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Post by vance on Feb 24, 2019 16:37:34 GMT -8
Well, I broke apart my Sportsways first stage, which is one of the ones I thought was with a tilt-valve second stage, and found it was the balanced first stage! So either I have mismatched the second stages, or this one came with a different second stage originally. But I don't think I have a second stage that matches it. John Don't forget that anyone could, and might have, changed a configuration down the line. We're talking many years, so you can expect to find mix and match 1st/2nds now and then. I once bought a Little Gem second that was attached to a ScubaPro MK5 first. That's different.... The Mk5 is sitting on my desk right in front of me as I type! Nice first stage, eh?
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 24, 2019 18:12:12 GMT -8
Well, I broke apart my Sportsways first stage, which is one of the ones I thought was with a tilt-valve second stage, and found it was the balanced first stage! So either I have mismatched the second stages, or this one came with a different second stage originally. But I don't think I have a second stage that matches it. John Don't forget that anyone could, and might have, changed a configuration down the line. We're talking many years, so you can expect to find mix and match 1st/2nds now and then. I once bought a Little Gem second that was attached to a ScubaPro MK5 first. That's different.... The Mk5 is sitting on my desk right in front of me as I type! Nice first stage, eh? Vance, I have a Scubapro Mk V, and it is set up with a A.I.R. I second stage, which I feel is one of the best second stages ever developed. (I now have a Pilot, which when matched here would be "best" too.) What a lot of people don't realize is that the plug on top is for the primary first stage, and delivers the best performance under high stress/breathing rates or at depth. But I do like the Sportsways diaphragm regulators, as I really like their placement of LP ports and their HP port for a SPG. I have two Sportsways catelogs, one from 1969 and one from 1975. Here is the 1969 catalog: And here is the 1975 catalog: It will be fun later this spring/summer to get my Sportsways Sport Diver II back into the open water. I may also get it into a pool sometime soon. John PS, I just took my Sportsways Sport Diver tilt valve out to the tank after looking inside and confirming it is unbalanced, placed i at on a tank to check that I had not done anything to cause problems. It freeflowed. I depressurized, and then again turned on the pressure, and again it freeflowed hard. I turned the air off, sat back and thought, this should not happen with a tilt valve. If anything, it should blow through the ORV, not the mouthpiece. So then brought the regulator up to my mouth and blew through it hard. As I suspected, the diaphragm moved back. So I repressurized the unit again, and it held pressure. The diaphragm itself, the original nylon-impregnated neoprene, had taken a "set" and pushed against the tilt valve needle, causing the free flow. It worked, but was a bit harder breathing than I wanted. I looked around, and found an old White Stag Sea Lung 5000, which was equipped with a silicone diaphragm. I wanted to know whether this silicone diaphragm could be used on my Sportsways Sport Diver tilt valve second stage, and while watching the Oscars, took the two second stages apart. Guess what? These two take the same size diaphragm, so I switched the two. Now, the Sport Diver tilt valve second stage breathes great, not just good, but great. Because there is no Venturi on this second stage, it appear that at High demand there may be some blow-by onto the exhalation, but I do get enough air at high demand. This pretty well confirms that the tilt valve's limits were as much from the diaphragm as from the valve itself.
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