Low Cost Coils?

[andyt]

Hi Everyone

Seems that building your own coil is challenging, looking around the net it also seems that aftermarket coils are £100/$150 or more?

Are there coils to be had that are reasonable quality for much less for use on a metal detector project?

Seems there is a lot of talk about reducing the cost of metal detectors and making your own circuit on here, but with a good off the shelf entry level complete detector costing less than £250 with coil, I wonder why anyone would add a simple metal detector project to one of those £100+/$150+ coils....you just wouldnt save much money and take a long time to make something not any better than the commercial unit?

So isnt the cost of coils the limiting factor to cheaper detectors? Certainly if I had to pay this for a coil I would need a high performance project to justify buying one and adding my box of tricks (electronics).

Interested to hear your thoughts!

Andy

[silverdog]

very true

I have however picked up a few bargains on ebay - Tesoro coils for around £35
A fisher coil for £29

[plumabob]

I have built many coils for pulse units as well the Explorer and Sovereign. The advantage to building your own is not to save money but to improve what the factory gives us. Different sizes and configurations can lead to a much better performing detector. My homemade sovereign coils are much lighter and more sensitive then any stock Minelab unit. Plus it's a rush building something from scratch that rivals whats out there.

Bob

[Carl-NC]

You can pretty easily find older coils on eBay for $50 USD or less. Just be careful to get a coil that will fit the project you are building, or that you can easily modify the project to fit the coil.

[andyt]

Yep, been looking on ebay in Britain. Seems dealers are snapping up second hand coils on auction and then reselling on a general fixed price listing for nearly new price! Was looking out for a DD whites compatible for my mxt pro, but people have paid £100+ for them second hand, amazing as they are little more than that new.

Still I will keep looking!

Interesting though, wonder whether coils have a lot of work in them or just high markup from the companies that really know how to make them!?

Thanks
Andy

[Carl-NC]

I don't know about other companies, but at White's the mark-up on coils is about the same as detectors. Coils tend to be light on material and heavy on labor, whereas circuitry is the opposite.

[satdaveuk]

I noticed over the last year or so s/h coils are getting better money now its due to supply and demand, the more of us that want them the better prices they fetch.
Funnly enough my last tesoro web coil was from the states paid £45 for it incl p/p, that was last year think you would be pushing it for that money now

[andyt]

Carl...thanks for your comment on Whites. I guess you have Whites markup, primary importer/dist markup (repton) and final dist markup to rrp. So lots of markups in there to feed everyone in the chain!

Will keep a lookout on ebay Dave!