|
Post by SeaRat on Mar 25, 2016 13:47:39 GMT -8
I almost had a disaster when I took the poppet assembly out, as there is a small pin, the pilot pin, that fell out and rolled off the shelf. I could not find it anywhere, looked all over the top and the floor--no pin. Finally, after looking for about ten minutes, I found it! It had rolled over the edge, but onto a drawer, and rolled into the drawer, staying on the lid. Wow, that was close.
Now to understand this complex regulator second stage, do a little more, grease the O-rings and put it back together. I'm not going to replace any O-rings at this point.
John
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on Mar 25, 2016 14:29:21 GMT -8
I almost had a disaster when I took the poppet assembly out, as there is a small pin, the pilot pin, that fell out and rolled off the shelf. I could not find it anywhere, looked all over the top and the floor--no pin. Finally, after looking for about ten minutes, I found it! It had rolled over the edge, but onto a drawer, and rolled into the drawer, staying on the lid. Wow, that was close. That reminds me of the first time I took my wife's Connie apart: I think I found that actuator pin about nine months later JB
|
|
|
Post by SeaRat on Mar 28, 2016 15:16:13 GMT -8
I took my Mark VII/A.I.R. I combination from this sale (the A.I.R. I was mine previously) into the pool after Easter service at church yesterday. I used a tank that had just under 1000 psig in it too, as I wanted to go onto reserve to hear what the Mark VII was like. Well, after about 8 minutes of fairly hard exercise (I was proving out some underwater swimming concepts), I got the first notice that I was getting low. A breath or so later, it went full-bore, and it was unmistakable.
The Mark VII sonic reserve is not only sonic, but it also sets up a vibration in the hose and second stage which will rattle your mouth. Each breath becomes slightly more intensive, and it literally drives a diver to the surface.
I used this as a simple single-hose regulator on a J-valve tank with the J-valve down (not in use). I did this because I was using my Hammerhead Unit to quantify some underwater swimming for a thread on ScubaBoard where we are looking at "drag" as it relates to scuba divers. Two of us are saying that this drag component has gotten much worse in recent years as divers go "tech" and bundle themselves in multiple tank systems. So I am relating both vintage diving and new concepts (to the diving community) about underwater swimming, as is REVAN, the other poster who started the thread.
I just put my Healthways Scubair 300 sonic regulator on this tank, and while it rattled on the first stage, it did not transmit that vibration I felt from the Mark VII first stage to the second stage.
My Scubapro Pilot is now completely (almost) disassembled, and I will clean these O-rings and the main body, then reassemble them to see if I can get rid of the small leak and other problems with the unit.
More later,
John
|
|
|
Post by SeaRat on Apr 30, 2016 11:12:39 GMT -8
Well, I put my Pilot second stage back together, and pressurized it...leaks badly. So today I'm going to try to get new O-rings for it, and work on it more.
One thing that is interesting to me is that aspirator. When I put the Pilot back together, it became apparent that I could change the venturi of this regulator (unlike the A.I.R. I). If it is pointed straight at the diver's mouth, it is so powerful that it almost overpressurizes the lungs (I had to block off my throat to keep that from happening). If it is about 30 degrees off toward the side, it is about right. Somewhere right there, it is ideal. But that needs to be experimented with to find what's best. Scubapro did say that going beyond the "factory setting" was possible, and should be done for very deep dives. I think this is what the U.S. Navy did in their 1000 foot + dive made with this regulator.
Wish me luck.
John
|
|
|
Post by diverdon on Apr 30, 2016 12:26:33 GMT -8
Good luck, John.
DD
|
|
|
Post by nikeajax on May 2, 2016 15:10:53 GMT -8
Huh? I wonder, could said o-ring be a very specialized one, that SP NEVER told anyone about, like maybe a micron or two larger... I d'know, jus' thinkin' out loud is all JB
|
|