John Volek, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 21 of 23

Lost Diamond Wedding Ring Marble Falls, Texas

Recently traveled 3 1.2 hours up to Marble Falls, Texas  for an underwater recovery job to find my Excalibur was non-operational (busted)

I prepared as always carrying two of everything, batteries, pin pointers, masks, tools, you get the picture. The fact is a lot of work goes into preparing for an underwater recovery, everything I am sure you already understand.

I powered on the Excalibur and immediately noticed something was wrong. I immediately thought, how could the battery be dead, I charged both the primary and secondary battery prior to making the trip to Marble Falls. I thought to myself that’s really weird, and climbed out of the water to retrieve my back-up battery. I mounted the second battery and the presence of silence through the head phones was a shattering disappointment.

I spent a few minutes trying to identify what was wrong when I bumped the battery wire and heard tones through the head phones. A closer examination revealed I was up a creek with no paddle.

I immediately realized that the battery power cable had come loose from its internal coupler and was shorting out. I must admit, I became very upset seeing that the wire was not really held into the coupler with anything more than a mere crimping of the coupler. It seemed improbable that a machine this well
built and designed for underwater operations could have this type of manufacturing design

It’s interesting that all the other cable ends have cable guards/protectors but the most exposed wire on the machine uses a simple crimp to hold it in place?

Excalibur is back at Minelab, while my client is awaiting my return.

Working on a solution, may end up transition the Excalibur to an Anderson Shaft.

If you operate an Excalibur check this cable frequently.

June Service Call

Received the following e-mail on 06/27/2013 from John B in Victoria Texas

John read a recent story on the internet and was glad to hear you may be able to help. My wife lost a small gold ring about 8 years ago in a small park here in Victoria. The ring belonged to her Grandmother on her mother’s side and had been in the family for over 100 years. It occurred at a small park while she held a den meeting with Cub Scouts.

She believes she placed it in her pocket and when she bent down it must have fallen out. We think someone probably found it and kept it but who knows, maybe it is there two three inches under the ground.

Follow Up email 06/27/2013

Yes she was sitting down at a picnic table holding a Cub Scout den meeting and working on arts and crafts. This park is behind a church and near a fire station; I took a detector out there once but found a lot of trash. She really believes it fell out, someone found it soon after and kept it. It was a small, small gold ring. What cost is involved? Do we pay you for looking or only if you find it? Thanks for getting back to me.

The ring had been in her family since the 1930’s, and was engraved with initials MD

I found John’s story very interesting and opted for the challenge. I made the two hour trip to Victoria,  and started searching the area in question. The Texas weather was no help on this day 98 degrees, it was just plan hot.

I dug holes until I was dizzy from the heat, lost track of how many, but just couldn’t find that little ring.

A couple of photos of the park upon my arrival, Looked pretty hot and dry, I was hoping for large oak trees and lots of shade.