Home made detector

CyrilliumOH

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Has anyone created a home made detector that competes with high end detectors?

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Homemade detectors have come up here before, but I believe it would take a lot of electronic design and r&d to make one that might even come close to a High-end detector like a CTX 3030 or AtPro. Not worth the effort for most people with no electronic background.
 
Some people build detectors for a hobby , Ive seen a couple youtube videos about homemade detectors. But unless you just got insanely lucky , on the verge of being completely impossible , anything you build would not have the benefit of decades of R&D and use , it would be starting from scratch where detector manufacturers started more than 50 years ago. But who knows , the next new detection technology could be accidentally stumbled on by someone tinkering in their garage.....not likely but its possible.
 
Remember Heath Kits? I remember one that resembled a Whites waaaaayyyy back in the 70s.
 
Remember Heath Kits? I remember one that resembled a Whites waaaaayyyy back in the 70s.

CyrilliumOH : Corben answers your question very exactly. The era of anyone being able to make a home-made work bench hobbyist machine, ended back in the days of primitive all-metal TR's and BFO's . Back then, someone could get a bunch of radio-shack type components, and ... on his garage work-bench ... make something that would get a penny to a few inches deep perhaps.

Because as technology (depth, disc, etc...) progressed, the EXACTING STANDARDS to achieve the marvels we now have, gets to the point where you have to have super precise specifications. A mere 1000th of an inch off in any windings or whatever, throws off the depth, ability, etc... So it's almost as if you HAVE to have them robotically made in automated assembly line super-precision fashion.

And if you're talking about buying pre-made mother boards and so forth, then .... essentially ... you HAVEN'T "home-made" one .

An analogy would be: Doesn't anyone think they can get a bunch of diodes, loose chips, a soldering gun, etc... and make a better Apple or Samsung cell-phone ?
 
If you google "Geotech Forum" you'll find a place where a small community of engineer/hobbyists work on metal detector builds.

Evidently they both build them from scratch as well as reverse engineer existing detectors so they can build and mod their own.

It looks fascinating.
 
Making a high end detector to compete with commercially produced high end detectors requires a great deal of skill in a great many areas:

Emag Theory
Digital Signal Processing
Microprocessor programming
GUI design
Electronics
Circuit Theory
.
.
.

It isn't impossible to do. It will just require a lot of work, testing, design, redesign, input from others who know more about things you don't, etc.

I thought about tackling such a project once. I came to the realization that I was crazy to even try it. Too much of a time commitment. I love detecting. Not THAT much to undertake such a project.
 
....It isn't impossible to do. It will just require a lot of work,.....

Well, sure. In the sense that it's not "impossible", lots of things are not "impossible". Eg.: It's *possible* (but not likely) you can make a better smart phone, from off-the-shelf radio-shack components and pinball machine parts. But is it likely, or worth the time & effort ? Probably not .
 
I have a degree in electrical engineering but as others have mentioned its just way too much work for a hobby that you enjoy. Speaking for myself, if I was to research, test and implement a design by myself that was near some of the designs of the popular machines (at pros, minelabs, whites etc) I would burn out quick and the hobby would become a job. Normally a whole team of engineers, developers, project managers, etc design and test such products.

I've made some simple detector circuits but most of those are only good for teaching theory. If you have the knowledge and especially the drive to do it then it can be done but requires large amounts of money and time.. and since time = money

money + time =money^2

thats my 2c
 
Homemade detectors have come up here before, but I believe it would take a lot of electronic design and r&d to make one that might even come close to a High-end detector like a CTX 3030 or AtPro. Not worth the effort for most people with no electronic background.

I almost got wonton soup all over my screen with your reply! Since when is an At-Pro a high end detector? Mid range sure. High end, it doesn't stand a chance.
 
There is a HUGE disparity between "possible" and "probable". I ALWAYS consider the difference between the two when detecting as well...
 
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