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Post by SeaRat on Sept 15, 2011 18:12:35 GMT -8
Ed (Drado),
Could you give us a short history of Fred Morrison? I don't think a lot of people know of him.
I have my Dacor Model One out, and was going to dive it but have not had the opportunity yet. The weather is starting to turn, and the water is getting even colder. So I'll just have to see...
John
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Sept 15, 2011 22:37:58 GMT -8
I'd have to leave that privilege to one of those who actually knew him personally to fill out most of the details, but from what I've seen, he used to go by the handle "Scubanut" on SB and VDH. By all accounts, he was a passionate vintage-diver in the true sense of the word, and was taken by cancer in 2009. A memorial stone marker was recently placed in Windmill Point Park Quarry in Buffalo.
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 26, 2011 22:45:58 GMT -8
Drado,
I took my Dacor Model One Dial-A-Breath apart tonight, and was going to try to use the main spring from my Dacor Dart regulator. But it was too big. The Dacor Model One has a tiny spring compared to today's regs, and it is under that plate which is not adjustable. I had placed a small washer behind it, thinking I could up the interstage pressure just a bit, but it still wasn't working like I remember so many years ago (1958 or so). So I was looking at the spring, and had my very large screwdriver with me, so I decided to put the screwdriver under the end of the spring. That end was compressed against the coil below, but with working the spring it came out a bit. I did the same to the other side, with undetermined results, but overall the spring looked just a bit longer. So I put it into the regulator, and put it back together. Guess what? It breaths noticeably better! Almost what I remember, where it would free-flow if I took my mouth away. Now I'm anxious to try it out.
John
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Sept 27, 2011 2:29:59 GMT -8
Is this the main 1st stage spring we're talking about? I'm not quite grasping what you did, but once you clarify it, I'd be willing to try it out as well
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 27, 2011 21:21:04 GMT -8
Here's the innards of the Dacor Model One again: It is the large diameter spring on the lower left side of the photo that I am talking about (yes, the main spring for the first stage). Where the metal comes to an end on both sides, it pressed against the coil below. What I did was take a very large screwdriver, and with the blade I worked it under that last coil between it and the end, then twisted the screwdriver a bit. This bent the spring outward, and apparently restored some of the tension it had lost over the years of being under that plate (under constant compression). I did this to both sides. It did not cause any damage whatsoever to the spring, only lengthened it slightly. Don't try this with the type of screwdriver in the photo though; you need a large, hefty one. John
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Sept 28, 2011 5:12:33 GMT -8
Okay, kind of got it Thanks. Before I do that though, I'll try to make an adaptor for my IP gauge in order to objectively quantify any change that might occur. Will post results afterwards.
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 2, 2011 14:08:08 GMT -8
I had my Dacor Model One Dial-A-Breath in the pool this afternoon, and it was pretty good. Not like a Mistral, but better than before, and better than a DA Aqualung. I was using USD hoses and a curved mouthpiece on it too, which would have given it every advantage.
There is a little "catch" in the diaphragm, so I'll have to work through that part of it. It seems to be position-dependent too. So it's an enigma.
But it was giving an adequate air supply, and was not real hard in suction effort (nothing qualitative though--no measurements to report, just subjective performance). The inhalation was noisy, much like the Mistral (but not quite as good). It gave me all the air I needed, but I needed to inhale to get it. Perhaps a bit more pressure on the main first stage spring would help, as it did this time.
Exhalation was no problem. I know that this regulator did not meet the military specs on exhalation, and I have shown that the mushroom valve backs up flow of water (see the thread on the duckbill's flow verses other regulator's flow for exhalation). But because it was above my lungs, the exhalation was pretty effortless. Again, this is using the USD hose/mouthpiece system though.
