Sea Hornet Air Commando Regulators

[Fibonacci]

The Sea Hornet Commander second stage had the highest performance (maximum flow 1400 L/min) compared to the Command Air (1000 L/min) via a more streamlined lightweight plastic LP valve piston instead of the plated machined brass piston in the Command Air.
In testing on a Magnehelic, they really do crack reliably at 0.5".

A MK6 or MK6/S Balanced Diaphragm first stage (maximum flow 1850 L/min) teamed with a Commander second stage gave the highest performance in the Sea Hornet range.

 

[Fibonacci]

A generous mate at the Historical Diving Society (Australia Pacific) very kindly provided PDFs of the original service manuals for Sea Hornet first and second stages along with the specific manual for the Command Air second stage! Very rare to have even if you were a dealer so I'm told.
Uploaded here to keep more of these iconic Australian SCUBA regulators in use around the world...

 

[Kupu]

Fibonacci, thanks very much for sharing the service manuals with us.

I can't resist picking these up at the right price and have collected 8 Prosub and 2 Parkway branded Command Airs. There have been a couple Sea Hornets show up, but they sell out of my price range.

 

[whaylonsmithers]

Awesome thanks mate. I think I'll be printing and laminating those.

 

[Pressurehead]

Oh, I have one [could be more] been in a box for years.
New project.
This is the regulator I gave my wife when she did OW all those years ago.
Edit: Spares, I may have acquired a few, now in storage .

 

[Pressurehead]

A quick look in the shed found one Sea Hornet, more to come [when I have time to go through more boxes].

 

[Pressurehead]

Could not wait, full strip, soak, ultrasonic cleaner, back together, cycle....... IP solid 10 bar.

Edit: Remove one shim, piston bullet for the Mk10 worked a treat, and a little work on the knife edge, tiny tiny nick.
Happy.

Parts replaced [seat not in shot] , a plain brass filter [and not green], not seen one like it in years, now compare that to a Mk25 parts packet.

 

[Fibonacci]

Looks good now!
One of my Sea Hornet treasures is the original service tool for the Swivel Nut #24 330005.
It was specifically designed as a T handle wrench to prevent over-tightening and premature failure.

Sea Hornet originally offered Instructors a gold plated Mk 5 first stage with their registration number engraved on it... a lifetime guarantee and free annual service!
Only ever seen one...

 

[Pressurehead]

Nice, gold, love it.
They were a work horse regulator here [not the gold ones].
But It was always Scubapro from when I bought my first civilian regulator [still have them], had a TABATA also for a short time [the shop I taught at sold them in Sydney].
I 'acquired' the Sea Hornet , can't remember how , on long loan to my wife when she was learning to dive years ago.
I have a Sea Hornet 2nd stage somewhere.
Such fun.

 

[Fibonacci]

One of the HDS-AP members dug up a Sea Hornet Command Air promo video, put together back in the day by Richard Swansborough.
Bit cheesy now but does cover details about how it works and rare footage of manufacture, assembly and testing.