Original Lobo, Terrific as a Relic Detector.

[Old California]

Pulled out my original Lobo, was curious with how it compares with the Deus in an iron laced site. Spent a few days with the Lobo waiting for the HF Deus coil to arrive, was very impressed with the Lobos separation and was thinking why wasn't I using the Lobo more often it's a killer machine in iron.

Deus HF coil arrived today, made a dash for the old nearby site. Flagged off six signals the Lobo responded too, some were iffy signals due to the abundance of iron. Switched to the Deus using the new HF coil, went with 54 kHz setting and it too hit on those six signals which was no surprise.

Guess the the super separation I was seeing earlier with the Lobo grabbed my attention, it's too good of a detector to not use. It can still hold it's own, but I hate reaching below the armrest to make adjustments. This late afternoon, took it apart and remounted the control pots and two toggle switches inside a smaller Tesoro housing, made a face plate out of a DVD disc holder, spray painted the DVD face plate and mounted back the original decals.

Ran out of time to rewire all the features, And I may solder back both the On/Off Sensitivity and Discrimination pots to the rear housing because I normally don't touch these after starting up the detector. With so much wire to solder I may only wire up are the GB pot, and both Toggle switches and replace the On/Off and sensitivity pots with dummies on the DVD face plate. The Ground balance pot and both Toggle switches I'm constantly using so these will be wired, these are a must have feature within thumbs reach. The Discrimination and Off/On sensitivity pots well these are still up in the air, I may remount and leave these in the rear housing, should have realized this earlier before removing them. Depends in how many harness I can squeeze in the shaft, that's a factor to consider as well.

Will post three pics, first will be the original setup from a recent hunt, last two pics are the new setup before entering the last phase. Very well balanced, When she's completed will share future finds both relic and as a coin shooter ............Check out the painted DVD face plate holding the controls.

If Tesoro came up with a Lobo III with a ground balance and with a setup like this, I would buy one in a second.

Thanks for looking,
Paul

 

[UtahRich]

Paul,

You have way too much fun with these detector mods.

Rich -

 

[Monte]

And in this case it is with my favorite version of the Lobo, the 'original.' When you get it finished and take it back out Relic Hunting, try any of the Concentric coils you might have. I used to use mine and found the small elliptical Concentric coil worked very well in the ghost towns and other iron debris sites than did the Wide-Scan/Double-D coils.

I don't need another back in my personal detector arsenal, but if I come across a pristine condition Lobo with Concentric coils, I just might snap it up, if the price is right. In that bigger, heavier housing configuration I am still looking for a choice condition Pantera to get a hold of next. Especially if I find one that is 'as new' with that original white donut 8" coil.

Keep us posted how your project does when finished and taken afield.

Monte

 

[Old California]

Thanks Rich,

Honestly, Wish I had more time, due to work lucky to squeeze in a spare moment to complete these projects.

Another 5 years to go, hopefully see retirement.

Thanks again Rich ☺
Paul

 

[Old California]

Thanks Monte,

Recently, Came across one of your post on the original Lobo. It's definitely a keeper, I agree unless one comes across a good deal and in good condition then definitely get it.

Was following Regs mods on the original Lobo, Added them to this particular Lobo several years ago and it added some depth and sensitivity to smaller targets. With the bigger widescan elliptical, gets good depth and luckily picked up the small elliptical Concentric coil as well. It too is a good coil, for the extremely trashy areas I like it. Believe this is the small concentric coil you liked? The cable connects to the front of the upper coil, strange at first took me awhile to adjust to the weird appearance. I believe it's called the piglet?

I'm still working on the right color for the upper face plate, not quite happy with the appearance going with black. I'll get it figured out soon, then connect and solder in the wiring harness.

Thanks again Monte ☺
Paul