Northwest Dive Club

I have to ask . . . what is it about this DC system that seems so good that you guys are willing to put up with such a complicated glove replacement procedure? I can replace a glove on my Vikings in less than five minutes, with no tools, in the field. I'm not being critical, I'm just wondering what...

Also use it a lot for filling an additional set of doubles on the compressor/banks. I put the fill whip on the one tank, and the trans-fill on the other tank going to the other set of doubles.. this works well for filling to 2 sets of doubles in the truck with one long whip, this works great when l...

I've loved the Diving Concepts system for years; in fact, I have the rings on my DUI suit, even though the suit has zip seals on it. I just put some heavy duty seals onto the DC ring and went from there. Pros: Bulletproof. Tough plastic, has never leaked unless it's been my own stupidity when I've p...

Use mine all the time, too. I have a pneumatic booster, but sometimes I just take the whip. We transfill rebreather bottles from a jacked up al80 of 21/35 or pure O2 for a weekend out on the coast. It's way easier than managing a bottle swarm. You definitely want a small gauge. Doesn't have to be pr...

Tons of places; these are not precision parts, so something close that forms a good seal will work. Usually there's three -- one is a "bumper" to prevent the glass tube whacking the delrin slug; it doesn't slide into the glass at all, but cushions is from whacks. The other two are a primar...

Possibly. The number one thing to do is get the salt water out of the wiring. It'll corrode the copper wires faster than you imagine. I usually soak the head (sans bulb and glass) in distilled water for a day or so, and follow it up with isopropyl alcohol for a day or two. Then I let it dry thorough...

I'm startled that jelly in the water column actually turned out. It's the type of thing I would've printed in the darkroom onto fiber paper and toned with an iron bath back in the good old days. Just too cool. Great shots! BTW - after fixing your dive light and celebrating success, it turns out mine...

Temps really depend on time of year out there. It varies quite a bit. Mike's blog (on the Nautilus web site) has some pretty good temp records if you're willing to wade through old records. I've been out to the Socorros twice with the Nautilus guys (once for a full trip, once because it was "on...

FWIW, you're better off with an adapter and a normal hose than trying to find the right hose. That way, if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere, or you just need to move hoses around, you can do it. http://northeastscubasupply.com/store/index.php?_a=category&cat_id=241 has the parts that you wa...

Not sure if it does HP fills, but saw this today - http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/spo/3063135859.html Wow, that Coltri looks battered to pieces! As an aside, any of the little compressors are going to need a better filter. What the manufacturers think of as "appropriate" translates int...

you can buy the 2+3 asemblies as units, but i would suggest just buy the entire rebuild kit for $10 and rebuild it.. IIRC, the kits do not come with a new burst disk assembly, so you'll need one of those, too, which you order separately. Not strictly required if you're rebuilding the valve, but to ...

Already own both of those books. Just need to get my act together and find the time to read them again. One other thing: Apeks shop manuals are dang near idiot proof for rebuilding first and second stages. Grab an old DS4/(a)TX50 and just do it step by step with the Apeks guide. It'll make a lot mo...

The cap on mine is two piece - the outer rim, and an inner "filler piece". Use a thin jeweler's screwdriver to pry off the top piece, and then you should be able to unscrew the retaining nut that holds the black part you turn (outer ring) in place exposing just the stem and packing nuts.

I'd like to be able to have them all interchangeable, also. I really need to learn how to O2 clean them. It's way easier than you think. You should just buy this http://airspeedpress.com/newregbook.html if you don't already own a copy. I think this one: http://www.scubatools.com/c-23-regulator-savv...

The truth is the reg cost is pretty insignificant. Look at the cost of parts kts to rebuild it over the years. Never buy any regulator where the manufactuers refuse to sell parts kits to end users. Those regs will, over their lifetime, cost you far more than they're worth to keep running. There are ...

Linedog wrote:I never seen him dive, I ain't never seen this scooter thing either!

Ex-navy SEAL. Of course you didn't see him. Duh. I'm surprised you're still alive to tell about not seeing him.

Yah. Scooters. Great fun, but gets you into trouble all that much faster

FWIW, I've used this: http://www.amazon.com/Tilos-PolaFleece-Drysuit-Undergarment-2X-Large/dp/B006VOKRNO (Tilos Fleece Undergarment) as a layer, or for quick dives with an electric vest alone :) Occasionally, I've seen them on sale for about $60, which is why I picked it up... as a one-piece, it doe...

Well, bummer that Seattle Fluid couldn't help you. :( Ray's right about the metrics sucking for a lot of things, at least when it c comes down to electrical or plumbing. If that's just one piece that's kind of wonky, and there's plenty of metal, you might also consider retapping for something standa...

The Seattle Swagelok dealer might have what you want. I've found them VERY helpful in the past with compressor parts:

Seattle Fluid System Technologies
3315 South 116th Street, Tukwila, WA 98168
(425) 825-1115
The Seattle office is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Honestly, I wouldn't even bother to "fix" it until it breaks. The fix for it breaking (remove gland, unsolder wires, replace innards, replace strain relief, resolder, and then get it all back together -- hoping you got it water tight) is the same as what you're going to go through to fix t...

So, I figured that using the driver which came with the light (for the sst 50) which I am guessing is pushing 5 amps at 8.4 volts based on the specs, the run time should be the same? I am just under-powering the SST 90, right? Thoughts? Yup. LED drivers are constant current devices (at least, prope...

Not a dive light, but I converted a big Maglite to LEDs once for a project, and used an RC pack. They work fine, and can be cheap.

-C

The way helium cells measure content is by thermal conductivity, as has been noted. The circuit used is called a Wheatstone Bridge - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatstone_bridge . Other than electrical failure of the circuit/meter/etc, there's just two ways that a helium sensor can fail: Heating e...

You need a torque wrench too, they are installed with 7 ft/lbs or 90 in/lbs. (not nearly as much as you think) If you overtorque them they will shear off and its pretty difficult to get the threaded stub back out of the valve. I see you learned the same lesson as me, although I actually was using t...

BTW - speaking of Tahoe.. This is a GREAT resource for scooters and scooter performance.. http://www.tahoebenchmark.com/2011.htm EDIT: (Norris, these were the benchmark tests) K +1. This is the only public data I know of that attempts to run repeatable, somewhat scientific studies against all the m...