Winter project

[Jaxom]

Here in the great white north, where the ground gets as hard as steel, it'd be nice to have a project to do while waiting for the ground to thaw next spring. Luckily it hasn't gotten that cold just yet, unfortunilly I was laid off from my job and had to sell my xlt back in july. And while I am on a tight budget, things are getting better, in fact the county where i live is paying for me to be trained as a welder!

But in the mean time, I want something to do with my hands.... So I kinda got this odd idea after seen a new tech type show on cable. This show was on future military weapons and gear. And some of the new stuff that's already in use. And one of those items is R/C controlled metal detectors for mine sweeping. Well being a detectorist for over 10 years now, that got me to thinking.....

Problem is this, any decent detector has to be ground balenced first and then for pin pointing has to go through some odd manuvers, ones that I just don't think I can get a robotic arm to do. Even a simple PI type detector still needs to be ground balenced before use.

Then I remember having read an magazine article in one of the many magazines I have. Don't recall if it was western/eastern or gold prospectos, but it mentioned GPR units. (ground penetrating radar) Now that would be really nice, but two problems with this... they VERY expensive and the golden zone we detectorists do most of our finds is washed out with background noise, and usually don't show much detail 10" and above. Or atleast that 's what one dealer told me.

I've already done the research, it is possible to build a med sized robot that can automatically, systematically search a given area. The problem is matching that with a detector of sorts that can scan the ground without needing to do major acrobatics. Any suggestions would be greatly apperciated

Jax

 

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[Salvager]

Here in Australia people mount HUGE coils on just about everything from quad bikes (ATV's) to cars to themselves. They use these setups for such things as searching salt lakes for nuggets or finding nugget patches. I THINK they use minelab GP series detectors hooked up to these contraptions. I also think they have been doing it for quite a while and as such they probably used SD's aswell (gold detecting isn't my area so I'm not really sure). Doesn't the latest minelab sovereign have automatic ground tracking? Sorry if this sounds minelab orientated-just most Aussie publications are full of minelab propaganda and I don't know much about American (or any other) detectors.

It would be relatively easy to mount a detector with a large sized coil (for better ground coverage) on an RC vehicle (instead of a quad bike). When the detector got a signal the vehicle could drop a marker (for manual pin-pointing). I think much beyond that and there is some SERIOUSLY huge money needed. There are all kinds of remote guidance systems for automated farm machinery to work fields and avoid objects, these would be rather easy to use (read-copy) for this purpose.

If there was a source of unlimited money, it would be possible to get the robot to pinpoint and even dig the target if you tried hard enough (you've seen how precise CNC machine arms are?).

Just my opinion,
Hope it helps,

Jesse

 

[Sandman]

Interesting concept of mounting detectors on ATV's, wheelchairs, etc. I have used some of these huge coils, WOT included, and a slow sweep speed is necessary to let the detector analyze the ground. The huge coils have their place like at beaches where gold sinks into the sand and like for finding caches. There comes a point where the hobby turns into work. I've used a suction dredge a few times for retrieval of targets on a beach and on a sea bottom. It takes away the thrill of the hunt for me. It's not about the Profit for me, but the fun.

I have used many different types of detectors from various manufactures during my near thirty years hunting. I have never used a detector that was better than a Minelab, yet. LOL Some are a waste of metal and plastic. Some were close I thought till I started using Minelabs. The Sovereign has auto tracking and you can turn it off too. The GP 3500 and SD machines are great at finding gold nuggets, but are unsuited for detecting on a beach. Who wants to dig two foot down for a BB or split shot?

Sandman

 

[Michigan Badger]

I have never used a detector that was better than a Minelab, yet.
Sandman

Ever use a BFO Relco?

 

[Jaxom]

Ack! took me a while to get back, school started and then we've been out of power for a few days....

Oh, I don't mind the Minelab chat, if and when I win the lottery, I woudln't mind a explorer for in the hoood and a 3500 for going to some of the gpaa/ldma sites.

I wasn't intending on this being a "for profit" type project. More of a "that's neat" type one. I can only do so much research during the winter, or only watch sooo many movies. And being hands on type person, why not try and mount a detector on a bot. Problem is which kind I'm starting to lean towards a PI type and just dig all good targets. Any comments?

Jax
(chicago)

 

[Night Stalker]

Good post Sandman, I use the Tesoro Cortes and like it very well, I have used a minelab before which I borrowed from a friend, I didn't care much for it, I guess, like everything else, it just takes a little getting used to.

 

[bazinga]

I don't know much about robotics or anything, but a beach robot would be kind of neat. Mount a sand scoop on it and it just drives around looking for signals and digs until there is no more signal. All while you lay on the beach getting a tan,haha.