Excal II Popular Mods

[E-TREC-Virginia]

Hi Everyone,

I just purchased a new Excal II with the 10" coil and was wondering what type of mods are popular with the Excal crowd. I am already planning on getting a Plugger 2 piece travel shaft and some Goldmaster headphones. I'm going to be using my Excal for river hunting, fresh and saltwater beaches (dry/wet sand, waist to chest high water hunting). I will be doing some dive hunting later in the year when I get my certification. Do most of you guys/gals wait until the warranty expires before you do the mods that will void the warranty?

 

[hershey1]

I would not do anything to void your warranty. Straight shaft will be a big help. Congratulations on your new machine. HH

 

[Tin Fin]

I have one that is older, used, and isn't under warranty - that one is for working on via mods. I have another one that is also older, used, but is my work horse and it won't get any mods until I'm fairly comfortable with what I'm doing in those terms. If yours has a warranty, then hershey1 has it right - don't void your warranty; anything to change wires, coils, headphones, anything but the shaft and O-rings, will void it.

 

[E-TREC-Virginia]

I have one that is older, used, and isn't under warranty - that one is for working on via mods. I have another one that is also older, used, but is my work horse and it won't get any mods until I'm fairly comfortable with what I'm doing in those terms. If yours has a warranty, then hershey1 has it right - don't void your warranty; anything to change wires, coils, headphones, anything but the shaft and O-rings, will void it.

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to change out my headphones, but I'll hold off on it and wait until the warranty expires. Looks like just a Plugger shaft for me right now.

 

[jkoaltrades]

x3

 

[kneedet]

Anderson long shaft has a nice balance HH

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

I would not do anything to void your warranty. Straight shaft will be a big help. Congratulations on your new machine. HH

Well I had felt the same way and did wait till the warrenty ran out to switch my headphones. Bad mistake I went a year and never knew what I wasn't hearing. My gold finds when from 20 pieces to 100 with the switch of headphones.All these detectors are like tools,like a hammer if it breaks buy a new one! My clad count more than pays for the detector in one year. The gold pays for 10 detectors in a year. If you can't hear it you can't dig it. Koss headphones simply suck! No one ever ask where can I buy a set of Koss headphones!
I use goldmasters!

 

[Hopster]

Excellent 'mods" but are not really mods, will make your detecting more enjoyable and help prevent failures and falsing:

Get some spiral wrap and tie-wraps (zip-ties) and setup a good strain relief system for all cables.
Wrap the coil cable clockwise looking down the shaft so that the last loop comes over the top and has room to flex before it enters the coil.
Take the coil cover off, clean everything and put a nice bead of marine grade silicone in the bottom of it, then press the cover back in place slowly allowing time for the silicone to ooze out of edges.
This means squeezing every inch of the cover tightly to the coill to make sure it is seated all the way - count to ten each squeeze before moving to the next spot.
Seal all of the edges and clean off excess. This will keep sand, water, everything -from getting in between the coil cover and the coil.
Protecting the entire coil cable with spiral wrap or automotive split loom wrap will help protect it from damage.
DO NOT LET THE DETECTOR UNIT GET CRACKS AT THE MOUNTING EARS !
Use rubber washers or fat o-rings under nylon wingnuts and bolt heads to help prevent stresses at those locations that can lead to cracks.
Once a crack starts it can reach the main wall of the unit = very bad.
The peltor mod from OBN should help you hear better = very good.
I like the Plugger over-under travel shaft but some prefer the 'balanced" shaft where the weight of the main unit sticks out behind your elbow.
Plugger sells both styles.
Pull the knobs off, add a appropriate sized O-ring to each knob shaft after greasing the shafts with silicone. Then install the Anderson aftermarket knobs, pressing LIGHTLY to compress each O-ring
a little before you tighten each set screw. This adds a extra "sand" seal to keep abrasives out of the main shaft seals. You can use different colored knob for threshold to make adjustments quicker also.
The best mod I have seen here but not tried is OBN's "remote pinpoint switch" mod, not a simple task but looks like it would improve the whole detecting experience greatly.
Good luck.
DC
In any case, ditch the stock "S" shaft