equipment maint & repair certs

[sharky60]

Thanks for all the responces, sorry haven't checked this thread for a while.

I figured it was not going to be an easy task, you can't find any information about it on the internet.

I don't have any problem learning to work on just our personal equipment, I will probably do that anyway. They really aren't that complicated pieces of equipment. With a degree in electronics and a knack for fixing most anything, if I know how it works, I think I can handle regulator maintenance.

I wonder if getting the parts kits are hard to get or if a LDS or IDS would sell them to you?

I'm going to look over some the links y'all gave me and do some more research.
thanks again!

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I wonder if getting the parts kits are hard to get or if a LDS or IDS would sell them to you?

LDS's will sometimes sell parts to you if they know you. This is a circumstance where having a long term relationship with the owner works out.

Some manufacturers sell parts (DiveRite and Salvo Diving, do I believe). Also on eBay you can find parts kits for some regulators which are usually be sold from sources in Europe or Asia.

Also you can get o-rings from many places. They are usually standard sizes, although for tank o-rings or o-rings in the high pressure part of the first stage it is better to get the manufacturers o-ring since in that case getting the right size, material and hardness are all important.

For people who dive in less than pristine conditions taking everything apart cleaning, re-lubricating and making minor adjustments is perhaps more valuable than replacing parts.

 

[Ed Palma]

There is a wealth of information on the net. I actually was able to figure out what I needed to know searching most of the web, and especially this board! Lots of people willing to help out here. What type of equipment do you own? You might find what you're looking for here: http://www.juhahaanpera.com/regulatormanual.htm

 

[Ed Palma]

You can also find stuff in : http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/

 

[matt_54351]

Don't count on being a dealer, I talked to 3 different regulator manufacturers, (sherwood, oceanic, and someone else) and in order to become a dealer you have to

1: Be a dive instructor.
2: Have a brick and mortar shop.

I’m not saying there aren’t ways around it, but the central Florida distributor for those companies basically said go away unless you’re an instructor.

 

[cerich]

Don't count on being a dealer, I talked to 3 different regulator manufacturers, (sherwood, oceanic, and someone else) and in order to become a dealer you have to

1: Be a dive instructor.
2: Have a brick and mortar shop.

I’m not saying there aren’t ways around it, but the central Florida distributor for those companies basically said go away unless you’re an instructor.

We don't have a distributer in central Florida, only dealers. However we do require our dealers to be professional dive retailers.

 

[Gez Ward]

With the links quoted on here you will have enough service manuals to be going on with get the Scuba regulator maintenance and repair book by Airspeed press or Scuba regulator savvy by Pete Wolfinger a interstage pressure guage and one or two other basic tools and as long as you can get your sevice kits its not as complicated as people make out .
But remember these words RESPONSIBILITY and LIABILITY

 

[scubapig52]

There is a store that fixes and repairs all brand ,even the real old ones from the 60s the store is in Phoenix the phone number is 1800 WE SCUBA ask for Paul Albaugh :

 

[mudturtle]

The real answer to the question on how to become a service technician for scuba equipment is really more complex than one would think. (For background, I hold technician credentials from virtually every major brand of scuba equipment and have been servicing equipment professionally for over 20 years.)

Every manufacturer has some form of training for technicians and some are much better than others. Virtually all of them require either employment by or sponsorship by a LDS to get that training.

The quirky part of this is that while all scuba equipment shares common technical functions, the forms are sometimes quite different. This means special tools and special procedures of dis-assembly, assembly and testing. It is this part that "separates the men from the boys" regarding expert service of scuba gear.

If divers only used the newest and most common pieces of equipment, life as a technician would be easier (and it would be easier to train someone to be a service tech), However, there are divers using some of everything under the sun and eventually that gear comes in for service or repair.

It takes, in a store that does a LOT of service, two or three years to become exposed to enough of the gear that isn't mainstream to feel confident that you know something about "gear" at large. It takes an number of failed attempts to resurrect some out-of-date piece of gear to get to th point that you know when NOT to try to fix something.

In our facility, when we train a person for tech work, in addition to the theory and mechanics of a given piece of equipment, they are expected to serve an apprenticeship under one of our professional technicians. Only after thet have received our training, and our approval, do we sponsor them into a manufacturer's service program. (Thinking here is that if they don't even know how to use tools, or have some kind of knowledge base to build on, then a manufacturer's technician course will be wasted on them.)

It is true that Scuba equipment is not extremely sophisticated or difficult to work on. It is true that it takes a lot of special tools and procedures to work on Scuba gear correctly. And, it is true that one has to be very patient and consciencious in working on life support equipment.

The art in equipment repair and service is not in slinging wrenches and installing parts, it is in the final setup and tuning - knowing how to set a regulator for peak performance and maximum time span of dependable performance is an acquired talent, and having the right daignostic equipment that is sensitive enogh to really tell you what is going on in the regulator. Very little of this can be taught in a one or two day manufacturer's seminar.

My best advice is to find a true professional technician and beg, borrow, steal his time and knowledge and work at his side for whatever amount of time it takes to become proficient at service and repair, and never let someone leave with a piece of gear that you wouldn't dive with yourself.

 

[Gez Ward]

Well said