Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 Faceplate Mod

[asiago]

This is Round 2 for this thing. Previously, I did that cool hinged shaft, making it pretty ultra portable. Since then, I've taken it out a couple times, and I couldn't get over how flimsy the membrane switches are. A couple of them actually won't activate unless you press them in just the right way. Strange, but who cares! I had decided I was going to build a new enclosure for the electronics, but I'm still working out the details. In the meantime, I decided to make a new faceplate, and replace the buttons with actual real buttons.

I took off the old faceplate and scanned it with a flatbed scanner I have at work, to get the right dimensions and shape with zero amount of work. Then, I built a new image, made it KISS and did the holes and everything. Test printed, looked good, so I printed off a copy, and laminated it to some 1/16" acrylic, then cut it out and all the holes on a laser cutter. Needed some minor sanding, and then soldering new wires to the cheap buttons I got from Amazon. Then positioned the LCD, and for now I'm just holding the LCD in place with some gorilla tape. Final product: http://imgur.com/ofjrGWI

I decided not to break out the power switch from the sensitivity knob just yet - I haven't found a decent pot for the sens. That's why I didn't cut a hole for the power / speaker volume, yet. Future upgrade maybe.

Full album of this mod is here: http://imgur.com/a/eHx80

I think I could cut off the whole back half of the case, too. Add an acrylic plate, and stuff the batteries behind a little removable panel, and I could easily turn the oversized electronics enclosure into something more appealing and easier on the eyes and mind. That could be the next mod, I guess.

Thanks for checking it out!

 

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[Loco-Digger]

You seriously have way too much spare time. I was brought up with "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'd rather be swinging the detector rather that messing with it. What ever floats your boat though. Have fun, the more you swing the coil, the more you find.

 

[asiago]

You seriously have way too much spare time. I was brought up with "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'd rather be swinging the detector rather that messing with it. What ever floats your boat though. Have fun, the more you swing the coil, the more you find.

Heh, thanks. This doesn't actually represent a lot of free time. Where I work, I've got about an hour every morning where I can do as I please since I'm there just for 'backup' at that time. Overall, I spent about 10 minutes in design, 15 minutes of assembly, and 20 minutes at home soldering wires. I really had to fix the borked membrane switches, too!

I'd rather be out detecting, too, but when I can't, this is how I have fun!