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Post by vance on Oct 14, 2021 15:24:26 GMT -8
Thanks for the effort of digging, and the offer, Bill. And thanks for talking me out of the endless loop! I need another partial regulator to find parts for like I need... well, some other ridiculous thing!
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Post by vance on Oct 30, 2021 9:05:20 GMT -8
I sent a bunch of stuff to my friend who does plating. He cleaned up the original IP adjuster parts as well as the spring seat. These parts are bare brass out of the factory so I had them cleaned for the Broxton restoration. These DA parts below will be replaced by the originals in the above photo:
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Post by vance on Apr 12, 2022 18:37:05 GMT -8
Just got another Broxton. This one is a blue label Aqualung "Trademark". Internals are in great shape. The exterior has some silver blue paint on the bottom box (including over the label) on satin chrome. Must be a homemade paint job?
The regulator has good hoses, a good DA style duckbill (not an OEM shorty on the removable horn), and a Voit mp that is stained brown. Not sure how that happened. This reg has been serviced, and put away dry.
Photos to follow.
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Post by vance on Apr 15, 2022 10:19:48 GMT -8
Here's the Trademark in it's former paint. The bottom box was painted blue, and the top box, valve body, yoke, and screw painted or coated with something that probably was once clear, but turned brown. It came off with some effort.
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Post by vance on Apr 15, 2022 14:57:15 GMT -8
I dug the old LP seat out of the horseshoe and glued in a new blue seat. The reg is pretty much assembled. Alls I need to do now is get my IP adapter back from the plater. This is a pretty nice example of the Broxton blue label Trademark.
I have 2 Broxtons (a green or red label and this Trademark) and a DA blue label Navy now. I like 'em. Quiet!
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Post by vance on Apr 17, 2022 7:13:31 GMT -8
Here's the raw brass parts of the Trademark. I turned the exhaust horn screws down slightly to clean the buggered slots up some. These would be pretty easy to make from some brass panhead screws.
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Post by SeaRat on May 14, 2022 17:57:49 GMT -8
I don't know whether any of you have actually seen the original DA Aqualung main low pressure diaphragm. I've got photos of the one I got (which is somewhere in my shed), that I thought you'd enjoy seeing. It isn't quite what you think. IMG_1699 by John Ratliff, on Flickr The lever plate is riveted onto the rubber for the diaphragm. If you look at the center, you see two rivets. These hold the original metal tabs that interact with the LP lever. IMG_1698 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Here you can see the metal piece that made the metal tabs. This will give you an idea of how the low pressure diaphrgam was originally conceived, and how it evolved later. John
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Post by vance on Oct 24, 2022 15:12:57 GMT -8
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! I would like to improve the performance of the Spaco, but of course want to keep it as original as possible. If it was just a poor performer by today's standards (yes), then diving with it in normal configuration is what I want to do in order to be in tune with just what late 40's and early 50's divers experienced. I have plenty of regs that are far better breathing and easier to dive with, but it's pretty special for me to share what diving felt like to those early guys... so I can put up with it. Since there was no original diaphragm in this when I acquired it in the 1980's or early 90's, that's the main item that can't be original in my use. The reg had been serviced some years earlier than that and had been outfitted with a diaphragm like later regs. It may well be that the original diaphragm had longer tabs to actuate the horseshoe demand lever sooner. With that in mind it won't feel so much like cheating to install longer tabs on a diaphragm (instead of bending the levers). So here's my prototype that takes most of the free play out of the demand mechanism. Seems to be helpful, but only a dive will tell for sure. A member here on the board just bought a Broxton I had listed on eBay. While doing the final check-over before shipping it off, I decided I really needed to do something about the at least 1/8" gap between the tabs on a new repro diaphragm and the levers on the old style valves like the Spaco, Broxton, and DA Navys. This gap is unavoidable if you use a reproduction 2 stage USD diaphragm, or an original from a DAAM/RAM. I think it's unacceptable, so a mod is in order. I remembered this post by Bill a while back and came up with another solution, which is to epoxy a couple of longer tabs to the originals. This should be strong enough, and they can be removed if desired.
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Post by vance on Oct 28, 2022 16:44:29 GMT -8
I need to make some horseshoe lever adjustment/retaining screws for the CG-45/Broxton/Navy Approved type regs. I thought I had a source, but no joy. They shouldn't be too hard to make out of brass. I'll post a photo of an original and my repros when I get them done.
BTW, I now believe that there were several choices of lever springs available to adjust the cracking effort of the Broxton type second stage.
I saw a bunch of Broxton etc., parts at TPoaWT. There were several different sets of springs in a jar for Broxton parts. I picked up a few different pairs.
For the second stage to seal, the lever/soft seat has to be level. The adjustment screws must be turned in or out so that the seat is level.
That is paramount. The only way to adjust the seat pressure with a level seat is via spring tension, IMO.
Typically, when I asked Jim Steele if this was true, he said, "I was six. How would I know?. My dad rebuilt those regs."
This is just my take on what I found.
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 28, 2022 17:40:01 GMT -8
I think the other adjustment that can be used is the pivot screws, which can be screwed in or out 1/2 turn at a time to adjust the level of the lever, which also affects whether it was level with the seat itself. There was quite an art to adjusting these screws, which also affects the spring tension of the two springs.
John
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Post by vance on Oct 28, 2022 20:30:33 GMT -8
That's what I was getting at. The pivot screws can only be set to where the lever seat is mostly level. You might get a half turn one way or the other, but that isn't going to change the cracking effort much. Various spring pairs with different tensions would be the only way to make any difference.
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Post by vance on Oct 31, 2022 12:41:57 GMT -8
The Broxton stuff is back from the plating shop. I haven't assembled it yet, since I had cannibalized some of the second stage parts, thinking I could get them all, but.... So I had to make some lever adjuster screws out of 3/8" round brass stock to replace the ones I used elsewhere. They came out pretty well. It took an hour or so to make them. I decided to try making the adjusters 1/4 turn adjustable rather than 1/2 turn. I think that might help to get a better cracking effort. Original screw on the left. Now I can continue on with the rebuild. Photos to follow!
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Post by antique diver on Oct 31, 2022 14:29:10 GMT -8
The Broxton stuff is back from the plating shop. I haven't assembled it yet, since I had cannibalized some of the second stage parts, thinking I could get them all, but.... So I had to make some lever adjuster screws out of 3/8" round brass stock to replace the ones I used elsewhere. They came out pretty well. It took an hour or so to make them. I decided to try making the adjusters 1/4 turn adjustable rather than 1/2 turn. I think that might help to get a better cracking effort. Original screw on the left. Now I can continue on with the rebuild. Photos to follow! Quarter-turn increments of adjustment... WOW... Nice job Phil!
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Post by vance on Oct 31, 2022 14:38:43 GMT -8
To clarify the adjuster screw drillings a bit, look at the above photo. They both have a drilling parallel to the slot and one 90 degrees from the slot. End result is, there are 4 positions instead of 2. In conjunction with springs that have varied tensions, you can search for and achieve an optimal cracking effort.
Is it worth it? A few of us think so.
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Post by vance on Nov 8, 2022 16:25:44 GMT -8
I was fussing with the Broxton that got the 1/4 turn screws, and did some measuring. I should probably take the time to replicate this with stock screws, since they might be more exactly the same than mine. But, I measured mine again and found them to be pretty close to each other. I doubt the factory compared each screw to its partner!
Measuring from the top of the screw head to the deck of the valve body, I found that the number of outward turns the screws need to be for the seat to be level isn't the same.
So, turning the screws in as far as possible, and backing them out in 1/2 turn increments to match each other won't necessarily give you a level seat. I was surprised at the amount of difference 1/2 turn will make.
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