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Equinox 15 inch ear stiffener problems

With mine having it loose and moving sand gets in and wares at the plastic making it thin and breaks.
Wow ! I have never broke mine. Another reason why mine is tight in addition to the stabilizer.
 
Not really weight down the shaft per se. But it is attached through the coil bolt and then attaches with a nut /bolt with a plastic clamp around the shaft , securely. I believe the weight is distributed through the bottom 3" of the stabilizer to the coil. But also the bottom of the shaft as well. The whole thing is adjustable for the angle on how you want the coil to "sit". I can send a pic tomorrow if needed. But I think you can still find these at some suppliers. I think it would be a great invention for a Nox. Something a little heavier duty on both sides like you said. Maybe wrap around the shaft or part way ?

I got mixed up between a White's version and a homebrew version I saw. My concern is that the plastic clamp (not zip tie) is going to move/deform with any significant force on it, and not really protect the ears. It looks great for what it's designed to do -- holding the coil at a certain angle, give or take, without having to overtighten the bolt.

Maybe that could be expanded on, but it'd be a big hunk of plastic, looking like an ankle cast. The best solution I've seen is the guy that epoxied strong plastic to the outsides of his ears, and probably used a longer bolt. It's not as convenient or elegant or reversible as a drop-on or bolt-on accessory, but it's very to-the-point effective...
 
To clarify I was not accusing you of being long winded, more so saying I had a lack of time to post. I appreciate your feedback and that is how things get improved, varying opinions and ideas that can be adapted to existing ones.

I went back and looked for the design that I printed, looks like it has since been taken down. I’ll try to post a pic here later if you like. It is a decent design and I still have the files somewhere.

I wonder what the actual percent of breakage is on these things, My arm cuff broke out of the blue one day, just fell apart and I was out the equinox for a week.

Don’t use the detector as a crutch when digging LOL! I’mbad about it but the surf isn’t always pleasant and it helps me stay put.

It's all good. I'm very interested in other opinions of the issue as well, and good potential solutions.

When I looked didn't find any thingiverse designs that incorporated all I wanted, so I did reinvent the wheel apparently. One feature I really wanted, was to grip the coil base -- give it lateral support -- so any forces trying to move the ears side-to-side also have to work against not only the stiffeners ears, but the base of the coil as well. It's not taking all the stresses off the coil ears, but I believe the majority of them. Mostly curious if yours grips the coil base too.
 
This! I hunt in the water a lot and have never had any issues. I keep mine loose so it moves naturally with the contour of the ground as you state. I am NOT easy on mine at all and I do not understand how people are breaking these.

That's exactly the point. Most of the people breaking these things don't know how they broke them. Hopefully you haven't jinxed yourself!

The people who are breaking them -- some are using them hard, some aren't -- have an expectation from years of detecting what they expect from their equipment. Enough people are having this issue that it is a design defect. Wrong plastic, too thin, too brittle, or too susceptible to small repeated stresses, who knows. Through the decades coil ears have (mostly) survived, but these are breaking way too frequently and for no obvious reason.

Could just be a "bad batch" and you got a good one... I don't know if anyone has tracked dates/ serial numbers on the ones that have broken...
 
Jim53 I have made a solution for that! Made of solid petg of course. Lol
 

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It's all good. I'm very interested in other opinions of the issue as well, and good potential solutions.

When I looked didn't find any thingiverse designs that incorporated all I wanted, so I did reinvent the wheel apparently. One feature I really wanted, was to grip the coil base -- give it lateral support -- so any forces trying to move the ears side-to-side also have to work against not only the stiffeners ears, but the base of the coil as well. It's not taking all the stresses off the coil ears, but I believe the majority of them. Mostly curious if yours grips the coil base too.

Actually it does sit flush on the coil base, it has two protrusions that slide over the contours in the coil.
 
Jim53 I have made a solution for that! Made of solid petg of course. Lol

That is exactly what I had in mind Plus adding another thin ear between the shaft and the coil ear so any movement will be on a surface that is replaceable, I will have to grind down the shaft to make room for them, witch I dont think will be a problem as I would be removing the rubber washers and replace them with thinner ones.
 
That is very nice. Epoxied to the base ?

Neither of mine are, the one on the equinox is a snug fit and is showing no wear. The one for the whites coil above has a layer of silicone sealant under it to keep it from chaffing the coil if it moves any. This way it is replaceable and has enough contact to keep things firm but not wear the coil top.
 
I just don't understand all this ear worry. I never tighten the coil hard on any of my machines.......

In my case, it has nothing to do with over-tightening the bolt, or anything that happens hunting in a yard or park. But, when I'm hunting in the woods, I've had several occasions where I've tripped and leaned on the shaft or stepped on the coil, which can cause the shaft to go sideways in relation to the coil instead of forward or back. A 5 dollar piece of plastic to stiffen up that joint is cheap insurance against what could be an expensive clumsy moment.
 
How many here have the 15 inch coil? I do but haven’t used it much at all, took it out yesterday and decided it needed a coil ear protector, problem was the one for the 11 inch does not fit properly. I’m going to make one that actually fits. Anyone interested?
 
Actually it does sit flush on the coil base, it has two protrusions that slide over the contours in the coil.

Maybe a picture would help. It sounds like you have one that sits on top of the coil, and over the "hump," but doesn't go out and down around the base of the coil like mine does. I'm working on a 15" version of this as well.
 

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I am not positive, as I do not have a 15" coil, but I have heard that the ear dimensions of the 11 and 15 inch coils are different. Therefore you should get a stiffener to fit the coil you have. And I know as I have the 6 and 11 inch coils and the stiffeners for them are different and should not be interchanged.
 
I am not positive, as I do not have a 15" coil, but I have heard that the ear dimensions of the 11 and 15 inch coils are different. Therefore you should get a stiffener to fit the coil you have. And I know as I have the 6 and 11 inch coils and the stiffeners for them are different and should not be interchanged.

You're right, the 11" and 15" coil ear sizes are very close, but do have dimensional differences. Best to get one for your specific coil size. The 6" has a significantly different coil geometry, so it requires a different type. The cheapie stiffeners that just sit on top of the coil that claim to fit both 11" and 15" have to be compromising fit on one the other (or both!)
 
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