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Coil covers. Am I the only one with trouble removing them?

S

Songdog

New member
I find it hard to believe that I am the only one that has trouble removing my coil covers.
They fit so darned tight that I cracked one cover trying to remove it.
Is there any way to easily remove the covers without damaging them?
I like to remove mine after hunting in sand so that I can clean them up and get the sand out of the coil cover.
It is amazing that even though these covers fit SO TIGHT, how much sand ends up inside the covers!!! :surprised:
 
You are not alone. Most of the covers are very difficult to remove. That is why most people seal them with RTV upon installation and then leave them in place.
As far as I know, there is no easy way to remove coil covers, but I have found that inserting a credit card into the space between the coil and cover, then pushing down on the card will very often get it started.

Good luck.
 
Hi Dog, To remove a coil cover just place the coil in very warm water with a little dish soap, let it set there a min. or two and take a then plastic knife or credit card and start working your way around the coil and cover. place on knife in and use the other to work your way around. Always works for me all the time. Good luck Flintstone
 
If the coil cover has a hole or open design, that's good because you can use any 'lip' or just use an open area. If it is a solid coil cover, you can simply use the edge 'lip' of the coil cover.

Now, go to your den or other room where you keep your detectors and accessories and displays of finds, find a nice open spot on the wall, carefully tap the nail in at a slight downward angle, then hang the coil cover as a 'trophy'. You can even make a small sign or description about it and what you learned, such as.:

These blasted coil covers were never used long ago, then epoxy filled coils helped to promote them.

This is an example of an annoyance about metal detecting because it catches and traps sand, grit and water between the coil and coil cover.

Use of these small accessory items seems harmless because the appear to weigh very, very little. However, they add extra weight at the far end of the rod and can cause fatigue in a hurry, compared to simply searching with the coil only, w/o the coil cover.

Many/most very savvy and avid detectorists do not use them because, quite frankly, they are not needed. Not only do the case fatigue and then frustration, when we have t waste our time t get the free to clean the material they have trapped, the manufacturers state in their manuals that the search coils should be worked about 1" to 2" OFF the ground surface. If positioned too close to the ground, especially in really bad mineralization, you can actually cut down on the possible search depth, and also swamp the field with too much ground signal. That causes other problems.

So, here is a specimen that I display to show the wisdom I possess in not wanting to cause fatigue by the added weight, to not bringing about frustrations when trying to work them off of a search coil, and to eliminate the possible interference trapped matter might cause .... because now, I don't trap any of it. :thumbup:

Okay, so these are just my thoughts, but I don' use coil covers. I don't need coil covers. I don't care for any frustrations coil covers might bring about. And it is easier to simply rinse off my uncluttered search coil.

Biased opinions, of course.

Monte
 
I have found that the first time putting on the coil cover is the most difficult, as well as the first time you take one off. But I too slightly cracked my coil cover the first time I put it on.
 
Monte,
I am leaning towards your way of thinking!
I have been detecting for over 40 years and bought my first White's Coinmaster from Roy Volker, treasure hunter extrodinaire!
I did not use coil covers up until the last eight years myself.
The "old" coils were solid and built like tanks.
Then the open design coils started appearing as did the covers and it SOUNDED like a good idea at the time. Why not try and protect your investment and keep things looking nice, right?
Well, like I said, I tried removing a coil cover off of one of my other machines and cracked the cover. This particular coil is rather thing and I thought the cover was needed just to make the coil last a bit longer.
I now realize that if I were to ever wear a coil out, then it is probably time for a new one any way.
And I do not like the stress that I have to apply to my coil just to remove the cover.
SO, taking one of your ideas my coil covers will now be relegated to "man cave decor"!
I would much rather have a dirty and scuffed coil than to have sand trapped between the coil and cover where erroneous signals may be given off, or worse yet, wear a hole in the coil from the abrasion.
Thanks to all that replied. I appreciate your input.
 
I quit using coil covers based on Monte's advice. Do I believe my coil is more at risk of damage because of this? Yes, but only slightly. I am very careful how and where I swing. I have been without coil covers for about 2 years and no damage to my coils has resulted. It's worth a try. In my opinion, just about every piece of advice Monte has given proves to be true.
 
Songdog said:
<snip>
I would much rather have a dirty and scuffed coil than to have sand trapped between the coil and cover where erroneous signals may be given off, or worse yet, wear a hole in the coil from the abrasion.
Thanks to all that replied. I appreciate your input.
Click to expand...

You are more likely to hole your coil hitting a sharp chunk of rock or gravel than to wear a hole in it with trapped sand.
As I mentioned, put the cover on and seal it with RTV. No need to remove it ever a again unless it gets damaged.
Of course, some people don't bother putting protective covers on their cell phones, either...
 
Its PC-7 Epoxie, its a two part, mixs up grey colored, TrueValue has it, You get enough in two small pint cans to coat many coils. Grubstake
 
You mix it up, put it on with a putty knife, and before it dryd, you wet your finger or hand with water, and smooth it out, I run a bead of masking tape around my coil, and putty to the tape, after the bottom of the coil is covered, I take my wet finger and smooth it out, then remove the masking tape, and let it dry over night. then your good to go, almost forever, as the PC-7 wears down, you can add more as needed. Lots of people on the gold forums use this, and wood never go back to coil covers. Grubstake
 
Howdy All,

As luck would have it, I just now came across this post - after removing the cover and cleaning the coil following a day in the sand (freshwater beach). I'm not an experienced mder, in fact I'm a newbee. I'm also the guy the salesman love to see coming - "you'll also need one of these to clean/protect/prolong/improve........etc".
But I'd also like to add that removing the cover has been pretty easy since I read an old post on the forum about using guitar picks.

I insert one pick (1.0 or 1.5 mm) (on the 10DD coil it takes a .5mm to get the 1.0 started), lever it parallel with the coil, and then slide the second pick around like a can opener. As they say, the first time is the hardest, after that, no big deal. You don't have to "pry and pop" it off.

For me cleaning the equipment is part of the game. I like to clean my golf clubs before I play (but I'm not even a once a week golfer), and as a kid, I loved the smell of neatsfoot oil on my baseball glove; so I oiled the glove all the time. My affair with oiling the baseball glove lasted until I was 20 and wasn't good enough to play anymore. I guess that's where the "cleaning the equipment" got started. For me it's part of the hobby, just like sealing the cover or adding a coating is for some of you. (I have also been known to dust off the box with my mustache brush, the same one I bought 40 years ago to clean my turntable - that I'm still using.)

The guys who run "bare" coils just don't know how much fun they're missing.
 
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