Equinox S-Shaft Please

gunsil · Apr 3, 2018

I dunno about all this desiring an S shaft. Most Excal users get rid of the S shaft in favor of a straight shaft and I have straights on my Excal and my Infinium. Many guys get the Plugger straight shafts for their ATPs. I think it is just a conception some have that an S shaft is easier to use more than an ergonomic fact. I swing straight arm from the shoulder, straights work fine for me and I have tried many detectors including the old box types since 1970. My ATP is an S, and OK, Safari is a weight monster but OK, I think Minelab realized many folks prefer the straight shafts and were smart in making the Nox the way they did.

smokeythecat · Apr 3, 2018

Here's your fix. Disassemble the control unit from the lower shaft. Remove the upper shaft and replace it with a Tesoro "S" shaft, they are almost exactly the same, I used a Vaquero for this trial on Saturday. Remount the control unit on the Tesoro S or you could also leave it on the lower unit. Cheap, easy fix.

parkgt · Apr 3, 2018

smokeythecat said:
Here's your fix. Disassemble the control unit from the lower shaft. Remove the upper shaft and replace it with a Tesoro "S" shaft, they are almost exactly the same, I used a Vaquero for this trial on Saturday. Remount the control unit on the Tesoro S or you could also leave it on the lower unit. Cheap, easy fix.

Don't see right off how this would work well or easily. The NOX control is on the upper shaft not the lower. The Tesoro S like most Ss uses the transition section as the handle. There is not enough length behind the existing transition on the Tesoro to mount the NOX control and still have any remaining length for the arm cuff section.

smokeythecat · Apr 3, 2018

Tried, it, and it works. We used a Vaquero for the "dummy".

soky72 · Apr 3, 2018

Has anyone ever tried the Mars telescopic shaft designed similar to the Deus shaft

parkgt · Apr 3, 2018

smokeythecat said:
Tried, it, and it works. We used a Vaquero for the "dummy".

Do you have any pictures of that arrangement? I would try something similar.

Also wonder if the middle shaft from a ML 705 would work?

Echoplex · Apr 3, 2018

gunsil said:
I dunno about all this desiring an S shaft. Most Excal users get rid of the S shaft in favor of a straight shaft and I have straights on my Excal and my Infinium. Many guys get the Plugger straight shafts for their ATPs. I think it is just a conception some have that an S shaft is easier to use more than an ergonomic fact. I swing straight arm from the shoulder, straights work fine for me and I have tried many detectors including the old box types since 1970. My ATP is an S, and OK, Safari is a weight monster but OK, I think Minelab realized many folks prefer the straight shafts and were smart in making the Nox the way they did.

The Excal and Nox have extremely different vertical centers of gravity. The Nox is top heavy due to the tall weight from the control box and favors an S-Shaft to balance torque from swinging. I've tried it. Ergonomic fact. Excals have a short weight which is close to the shaft, so it makes sense that an Excal would favor a straight shaft. I'm guessing if I had an Excal I would also prefer a straight design. Minelab clearly does not do its homework on the ergonomics of many of their detectors.

Also, just to clarify, I am not talking about using an S-Grip shaft like the Excals and Tesoros, but replacing the MIDDLE SHAFT of the Nox with an S-Shaft, as seen on many White's machines or the F75. There's a big difference in balance depending on where the S and control box are both located.

smokeythecat · Apr 4, 2018

Parkgt I'll be able to do that next week. Equinox not available at the moment. We are getting together a week from Saturday.

parkgt · Apr 4, 2018

smokeythecat said:
Parkgt I'll be able to do that next week. Equinox not available at the moment. We are getting together a week from Saturday.

Thanks,

detectorben · Apr 4, 2018

gunsil said:
I dunno about all this desiring an S shaft. Most Excal users get rid of the S shaft in favor of a straight shaft and I have straights on my Excal and my Infinium. Many guys get the Plugger straight shafts for their ATPs. I think it is just a conception some have that an S shaft is easier to use more than an ergonomic fact. I swing straight arm from the shoulder, straights work fine for me and I have tried many detectors including the old box types since 1970. My ATP is an S, and OK, Safari is a weight monster but OK, I think Minelab realized many folks prefer the straight shafts and were smart in making the Nox the way they did.

My thoughts exactly. Minelab doesn't pay engineers to design a detector that is not balanced. There is an engineering reason they put a straight shaft on the machine. They don't just pick a shaft that looks cool. Also many testers had this machine out in the field for months and obviously gave positive feedback or there is a good chance the shaft would have been changed. I'm sure the shaft doesn't fit every body type and swing style that would be impossible but it is fine for the majority. Funny thing is people would be yelling at minelab and waiting for aftermarket straight shaft if the Nox had come with an S shaft. Impossible to please everyone.

fuceye · Apr 4, 2018

You would be surprised as to what may influence an engineers design...we probably have a straight shaft on the nox because some bean counter in accounting could save a few cents on packaging...and the time it takes to bend a piece of pipe would have cut into their profit margin....
God...if there was a s bend shaft those who have equinox would not have received for another 6 months.

sheep.dog · May 11, 2018

I agree that the Equinox would really, really benefit from an S-Shaft and hope there will be one available soon.

I tried to use the lower shaft sections from a X-Terra but as mentioned above its a mm or so small and it would require drilling holes in the upper NOX shaft or moving the detent on the terra shaft, as the Xterra relies on two(1 on each side) rather than 1 (underneathe). It could certainly make it work with some gorilla tape but hoping for a better option soon.

screwynewy · Jul 31, 2018

I'm reviving an old thread to see if anyone came up with a good solution for an "S" shaft on the Equinox. The ergonomics would be much better and balanced with a higher center of gravity for the lower shaft. Less twisting and torquing. Any ideas?

flgliderpilot · Aug 1, 2018

The torque problem went away completely when I sized the arm cuff correctly. I just don't have that problem anymore and completely forgot about it. I also grip as low as possible.

nagant · Aug 1, 2018

I put the arm cuff closest to the control box and shaft as short as feels good. Helped a lot. This was on a homed carbon shaft.

screwynewy · Aug 1, 2018

I'm going to try using the upper shaft from my T2 and see how that works. It looks like the length matches up pretty well to the 800 and they both have the control box mounted behind the "S" on a handle/pod.