anyone glue their own seals

[hedgehog47]

I'm wondering how you get the old seals off.

 

[tbone1004]

some don't remove them every time, though a hair drier or heat gun on low-med should get the glue off. For replacement I highly recommend using the seal tape from Dive Right in Scuba

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I may be biased but I agree with Tbone as I use the seal tape for my personal suits. Less mess and simplifies the process...it came in clutch once when I ripped a seal in cave country. Only missed one dive and that's simply because I tend to take my time and a methodical approach to stuff like that.

 

[DKL]

I'm wondering how you get the old seals off.

I would guess the same way you get the young seals off. I've tried gluing a couple of seals together before....they just don't seem to like it.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I'm wondering how you get the old seals off.

Heat gun while gently working the seal off. I've found a popsicle stick to be rather handy here.

 

[TSandM]

I use a heat gun -- but one piece of advice. Find out what kind of adhesive to use on the suit you have. Not all glues work on all suits, and if you use the wrong one, the seals may just peel off the first time you try to use them.

 

[Rich Keller]

I'm wondering how you get the old seals off.

I do not just glue the seals, I sew them after the glue is dry. I use a curved needle and only sew half way through the materiel if the repair is being done on a dry suit. When I need to replace them I just cut away the old seal short of the sewn area, glue on a new seal and sew it again through the area previously sewn. It takes more work and must be done properly to avoid leaks but will provide you with a much stronger seam then glue and tape alone.

 

[phishphood]

Just did it for my first time last fall. Either my hair dryer was woefully underpowered (completely feasible as it was just a tiny travel one, I don't usually use one) or the glue originally used was not a heat-activated one. At any rate, the seals were so old they also semi melted/fell apart so I took off what I could either by peeling w/ heat and cut off the rest. Gave the remaining stuff a brief sand and wiped with either acetone, MeCl or hexane (can't remember what I had on hand at the time) and used DRIS heat activated glue to attach new latex seals. No problems so far (not too much in water testing but many dry don/doffs).