ball swivel question

[jwvanno]

Actually, it looks like you had the piece of junk Trident/Promate type swivel.

Yeah, sorry... I looked at the image from the very first post, and scanned through the rest of the posts. I didn't make myself clear. You are correct.

That was quite a dive you had! At least now you have a good story you can tell...

Ain't that the truth. And I've gotten mileage out of it over and over again this week at work!!!

 

[liberato]

Just to put in a final comment, I got the Atomic Aquatics Universal Comfort Swivel in stainless steel and it indeed fits any 9/16"-18 second stage, without any need to remove the jam nut as with the Atomic specific version. Note that it comes integrated into a 32 inch LP hose. If you don't mind waiting a month you can also get a custom length made at the factory.

So, at this point with a true ball joint swivel now available, there is no reason to use the cheap and dangerous $20 swivels. The universal fit version of the Comfort Swivel is P/N 02-0097-3P. The only problem is that you can only get them at Atomic Aquatics retailers so you won't see them advertised at mail order dealers.

 

[Wayward Son]

My LDS had a Scubapro 120 degree model in stock this summer, so I bought one & have used it for a few dives. I like it fine, if there's a downside it's that with my hose routed under my arm it wouldn't hurt to have another 2 to 4 inches of hose. I feel the hose tug on the 2nd stage when I turn my head to the left. Not bad enough to be a problem but enough to notice.

 

[rmannix]

Had a new and unused swivel in my toolbox, unknown mfr but I suspect its the Trident. disassembled and found o-rings dry as a bone. Lubed and it swivels easier and less likely to fail. Still too heavy for me for general use. got it as I thought it would be good on a stage bottle.

 

[Hoosier]

BTW, I have two ScubaPro 120 swivels (elbow). Actually, you can mount any 2nd stages. I am still using four exact same swivels and don't have any problems. I just try to get rid of some spare parts...

 

[beezwax]

Actually, it looks like you had the piece of junk Trident/Promate type swivel. I have not seen any reports of failure with the well-made M&K swivel. Look at what is in the the rebuild kit for the M&K. That tells me a lot.

Hello, just joined scubaboard and this is my first post so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I thought I'd respond to libreto because I have witnessed and M&J Engineering swivel failure. I am on my county's public safety dive team, and all of our team AGA ffms have the M&J swivel. During an incident last summer we had two divers on a tow sled behind a boat doing pattern searches for a body. Divers were at 30 feet and about 30 minutes into the dive when the swivel blew right off one of the masks. Keep in mind the divers had to scan back and forth, and my best guess is that this repeated motion actually ratcheted the swivel open. Here again, as others have suggested, a bit of lock-tite may have prevented this. That, or simply remembering to check the joint before each dive. My team continues to use the swivels, however I have my own AGA ffm and do not use the swivel. There was actually a recall on all M&J swivels (for AGA) manufactured between Jan 04 and Feb 05. If you are familiar with ffms then you certainly know the underwater communications company OTS-- they no longer sell this swivel precisely because of this problem. Unlike what was suggested in a previous post (that under pressure the joint would be unlikely to separate) it seems the opposite is true here-- that pressure in the hose can cause the joint to become stiff and thereby actually ratchet free. Read the report for yourself:

http://www.oceantechnologysystems.com/mj-recall-1.shtml

Good luck and safe diving!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I basically use what amounts to semi "long hose" across the chest and around the back of the neck hose routing to my Kirby Morgan FFM from a waist strap mounted gas switching block (mounted where a right side D-ring would be). In my experience, a 120 degree elbow (made by Scubapro) keeps the hose closer to the neck, improving the streamlining, and reduces the tendency for the mask to pull when looking hard left.

I really don't think a 360 degree swivel would improve on it significantly as the 120 degree angle (from inlet to outlet) is about optimum anyway. And I like not having to worry about a swivel deconstructing itself in the middle of a dive.

When diving a more normal configuration, I use the same type of elbow on my "normal" long hose setup where it again keeps the hose in much tighter to the neck. In my opinion the 120 degree elbow also makes the angles a little better when sharing gas and effectively makes the hose slightly longer as not as much lenght is lost in the hose making the bend toward it's owner.

In my opinion, those benefits are worth the additional risk of adding one extra low pressure o-ring to the system, while the added complexity of a 360 degree swivel is not.

 

[divad]

I had a new one fail in shallow water.

 

[Peter_C]

So I just upgraded my hose to a 48" and got bumped a couple times by my buddy and found that it pushes the regulator around in my mouth, when I turn my head. This post came up just in time as I was about to start researching the swivels and now I do not have too, as I am not going to get one.

Now an elbow of some kind is gonna be in the works, but it seems many are running 90 degree fittings and then DA Aquamaster comes back with 120 degrees. Who has what and where do you route your primary hose, under or over your arm? I have a long enough hose to route it under my arm. Is there a particular brand of fitting to buy? Did you also remove your hose protector on the regulator end?

 

[StSomewhere]

The 40" primary on a 90° elbow does work surprisingly well with a bungeed backup if that's how you choose to route your primary reg. The hose lays very flat against your chest as it routes under your right arm. What suffers in the translation is that during an s-drill type airshare you really have to hand off the reg by the reg instead of handing off by the hose (DIR style). This is what I didn't like about that configuration and is why I changed to the long hose. Either way, air shares and reg retrievals should be practiced (IMO).

I have a 40" primary LP hose with a 90° elbow for sale, or would have if I could ever get home to actually sell it.