Lighter than Air Coil

RichieSoprano

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
385
Location
Maine, formerly NJ
I guess by now you know I LOVE to tinker. Got an idea brewing: what if your coil weighed......nothing? How long could you hunt? How much stress off of your shoulder?
What if I said...it could actually happen?
Simple...design a lower stem that is normal diameter at its ends. However, the center of the lower stem would be larger. The upper attachment point of the stem would be threaded and the large center would be tapped to accept it. Into the larger cylinder you would insert....a plastic SEALED cylinder of....helium.

The perceived weight of the coil would be offset...dramatically. Wudja think? Doable?
 
But that would look like It was detecting a la Stephen King! I agree...pretty funny. But...would something like that work? What if all the sections were made like that? I am not an engineer. I have no idea if it is workable. Has anyone TRIED?
 
Unfortunately, the difference in density between helium and air isn't significant enough. Fact is, by the time you made your whole rig "air tight", seals, filling valve etc. you'd make your rig heavier than any "lift" due to replacing that minuscule amount of air with helium. You have to displace a lot of air, with helium to get lift.
Maybe just for fun, I'll do the calcs. The balloon idea is your best bet but you'd need a few.
 
Fret not Rich, the balloon idea would work. Each balloon would displace about a cubic foot of "air". Without trying to calculate the exact amount of displacement of a balloon, you could easily figure out a balloons lift. Tie a fully, Helium filled balloon to an object, like a coffee mug. Weigh the mug on a bathroom scale, with and without the Helium balloon. The difference in weight will be the amount of lift for one balloon.
Moving forward, hold your detector and let the coil rest on the scale, as you would when detecting. That's the weight you have to overcome. Take the small number you got with the mug measurement, divide that number into the weight you need to "overcome". The resultant number will be how many balloons you'll need to basically have a weightless coil.
It's a semi accurate way to figure it out.
 
Unfortunately, the difference in density between helium and air isn't significant enough. Fact is, by the time you made your whole rig "air tight", seals, filling valve etc. you'd make your rig heavier than any "lift" due to replacing that minuscule amount of air with helium. You have to displace a lot of air, with helium to get lift.
Maybe just for fun, I'll do the calcs. The balloon idea is your best bet but you'd need a few.

hehe.. and hope its not windy
 
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