Delron buckles

[Hallmac]

I know a lot of talk happens regarding possible failure points. My question is have you ever had a delron buckle (specifically the quick release types) fail?

Most of the equipment manufactures claim there has never been a reported failure. I have yet to see one fail, have you?

If not when does it become accepted as safe and no longer considered a failure point?

Hallmac

 

[ericfine50]

I have had them break on land or found a crack after a dive. Go with the SS ones that Halcyon or ScubaPro make.

Eric

 

[WreckWriter]

I've seen the tongue (the flipper part) sererate from the rest of the buckle multiple times. Not really sure if this was delrin buckles or just plastic.

I use only the Scubapro SS buckles.

Tom

 

[Hallmac]

Were these the buckles for the weight belt/ cumberbun or the quick release shoulder buckles you have had break.

I seen the belt ones broke several times currious if the the other style is stronger. Seems the military has gone to these as well as Police and Fire. I also noticed an increase in their use on BCs.

Hallmac

 

[Aquamaniac]

Two weeks ago I saw a Transpac shoulder strap and a generic cam band buckle break.

Both cracked at the "stress points", one on land, one in the water.

 

[Genesis]

a cam buckle break at the top notch.

It did not prevent the use of the buckle though.

It cost me a whole $6 to replace it

 

[Tavi]

I've had a Delrin cam break too.
I don't want it to happen again.
I replaced both straps with the Halcyon ones with the stainless steel cam buckles. Dive-Rite has them now also.

 

[mddolson]

Delrin is Dupont's trade name for their polymer acetal.
Acetal is also produced under the trade name Celcon, by Hoescht Celanese.

Acetal is a polyer (plastic) that has excellent strength, impact and elongation capability, but it is process sensitive, over-heating in the moulding process will make it brittle.

I have two weight belts, both have acetal buckles. One is about 5 years old the other almost 15 years old. Both are fine.
I have seen others break, when a tank got dropped on it, in cold weather. I also had an acetal tank cam buckle break, (-20°F in winter). It was replaced by the mfr.

MikeD
:blfish:

 

[Hallmac]

Looks like they are affected by cold and hard impacts. Deffinately not the material I need for my project. Thanks for the info!

Hallmac

 

[Diver0001]

Hallmac once bubbled...
I know a lot of talk happens regarding possible failure points. My question is have you ever had a delron buckle (specifically the quick release types) fail?

Most of the equipment manufactures claim there has never been a reported failure. I have yet to see one fail, have you?

If not when does it become accepted as safe and no longer considered a failure point?

Hallmac

I haven't broken a quick release on diving equipment yet but I've managed to break 1/2 dozen or so off of backpacks and other camping equipment over the years. It's enough to make me think that quick releases are a bad idea if you're carrying stages or diving in overheads (including deco). (It's one more example of how small the margins can be in tek diving)

For puddlestomping (which is what I call the kind of diving that 99% of us do--myself included) I don't worry about it. If you can just abort the dive it's inconvenient but not life threatening.

R..