How do you secure your wing nuts?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I have the DGX delrin on my wife's and the LDS had a set of stainless thumbwheels that looked pretty fancy. They were pricey $35 each a little bit fatter and work just as good.

Don't remember the manufacturer and happy to take a pic of someone is interested.
 
Agree with above. One challenge for me is that I use a DSS plate (need it because of the X-long size for me at 6'-7"). The shallow bend and channel of that plate leads to real short bolt lengths protruding for anchoring it all together (doubles).
 
Also have heard stories of the delrin nuts failing.

This.

I've got a friend that had the delrin nuts strip out of his CCR while he was cave diving. He was only 700' from the exit, but he went one direction, his rebreather went another. I understand the exit was anything but "uneventful".
 
Thanks @covediver. I am also only running a single-tank configuration. I still want to be able to take the rig apart after each dive to clean and dry it properly, and being able to do this fast is an added convenience of the wingnuts. Likely the thumbwheels will be just as convenient. With lock nuts, do you need to use a wrench or a socket set to tighten down STA?
yes. a wrench or socket (nut driver) is necessary to tighten the nut. I use corrosion resistant nuts and bolts, but do not take the rig apart after every use as you plan to do. I rinse thoroughly and inspect/replace the hardware once a year.
 
Redundant post.
 
I gave away both my SS and Delrin knurled thingies and just went back to SS wingnuts. They don't come loose during dives with just plain washers under them so long as they are reasonably snug to start with. Apparently, YMMV. A good compromise for those who hate wingnuts (and I'm not talking about "those people" on the dive boat) would be brass knurled hand wheels. They wouldn't ever gall, they're stronger than acetal ("Delrin"), and I have never, ever seen them made from brass, though it's probably the ideal material for the application.

Jeff Foxworthy says bass boats are sparkly to attract rednecks....I guess that SS and Delrin have magical properties that attract divers (shrug).
 
Thanks for the feedback, @TrimixToo. Do you have suggestions on how to maintain the tightness of wing nuts (... other than, you know, "grow stronger" ...)?

I've been cranking down on those wing nuts with flat washer on both my backplate and my wife's. Roughly every-other-dive ends with one or the other of us with a wobbly STA. (For what its worth, our current backplate does not support single tank diving without a STA.)

The lock washer @tbone1004 suggested worked like a charm on our most recent dive. By the time we dive again, those delrin jobs will have arrived and we'll give those a try.
 
Thanks for the feedback, @TrimixToo. Do you have suggestions on how to maintain the tightness of wing nuts (... other than, you know, "grow stronger" ...)?

I've been cranking down on those wing nuts with flat washer on both my backplate and my wife's. Roughly every-other-dive ends with one or the other of us with a wobbly STA. (For what its worth, our current backplate does not support single tank diving without a STA.)

The lock washer @tbone1004 suggested worked like a charm on our most recent dive. By the time we dive again, those delrin jobs will have arrived and we'll give those a try.

Without actually seeing what you are using, up close and in person, it's hard to be sure what is making them loosen up. Maybe I have just been lucky. A regular flat washer under a wingnut is all I've ever needed, even for my (rarely-used) STA. Lots of things could be to blame, singly or in combination...lack of flatness where the washers bear, threads out of spec for either the male or female threads, an angled or bent bolt that prevents the wingnut and washer from making full contact with the backplate...even weak fingers (smile). Some of these problems could persist no matter what you use that's hand-tightened.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

Back
Top Bottom