Just made my vaquero a dual disc machine. easy cheap mod. check it out

[spellman]

So my kid is home sick and I needed a project. Went to radio shack and spent ten bucks for my project.
I decided I was going to make my vaquero a dual disc machine. Got home took the vaquero out side ground balanced and set the disc to just break up on zinc pennys. Left the disc there brought it in and took it apart. I used my meter to find out the resistance that the disc pot broke up on zinc. I got 4700 ohms. Then I wired and soldered in a 4700 ohm resister and hooked it to a spdt micro switch. I wired that into the disc pot and mounted my switch. I put it all back together and tryed it out. It works perfect I can set the disc at foil and check the target with the switch if I still get a good signal ill know its above zinc and if I get no signal its below zinc and if it breaks up its zinc range. I set it up this way so I can use it as a reverse disc cause I like to dig all the low conductors. Is going to help alot. Fyi if you want to do this mod do it like I did just cause 4700 ohms worked on my machine dosent mean it will on yours. Also think about where you want your break to be and set it up for that. Good luck. Dont be discouraged its not a hard mod. Im not an electric engineer. Im a mechanic. But I have found the way to learn this stuff is to dive in.
Sorry for the sideways pics thats just how the came out

 

[spellman]

This mod was so easy now im thinking about changes I can make. I think im going to get a single pole triple throw micro switch and add a resistor to break up on pull tabs. When the switch is down it would be what ever I set my disc to like foil with the switch in the mid position it would breakup on tabs and with it up it would break up on zinc . Yup its definitely going to happen. If anyone has question let me know .

 

[Topo]

Nice mod, I would be afraid of doing something like that

 

[SkiWhiz]

Good job spellman, I have always enjoyed tinkering also.

 

[Sven]

[size=medium]Nice job........... the hotrod bug has bitten you.......

Glad to see I'm not the only one who wants to trick out their Tesoro.[/size]

 

[tabman]

Nice work! I sure wish I could do stuff like that.

It's kind of like the Troy Shadow X2 made by Tesoro, except it has an adjustable discrimination inside the unit for a push button instead of a switch with a resistor. They call it a 'coin check'.

tabman

 

[Bleaver]

That appears to be an eazy mod. I think I will try it on a 10 year old Silver Saber first before i move on to a more expensive detector. Be even nicer if I can locate a momentary pushbutton switch sort of like the pinpoint button on the vaquero.

 

[Sven]

That appears to be an eazy mod. I think I will try it on a 10 year old Silver Saber first before i move on to a more expensive detector. Be even nicer if I can locate a momentary pushbutton switch sort of like the pinpoint button on the vaquero.

I can usually find a source for most things, thought I remembered seeing them. just recalled where:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/716/Switches-Pushbutton/2.html

 

[spellman]

The push buttons above wont work cause there single pole single throw. You need single pole double throw switches. If you can get some spdt like above they would work perfectly. The switch works good but after using it a push button would work better. I may have to make a change.

 

[Sven]

The push buttons above wont work cause there single pole single throw. You need single pole double throw switches. If you can get some spdt like above they would work perfectly. The switch works good but after using it a push button would work better. I may have to make a change.

Yes but, if you just want a replacement push button like on a V or Cib, those I listed would be direct replacements.

There's all kinds of toggle and push button switches out there, one made to fit every need.

This is just a small sample what can be found: http://www.e-switch.com/
http://www.switchdepot.com/Switches/Toggle_Switches/Toggle_Switches-Switches.asp

 

[slingshot]

I was with a former Tesoro dealer while he had the insides of a Troy detector exposed and caught a glimpse of how it was done and went home and did my Silver umax similarly. It's basically taking a variable 200k mini-pot and tack soldering the two outside terminals on the mini-pot to the corresponding outside terminals on the detector's pot. Without the white or middle terminal wire connected NEITHER pot will have ANY effect on the detector and there will be no signal. So, connecting the white wire to the center post of a mini dpst switch and then running a wire from each end terminal on the dpst to the center posts of the two pots will effectively turn one or the other on or off. Then, when the mini-pot is activated, you can tweak the breakup point to where the majority of tabs break up=much like the Tejon!

 

[Sven]

I guess we should add if your disc pot is 10k, the second disc pot should be of the same value. 100K second should be 100k.

=============================================

And here's another twist if you want to add a two pot GB or disc or whatever. It has worked for me.
This set-up allows a coarse tuning with the orig. pot and fine tuning with the second pot, really dial in some precise tuning.
Basically the same set-up that Fisher used in their early VLF/TR machines with a single stacked pot.
-----------------------------------
Take the original GB pot, select a 10:1 smaller pot, and wrap it around in parallel on the two outside legs of the original
pot. Connect the outside legs of each pot to each other, it gives you a fine tune pot "in parallel".
Set fine tune pot (lower value) in the middle of the tuning, then set the original GB (higher value) pot as good as you
can, then use the fine tune pot to "fine tune" the original pot
This is what Fisher did on some older detectors, and it was fantastic when used to ground balance. Is quicker, and you
do not need to fool with turning and turning a 10 turn pot, around and around. You will find you can narrow in on the
precise GB balance tune really quick! So if the original pot is 100K, select a 10K (10:1 ratio) for the fine tune. If it is 10K,
select a 1K for the fine tune.

