making your own carbon fibre telescopic detector shaft

Stuff i bought :
Carbon fibre tubes:
– smallest: 16mmX14mm 500mm (outer diam x inner diam x length)
– middle: 19mmX17mm 500mm
– biggest: 22mmX20mm 500mm (also possible to buy 1000m long and not have it fold x2)

The most impossible thing to find is the tube clamps. So I got the big twist lock from Aliexpress (19×22) which cost quite a lot for a piece of plastic. But what can you do.. I fixed them to the tube with resin.

The handle is made out of Bicycle handlebar ends (they stand upwards) and a pair of cheap rubber handles. THe handlebar ends are too short usually, so I had to take off the screw cover and put in a bit of the (sorry, original Minelab shaft ..) and a bit of carbon tube.

Some extra info and links under the video on youtube. He puts a link for the clamps in UK but quite expensive.

Turns out, I don’t like straight shafts so it’s been lying around. I did have the idea to just produce carbon rods for the Equinox since there are several alternatives but the lack of experience with the finishing and my inability to find some decent clamps made me put the idea in the freezer.

How to make cheap pinpointer work better

I have been using the old Garrett pinpointer for years. It is the simplest among pinpointers: a simple on/off button, a led-light that I never need and that’s it. Along the way, I have found a way of making it more sensitive when I need to: When I don’t find a target in the hole, I hold my screwdriver againstthe pinpointer behind the button, and pull it backwards until it stops beeping. It will increase sensitivity and therefore detection-width as long as I hold the screwdriver there. I have used this trick probably over a hundred times when the original sensitivty wasn’t enough to find my target and it worked.
Now I have a new and way more expensive Nokta Pulsedive but I might switch back to the ordinary Garrett-type because the buttons on the Pulsedive are a bit too hard to push. MAybe i’ll do it. Maybe not. I also like that the Highest sensitivity setting will never fail to find a target. I often need to put my detector a bit further because it’s in the way of the pinpointer 😀

If you are wondering whether the 4-5x cheaper Chinese pinpointers will work, there are plenty of positive reviews.