retpo
Senior Diver
Posts: 63 
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Post by retpo on Nov 9, 2016 21:14:45 GMT -8
Ok, thanks. I might have to tune it up, possibly an SP diaphragm would fit? I cleaned out the second stage and put it on a tank. Breathed better than I expected but didn't do anything with it after that.
Getting to a point where my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) is getting out of hand :-)
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Post by tomcatpc on Nov 9, 2016 21:19:15 GMT -8
Is it just me?, of has there been more interest in Healthways in the last couple weeks than there has since I started diving three years ago? I mean this in a good way.
Mark
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 10, 2016 11:33:04 GMT -8
1969 was a very exciting year! On February 21 of that year, the Soviet N1 rocket blew up shortly after it left the launch pad. This was the largest man made non-nuclear explosion ever: it was in the kiloton-range. This quite effectively killed Russia’s hope to ever beat the Americans to the moon. On July 16, a Saturn-V rocket carrying Mission Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Command Service Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. left Cape Canaveral and headed for the Moon… On July 24, 1969, 16:50:35 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on another world other than Earth! Since Healthways and ScubaPro were the same company, HW changed their styling:  The size of the main diaphragm changed, albeit very temporarily, the 75mm was used, instead of the 80mm. In this same year, ScubaPro introduced their now famous 109 adjustable second stage. If you click through to my image and magnify it, you can see that the bottom can/box went from smooth and round to sculpted and angular. This augmentation was done to accommodate the SP’s adjustment mechanism. The “Quick Klip” was, again temporarily, gotten rid of, and a two piece ScubaPro-style was used. The top covers were also changed, again, see my above image. The first stages were also changed: the demand, or first stage, got an enlarged piston, and the very costly, almost laminar-flow* styling, was gotten rid of for a more angular look.  [/a] The, at times difficult to use with cold hands, internal yoke knob was replaced with an external, and less expensive to produce plastic knob. The snap ring that holds in the sintered filter was replaced with a star shaped fastener.  [/a] The higher-end units used a new chrome exhaust-tee, whereas the low-end Scuba Star used a rubber tee:  [/a] Please note that the above image shows the old, then resurrected round cans! JB * en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_flow |
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Post by tomcatpc on Nov 10, 2016 13:27:06 GMT -8
Just learned a bit more, thanks again!
Mark
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 11, 2016 14:16:19 GMT -8
Healthways had yet another surprise for 1969: the “Airflo”! This is a rather peculiar little regulator in that it needed a special tank valve to use it. For $50, it came with a pressure gauge that someone could use to check their tank pressure. K and J-valves were available in both single tank and double tank manifold.  The Idea behind the Airflo, was to strip everything down to its most basic form, or “form follows function”. The first stage was very much like the European “DIN”, it screwed directly into the tank valve and didn’t use a yoke and screw to secure it: it had deep groves cut directly into the body for better grip and make attachment and removal easier with wet, cold or gloved hands. It was HW’s first regulator to use the “flow through piston” design. The second stage was basically the same used in all other HW regs but the top cover was a brass ring with a dome of neoprene acting as both the cover and purge button: this idea would be again revived in the last generation of HW regulators. Here are some of Diver Don’s images:     In the above image DD is showing a DIN-fitting with the Airflo... Here’s yet another of DD’s images showing the in-line sintered filter:  |
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Post by tomcatpc on Nov 11, 2016 21:53:37 GMT -8
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Post by diverdon on Nov 21, 2016 9:35:08 GMT -8
It looks like our friend Alec over at Scuba2000 (now retired), likes our single hose Healthways as well. He is including two in the video below, a 300 "honker and an Airflo. I sure wish I could find a reasonably priced pressure gauge for the airflo (also in his video). I know of only one fellow member here who has one. He's a Michigander too if I'm not mistaken... DD www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxK2VgaHlRk |
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Post by tomcatpc on Nov 21, 2016 16:56:46 GMT -8
I was under the impression he was from Toronto, Ontario?
