Rob in KS
Hero Member
The local small town paper did a story on my homebrew PI detector. I managed to get a plug in for T-net. Here is a link to the full story
Marquette (Kansas) Tribune
http://www.marquettetribune.com/
Top Story
Kelly builds homemade metal detector
As a self-professed “computer nerd”, Rob Kelly, 53, rural Marquette, has always been interested in gadgets and figuring out how things work, and now he has built a new gadget for himself, figuring out how to construct in on his own.
A few years back when his son, Michael, was 11 or 12 years old — he’s now almost 17 — Rob bought Michael a cheap metal detector. Right after he got it, Michael went out in the front yard of the Kelly farm and within minutes found a 1972 penny. Michael was pretty excited and from then on Rob and Michael did some detecting around their yard and found mostly old pull tabs from cans, bits of wire and nails.
(A metal detector sends out electromagnetic energy that bounces back up to the coil on the detector and sends out a sound so that those detecting know there has been a “hit” at that site. The person usually hears the sound the detector makes by wearing ear phones or ear pieces.)
Rob and Michael expanded the detecting a little farther into their hay field, and Rob didn’t think there would be any scrap iron out in the field.
“We thought we’d get a little farther from “civilization” by going out into the field. I wasn’t sure we’d find anything, but maybe we’d run across a meteorite. We didn’t find a meteorite, but we did find all sorts of iron stuff, enough to fill a coffee can,” Rob said.
Over the years, the detector sat in the closest because of lack of interest. But, then in the fall of 2005, Rob read a story about the meteorite that Steve Arnold found near Greensburg.
“The meteorite Steve Arnold found weighs 1,400 pounds and is worth over $1 dollars,” Rob said. “I found out that Arnold had used a homemade metal detector to find it and decided I’d try and build one myself and maybe someday I’ll find a meteorite.”
(Greensburg also has another meteorite that was found in about 1949 and weighs roughly 1,000 pounds. It was on display at the Hand Dug Well this past May, when Greensburg was leveled by a tornado. Kelly thinks that meteorite may now be on display at Exploration Place in Wichita.)
Rob spent months searching on the internet for the right type of metal detector, one that would go deep enough. When he found what he was looking for, it took him several more months to figure out how to build one. He finally finished his three-foot-square metal detector in March.
“The detector coil is on a frame made of PVC pipe with lawnmower wheels attached. The electronics for the detector are in a box that hangs on my belt,” Rob said.
Rob uses a battery pack to run the coil, made of insulated wire, and electronic box. He wears the battery pack attached to the back of this belt. He also uses a transistor radio ear piece, which plugs into the electronic box, to alert him when a piece of metal is detected.
“I pushed my detector around my yard and outbuildings and I started finding things,” Rob said. “I discovered this detector is really good at finding iron relics.
Rob says most of the items he finds aren’t very interesting, but he has found a buggy wheel, minus the wood, buried in his pasture and part of a truck frame in is back yard. To him one of the funniest items he’s dug up is an old shovel.
This spring when the grass and weeds grew too tall to easily push his metal detector around his farm, he had to quit detecting for awhile. After the hay in his hay field was cut, he had 25 acres to hunt on.
“The advantage of my detector is that I can cover a lot of ground,” Rob said.
“I push it back and forth across the field and when it signals, I have my son place a flag at the spot. When we have several flags planted, we come back with his old detector and pinpoint the location and dig at that spot.”
Items the two found have not been very deep in the ground so they haven’t had to dig a very big hole. They have found quite a few pieces of farm machinery. Some of the items they dug up were modern and some of them were old.
“We found a part of a bit and a harness buckle from when the land was plowed with horses,” Rob said. “By the time we covered a good portion of the 25 acre hay field, we had a five-gallon bucket of stuff.”
The Kelly family owns the farm where the late Wendell Akers lived for years. It is located south and east of Marquette on 6th Avenue. They have lived there for 10 years. Rob feels someday he will discover something really fantastic with his homemade detector.
“I think if I cover enough ground, I’m bound to find something very interesting. This fall I’m going to detect several fields before the wheat is planted. It’s hard to push the detector though wheat stubble, so I’ll wait until they are plowed,” Rob said. “This gives me a couple of months so I can get into the fields.”
Rob also thinks it is neat how you can find out about the history of your land with the detector.
“You can go along and find all sorts of items, such as silverware or something like that, and it can tell you where a house once sat and like the harness we found could possibly give you an idea of where a barn was once located,” he said.
Later in the fall, he plans to try his detector in area pastures when the cattle are gone and the grass is short. He hopes to find a meteorite.
“I know there is a meteorite out there somewhere. I just have to find it,” Rob said.
The homemade detector used by Steve Arnold to find the Greensburg meteorite was about twelve-foot by eight-foot and was pulled by a four-wheeler. The bigger a coil on a metal detector, the deeper into the ground it can detect items. Usually a big coil detector doesn’t find small items close to the surface, but Rob did find a bullet and a two-inch of wire one time with his three foot by three foot detector and they were pretty close to the surface.
Rob would like to build a larger metal detector to pull behind a four-wheeler, but hasn’t done so. This fall he has been invited to take his homemade detector to Caldwell, along the Chisholm Trail, for a three-day hunt.
“A lot of people will be there and it should be a really great time to find all sorts of items. I can’t wait to go,” Rob said.
When he bought his first metal detector Rob didn’t know anything about them, but when you ask him a question about metal detectors these days, he can tell you almost anything you want to know. It’s quite an interesting process if you have time to listen to Rob tell about his detector.
Rob is also a member of treasurenet.com, a site with over 20,000 members who hunt old farmsteads, foundations, cellars, outhouses, etc. If you would like to learn more about metal detecting, call Rob or go online at www.treasurenet.com.
