DIY HACK – How to make your own Metal Detector!

by max on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007

Metal Detector 1 Metal Detector 3

Metal Detector 2

I’ve noticed many people using metal detectors on the beach lately to find treasures or junk but here’s a great way to make one of those yourself!

BFO ( beat frequency oscillator ) metal detectors use two oscillators, each of which produces a radio frequency. One of these oscillators uses a coil of wire that we call the search loop. The second oscillator uses a much smaller coil of wire, and is usually inside the control box and is called the reference oscillator. By adjusting the oscillators so their frequencies are very nearly the same, the difference between them is made audible as a beat note, this beat note changes slightly when the search loop is moved over or near to a piece of metal. It has been found in practice best to make the search oscillator fixed say at 100khz and to arrange for the reference oscillator to be adjustable 100khz plus or minus 250hz. This gives a beat note of 250hz to 0 to 250hz. The beat note disappears or nulls when the two oscillators are about equal. This type of detector is most sensitive when the beat note is close to zero, about 5hz ( motor boating ) any slight change being noticeable.

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4 Responses to “DIY HACK – How to make your own Metal Detector!”

  1. girrrrrrr2 says:

    that is awesome… do you have to program anything???

    [Reply]

  2. Izl says:

    Ooh Ive always wanted one!

    [Reply]

  3. david says:

    you are linking to our old site http://home.clara.net/saxons/bfo.htm that is no longer active

    please reset to our new site http://www.easytreasure.co.uk/bfo.htm

    [Reply]

    max Reply:

    Hey thanks David, I have changed it to the new link. :)

    Max

    [Reply]

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