 

[spellman]

It looks like there is alot of mods that can be done to make the machine fit our needs better. Now we just need some more room in that tiny control box. This spring im going to buy a compadre just to do mods to and its going to be a water machine. Cant wait.

 

[slingshot]

I guess we should add if your disc pot is 10k, the second disc pot should be of the same value. 100K second should be 100k.

=============================================

And here's another twist if you want to add a two pot GB or disc or whatever. It has worked for me.
This set-up allows a coarse tuning with the orig. pot and fine tuning with the second pot, really dial in some precise tuning.
Basically the same set-up that Fisher used in their early VLF/TR machines with a single stacked pot.
-----------------------------------
Take the original GB pot, select a 10:1 smaller pot, and wrap it around in parallel on the two outside legs of the original
pot. Connect the outside legs of each pot to each other, it gives you a fine tune pot "in parallel".
Set fine tune pot (lower value) in the middle of the tuning, then set the original GB (higher value) pot as good as you
can, then use the fine tune pot to "fine tune" the original pot
This is what Fisher did on some older detectors, and it was fantastic when used to ground balance. Is quicker, and you
do not need to fool with turning and turning a 10 turn pot, around and around. You will find you can narrow in on the
precise GB balance tune really quick! So if the original pot is 100K, select a 10K (10:1 ratio) for the fine tune. If it is 10K,
select a 1K for the fine tune.

Er,yeah. But I got desperate and added a 50k FIXED resistor in series with a 100k variable just to see if it would work. Messy and sloppy, but it did the job until I got the right components.

 

[Sven]

Er,yeah. But I got desperate and added a 50k FIXED resistor in series with a 100k variable just to see if it would work. Messy and sloppy, but it did the job until I got the right components.

I have done that too, when I didn't have the exact pot value used what was on hand............

 

[Sven]

It looks like there is alot of mods that can be done to make the machine fit our needs better. Now we just need some more room in that tiny control box. This spring im going to buy a compadre just to do mods to and its going to be a water machine. Cant wait.

Can you just see the folks at Tesoro just shak'in their heads.......................

 

[spellman]

Yes I can. But this is what makes tesoro so great they keep it simple so we can tinker. I think this is an important part of metal detecting. Getting to know how they work inside and out. And we can make changes to fit our style of hunting. Yes we are knowingly voiding our warranty but thats our choice. And with such a reliable product its an easy choice.

 

[jimmyjiver]

Hi, I know that I run the risk of being a heavy hard hitting Mr. know it all.... But I though I would tell you these mods are unequivocally not a safe way to do what you are trying to a accomplish.... In the modification at the start and at the top of the page the author is somewhat accomplishing his final goal of having a dual discriminator incorporated into his machine . ...But!!....now here's the but....at the same time he's actually putting the fixed resistor in series with the existing potentiometer (overall change of resistance)...The end result is less voltage going to the discrimination circuitry (poor performance comes to mind) plus the existing potentiometer,,depending on where it is turned will vary the fixed resistors function (in this case the zinc pennies thingy)....In a nutshell depending on where the original potentiometer is turned would also change the fixed resistor and the potentiometers combined value and purpose....Now on to the second mod this one is an electronic disaster waiting to implode....This mod might not get you today but it probably will get you in the end!!!!... Anytime you run resistors or potentiometers in parallel your increasing the initial voltage somewhere in the electronic circuitry....The end result is that some part or parts in the circuitry is going to fail at sometime because the circuitry was not designed to accommodate it's newly found increase in voltage (mod)....You'll need to put your thinking cap on when you do the math calculations required to calculate parallel and resistors in series. The math isn't horribly complicated, but it isn't trivial, either.....When you combine two resistors in parallel, current can flow through both resistors at the same time. Although each resistor does its job to hold back the current, the total resistance of two resistors in parallel is always less than the resistance of either of the resistors because the current has two pathways through which to go. When you run resistors in series you are basically cutting the initial resistance in half not to mention the wattage of the resistors....Well I tell you, I think I said enough on this subject hoping I did not ruffle any feathers,,,, I'm not really trying to rain on anyone's parade I just felt that I had to get this off my chest and mind....I'm speaking from experience after burning up a few different machines not to mention voiding several of my warranties in the past....If after all I have said, you still want to do this these mods I strongly suggest you proceed with the utmost caution....If you want to really pursue this new craze of dual discriminators may I suggest that you try looking into doing it electronically with chips like a C_ _01_ _ ....Happy modding.... and best of luck to you out there in the field....JJ

 

[spellman]

Look at how its wired the disc pot is taken out of the circut when the switch is fliped and then just the fixed resistor is in the circut . Not both at the same time . I think calling your self Mr. Know it all is a little far fetched. The schematic I made clearly shows that the pot and resistor are not in series or parallel. Thanks for the input though people do need to understand that there is a risk if wired wrong. I have enough electrical background not to mess something as simple as this up.

 

[slingshot]

Didn't seem to mess up the Troy detectors.