Aqualung orange 'UDT' gauge and white hose

[johnu]

I've got an Aqualung/USD orange face UDT gauge with a white hose. The gauge is a stem or spool type mount. The black plastic sheathing chipped off exposing the white fabric hose cover. I want to replace the hose and LDS's have nothing comparable. Any (reasonable) suggestions?

John

[antique diver]

Those particular hoses were notorious for that. The outer plastic sheathing does nothing to retain the pressure, but it does give protection against abrasion to the braided white strands you see. So, if the hose is not leaking air you could cover the hose with a expanding mesh tubing product, sometimes sold at dive stores, or just take care not to be dragging the hose over rocks, coral, etc to prevent damage to it. Enough damage to the strands and hp air may escape gradually or maybe even forcefully. Personally I would just cover it as noted above. The mesh is pretty inexpensive, and if you can't find it I can provide some for cost of mailing, but it may be a little loose fitting on that hose.

Replacing the hose may be preferred, but the size of the fitting that attaches onto that gauge is no longer in common use (in the diving industry), and it is not likely that any dive store could help with that.

If you are determined to use a modern HP hose on that gauge I may be able to come up with an adapter to make that work. I have one of the gauges like yours to test it on, and plenty of modern hoses. Let me know if you want to look into that option.

[antique diver]

Devised and tested an adapter today for connecting a modern HP hose to the UDT gauge. It's compact and still allows for the gauge to swivel. I tried to post a photo with no luck, but can send photo to your email if you provide it.

[nikeajax]

Aug 15, 2021 16:20:14 GMT -8 antique diver said:

The outer plastic sheathing does nothing to retain the pressure, but it does give protection against abrasion to the braided white strands you see. So, if the hose is not leaking air you could cover the hose with a expanding mesh tubing product, sometimes sold at dive stores, or just take care not to be dragging the hose over rocks, coral, etc to prevent damage to it. Enough damage to the strands and hp air may escape gradually or maybe even forcefully. Personally I would just cover it as noted above...

I may try some of Terry's famous plasti-dip for this:



I seriously doubt I will be able to find a replacement hose for my old HW stem gauge As an artist, aesthetics are EVERYTHING!


JB

[antique diver]

The dip might give some protection and look better too.

How about a close-up photo of the hose to gauge fittings? There may be a way to adapt a newer hose for this gauge too. [/font]

BTW, that's one of my favorite pacs.

[nikeajax]

Copy that AD: will get one up ASAP

JB

[vance]

Aug 16, 2021 11:49:06 GMT -8 antique diver said:

Devised and tested an adapter today for connecting a modern HP hose to the UDT gauge. It's compact and still allows for the gauge to swivel. I tried to post a photo with no luck, but can send photo to your email if you provide it.

Great to see you on the board, Bill! I'd like to see what you came up with for the UDT SPG. I have a couple of those around.

Like all of us at first, you appear to be having problems posting photos. The links I provided below will help you to post from the Imgur and Flickr hosting sites. If you don't have an account on either one, they're free up to 1000 photos.

vintagescuba.proboards.com/thread/5473/using-imgur-post-photos

vintagescuba.proboards.com/thread/5261/using-flickr-host-site-posting

[antique diver]

Thanks Phil. Good to find this forum again and see some of my old friends on board.
I had my hands full on servicing equipment today, but will try to get some photos up about the simple adapter tomorrow if I can get the host thing going. You will kick yourself for letting me figure this out before you did. Ha.

[vance]

We live in hope of any activity around here. Glad to have your participation/perspective/expertise/opinions, no matter how incidental, or earth-shaking.

Let's keep it active by filling us all in on whatever you're doing!

[antique diver]

Here is the UDT gauge with an adapter modified to accommodate a modern HP gauge hose.



The gauge has a 3/8" x24 thread per inch(tpi or pitch)male threaded connection end, while the modern hp gauge hoses use a 7/16" female end.

In addition, the swivel spool made into the gauge body is a larger diameter than the spools used in modern hose end, and it is also too short to extend into and seal properly into the adapter.

To make the connections work a common adapter with 7/16" male to 3/8" female ends will match the new hose/to the adapter/to the gauge. But now a new swivel and sealing arrangement is also required.

The male end of the new adapter must be smoothly bored to the proper inside diameter to accept a modern spool with its two #003 orings in place. Best done on a lathe with a quality drill bit of proper size. Once that is done, we deal with the gauge end. Remember the spool on the gauge is larger in diameter than the hole just bored into the stock adapter. It was a little stroke of luck that the gauge spool was a little short of entering the bore of the adapter I have, so I was able to just remove the unneeded oring and backup ring and not depend on that seal because there is another simple way to make this pressure seal. Just install a 011 size oring (same as used on the port plugs and hose end that go to most reg first stages) on the male thread stem of the gauge and work it up the threads to the shoulder of gauge body. Then thread the adapter onto the gauge gently by hand until the adapter goes metal to metal on the gauge body. If the metal parts come together you can then snug the fittings with wrenches.

Note that if it does not thread all the way it could be because the gauge stem is longer than the depth available in the adapter. Then you may have to either enlarge a slight bit of the bore in adapter to allow the stem room to enter, or cut off a slight bit of the gauge spool (I don't like that option).

It's an easy fix with the right tools and a few simple easily obtained parts. You will find that swivel spools come in a variety of lengths, so you will have to have one that is long enough to bottom out in the new hose end fitting and have enough length left to securely seal into the new adapter. Don't forget to lube those orings.

I hope this helps.

[vance]

Great fix! This mod is probably beyond the skill levels/tooling most have, but it's always good to see stuff put back into use!