MD-3010ii

[slipped disc]

THE electronics and circuitry sure look impressive on that link, of the unit. one of the posts complains about buying chinese products and not amerikan [sic]. where do all the components of the '' u.s.a.'' brands come from ? ever see'' made in u.s.a.'' on their models?
not on my bounty hunter 3300, nor the ace 350,or even the compadre. where are minelab made ? clue, not OZ nor the U.S.A.

we used to complain about Nippon copying everything, look at their quality now. now it is the chinese. the big companies go there to make big profits from cost savings, so it was inevitable that copies would occur. you can also bet that the big players also dissect each others units,such is the competitive market.

 

[BigSam]

Battery life is pretty good actually, the screen dims when you are swinging and will get brighter when you get a signal, I've near run it all the way flat and I was detecting every night for 2 hours for a week, so I'd say 12-15 hours, if your handy with circuit boards and wires dreamwalking there is one thing I would do, put a switch on the main unit for all metal mode, just intercept the pin point button and run a switch, save your thumb when the targets magically disappear. Let me know how you go with it!

 

[Dreamwalking]

Gcause,,, a great link you have presented... very informative and useful... Hopefully some time over the next few days I might get a chance to play with my 3010 and report my findings.

BigSam,,, Your comment ""put a switch on the main unit for all metal mode, just intercept the pin point button and run a switch, save your thumb when the targets magically disappear"" has left me in the dark, could you ellaborate / expand what you mean for me.

Thank you.

 

[BigSam]

The pin point function basically runs it in all metal mode, once you identify a target that you are not discriminating against, you can loose it, as I mentioned it has a delay from when it detects a target to when it makes a sound and shows up on the screen, I have been wandering around with the pin point button down for over a minute trying to find the target that had sounded off the machine, so by running a switch from the pin point button you can just flick it on and it will stay in pin point mode.. It's something I am going to look into as I think it's a great little coin machine and in my 40 odd hours of using it and digging thousands of targets my thumb gets pretty sore holding that button down..
Hope it all makes sense... I'm not the best at explaining things.

 

[Dreamwalking]

Slipped Disc ... we are both on the same page with regard to your last comments .. it totally blows me away when I here people screaming " Chinese COPY " .. I suppose if the build a car that looked to be something other than a shoe box, place 4 wheels and a steering wheel on it.. our simpletons will scream its a copy of a Holden...Wake up people... Google metal detector and see how many design circuits you find, if you yourself want to build one.. let alone how many of them would look to be something other than a coil at one end of a shaft with a cable that leads to a box at the other end containing a BFO, battery and displays analog or digital information on a screen that can be altered by the user with either knobs or micro switches....OK.. I better get of my soap box now!! before I start making comments like ...Wake up Australia people with brains do live in other countries besides here and America.

 

[Dreamwalking]

BigSam... I hear and understand now....I dont think it would hard at all to add a "momentary switch"... and I think it could be adapted to the shaft right above the hand grip. ... probably a part and wire = $2 .. and then the love job to place it.

.give me some time to have a play with the 3010 and consider your mod.

Cheers Peter.

 

[Dreamwalking]

BigSam.... correction.... not a momentry switch but a toggle or flip flop.

 

[Goldpick]

Best switch would be a three way toggle switch like on the whites detectors(on-off-momemtary), seems to be very hard to find these at places like Jaycar, as most are simply momentary or on-off-on. I though of doing the same to the Ace, but upon disassembling the control box it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. Instead of any obvious switches and solder points, the momentary switch is built into the actual circuit board, with printed copper contacts running all over the place. Might get the courage to try it one day, but I wasn't too keen on trashing my detector by some clumsy handy work on my part.

I don't know about your detector, but when the pinpoint button is held down on mine for any length of time, the threshold gradually rises resulting in you having to release the button to reset the threshold. The main concern about continually using the pinpoint button in this manner, is pre ature wear to the contacts on the circuit board, so a decent toggle switch certainly has some merit.

 

[Dreamwalking]

Goldpick .. your not wrong about the availability of the On-OFF-Momentry switch, I never knew one like that exsisted as yet I couldn't find one by Google'ing..it sounds great, I dont think that White's would part with one. If I follow up on BigSam's suggested mod I think it may have to be configured by using two switches.

