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Post by vance on Jul 26, 2023 16:41:52 GMT -8
Are we to understand that there is a third Bendix unit in the shop?
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Post by antique diver on Jul 26, 2023 18:11:54 GMT -8
Are we to understand that there is a third Bendix unit in the shop? No third one yet, but I may need one soon. I just took one of the two that I had configured the same manner, and changed it to a yoke mounted rig. About to post some pictures in a few minutes.
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Post by antique diver on Jul 26, 2023 18:59:25 GMT -8
My original version of the Diving Lung mounted to the backplate, and a hose connected it to the CGA fitting that you see on the valve. I will be keeping it configured this way for now as it represents a commonly used approach in the 1940's to early 50's. Made a second one configured in the same manner not long ago, but now did an external conversion on it to a yoke mount for more versatility to mount on almost any cylinder with a modern K or J valve. Will also fit most doubles if the center outlet is in up position. The yoke is mounted well above center to keep the works lower on cylinder valve. Also the regulator body is now facing diver's back, bringing the diaphragm over two inches closer to back. Those two steps should noticeably decrease inhalation effort in actual use. The yoke is externally mounted to the regulator back and does not penetrate into the body. Instead the tubing loop going to right delivers air from the yoke base and into a small external first stage below the yoke assembly. That reg feeds the Diving Lung inlet at 125-130 psi via a short black hose. The original Bendix aviation reg is designed to operate on a maximum input of 500 psi. If fed directly with 1800 psi from the vintage 38 the higher pressure eventually damages the small fairly delicate HP poppet sealing surface. So to save from constantly having to re-surface the complicated seat (or make a new one) I have added the small external inline regs to both of my Bendix units. This also allowed removal of the original poppet and small volcano orifice which were the major cause of restriction in airflow.
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Post by vance on Jul 27, 2023 13:52:52 GMT -8
Bill, did you bend that tubing?
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Post by nikeajax on Jul 27, 2023 14:01:51 GMT -8
Dang, Bill, that looks really-sharp! JB
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Post by antique diver on Jul 27, 2023 14:49:25 GMT -8
Bill, did you bend that tubing? Yes, I did. All it takes is a good quality tubing bending tool and a bit of practice. Best to have a good quality bender with small radius shaping "anvil" for attractive bends. The inexpensive kind, like typically found in Home Depot, Lowes, etc., will work fine on most 1/4" SS tubing, but the better ones can make smaller radius bends to allow fitting into small spaces like my application needed. Here's my Rigid brand bender with 0.625" radius "anvil". It will make any angle up to a 180 bend which has a 1.25" center of tube to center of tube parallel tube shape. Most tube work can be done with a 90 degree bend. The tube is being shaped around the "anvil", and shown here at 135 degrees: Completed the bend at 180, and tube centers are 1.25" apart: This tube would have been cut off later to correct length of the "U" shape that I needed: Pretty simple procedure with the right tools. You can do it.
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Post by vance on Jul 29, 2023 15:17:47 GMT -8
I really don't want to buy a high quality tubing bender. My daughters are going to be in a world of sh** trying to figure out what to do with all of my stuff as it is, when the time comes.
I'm trying to give away most of my hotrod collection, and I'm working on new ones to use up the parts I have.
I'm selling everything that is OEM. I don't have much left, except for HW Scubas, a couple Deluxes, and a big crateful of single hosers.
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Post by antique diver on Jul 30, 2023 9:14:39 GMT -8
I really don't want to buy a high quality tubing bender. My daughters are going to be in a world of sh** trying to figure out what to do with all of my stuff as it is, when the time comes. I'm trying to give away most of my hotrod collection, and I'm working on new ones to use up the parts I have. I'm selling everything that is OEM. I don't have much left, except for HW Scubas, a couple Deluxes, and a big crateful of single hosers. I would be glad to attempt helping you with the tubing shapes! Give me some photos or drawings of what you propose.
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Post by antique diver on Jul 31, 2023 5:53:19 GMT -8
Dang, Bill, that looks really-sharp! JB Thanks JB! The Diving Lung just barely fit onto the outlet of my small 27's. Will be on a bit of odd angle for now, but will fix that later. It fits fine on normal sized singles and doubles. Note that with the Lung turned with the diaphragm to my back the horns are reversed from what we generally consider normal, so the left hose is inhalation. Simply reversed the mouthpiece valves to deal with that. Trying to get out for test dive later this week.
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Post by scubalawyer on Aug 3, 2023 22:59:00 GMT -8
Bill, I read this in a dive book published in 1955. Not sure why it reminded me of you.
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Post by antique diver on Aug 4, 2023 7:50:33 GMT -8
Bill, I read this in a dive book published in 1955. Not sure why it reminded me of you. How timely! I'm headed out the door for a test dive with a 1942 model Bendix aviation oxygen diluter. It's the one that I just converted to a standard Scuba yoke attachment. Thanks!
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Post by antique diver on Aug 4, 2023 17:55:22 GMT -8
It was too hot to do anything else today (100 by noon and climbing) so I took the newly configured yoke version of the diving lung for a couple of dives today. Great way to cool off in a place with lots of fish, turtles and vegetation. This complicated looking pile of Scuba stuff is not the way I typically dive. However, going solo with a 81 year old regulator that was only meant for high altitude had me thinking about backup gear. Two knives, two independent air sources, and even a small set of wings seemed appropriate. I added a watch, depth gauge, and a compass to help me navigate through the "Texas Kelp" jungle. I was about 2# over-weighted so added just a touch of air to the wings and turned back to park a 2# lead on big rock so I could find it later. Suddenly the inhalation effort went sky high, and of course my disappointment was right up there with it. Turning on one side relieved the malfunction, but leveling off again resulted in same problem. After a bunch of position contortions I discovered that the small amount of air I had added to wings was pressing and sealing against the round opening in the regulator cover over the diaphragm. That actually caused a negative pressure on the water side of the diaphragm when I was trying to inhale. Dumped air... problem solved. Parked the weight and had a great hour long dive. It would have been better without all the excess "safety" gear, so for the next dive I cut back to the more-fun-minimums with the Bendix mounted on a single cylinder with J-Valve, one knife, no buoyancy device, no weights needed... did keep my compass and dg. Wow, that was a lot more fun!Back home in time for a cold beer and a warm dinner.
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Post by nikeajax on Aug 5, 2023 10:54:15 GMT -8
Bill, how exciting and fun--thanks for sharing with us! I'm very envious though That whole thing is a beautiful monstrosity: it seriously looks like a prop from a Terry Gilliam-film, either, "12 Monkeys" or "Brazil": If you've never seen these films I HIGHLY RECOMMEND them! JB
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Post by antique diver on Aug 5, 2023 13:10:14 GMT -8
Bill, how exciting and fun--thanks for sharing with us! I'm very envious though That whole thing is a beautiful monstrosity: it seriously looks like a prop from a Terry Gilliam-film, either, "12 Monkeys" or "Brazil": If you've never seen these films I HIGHLY RECOMMEND them! JB Thanks, JB... I see what you mean. Funny film clip. I kinda felt like about 12 monkeyfish on the first dive until I figured out the cause of air loss. That was the first time I ever had a bouyancy device try to kill me, but since I had that extra 13 ft 3 of air and an easy breathing Tekna strapped to me I wasn't too worried.
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Post by vance on Aug 5, 2023 15:27:47 GMT -8
Bill's diluter conversion is a thing of beauty. Unless you've worked on one of them, you can't quite appreciate what Bill has accomplished. It's akin to taking a Fiat horn assembly and making it a SCUBA regulator, like this one.
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