A challange to the "sporterized"

[cstmwrks]

Seakrakken, I know what you speak of.. that lost fealing. Well I found my own "way back" to that era while living in our ultra modern times. In one way or another it comes from building my own dive gear. The most noteacable jump back in time came from gluing my own dry suits. Ad to that 02 rebreathers.
I have do desire for "tech" diving.. going deeper, staying longer, that kind of stuff. Anyhow as I recall making your own exposure suit was not all that uncommon 50 years ago. And I also believe that dry suits became the next order of business after the aqua lung made longer dive times possable.
Oh, I also bought the copy of shallow water diving off eBay today, just to check out the rebreather plans it is rumored to contain.

[seakrakken]

Now that's got my attention! What does that rebreather look like? Right now I'm working on a pendulum job. I'll post pics once I've finished it. Would you please describe the rebreather design that's in Shallow Water Diving?

[cstmwrks]

I'll let you know what I find when I get it. The guy mailed it today so I imagind by next week I'll be in the "know" about it. Didn't a guy make a post to this forum that he had built one following the plans but never used it?
On the rebeather subject I jumped around to a few other forums and caught some snips on the "homebuilt" crowd. Anyhow one figured since an 02 rebreather almost killed the father of our modern aqualungs, that was all that needed to be said. Rebreather = evil. I have no idea if this guy ever read the full account, but the rebreather was not the culprit. It was Jauque and his lack of knowledge that about killed him. He attemted to "build a better rebreather" and came even closer to death the second time around.
This account tells of two basic truthes that all rebreather will likely suffer from till the end of time.
One: a rebreather will NEVER forgive you of ignorance.
Two: divers always seam to look to the equipment for fault sooner than looking to themselves. To this day I can only wonder what the "silent" world would have been like if Jauque had spent more time expanding his much needed knowledge before attempting to fix a problem that had nothing to do with the equipment.

[Mistral]

That would have been John (frogfoot) who made the rebreather.

There was a US Navy Mk IV gas mask for sale on e-bay a few weeks ago with a picture of the plans included in the listing (not sure if they were included or not.) I had a brain fart and missed my chance to bid on it. I have a vintage gas mask collection in addition to old scuba stuff and it would have served double duty.)

It's probably for the best as I might have been curious enough to build one and then actually try it.

[cstmwrks]

Thanks for the reply.. In a few days I'll get to look over the plans he used to make it with. I just bought a copy of shallow water diving.

[Deleted]

Frogfoot has been on the road a few days. Yes, Shallow Water Diving has the plans. Name me in your will before you dive it. Aquamaster and I plan to build a helmet over the winter if he will ever bring his water heater tank to the shop... I agree about "sporterized" diving. It has happened everywhere. Look at mags like Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, etc. Just ads for new gear. Our helmet scheme has a bailout backup using an old USN tank. I picked up some ice cleats with wood soles I plan to cast flat lead soles for. The possibilities for "research" are endless!! There is still a lot of adventure out there. John

[cstmwrks]

I just got the shallow water diving book yesterday. The rebreather plans do give some detail on the scrubber design but nothing is layed out with exact detail. Dr Bob of F.E.O.R. fame dives a rebreather or two with very similar design. How much of a death trap it is has more to do with the building skills of the person making the unit. After that it would be diving skills and rebreather knowledge.
If I were to follow the info they give as close as possable it would be a diveable rig. Or in other words you should not bank on any inharetance if I put you in my will.

