Any source for triple manifolds out there?

[kingairpilot]

You mean like these 30 cu/ft aluminum triples on a fabricated faux vintage manifold.

Capt.

What does that setup weigh? Also, what was your source for bands and the manifold? That looks COOL!!!


ka

 

[captain]

I actually built these for a friend. I used 30 cubic foot cylinders and fabricated the manifold and bands myself. I think they weighted about 45 pounds empty.

 

[kingairpilot]

they look great. I'm not sure I need 120cuft of gas on my back. But they look great.

ka

 

[halocline]

they look great. I'm not sure I need 120cuft of gas on my back. But they look great.

ka

Maybe you don't need 90 cuft either?

 

[duckbill]

I actually built these for a friend. I used 30 cubic foot cylinders and fabricated the manifold and bands myself. I think they weighted about 45 pounds empty.

Wow! That's really light, even lighter than my twin 50s. Nice work there, Captain.

 

[Rhone Man]

The old triple manifolds come up reasonably regularly on eBay (I have an eBay alert for "manifold" on www.stuffalert.com which I use to troll for cheap deals), but I am not sure what you would do for bands (which I have never seen come up).

I once saw someone who had custom built a triple manifold for larger tanks; I am not exactly sure what size cylinders he had on the back, but it looked like about 300 odd cu ft of gas. It was pretty huge. Nice, if you are strong enough to carry it.

 

[captain]

The problem with vintage triple manifolds is they are about all exclusively 1/2" taper pipe thread.

 

[vintagediver]

The old triple manifolds come up reasonably regularly on eBay (I have an eBay alert for "manifold" on Stuff Alert - the automatic eBay search tool, free eBay auction email, alerts buy or sell collectibles, records, books, software, tickets, music, rare antiques which I use to troll for cheap deals), but I am not sure what you would do for bands (which I have never seen come up).

I once saw someone who had custom built a triple manifold for larger tanks; I am not exactly sure what size cylinders he had on the back, but it looked like about 300 odd cu ft of gas. It was pretty huge. Nice, if you are strong enough to carry it.

Making bands is pretty easy if you have an accurate measurement of cylinder diameter and accurate measurement of center to center of cylinder fittings. the rest is some CAD work and fabrication. Materials are relatively cheap.

 

[Akimbo]

A relatively easy option is to mount another single to a set of doubles and just put a second regulator on it. You can use an extra set of double bands to mount the extra tank. It also lets you adjust the tanks to form a concave or convex arc (looking from the top).

Another option that I tried was triples in a delta configuration. This setup was marketed for a short time by US Divers around 1967-68. You use extra doubles bands except the third tank is on center with your spine and farthest away. As I recall, the US Divers version was plumbed with hard tubing to the bottom port of a yoke style doubles adapter. Here is an old photo of the one I used when I was much stronger and much dumber. Sorry for the water spots.

 

[Rhone Man]

The problem with vintage triple manifolds is they are about all exclusively 1/2" taper pipe thread.

Forgot to mention that - good point.