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AT Pro, Shaft question

A

artman60

Member
I posted a while back about how one way or another I was gonna have me an AT Pro by spring. Mission accomplished, while waiting for spring, I'm trying to get the unit set up for me. Apparently I'm a too short guy, with arms too long. With the shortest possible setup It's about an inch or so too tall for me. The coil would be on the ground and my arm would have to raised up to swing it, instead of hanging fully down. Or the coil would have to be too far in front of me, tiring me out way too quickly. So the questions I'm wondering are, how far from the coil does the metal shaft have to be? Set up at it's shortest, the metal shaft is only 4- 4 1/2 inches away. If I modified it myself, (some cutting to metal shaft, and lower rod) would anyone think that this would void any warranty issues on the coil, or control unit? ( I have sent an e-mail to Garretts about this, just looking for other opinions) I understand that if I cut any thing, what I've cut is on me, and no warranty would be expected. Are their any custom shafts anyone recommends to solve this problem? I'm just trying to get the fit down so when Easter arrives, I'm in business, just gotta learn the unit then. Any replies, suggestions, or opinions are thankfully accepted. Artie
 
Do you have this problem with all detectors artman? That would be a pain to have to modifie every detector you use.
 
Whites Eagle Spectrum, my first detector, straight shaft, yes. Lived with it, but I was 21 years younger. Fisher 1280x, straight shaft, nice design, no. Minelab Excalibur, S shaft, yes, bought an aftermarket straight shaft for it, have gone 4 hours straight with no problem. Now the AT Pro=?. Just want to set it up so the limit on how long I can hunt is my time available, not how long I can hold out.
 
Are you using the metal pins or the plastic cam locks? I'm only 5'6" and don't have a problem, but have short arms, I guess. I think the cam locks alone will allow you to make the shaft a little shorter. Cutting the shaft should be the last thing you do. Perhaps using a shorter piece from another detector?
 
The lower rod is bottoming out in the metal, upper shaft. If I cut the lower rod, it will bring the metal shaft closer than 4 inches to the coil. I'm wondering if this is a bad thing. At this point I'm thinki9ng about getting an aftermarket shaft and modifying it. Artie
 
There is possible 2nd issue if you shorten the shaft a lot. The atpro is very sensitive, if you wear footware with metal eyelets or steel toes swinging the coil too close to the footwear will cause the atpro to ring out on u r shoes. I discovered this from swing coil too clost to my footwear. So before changing shaft determine how far from u r feet it can be swung before changing anything, as for warrenty call garrett and ask.
 
I guess your asking due to the potential of the coil detecting the shaft itself and causing a signal? If so I guess in theory it would only matter in pinpointing mode since all other modes require movement to produce a signal. The shaft should be moving in unison with the coil so the coil would not "see" the movement of the shaft (provided all is tight with no play). And I think in pinpointing mode (all metal) it would be utilizing ground balancing information that would be taking the shaft into account and only resulting in a signal if more metal is introduced into the coil area; which is why you ground balance over an area that has no metal in it.

I agree with checking with Garrett about effect on warranty and they could probably tell you of any ill effects the modification might cause with performance as well. Garrett seam very helpful, I have spoken to them about my propointer before.

Best Of Luck
 
You could saw off some of he upper metal shaft and buy one of pluggers shaft locks to replace the cam lock. Plugger's shaft locks are superior to the cam lock on the AT. I don't know how much you'd need to cut so measure and check swing length before cutting. So mock it up with the lower shaft with coil sliding up alongside the outside of the upper to get an idea how much you'd need to trim the see if it is too much. This way the coil remains well isolated from the metal shaft.
Good luck.
 
Ytcoinshooter said:
You could saw off some of he upper metal shaft and buy one of pluggers shaft locks to replace the cam lock. Plugger's shaft locks are superior to the cam lock on the AT. I don't know how much you'd need to cut so measure and check swing length before cutting. So mock it up with the lower shaft with coil sliding up alongside the outside of the upper to get an idea how much you'd need to trim the see if it is too much. This way the coil remains well isolated from the metal shaft.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
That's a good suggestion, just gonna wait to see what Garretts says about it affecting warranty. I don't mind losing any warranty on shaft, just don't wanna lose it for coil, control unit. Any idea how'd sell me one of Pluggers shaft locks? Is there a way to go straight to Plugger? With one of his shaft locks I could take about 4 inches off the metal shaft, and two inches off the nonmetallic one, and still have a shaft short enough for me, but able to go quite a bit longer. Thank you everyone for all the help. Artie
 
The shaft locks are on eBay and you can google Rods by Plugger. Hes got a web store. Check out his products - great stuff. Extra a middle shafts or the ATP run about 16 -18 bucks. Really, avoid shortening the lower rod if you can. I'm 5'6 and like my coil just far enough away so I don't stoop.
HH-Bruce
 
Garretts contacted me and let me know that any shaft mods won't affect coil or control unit warrantys. I brought unit to shop I work at and discovered the middle rod on the shaft appears to be PVC, I thought it was aluminum, ( shoulda made a closer examination) . So all I really needed to do was cut off two inches from lower rod, drill new holes and reinsert snap springs, Voila AT fits me like a glove. If I'm barefoot at the beach I can get it to go short enough, and I'm short enough that it still will go much longer than I could ever use. Thank you everyone for all the help/replies/suggestions. Now I need springtime to get here and get some swing time in. Artie
 
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