Overall, I would take it into open water, but not on a challenging or deep dive.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 30, 2011 19:10:10 GMT -8
I did a bit more work on my Dacor Dial-A-Breath, bending the primary lever a bit down, and polishing the top of the lever as well as the diaphragm plate it rests on. The "catch" is now gone. Yesterday, I took it to High Rocks for perhaps the last dive of the year in the Clackamas River. Rains are forecast for this coming week, to continue throughout the month as the "weather door" is now open for rain. Before I got into the water, I took this photo: Note that i was diving my Sherwood valve with two posts. I had by Scubapro Mk VII/A.I.R. I attached, along with my Suunto computer. I wanted to get some data on the dive. I have had this Suunto Cobra dive computer for quite a while, but only recently was able to understand it. I found out I had not set it up correctly, and had not paid much attention to that until I took it to my LDS. There, I found that I needed to go through a series of commands to get down and download that data. I did that, and looked at the data; my computer was not set to the correct date/time, and a lot of other settings were not correct. I took the time to read the manual, but that was no help. The manual did not explain it well. I have another "Cobra Modes and Operations" card, but it does not say that I need to set anything. I had thought it was to tell me how to change settings. The ol' vintage diver was used to things working without having to do much to it. Well, now it is set up, so I wanted to make the dive and get the data on this dive with the Dacor Dial-A-Breath regulator. The dive progressed very well (unlike the one last weekend with the Dacor Nautilus). I had about 1000 psig in my twin 45 tanks, and my Para-Sea BC on. I work twenty pounds of weight, which was a tad light, but not too bad. I made it a drift dive through the deep hole at High Rocks, watching the computer to see that it was working. The Dacor Dial-A-Breath actually worked quite well during this dive. I never felt short of breath, but then I didn't tax it much. The Suunto Cobra said I was breathing at about 0.38 cubic feet of air a minute. It was basically a drift dive, although I did fight the current a couple of times during the dive. I stopped in a number of areas, and watched very small invertebrate and aquatic life (insect larva on the under side of a rock, small sculpin fish, etc.). I got toward my destination, and swam a bit back upstream to both test the regulator out and to get more bottom time. I wanted to see what this regulator felt like at low air supply, but I breathed the rig down to zero psig on my Cobra, and felt no real resistance, and so pulled the reserve rod. It went back up to almost 400 psig, which is curious because it is supposed to be a 500 psig reserve on one cylinder which would translate into 250 in the twins. So it seems that the Cobra is not actually at zero when it reads zero, and/or the spring is at a higher setting than I thought (and is advertised). I exited the river, literally crawling out of the water onto the rocks due to the slipperiness of the rocks. Once I got a firm footing, I could stand up. From there is was about a 100 foot ascent to the road, and almost 150 yards of walking back to my car. Once at the car, I dropped off my weights and the fins, mask, SeawiscopeEY and helmet and sat down to doff the rig. About that time a young woman came by on the sidewalk with a stroller and a child in it, and I asked her to take my photo with my cell phone camera. This is what is below; me with my scuba and the Para-Sea BC still on, sans weights and the other equipment. I looked at the photo, and said, "I'm not as young as I was in the avatar photo!" Oh well... John
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Nov 3, 2011 3:54:51 GMT -8
Love the gray hose set-up with your Dacor, John. I've yet to try a USD set on mine, though I do now have an extra set - albeit yellow I'd probably still like to find a way to improve the make-shift diaphragm I've got installed in mine - and when I do, I'll work on tweaking my Dacor. Seems a shame that I've currently relegated mine to non-active status since the last time - considering that it is actually a good-looking reg. Not a bad photo from a phone cam. It would've made for another great avatar shot except the background is a road... easily fixable though At any rate, let's just say that your current photo looks more "distinguished" than before
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Dec 20, 2011 17:53:52 GMT -8
Will be tweaking my Dacor soon. I was able to acquire some NOS diaphragms (both inner and outer diaphragms) and based on the sellers photos, they still look pretty supple. As recalled, my current DIY system has the unfortunate condition of being a bit too high, hence the duckbill I installed in lieu of the double diaphragm system gets impinged leading to difficult exhalation. Which leads me to this question: What is the diameter of the exhalation valve located in the middle of the outer diaphragm?
Might as well stick some silicone USD hoses as well. As supple as the original neoprene hoses are, there's some degree of paranoia in me as to what else I could be breathing in... even though I've scrubbed and disinfected them, they still have this peculiar taste to it.
Now if only there was a way I could make a make-shift venturi system to help improve the WOB...
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Post by gj1963 on Jan 29, 2012 8:24:27 GMT -8
Hey Drado - I was just working on a original Dial-A-Breath. The exhalation valve is 40mm. I see your modified USD carrier for an LP seat? What have others done for this? The LP seat on the one I was working on was shot. I sliced the hemispherical base off so it was flat then bonded a modern USD seat to it. Works for now but I would like a better option. Other then that this one was in beautiful shape - resurfaced the HP seat, and filled a crack in the exhalation diaphragm. It's now back with it's original owner since new and hopefully will see some use.
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 29, 2012 8:48:44 GMT -8
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Post by SeaRat on Jul 29, 2012 12:05:07 GMT -8
I'm curious whether a Mistral seat would work in the Dacor Dial-a-Breath? They probably aren't quite the same dimensions, but perhaps one would work.
John
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 29, 2012 13:06:52 GMT -8
John, is that you bidding, just curious? I don't need it, but hoped it might help you So why do people get all hot and bothered about the C3N, yet really harsh on the Dialabreath? As far as I can see, and hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the C3N the same thing only using a duckbull instead of the second diaphragm, and obviously not utilizing the Dialabreath feature? Oh, BTW, um, if you can find an Olympic you don't mind cannibalizing, they use the same seat, pretty sure of that... Jaybird
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drado
Pro Diver
Posts: 186
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Post by drado on Jul 29, 2012 17:06:47 GMT -8
I'm curious whether a Mistral seat would work in the Dacor Dial-a-Breath? They probably aren't quite the same dimensions, but perhaps one would work. John I once had a problem with my Dacor seat, which I chronicled in this thread: Dacor HP seat problemLong story short, while waiting for a replacement Dacor seat, I tried out one of my DAAM seats in it. I was able to get it to work on the bench, though I couldn't quantify changes to IP, but the WOB seemed to be similar. Anyway, when I got my replacement Dacor seat, out went the DAAM. Here are some of the dimensions of my Dacor seat if it helps:
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