Help needed!!

[Green Mtn'eer]

Hi all... I am in need of your help!

I will try to keep the backstory short: Last year I went in for a pretty major spinal surgery, that ended up being triple spinal surgeries before all was said and done due to serious complications and I ended up with pretty significant neuro complications, paralysis in one leg, partial in the other, and, as a result, in a wheelchair. PT / rehab have not recovered any function so I am now at a point of trying to find ways to cope with my new norm. One of the big losses I felt in this was when I realized my metal detecting and prospecting days might be over. I am hell bound and determined to find a way, and I'm looking to everyone here for some thoughts and ideas on how I might modify my ML detector to be able to swing and use from a chair. I am thinking along the line of a plastic swivel uni-ball type caster maybe for carrying the coil weight and being able to swing at an even/proper height despite the awkward vantage point. I will definitely go to a body harness type setup to help (probably even mount the box to the chair?) so it will only be the shaft and coil.

One of the biggest lessons I have had to learn in this challenging journey is that there are times you just have to ask for help...so I am asking for help. I figure who better to ask than a group of MD pro's, from all walks of life and professions. I know I will need to rely on a partner for digging hits, for now at least, and that seems like something I can figure out in time, but finding a way...or the best way...to be able to use the detector is the first priority!

 

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[smokeythecat]

If you have the upper body strength, the XP Deus is cable free and the whole thing weighs less than 2 pounds. I just measured it and it extends out on the shaft to 40" with no modifications from the control box to the loop. That might give it enough distance to use it out of the box. Because of the light carbon fiber shaft, no reason you couldn't splice in a middle piece of carbon fiber or wood to extend it further if you needed to. Because of the light weight, I don't think you'd need a harness. An all plastic caster or roller near the coil would work, I don't think it would be necessary. Use the small sized hf coil.

I can barely walk anymore but still detect. It's just shorter trips and more medicine.

 

[boogeyman]

Don't know your $$$ situation, but have you thought of modifying a chair or having one built that's lower to the ground? They've been building some amazing stuff for the chair racers. Check out some of the sites make some drawings and throw it at a good machine shop that might save on the cost.

Sir, My hats off to you, and you have my highest respect! Glad to see you're not just taking what life gives you and vegetating! I hope things regenerate and you get some back!

 

[RustyGold]

I think what Smokey said about the Deus is right on and maybe you can get an all carbon fiber wheelchair to reduce the chances of interference with the metal parts and the detector.
Best of luck!

 

[Green Mtn'eer]

If you have the upper body strength, the XP Deus is cable free and the whole thing weighs less than 2 pounds. I just measured it and it extends out on the shaft to 40" with no modifications from the control box to the loop. That might give it enough distance to use it out of the box. Because of the light carbon fiber shaft, no reason you couldn't splice in a middle piece of carbon fiber or wood to extend it further if you needed to. Because of the light weight, I don't think you'd need a harness. An all plastic caster or roller near the coil would work, I don't think it would be necessary. Use the small sized hf coil.

I can barely walk anymore but still detect. It's just shorter trips and more medicine.

smokey...
I have actually considered looking into the Deus for all of your reasons, and may ultimately have to go that direction, but for the moment hope to mod my ML (more on why in the next reply) My upper body strength is pretty good, but my reach is even better (I'm 6'7", or I was anyway before one of the procedures which cut through my spine & earlier hardware in order to rotate/wedge/realign everything due to forward and lateral collapse...so we're guessing my straightening might equal 6'-8"? now??!) so I'm not worried about reach distance, but angle maybe... but yes, weight is a real consideration. I really need to get out my rig, take the box off, and try swinging the shaft-coils a bit and see...but I know for sure, that if there was a way to have any coil roll with/on a caster, at a nice even height that it would allow for far more swings and better results (while I'm trying to work a chair with the other side!). My plan in general is to hopefully be able to get into one of the new lightweight power chairs that are 'all terrain' which would allow for one handed 'driving', one handed 'swinging'.

thanks for measuring, sharing, taking the time to help

 

[Green Mtn'eer]

Don't know your $$$ situation, but have you thought of modifying a chair or having one built that's lower to the ground? They've been building some amazing stuff for the chair racers. Check out some of the sites make some drawings and throw it at a good machine shop that might save on the cost.

Sir, My hats off to you, and you have my highest respect! Glad to see you're not just taking what life gives you and vegetating! I hope things regenerate and you get some back!

Boogeyman…
the $$$ situation isn’t the best between medical bills, trying to help our daughter with tuition (the daughter who dropped everything to move n live home and take care of the dog, house, maint, etc for the months it ended up that we were 6 hrs away in NYC during my surgery and rehab…the same daughter that when things went South for me, so to speak, quit her job to take care of me full time), etc. But hopefully we will fig something. I am going to look at all opts for chairs between the newer “affordable” aluminum ‘off road’(ish) power chairs vs having something built that would fit me properly. I have no issue with something built that’s a bit ugly if it allows me to live.

To respond to your extremely kind praise re respect, I will share a pretty major ‘Ah-Ha’ moment for me in this journey. My detector journey started a few years ago as an aside from a completely self-started gold prospecting passion, and bam, I had the MD bug…as well as Gold Fever! The machine I landed on is a Eureka Gold and I love it. It’s a gold demon and will general detect too once learned, but other coils sure would help a lot! SO...being they’re hard to find for those machines, I had several ebay searches saved in hopes of finding a couple extra coils, one specifically being a prized 6” waterproof Goldsearch coil. Well, with surgery and all and living a bit of Hell I forgot all about any of it. Then, sure enough, I get an email that my auto-search had found a Lot of 3 New ML coils, all ones I wanted, one being the 6” Goldsearch! and they were FOR MY MACHINE!! Not a Sovereign, but mine! And they all had shafts too for fast changes, and the price was pretty good! I couldn’t get my laptop fired up fast enough!! And then it hit me like a bus…my walking days were over so therefore my detecting & prospecting days were too. I hadn’t really had a chance for that reality to hit home before then. It actually brought me to tears. After a couple weeks of chewing on the whole thing I decided to reach out to the Seller…it didn’t sell the first auction, would they consider a lesser price, it was worth full ask, but it was purely an incentive purchase for me that might be $$ out the window…but it was just that, incentive to find a way to use my machine with the toys I’d always wanted! We found a middle ground and I bought them and like I said in my original post I am hell bound and determined to find a way to live my life again and do the things I loved…somehow. Maybe different, but somehow. SO… I might consider a Deus if need be or someday, but I def want to try to find a way with my machine and all her heads!

Sorry so long, but it seemed relevant. Again, thank you Boogeyman for the kindness… and I welcome any and all thoughts / ideas.