[Deleted]

Glad you found the plans. The idea of breathing air that had been filtered by lye always made me a little nervous. Don't they call that a "caustic cocktail"? I wish you success. I am concentrating on my helmet idea. As I remember the book shows one made of wood that was so heavy when they finished it they could not use it. Something like that. I have several pieces of Lexan here for the lights. Not sure if I am going to use a commercial air valve or something from the hardware store. Got a "strong suggestion" this morning as my wife left for work that the bathroom, living room and bedroom should not be diving lockers..... John

[cstmwrks]

caustic cocktail, some what of a thing of the past. Todays modern formulas of soda lime have improved so the hardness of the granules is much better. Or in other words a full scrubber flood just kills the scrubber bed. If your silly enough to inhale the water, a mouthful will leave maybe a very slight burning sensation. Assuming you hold said mouthfull for 30 seconds or so. The old lime formulas would disolve into mush that would make the nasty cocktail.
Now lithium hydroxide!! that is another matter all togeather!! makes sodalime look like kids stuff.
Have been thinking of a helmet project myself.. will see how it goes.
Bill

[seakrakken]

I can't help myself! I have to let the World know that the CCR O2 rig I 've been tinkering with went through the "Order of the Bath" and a 30 min Couch Dive today! This particular design is my own but, shares many characteristics of others seen on the web. Examples that inspired me were Dr. Bob's FEOR and Will Smither's TP 2000. I must mention Mr Ove Dahlstedt's Seahawk. I didn't see Mr. Dahlstedt's Seahawk until a few days ago. but, mine is very similar to his. He has placed his scrubber behind his neck while mine is belly mounted. I will post some pics in a couple of days.

[seakrakken]

I've crossed over to the Dark Side! This 1st pic is a horse collar style I made using a motor cycle inner tube and some 4" PVC pipe. The Oxy Tank is an orphaned MADA bottle from an ambulance a friend gave me. The hoses are compliments of BrassCraft. They are 1.5"X 30" drain hoses. The DSV is a compression coupling with a few mods which turned it into a 1/4 turn valve that functions like a Drager DSV. The check valves are salvaged from discarded 3M Chemical respirator masks. I made the watertight fittings using 1" sched 80 electrical male and female adapters by adding a flange to them using plumbers epoxy putty. The Oxy port is a pair of 3/4" sched 80 male and female adapters modified in the same way. O2 is fed from the bottle to the counterlung through a 1/2" Tygone tube.












This 2nd unit is a pendulum design I'm making out of found objects. The scrubber is an Eye Wash Station bottle and the counter lung is made from a rubberized Lab apron glued together. The two of them are joined together with a through hull tank fitting salvaged from an old kiddy wading pool. the shell is a 15 qt. dish pan from WalMart spray painted black and the neck and waist straps are fastex buckles.

[cstmwrks]

Lets see that thing in action underwater!
Show that to Dr Bob, I'll bet he may make a page on his web sight just for you!

[Ron Hearn]

Hi

How are you monitoring your Gas levels.

Ron

[John C Ratliff]

Seakrakken,

It appears to be an Oxygen rebreather, and not mixed gas. My understanding is that the main hazard would be to be sure to completely purge all of the air from the unit before diving it, or you could get into problems if nitrogen were left in it.

I am very concerned about one aspect of the design. It appears that there is no separation between the inhalations and exhalations, that they all go to the same part of the tube. The scrubber appears to be at the bottom, and not in the pathway of the oxygen. Unless there is a separation of the inhalation and exhalation side of the bags, there is a chance of CO2 buildup. My understanding, and it is primative (I have never used CCR), is that the exhalations must pass through the canister before being inhaled again for the scrubber to work.

Please look over your design, and if it does not have this separation, and all the exhalations going through the canister before being re-breathed, DON'T DIVE IT.

If it does have this design, and you've figured out the purge process so you don't have any air in the unit and are sure it is pure oxygen you are using, then begin trials with a buddy on air by your side in a pool setting. What you need to do now is to "qualify" your unit by putting it through its paces in a controlled setting. It wouldn't hurt for you to also work with an instructor who is knowledgeable with CCR units.

SeaRat

[cstmwrks]

If you guys look at the photos, you will see that he clamped the top of the tube with what looks like a SS flat bar with rounded ends. Serving a duel roll of giving him a place to attach webbing and serve to isolate the inhale side from the exhale side. So the only way to be able to inhale the gas from the exhale side is after it pases through the scrubber.

Bill