeking is a custom made shovel with both sides being serrated and the blade being about 11" long. Very much like the Piranha Model 35, but with a longer handle. I am sure someone knows how to custom build these things. Hopefully it is someone here.
Looking forward to suggestions and/or ideas. Thanks.

 

[mudpuppy]

I like where you are going with this concept, Angelicstorm!...Nothing so sweet as a sharp D handle tile spade for tight fast work...Now maybe one of these guys will step up and build something just for you!

Make sure you let them know you are hard on equipment and have busted standard off the shelf gear, thats an important issue...anybody that can bust a tiling spade is one serious digger! I look forward to seeing what somebody here comes up with for you!

Fun and inspirational thread here huh? Glad you liked it as I did... Lots of great ideas and inventions...Its great to have custom gear for how you roll, just makes all the finds a bit sweeter...
Mud