Peter./

 

[Guest]

$9.45 @ Goldsearch Australia
http://www.goldsearchaustralia.com/index.php/replacement-parts.html
From memory (haven't used a GMT in awhile) the GMT one should suit. I think it was down for iron ID "grunt" mode always on, centre off & up for momenfary iron ID mode?

Whitworths also have these:
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=123&item=84206&intAbsolutePage=1

 

[Dreamwalking]

mbasko ... thankyou for your efforts and research... I managed to track one down for $2.57 delivered to my door.

 

[moeee]

These detectors and similar are under 100 bucks.
I was wondering if I learnt about coil winding and stuff , would it be possible to improve performance to the stage where I could find a 1 gram nugget with this detector ?
Or if I leave the coil , would I need to increase the sensitivity of the electronics in the circuit ?

Or is there nothing really I can do with this because it is already been engineered to perform at its peak as it is otherwise the designers would have done so ?

I don't really wish to go deep , but I would like to pick up any 1 gram nuggets within an inch or so.

perhaps my best first step is to find out its current ability.
Would a piece of lead say 2 millimetres in diameter be a very close approximate to a piece of gold of the same size ?
I mean would they both be equally easy to find?
I cannot afford to purchase an actual nugget of gold.

 

[Dron]

A piece of lead should substitute nicely for a gold nugget.

I have absolutely no idea about the rest.

 

[moeee]

all good - I shall have a bit of a play tomorrow at least getting a size of lead piece as a model that the unit picks up.
I'll get a bunch of different sizes of lead and bury them at different depths and make up a chart
But first I shall find the smallest piece it will pick up just laying on top the ground

 

[Goldpick]

Two things you are forgetting are frequency and lack of ground balance. At 7.5kHz this detector is not exactly designed to be sensitive to small low conductor targets, moreso setup for high conductor coin targets. Even if you were to be able ping on a 1 gram test target on air testing, it doesn't guarantee that you will be able to hear the same target on mineralised ground, especially without adjustment for ground balance.

Ramping up the sensitivity will most likely have a negative effect, run too high and you will probably get too much feedback from the ground, even to the point of the ground noise consuming the target or making it impossible to distinguish one from the other.

There is a fair bit of fine tuning involved to enable a VLF detector to run stable over variable ground mineralisation, even on units designed specifically for prospecting. Since you have a lack of adjustability on the MD 3010, seem like a bit of an uphill battle to turn it into the type of detector you are after. Yes a smaller coil may hold some advantages, though is it really worth the trouble on what is essentially an entry level coin detector.

Really only one way to find out for yourself really, take it out to the goldfields and see how it handles the ground - sometimes you need a base line to start from, just I did when I first tried prospecting with a no name detector. Took me a few days of frustration to realise my detector wasn't going to cut the mustard (ie signalling off everything), and something more suitable was going to make life a lot easier and more fun.

 

[moeee]

Thank you for your response.
I really hate spending money on stuff and would much prefer making something somewhat useful out of other peoples discards.
I read about a guy who finds 40 bits of gold every time he goes out with his godld monster.
But these bits resolve into about 1.5 grams. Which is say $75 ?
His machine has well and truly paid for itself , but he is simply a superstar and have never seen anyone else post anything remotely like that man can find.
I would like to just play prospecting as a hobby that costs about as much as I will probably find - nothing.
But if I can gain knowledge then that would make the time wasted messin' about justified.

I guess I should heed your advice about bypassing the frustration with the noname detector.
But heck , whats there to lose except the time , which is Free.

Truth be told , I found the unit in the annual kerbside rubbish collection which is happening in my area at the minute.
Otherwise I wouldn't have even considered the attempt.

 

[Goldpick]

Nothing wrong with having a tinker with things, especially if it comes at minimal cost. What I wrote is just a personal view on things, when going detector I just prefer something that is proficient for the job at hand. Some of my older posts show a Whites Goldmaster 2 which I bought from the US in non-working condition for a minimal outlay. Ended up rewiring it and refurbishing it with a new shaft setup and updated coil back to working condition - was a fun project and satisfying to see an older detector back in action again.

Gold prospecting is more of a hobby than anything for most people, unlikely they will ever get a enough return to make it worthwhile, just the satisfaction and thrill from seeing a bit of gold for their efforts.

 

[haggistenerife]

hi all i have seen the mod for p/p button.but there is one for the pcb board adding four 3 leg variable control knobs and somthing on the coil.
i think in russian video .but dont know what the mods do. also looking to improve the md3010ii
Help please
kindest regards haggistenerife ower: