Certified Scuba Technician

[cth100]

I am interested in becoming a licensed repairman of scuba equipment; specifically, regulators. I know that the first step is to obtain an EQUIPMENT SPECIALIST certification, but what is the next step!?

I have searched the Internet and have found nothing. I am located in Illinois, so maybe the problem is my geographic location, I don't know.

Can anyone please give me some advice? I am desperate.

 

[tc]

Most or all of the gear manufacturers offer courses in repair of the equipment the make. You generally won't see the classes offered to the public- only offered to employees of shops that carry their gear line.

Make friends with some of your local dive shops and see if you can get them to work with you in going to some of the classes.

Theres a really good book you can get on the internet on reg repair- name escapes me at the moment- anyone?

And welcome to scubaboard!

 

[masterof0]

I have heard this is a good book on regulator maintenance. I plan on ordering it soon and I am wanting to learn how to service my own regs.

SCUBA REGULATOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR by Vance Harlow

 

[Damselfish]

As far as the Equipment Specialist class that's more how stuff works and basic care, and not really for repairing regs. Some seem to get into more detail on regs than others and a good class probably won't hurt, but it doesn't certify you to repair regs.

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
There is no such thing as "becoming a licensed repairman of scuba equipment" in the sense that there is a gov approved license, any body can work on them and to my knowledge, there is no general cert that any manufacturer will recognize. You have to understand that the scuba industry tries to hold on to all the information and "repair power" for themselves. They do this by requiring you to attend a service seminar that they put on before you are "certified" to service their products and most will not allow you to come unless you are sponsored by a dive shop. To make matters worse they attempt to keep "uncertified" people from doing their own service work by not allowing shops to sell parts to the public but like drugs, if there is a profit to be made, someone will sell them to you...you just got to find your personal "drug dealer" and then not rat them out to the scuba police.

So, how do you learn to work on regs. First off, you need to learn the fundamentals of regulators and have a good mechanical aptitude. I would suggest you buy, read and understand 2 books. "Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair" by Vance Harlow and "Regular Savvy" by Pete Wolfinger. (links below) These 2 books compliment each other well. SRM&R is more hands on and service oriented as opposed to RS which is more into the physics of how regs work. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND BOTH if you are going to be a good tech. What to do next depends on if you want to do service work for a shop or just yourself. If you want to work for a shop, you need to find one who needs help and will bring you in as an apprentice, get some time working with a tech and then attend some of the company sponsored seminars. If for yourself, then find some cheap old regs and start dissembling, servicing and reassembling them until you understand what you are doing.

If you are DIY, there are a lot of us here who are willing to help bring you into the dark side.

Scuba Tools


Airspeed Press Homepage - Books For Serious Divers

 

[atedeschi]

But be careful, remeber you life depends on these regs. Also just because you put it back together correctly doesnt mean it will work all the time. The biggest issue is probably the IP creeping. Those types of things to trouble shoot and tricks to fix come from others with experience. Try to find someone you can practice with that has experience.

 

[captain]

His life shouldn't depend on it, but that is another discussion.

Everything Herman said. Regulators are simple devices and repairing them is about as simple as repairing the kitchen faucet. If you can't repair the kitchen faucet then maybe regulator repair is not for you.
Buy the suggested books and a cheap regulator off ebay or anywhere else and start playing around.

 

[cth100]

Hey you guys! Thank you all very much for the feedback. I found it VERY helpful. I think this is why I love divers so much, everyone is so helpful and welcoming; the industry and all the people are great.

Immediately after this thread is posted, I am doing what CAPTAIN and HERMAN recommended. Thanks again everyone!

 

[herman]

Something else to help you along that I do. As I dissamble a reg I am not familure with, I shoot high res photos of it as the parts come off and of any parts that come off as an assembly. I lay them out in the correct orientation to the reg. This gives me a DIY assembly manual of exactly where the parts came from. Pay special attention to parts than may be assembled either way, a few do go in a certain way. Before reassembling the reg, I lay it out in a similar fashion as you would see in an exploaded view in a service manual, that way I have my own parts breakdown for future refernece. I shoot in as high a resolution as I can which allows me to zoom in with more clarity if I need....this has saved my rear on a couple of occasions, not with scuba regs but other items....I have made it a habit to do this any time I am dissambling anything I am not familure with. A camera has become an important tool on almost every repair job.

 

[Tom Smedley]

If you are a do it yourselfer and are working on your own equipment this advice is fine. However, if you are not trained and certified to work on equipment you will void the warranty.

Also and more importantly - if you work on someone else's equipment and are not certified and insured you are placing yourself in a great deal of liability risk.