Marquette (Kansas) Tribune
http://www.marquettetribune.com/
Top Story
Kelly builds homemade metal detector
As a self-professed “computer nerd”, Rob Kelly, 53, rural Marquette, has always been interested in gadgets and figuring out how things work, and now he has built a new gadget for himself, figuring out how to construct in on his own.
A few years back when his son, Michael, was 11 or 12 years old — he’s now almost 17 — Rob bought Michael a cheap metal detector. Right after he got it, Michael went out in the front yard of the Kelly farm and within minutes found a 1972 penny. Michael was pretty excited and from then on Rob and Michael did some detecting around their yard and found mostly old pull tabs from cans, bits of wire and nails.
(A metal detector sends out electromagnetic energy that bounces back up to the coil on the detector and sends out a sound so that those detecting know there has been a “hit” at that site. The person usually hears the sound the detector makes by wearing ear phones or ear pieces.)
Rob and Michael expanded the detecting a little farther into their hay field, and Rob didn’t think there would be any scrap iron out in the field.
“We thought we’d get a little farther from “civilization” by going out into the field. I wasn’t sure we’d find anything, but maybe we’d run across a meteorite. We didn’t find a meteorite, but we did find all sorts of iron stuff, enough to fill a coffee can,” Rob said.
Over the years, the detector sat in the closest because of lack of interest. But, then in the fall of 2005, Rob read a story about the meteorite that Steve Arnold found near Greensburg.
“The meteorite Steve Arnold found weighs 1,400 pounds and is worth over $1 dollars,” Rob said. “I found out that Arnold had used a homemade metal detector to find it and decided I’d try and build one myself and maybe someday I’ll find a meteorite.”
(Greensburg also has another meteorite that was found in about 1949 and weighs roughly 1,000 pounds. It was on display at the Hand Dug Well this past May, when Greensburg was leveled by a tornado. Kelly thinks that meteorite may now be on display at Exploration Place in Wichita.)
Rob spent months searching on the internet for the right type of metal detector, one that would go deep enough. When he found what he was looking for, it took him several more months to figure out how to build one. He finally finished his three-foot-square metal detector in March.
“The detector coil is on a frame made of PVC pipe with lawnmower wheels attached. The electronics for the detector are in a box that hangs on my belt,” Rob said.
Rob uses a battery pack to run the coil, made of insulated wire, and electronic box. He wears the battery pack attached to the back of this belt. He also uses a transistor radio ear piece, which plugs into the electronic box, to alert him when a piece of metal is detected.
“I pushed my detector around my yard and outbuildings and I started finding things,” Rob said. “I discovered this detector is really good at finding iron relics.
Rob says most of the items he finds aren’t very interesting, but he has found a buggy wheel, minus the wood, buried in his pasture and part of a truck frame in is back yard. To him one of the funniest items he’s dug up is an old shovel.
This spring when the grass and weeds grew too tall to easily push his metal detector around his farm, he had to quit detecting for awhile. After the hay in his hay field was cut, he had 25 acres to hunt on.
“The advantage of my detector is that I can cover a lot of ground,” Rob said.
“I push it back and forth across the field and when it signals, I have my son place a flag at the spot. When we have several flags planted, we come back with his old detector and pinpoint the location and dig at that spot.”
Items the two found have not been very deep in the ground so they haven’t had to dig a very big hole. They have found quite a few pieces of farm machinery. Some of the items they dug up were modern and some of them were old.
“We found a part of a bit and a harness buckle from when the land was plowed with horses,” Rob said. “By the time we covered a good portion of the 25 acre hay field, we had a five-gallon bucket of stuff.”
The Kelly family owns the farm where the late Wendell Akers lived for years. It is located south and east of Marquette on 6th Avenue. They have lived there for 10 years. Rob feels someday he will discover something really fantastic with his homemade detector.
“I think if I cover enough ground, I’m bound to find something very interesting. This fall I’m going to detect several fields before the wheat is planted. It’s hard to push the detector though wheat stubble, so I’ll wait until they are plowed,” Rob said. “This gives me a couple of months so I can get into the fields.”
Rob also thinks it is neat how you can find out about the history of your land with the detector.
“You can go along and find all sorts of items, such as silverware or something like that, and it can tell you where a house once sat and like the harness we found could possibly give you an idea of where a barn was once located,” he said.
Later in the fall, he plans to try his detector in area pastures when the cattle are gone and the grass is short. He hopes to find a meteorite.
“I know there is a meteorite out there somewhere. I just have to find it,” Rob said.
The homemade detector used by Steve Arnold to find the Greensburg meteorite was about twelve-foot by eight-foot and was pulled by a four-wheeler. The bigger a coil on a metal detector, the deeper into the ground it can detect items. Usually a big coil detector doesn’t find small items close to the surface, but Rob did find a bullet and a two-inch of wire one time with his three foot by three foot detector and they were pretty close to the surface.
Rob would like to build a larger metal detector to pull behind a four-wheeler, but hasn’t done so. This fall he has been invited to take his homemade detector to Caldwell, along the Chisholm Trail, for a three-day hunt.
“A lot of people will be there and it should be a really great time to find all sorts of items. I can’t wait to go,” Rob said.
When he bought his first metal detector Rob didn’t know anything about them, but when you ask him a question about metal detectors these days, he can tell you almost anything you want to know. It’s quite an interesting process if you have time to listen to Rob tell about his detector.
Rob is also a member of treasurenet.com, a site with over 20,000 members who hunt old farmsteads, foundations, cellars, outhouses, etc. If you would like to learn more about metal detecting, call Rob or go online at www.treasurenet.com.
RR
