BARACUDA-Legend-1

[bernte_one]

That looks awesome bernte_one!!!

Better than a bought one

Where did you get the fittings to allow it to be telescopic?

Could you please describe the parts you used for the upper and lower shafts and the handle.

hello gcause
thanks

all is made from high pressure water pipe(16bar) from hardware store
these connectors are made for them t-connector is 20/20/20mm
the other connector is for 20 to 25mm (lower shaft to upper)
bending the tubes is made with a spring in the pipe then heaten up and bended around a thick metal pipe or anything other round form
if you have no spring you could use ordinary sand ore birds sand from petstore
armrest is made also from bigger waste water pipe with soft rubber
grip for hand is from bicycle (use some lubricant like aquaglide to fit it on)
regards

[TH Jim]

Some more info on my Barracuda Here:

http://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?p=140148#post140148

[TH Jim]

Finds.

[TH Jim]

Lengthwise.

[TH Jim]

Put together.

[TH Jim]

Barracuda disassemble for transport.

[TH Jim]

Hi folks,

I've finally finished my Barracuda - at last!

Took her for a little test at the beach a couple of days ago and had the best of luck (seriously jammy some might say!). Switched her on and within one or two sweeps I got a nice loud clear signal, dug it up and it turned out to be a lovely old rose gold ring weighing 6 gramms. It has a date letter 'g' which indicates it was made in 1906. After walking back up the beach to show my mate the ring I went back to the same spot and the same thing happend again - two or three sweeps and out pops another gold ring! The second was smaller though and is not marked. Carried on detecting for about another hour and also bagged a 1943 sixpence, a badge and some ammo. All of which can be seen in the photo below.

The Barracuda is a sweet little machine, I really like it, but the 2 gold rings coming out immediately was obviously a fluke. I was just lucky to hit the part of the beach that had been eroded.

Regards, Jim.

[dfbowers]

Hi All,

Just got my kits from Silverdog.

I cant get the Barracuda to work.

Have talked to Mr 6666 on another forum and he suggested setting voltage on Pin6 of U2 back to zero volts using a multimeter and have done this.

Have checked the 2222 chip is in the correct way it is a tin pot and the tag is facing E as per the silkscreen layout.


I thought it might have been my test coil but I have since wound a 200mm 28 turns of .5mm enamel wire to give a 452uH coil and it still doesnt work.


Can anyone spot anything obvious from the pictures?

Here is the kit that came:



Here it is all laid out:



Here it is all together:



Here is the bottom view:




Had to put a big heatsink on the main transistor as it was getting very hot:



Here is my test rig. The jiffy box has a power regulator circuit in it and I am using an old 12v rechargable drill battery and regulating it back to 9v.



I have checked the voltage and I am getting a constant 9v from the power supply.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To start with, do not install Q5. Other than that, the kit should work just fine unless you installed something backwards

[ApBerg]

Hello gcause,

The power the board take's must be +/- 75mA-100mA if higher there is a error.
The power transistor must not get hot..., check all parts close to the 40106 if they are o.k. in value , also check the solderpads if no solder-bridge's are made. Can you make some sharper photo's ? Now not much is to check, the photo's are to blur.
Are those 2 diode's that protect the NE5534 in the right place ? can not see clear..
Best regards and succes

Ap

[gcause]

Barracuda not working

Hi All,

Just got my kits from Silverdog.

I cant get the Barracuda to work.

Have talked to Mr 6666 on another forum and he suggested setting voltage on Pin6 of U2 back to zero volts using a multimeter and have done this.

Have checked the 2222 chip is in the correct way it is a tin pot and the tag is facing E as per the silkscreen layout.


I thought it might have been my test coil but I have since wound a 200mm 28 turns of .5mm enamel wire to give a 452uH coil and it still doesnt work.


Can anyone spot anything obvious from the pictures?

Here is the kit that came:



Here it is all laid out:



Here it is all together:



Here is the bottom view:




Had to put a big heatsink on the main transistor as it was getting very hot:



Here is my test rig. The jiffy box has a power regulator circuit in it and I am using an old 12v rechargable drill battery and regulating it back to 9v.



I have checked the voltage and I am getting a constant 9v from the power supply.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[gcause]

That looks awesome bernte_one!!!

Better than a bought one

Where did you get the fittings to allow it to be telescopic?

Could you please describe the parts you used for the upper and lower shafts and the handle.

[bernte_one]

modified to be very cheap and and easy to rebuild

hello new coil fits good to stem
works great very lightweight

[Qiaozhi]

OK, now I am confused.... I thought the Barracuda does have some discrimination abilities related to the audio tone ?

Dave Frank

Only conductivity discrimination is available in the Barracuda, by adjusting the main sample pulse delay. This enables targets with low conductivity, such as small sized targets (gold nuggets, thin jewellery, small nails, etc.) to be rejected. In essence, any target in which the eddy currents die away before sampling takes place. Unfortunately, ferrous targets (except very small items) are still detected, as eddy currents in these items will continue to circulate for much longer. PIs are very sensitive to iron, which is why you don't see anyone at a metal detecting rally using one. The Barracuda is really designed for beach use, as it has the ability to ignore wet sand. This is for the same reason I mentioned above - the eddy currents in the wet sand die away after only a few micro-seconds.

[Vortxrex]

DON I HAVE HAD THIS EXACT SAME PROBLEM WITH A SURF PI!!!!!

It turned out to be a digital radio transmitter on 212MHz hidden away on the roof of a hotel near the beach I work!!! Five miles further up the coast it works beuatifully - no problems at all.

Hope this helps,

Jim.

I tested my Surf PI (s) at the beach last spring (Oregon Coast) and I had some interference problems where to detectors would sound off when the coil swung in a certain direction.

[Vortxrex]

The Barracuda does not provide ferrous / non-ferrous discrimination, if that's what you're referring to.

OK, now I am confused.... I thought the Barracuda does have some discrimination abilities related to the audio tone ?

Dave Frank