Coiltek Cracking Issue ...... how real is it.

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I had my 14 inch elite replaced a couple of years ago due to it developing a crack in the housing. It was just out of warranty but they were really good to deal with. It is a poor design I think but I'm happy with the coil performance wise.
 
grubstake said:
A-team said:
Can anyone tell me what this particular plastic is as I have to find a glue/epoxy or whatever is going to be needed to repair her.
It's probably either polycarbonate or ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene).

It is probably ABS if you have an old skid plate clean it up and cut it into small pieces put it in an old glass vegemite jar and cover it with clear plumbing PVC pipe cleaner/primer put the lid on and leave it for a day or so once dissolved thin it to the required consistency and put it in one of those containers that PVA glue comes in and store in an upside down position then when you have a crack in your coil squeeze the PVA glue over the crack and leave overnight job done this is what I use when bonding and hand fabricating housings have fun.

Regards, Ian. :D
 
The coil has obviously had a hard life before it got to me, it came with my 5000 I got second hand from WA.
The coil is bump sensitive, has shifting ground noise, lots of EMI, falsing of targets and generally a pain in the to use.
I found the coil to be loose with well established movement and wear marks on the casings and coil.
Water ingress through the crack was only minor, but there.
The conductive paint had been worn through in a number of places and was wearing through to the contact wire under the masking tape.
There were rub marks all around the outer edge of the inner coil.
The inner was not soft or spongy at all but remained firm.
It also appears the top cover design is a significant weak point with no real support to the coil and very flimsy.

Having seen how flimsy this coil is, there is no way I would use or buy one in their standard design so sending it back for repairs wasnt an option for me.
It is known that Coiltek are bump sensitive, noisy and unpredictable in saying that the performance is better than the little NF 12x8 on my air tests .and in the field (when it's not playing up!).

So what we have is amazing performance with a shocking, dated design, - packaged differently with a higher finish standard, Id buy one again.
I have repaired this coil myself, strengthening the top cover on the inside and outside and adding an equalization valve.
I have also repaired and repainted the top and bottom of the coil including re-securing the contact wires.
I have bonded the entire coil to the outer covers for zero movement with contact adhesive and silicone the cable where it exits the coil before the cover goes out through the cover to minimize movement, stop air and water leaks.
The whole unit has been clamped and glued with the result of even better performance with zero falsing, better in every aspect, so surprising I dont think I will ever let this one go.

I have done the repairs, and am still trying to comprehend why anyone would buy it. Having seen the inside now - unless they change their casing design - it's NF for me all the way. PVC seemed to be the base material so many standard plumbing products worked well.
 
A-team said:
The whole unit has been clamped and glued with the result of even better performance with zero falsing, better in every aspect, so surprising I dont think I will ever let this one go.

Good to hear that you've managed to "rebirth" your coil, hope it finds plenty of the yellow for you.

Cheers .
 
G'day

Cracking is very common on the coiltek coils at the ends of the mount lugs, a couple of things can contribute to this, one thing already mentioned was to loosen the mount screw to relieve the pressure on the coil mount or take it off the shaft completely when not in use, the other is that there are several brands of lower shafts available and I have found some inconsistencies with the width of the mount knuckles between brands, apart from that the main issue with most shafts is the rubber washers in the knuckle do need replacing from time to time, as the washers wear and the coil shows more movement while in use, the user then continues to tighten the mounting bolt wing nut pulling the mount ears of the coil inwards and the over stressing is what causes the mounts to crack.

Nuggetfinder coils with a purpose made mount secured through the coil body do not usually suffer from any problems like this and as they are a fully potted winding this eliminates any movement internally as well, made with a different process than the coiltek coils they are reasonably trouble free, but if you need to repair one then they are difficult to get apart and in some cases unrepairable, some time back there were issues with the plastics on the nuggetfinder coils and I believe this was due to recycled plastic from earlier coil manufacturing being used in them, also there were some issues with the body seams opening up as well but that was easily repaired.

cheers

stayyerAU
 
UPDATE: After only a few short hours of ground time, it started playing up again. This time air managed to find a way in (thought I'd sealed everything?) end with that small bit of air in the foam core, it started some of it's old tricks so was promptly retired to the rubbish bin (not recycling :p ).
 
After 2 failed goldstalker series coiltek coils I just just couldn't go back there. NF coils for me from now on. Had a NF evolution for a long time now and never an issue.
 

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