Mark
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 21, 2016 17:16:25 GMT -8
Hey Mark, that's Trahno (Toronto), eh?  Yeah, if ya listen, you can hear 'im oot an' a boot in th' hoose (out and about in the house) JB |
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 25, 2016 10:35:48 GMT -8
Healthways next regulator was the Scubair-“B” model 1677: it was produced from 1971 through 1972. “B” was their designation for balanced: it was also a flow-through piston reg. What is really interesting is that internally it is nearly identical to the US Divers second generation 1048 Calypso-J, without the j-valve: I have gone so far as to swap the piston and bushing out between the two! The “B” was HW’s first high performance regulator: the yoke and screw were rated for the new high pressure tanks at 3000-psig! Unlike the USD Calypso, that had an end cap, the “B” is solid brass, and is rather weighty… This was also when Healthways revived the Quick-Klip: the Quick-Klip was redesigned from a spring steel snap ring, to a plastic ring that could be easily removed with a slot tip screwdriver or a make-shift-tool. Most people needed a pliers to remove the original style QK, but I have heard of people actually using their fingers to compress the ends together to pull the cover off, while in the surf! This person is Jim Steele of Steele’s Discount Scuba in Oakland California… As you can see from my images, HW had abandoned their metal exhaust-tee, and went with a rubber tee: previously the lower end regs used a rubber tee, and the higher end regs retained the metal tee. Please note that in my third image showing the balancing chamber I have replaced the stock tee with a high performance later version.    An interesting thing about the "B" was that the vein going to the HP-chamber went down and angled off into the air chamber, whereas the Calypso's was much longer and came back up again. The reason for this was HW didn't offer a j-valve yet; the USD routing allowed for the j-valve mechanism. |
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Post by diverdon on Nov 25, 2016 13:08:42 GMT -8
I was under the impression he was from Toronto, Ontario? Mark Hey Mark, Alec is Canadian. I was referring to another fellow. A Michigander who owns an Airflo pressure gauge. Thing is, he doesn't own an Airflo regulator, so I'm waiting for him to realize that he should sell it to me  DD |
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Post by diverdon on Nov 25, 2016 13:13:37 GMT -8
Hey JB, Have you measured the IP with and without the shims? I found an off brand regulator that uses the slotted quick release style 2nd stage cover. I've been meaning to do a side by side with the "B" and should have something shortly.
DD
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2016 13:36:27 GMT -8
I was under the impression he was from Toronto, Ontario? Mark Hey Mark, Alec is Canadian. I was referring to another fellow. A Michigander who owns an Airflo pressure gauge. Thing is, he doesn't own an Airflo regulator, so I'm waiting for him to realize that he should sell it to me DD I'm in a similar situation DD. A fellow I know that lives north of me has an Airflow Reg, but doesn't have an Airflow gauge. That sounds unsafe to me!  Thank you for posting Alec's videos! |
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Post by nikeajax on Nov 25, 2016 13:55:44 GMT -8
DD, no, not yet: I'm guessing without the shims, it 120-psig, with shims it's 130-psig: my Scubair-J II is 135-psig with three shims JB |
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Post by vance on Nov 25, 2016 14:22:54 GMT -8
Hey all,
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I'm on a break as I make the 'day after TG' that is traditional in my house, where we have local relatives over for a second feast.
I just took my Scubastar TDQK apart to look it over. I noticed a slight leak when hooked up to a tank, and am in the process of finding out WTF.
It didn't come apart easy. After successfully getting the big chrome parts apart, I started to panic. I must have lost a bunch of tiny parts when the two pieces finally separated!
Nope. There aren't any tiny parts! What a dead simple machine....
Anyway, I have come to realize, that back in 1975 or so, when I stuck a SPG on the Scubastar, I took off the over-pressure relief valve to screw in the spg! DOH!
Question: While it seems perfectly logical to me to put a splitter/manifold on the port and use the spg with a oprv, I thought I'd run it past the peanut gallery. WDYT?
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Yeah, if ya listen, you can hear 'im oot an' a boot in th' hoose (out and about in the house)
Thank you for posting Alec's videos! 
