Atomic Reg and Tech Diving

[TexasMike]

Hey Marc!

Nice to see you here! Folks, this is a good guy to get some great info on Technical Diving. He is the one who is inspiring me to learn all of this interesting stuff.

Marc....Got a few things to cover with you as we ride out to the coast from RDU this weekend. Look forward to diving with ya!

--Mike Farlow

 

[Tekdiver]

Buff,

There seems to be some miss-conception here. The Cyclon (actually my first reg. was a Cyclon 300) has a wire c-clip that holds the cover on and the Odin uses 4 screws. The catch being that you need tools to disassemble either reg. and you don't carry those tools on a dive. So if either gets contamination between the diaphragm and demand lever (or servo on an Odin) you cannot disassemble them underwater to stop a free-flow.

The Cyclon is known for it's consistent ease of breathing at any depth. But one of the factors that make that work is also the reason many don't like it. It is a high intermediate pressure. This increase in pressure to the second stage increases the chances of an embolism if there is a second stage failure.

The Odin in maligned because of the upstream valve in the second stage, which can fail closed.

Both the embolism & valve failure are very unlikely they are possible. The big trick in tech diving is to eliminate points of failure and thus reduce risk.

 

[Tekdiver]

Mike,

Weather in NC is looking good for us so it should be a good trip. See you at the meeting Thursday. BTW, if I can get it done, I'll have a video from the July NC trip when we recovered a port hole and had a about 40 sharks with us on the Carribsea.

 

[uwsince79]

I have been using these regs for some time. 1993 and 1996, I have two and use them extensively in technical diving. They are excellent regs with outstanding performance. I quite often am involved in practice drills and when grabbing another divers regs to practice OOA I cannot believe the effort it takes to breath off some of the other regs compared to the Poseidon's.
Every six months I overhaul them and they do perform flawlessly.

TEKDIVER-
I do a bit of tech-diving and I do have a question. As for DIR methods, are you in the habit or training to repair a (down stream valve)free flow reg underwater? If this is the case I have a few questions to ask on how you handle certain situations. (Just a question on your/DIR methods)To me a free flow is an abort dive, shut down the gas to the reg and dive over. (we are taking twin bottles w/iso valve here I assume). I was taught it is a gas management issue first. Or are we talking about deco regs?
Are you in an extended range overhead environment? Cave or wreck how many feet in? What is the reasoning for the repair? I have many questions...

Always looking to leard something new and Just wanted some info.....

 

[buff]

My first regulator was a "Blue Reef" from LeisurePro-UGH.....it felt like I was breathing through a straw but I got used to it and thought that was how every regulator was.
Then I got my Odin/Jetsream(why the two names anyhow?) and taking a breath was a joy! I especially like the mouthpiece-it's large and relatively firm. The hose routing kind of supports the regulator in the vertical plane. Additonaly, the lack of a large, round mass falling from the front of one's mouth eliminates a downward torque that you can get in conventional regulator designs(My wife's Apeks always looks like it's about to fall out of her mouth-it pulls down and hangs so low-a good regulator none-the-less)
I too was certified in '79-March 28th-I had just turned 14 in January of that year. I still use my original cert. card and the folks at the different diving locales around the world laugh their heads off when they see it-I have my 5th grade picture in it-I was ten years old.

 

[100days-a-year]

UWSince79,the theory that was propsed to me was that if debris somehow either damaged or depressed the diaphragm,the reg could be "repaired".I had to take one apart at depth ,put it back together etc...complete with valve shutdown and it was no prob.This was for mix class.My instructor had vested interest in my training (I'm his main buddy)Was that your position Tekdude?I know Texans always go over the top everything they do.I was born San Antone,lived Abilene and Corpus.

 

[uwsince79]

I do understand the theory of the particle/ debris interfering with the diaphragm and it's repair, I just did not know it is now a tech-diver skill. (a little sand from a beach dive can muck up the works pretty good.) I wanted to know DIR's position on this. I also just downloaded their manual so I can see what all the hub-bub is. As for Tech Diving there is no skill you should not know or be able to do with you eyes closed, upside down, and with you one hand tied behind you back. Kidding aside I believe your skills must be well honed, and second nature, and you better know you equipment inside and out before you attempt Technical Diving.
As for Texans being over the top, Well My Mom is a Texan and her family still lives up in Denison just off of lake Texoma and everything is over the Top in Texas or it would just be another State (Even though my mothers family thinks its it own country!)

 

[pgraham11]

Okay, to add to my original post, I have now started looking at the Apeks TX100, and am seriously leaning towards it over the Atomic B1. Now here's my new question, what second stage should I get as an octopus, with the idea that "sometime in the future" this second stage would be moved to another first stage and used as a backup in a tech rig. I've read that for a backup, the second stage should not be a balanced high performance reg because it might have a tendency to free flow at depth, and it appears that all of the Apeks second stages are balanced. Your thoughts are appreciated!

 

[buff]

With the Apeks TX50 you can down tune the reg. using either the venturi adjustment or the dial on the side. The Apeks TX40 has only the venturi adjustment. Both these models, and including the TX100 can be "de-tuned" to prevent free-flow. Placing my Odin in the second stage in the (-) position prevents free-flow but it also pushes down on the seat which can result in a permanent groove in the mechanism.

 

[Lost Yooper]

Pgraham11,

If I was going to recommend a reg for a recreational diver using a single tank, it would be a Apex TX100/DS4 with a TX40 octo on a 40" hose. OK, now pay 'tension: swap hoses on the regs and put the 40" hose on the TX100, and the little hose on the TX40 along with a bungie necklace.

Breath the long hose, man.

Mike

PS. I finally traded my Odin for a TX100, and now use my T50D for the back up. Odins work great for super cold water, but they can be really finicky.