Bandido II μMAX ? ~ 10 Turn GB Pot Possible ?

[pinenut]

Hey folks!

I just thought I'd throw a question out there for those of you familiar with the BII-μMAX: Is there enough room to substitute a ten turn GB pot in place of the original four & three-quarter turn pot? Asking 'cause I recently bought a nice looking BII-μMAX with a dirty pot, and rather than sending it to Tesoro (along with my $50), I thought it would be nice to have a ten turn in there. The detector seems to work well other than that wonky GB pot. I have a few brand new Bourns 50k 10T pots already... I know that those fit down a bit lower on the faceplate (like on a modded Cibola), 'cause there's a little more room there due to the angle of the face. Will the pot also fit up in place of the stock GB on the Bandido II μMAX ?

Another question for you brave Tesoro faithful: Have any of you successfully cleaned out a dirty or oxidized GB pot?

 

[pinenut]

Looks close... Guess I could pull the original pot and do a test fitting.

 

[amberjack]

should fit pretty sure people put them in and should be an easy operation all going to plan.

AJ

 

[pinenut]

Well... I was on a mission to make it work. The 10 turn pot is not only much longer than the original, but also a bit bigger in diameter. Behind the GB pot are two small capacitors which were in the way, and since the pot is bigger around, it interfered with the post for the faceplate screw, and the side of the μMAX housing. Thankfully, there's plenty of plastic on these pots, and I have a Dremel that I like to play with... It took plenty of trial fittings to notch the pot so that it cleared the 2 caps behind it, and a notch for the screw post, and a flat on the side to clear the housing... Also shortened the shaft a bit so the knob didn't stick out too far. Finally got the faceplate with new pot mounted to clear, and put it back together.

It works so nicely with a 10 turn, it's amazing! Ground balance is now smooth and seems to adjust within a half turn, instead of a slight touch of the knob like it was before... SWEET!
I wouldn't have tried this mod if the factory pot was still in good shape. That pot adjusted a bit, then would suddenly jump to a much more negative setting with just a slight touch...not good, and I had to run it a bit positive or way negative... With this 10 turn, I should be able to run it exactly where I want. ^_^

Here's a pic of the "massaging" it took to make the new 10 turn pot fit in the stock position. I should be able to give this modded Bandido II μMAX a full testing this weekend. I'll post an update with the results.

 

[amberjack]

very good those who persist are rewarded sounds like it did the trick also so a win for detecting and for the next mod and yes the dremel does come in handy.


I have a couple 10 turns laying around somewhere when I find them its my turn to have a bit of fun.

let us know how it does on the dirt.

AJ

 

[pinenut]

very good those who persist are rewarded sounds like it did the trick also so a win for detecting and for the next mod and yes the dremel does come in handy.


I have a couple 10 turns laying around somewhere when I find them its my turn to have a bit of fun.

let us know how it does on the dirt.

AJ

Be careful when grinding on the plastic pot and go a little at a time then check fit. I deliberately wrecked one of those pots (they're only $3) to see how far I could grind in... the wire-wound coil resistor is a tube, and it goes to about 1/8" from the back of the pot, and is about 3/32" under the plastic on the sides. Put your pot in the faceplace and mark the areas on the pot where you need to relieve it - go slowly and keep checking fit.

The pot I used is a Bourns 3590S-2-503L and can be had cheaply off ebay. No need for the more costly Bourns 3540 pots (which are even bigger).

Good luck and happy hunting!

 

[pinenut]

Had the 10 turn modded Bandido II microMAX out for a couple hours today. It was so smooth in trash, I coildn't believe it! With the 10 turn, I could "power balance" it right to the edge in disc mode... so it just gave a slightly negative, single chirp when quickly lifting the coil straight up, but was still silent on the swing. The 10 turn makes it SO much easier to fine tune, it's amazing.
I'm very happy with the was this pot works...so happy, I'm tempted to open up my Outlaw to see if there's enough room in it... ^_^