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Hi All !
A friend gave me an US Divers/Aqualung Deep star reg 1st and 2nd stage.
It has 1 hp and 1 lp port.
Anybody know when these were manufactured?
Do they use conshelf parts?
Any other info?
Thanks in advance
PORBEAGLE
The second stage of all US Divers regulators of the time were about the same, they all use basically the same parts. The only difference is the size of the exhaust valve changed at some point. Slonda has rebuilt kits for the second stages for sell over in the store at VDH.
The first stage is a non-balanced piston design. If it is the Deepstar and not the Deepstar II, you will have a HP port and should be able to rebuild it fairly easily. I can't remember for sure, but the HP seat is probably the same as in many other simple non-balanced piston regulators. Slonda may be able to help you with that one also.
This was basically an early 70's regulator, but I am not sure when was it introduced and how long was it around.
Deepstar
The Deepstar II was just a bad idea (I heard that some people actually lost their jobs at US Divers due to it). It had a solid Nylon (or Delrin) piston and it had no HP ports, a very bad idea for the early 70's.
I think you'll need to be careful of the LP outlet for the Deep Star regulator. I believe that the second stage is an upstream tilt valve. If so, when you look at the LP plug, you'll notice that it is not a normal plug, but rather an overpressure relief valve. This must stay on that port, for without it (if it is indeed a tilt valve) the regulator is not safe. The only other thing you could put onto that port is a downstream second stage, which would leak in event of a HP valve leak. But the overpressure relief valve was integral to the safety of all tilt valve regulators. You cannot put a LP inflator hose on this port, for instance, as you would then not have a means of venting the regulator in the event of a HP leak at the piston.
Luis' diagrams indicate that this is a downstream second stage, so this may not be correct. But check and see, as I believe that at least the early ones were tilt valves.
I've got a couple of the Deepstar regs. They are simple to rebuild. I just reversed the hp seat and replaced the o rings after cleaning. Total investment was about ten cents per regulator. I can see why they quit making them....way too bulletproof and no real money to be made in parts kits.
Simonbeans is correct, this is not a tilt valve. I was mistaking the Deep Star for the Aqua-Div and Aqua-Div Deluxe regulators (circa 1962). I was not at home to look it up when I wrote that.
I have both deepstar regs. The deepstar 1 is the precursor to the Aquarius, it uses the same piston and the same HP seat. It's a nice, functional, unbalanced flow by piston reg with a regular old downstream second stage.
The deepstar 2 (like Luis said) is kind of odd. I have one, it doesn't have any HP ports, and it is a pain in the rear to rebuild. It also uses a downstream second stage.
If you want to rebuild either one, PM me and I'll sell you kits for both your first and second stages. They are very dive-able regs, but I wouldn't dive the deepstar 2 without a J valve.
Also, don't feel obligated to do a ghetto rebuild when you can buy a parts kit from me for less than 20 bucks.
You can probably use a banjo fitting with the Deepstar II.
I have a Deepstar (1) and an Aquarius. Some day I will get around to rebuilding them. It is in the list with a Voit MR-12, a Voit Titan, etc.
I would like to get a Deepstar II just due to the historical significance of a really bad design. It kind of worked, but it was was a bad idea. The only credit is that they did try to think out of the box...
It took a strap wrench, one of my friends, and about an hour in the ultrasonic to get that dog-gone deepstar 2 apart when I went to rebuild it. There's no way to adjust IP on it either. I admire their courage, but it's one of the few regs I have that I never really use. I do, however, quite enjoy my deepstar 1 and my aquarius. I actually use the aquarius on dive trips because a whole rebuild can be done in the field (not that I've ever had one fail).
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