Found on eBay - DIY FFM - humor/horror/genius?

[-JD-]

Flooded mask could be a PITA.

 

[lowwall]

Flooded mask could be a PITA.

Look forward.
Reach over head, find purge. Press.
Count to 5?

 

[James79]

Flooded mask could be a PITA.

More and more I want to mess with this idea.... I'll close off the exhaust on the regulator so the mask has to exhaust from the it's outlet at the bottom. That way a flooded mask would get cleared with the regulator purge.

 

[Bigbella]

Having used full face masks for years -- having dealt with their real world risks and complexities, in terms of their weighting; potential emergency removals, while underwater; specialty regulator designs; the importance of venting, purging and gas exchanges -- I wouldn't touch that damned thing.

Not to mention -- it looks absolutely ridiculous.

I especially enjoyed the language of the auction listing, "I have no working knowledge of this item, nor do I have any manuals . . . [r]emember, your life depends on it’s functionality."

Smacks of the hell of Alibaba . . .

 

[tridacna]

Tank gas goes through the eye section first. It's at ambient so no need to equalize. The bonus is that if the mask fits correctly, it can't fog.

The gas path suggests that the bubble part of the description is wrong though since exhaust will be through the mask's chin exhaust, not the second stage.

"I am selling a bunch of scuba related gear for a friend. I have yet to see anything quite like this. My assumption is that this is intended for underwater photography/video so exhaust bubbles don’t get in the way while shooting."

Are you sure about the air routing? I have one of those masks in front of me. If you use it as intended (no regulator), how would you equalize that pocket? The nose is separated from the eye space.

 

[Bigbella]

Don't you see it? It's all quite simple . . .

 

[lowwall]

Are you sure about the air routing? I have one of those masks in front of me. If you use it as intended (no regulator), how would you equalize that pocket? The nose is separated from the eye space.

I don't think you can equalize the eye section when snorkeling. These things are meant for surface snorkeling, not free diving. Which makes them useless for snorkeling the way most of us do it.

As to the air path, you can see a little one way mushroom valve in the part that separates the eye section from the rest. So air has to come in via the snorkel tube, through the eye section and into the mouth and nose section. It can't return to the eye section. I'm sure they added this to avoid the CO2 buildup issues that plagues a lot of these masks.

Edit: are you saying the snorkel tube outlets directly to the oronasal section?

 

[tridacna]

Edit: are you saying the snorkel tube outlets directly to the oronasal section?

Yes. That's the way it looks to me. Air seems to vent directly from the snorkel tube to the oronasal cavity. If your snorkel leaks water, it goes directly to the oronasal section. I have no idea how you would equalize. If you suck in air, it bypasses the eye section - you would have to blow from your mouth and hope that some air enters the eye section. It's pretty obvious when you have that mask in front of you. Perhaps I'm wrong. I guess that we could test by blowing smoke through the snorkel and seeing where it goes. I'm no going to do that experiment...But then my wife says that I blow a lot of smoke anyway!

 

[lowwall]

Yes. That's the way it looks to me. Air seems to vent directly from the snorkel tube to the oronasal cavity. If your snorkel leaks water, it goes directly to the oronasal section. I have no idea how you would equalize. If you suck in air, it bypasses the eye section - you would have to blow from your mouth and hope that some air enters the eye section. It's pretty obvious when you have that mask in front of you. Perhaps I'm wrong. I guess that we could test by blowing smoke through the snorkel and seeing where it goes. I'm no going to do that experiment...But then my wife says that I blow a lot of smoke anyway!

Interesting. What the heck does that valve in the part that seals off the eye section do?

And we haven't even addressed the earplugs on those little wires (pipes?).

Like I said, I wouldn't use one of these for snorkeling. But if you are turning it into a FFM, it would be relatively easy to modify it to feed the eye section first. I'm hoping @James79 tries this out and reports back to us.

 

[James79]

Interesting. What the heck does that valve in the part that seals off the eye section do?

And we haven't even addressed the earplugs on those little wires (pipes?).

Like I said, I wouldn't use one of these for snorkeling. But if you are turning it into a FFM, it would be relatively easy to modify it to feed the eye section first. I'm hoping @James79 tries this out and reports back to us.

When I open my pool (probably in the next 2 weeks) I'll slap something together and test it. In the meantime, a lightly modified Conshelf VI, some inner tube, and some yielded this:

It's ridiculous, but functional. I can confirm that this mask intakes to the upper portion, through mushroom valves into the lower portion, and exhausts "only" through 2 exhaust ports on either side of my chin. I put only in quotes, because the oral/nasal pocket seal is super crappy (alleviating Tridacna's concern about equalizing the upper half!). Purging the reg results in air blowing down the faceplate, and thence to the oral/nasal pocket.

It's extra stupid.... and I can't wait to open the pool and screw with it!