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Explorer SE 3D Printed onto Equinox Shaft

C

Charles (Upstate NY)

Well-known member
After an 11 year break from detecting I hit the beach last weekend. Used my modified Explorer SE with 3D printed handle and battery box on an Equinox shaft. Worked great, gold was dug!

explorerse.jpg
 
No I'll never sell it, she has dug pounds of gold and silver. You could mod an XS or any of the Explorers. 3D printers was the key. Previous attempts to reduce the Explorer's weight were marginal. It wasn't until I got a 3D printer that I made some worthwhile gains.
 
That's the factory Minelab housing. There's really no reducing it's weight further after removing the speaker, it doesn't weigh much most of the weight is the circuit boards. The membrane switch panel weighs pretty much nothing.

I did remove a portion of the lower housing where it attached to the factory shaft that wasn't needed. I used the side holes where the factory shaft clamp pin went as my holes to attach to the 3D printed mount. Drilled a hole up front of the housing for a 5 pin coil connector and a 5 pin X1 probe connector. Drilled a hole in the lower/right side of the housing for the X1 Prob/Coil toggle switch. What's nice is I can easily remove the probe, not really needed for beach hunting.
 
Charles (Upstate NY) said:
That's the factory Minelab housing. There's really no reducing it's weight further after removing the speaker, it doesn't weigh much most of the weight is the circuit boards. The membrane switch panel weighs pretty much nothing.

I did remove a portion of the lower housing where it attached to the factory shaft that wasn't needed. I used the side holes where the factory shaft clamp pin went as my holes to attach to the 3D printed mount. Drilled a hole up front of the housing for a 5 pin coil connector and a 5 pin X1 probe connector. Drilled a hole in the lower/right side of the housing for the X1 Prob/Coil toggle switch. What's nice is I can easily remove the probe, not really needed for beach hunting.
Click to expand...
Well done and welcome back
 
I guess what I'm referring to is the weight loss using the box shafts. And the adaptive parts attaching the Explorer control box the that shaft assembly. Just thinking you could make a few dollars.
 
Odanscoils said:
I guess what I'm referring to is the weight loss using the box shafts. And the adaptive parts attaching the Explorer control box the that shaft assembly. Just thinking you could make a few dollars.
Click to expand...
Ah, that sounds good in theory but the 3D printed parts are extremely time consuming to print. Even with my dual print head beast of a high speed 3D printer. Happy to post some detailed pics and people could print their own.
 
fwcrawford said:
Where is the battery pack located?
Click to expand...
Left/rear between the arm cup and the stand. I'm using a lightweight LiPo battery so it's small. So long 8xAA's. Headphone mono jack removed, replaced with the same 5 pin mic jack the coil and X1 probe use. If you look closely at the control box, just above the headphones you can see the toggle switch to go between the coil/probe.
 
I've never even seen a 3D printer. Must be amazing technology. Also needs an amazing mind. I'm still back in the tube days when you could see what was happening. I used to build ham radio rcvrs. and xmtrs. Boat anchors! My mind simply did not adapt to later technology. Sure glad I have 3 grandsons!
 
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