Hi all,
Just thought I'd share this idea with you all as some may not be aware that there are coil protector ideas and products for the 14" Zed coil. As it's a fairly expensive piece of kit, it's definitely worth protecting!
I saw the professional coil protector on Mbasko's Zed last year (they are for sale online for around the $50 mark), but as I couldn't get hold of one in time I figured I'd put something together myself. It came down to four small velcro tabs and cutting the side piece off of a small plastic food container. This worked extremely well! There wasn't a scratch on that coil or logo after three full weeks of use.
As you can see from the pictures below, I also marked the detection lines in black underneath the plastic as to not wear off with the scoop. This also helps indicate those smaller targets when crossing detection fields.
The velcro attaches very well and is also washable without affecting the adhesive at all. It sits low enough (about 2mm off the coil) that I still managed to easily hear those Echidna nose sized bits in the scoop (the tiny sub 0.1gram ones that sit on the Echidnas nose tip on a five cent piece). The 90 lip on the back of the plastic sits nicely against the coil moulding and prevents all dirt from sneaking over the back edge. Any and all dirt will just generally slide right off when the coil is tipped slightly.
The only real con (if any) to this is that small sticks and bark can get caught in the small gap between cover and coil while swinging through scrubby areas, though the cover goes on and off so fast that something like that is fairly negligible considering what most coils go through.
All in all just something I thought I'd share. It's a good little weekend project that will keep that coil in good stead for many years to come!
Kindest regards,
Shauno