New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

I used special plastic glue & some plastic container packaging. The glue had similar liquidity to superglue; so was scary to put too much on as I did not want it to squash into the light, end hole, or rubber buttons.
The end may not be a hole at all and just a bit of plastic flashing from casting of the case, I imagine around the light it was sealed water tight ( though if rubber see following), and the rubber buttons would not react well to the glue which was only for plastics.
And so the glue may not have made a perfect watertight seal.




Next I put some special (read expensive) thick black plumbing tape over end then duct tape.
The duct tape is only to hold the plubing tape down.




Next I sealed main body with regular plumbing tape, leaving a little gap for the light to shine out.
I know where the buttons are, tested detecting at each stage of water proofing, andsound is still very audible.


Then around edges of plastic I placed my black tape, this tape sticks to it's self & stretches to 3 times it's length.
I left a hole in tape for the light.



And finally coated in (silver)duct tape.


For the battery seal I moved the rubber O ring over to the end of the cap thread ( screwy bit).
Next I filed down the corner with a dremel grinder (high powered craft drill), this is to give the larger O ring (pictured on my finger) more room ( I was unable to find a similar thin O ring).
Next I will be cutting the edge of the main body, as the O ring still requires a bit more room for the cap to completely screw down; not a water tight issue but a battery connection issue. You can see in the photo where I've started to do this. (Near my finger nail)


Perhaps it might have been easier to get a Garret water proof case & modify it, or even Garret pointer, definitely something I'll consider if this one karks it :D
I'd be happy to do this for others with only minimal cost for the black & duct tape, once I've tested my submarines' sea worthiness.

Sorry for huge pix, doing this from my phone tediously!

Edited by user Monday, 5 October 2015 10:47:04 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The Deteknix pointers have a separate lens element glued into the housing (compared to the Garretts which have the LED physically extend through a hole with a neo gasket). I'd be surprised if you got a leak there in the XP (although the land units are highly water resistant, not waterproof).
With any waterbased equipment, scrupulous cleanliness of o rings and seals is imperative. I trashed a $600 marine VHF because of one 40­µm hair compromising the seal.

FWIW, duct tape , being rigid, is a poor seal unless on a smooth flat surface. Any wrinkle = water. I'd be using insulating tape as a minimum, or self-vulcanising tape. This from 30yrs experience waterproofing various bits of kit for diving and associated watersports.

PE is also notoriously difficult to bond to, recommend flaming the plastic with a low heat blowtorch (until just too hot to touch) to raise the surface activity prior to application of any adhesives. When the surface looks 'wet' you're there.

Pandemic, I'd recommend the Sikaflex 221, flamed surface and keyed well with a hacksaw blade or very coarse sandpaper.

MW

Does the Minelab not have vibrate?
In any case, sound travels much easier through water (he said having aborted a dive due to that heavy doomdoomdoom noise from a ships engine, only to have the vessel in question appear around the headland 30 minutes later! Better safe than sorry though)

Incidentally, You look a right tube, but after diving I jam bog roll in my ears to dry them out quickly works a treat. Everyone else got ear bugs one year except me....Yeah, I was really smug after all the snide comments about my "mental floss" :)

Test the probe in freshwater first, no battery, (bucket of water overnight very roughly equates to a shorter time at depth) - that way if it does leak, no harm.

Yes it does have a vibration.
Had 3 underwater missions today, more expected tomorrow.