Gift horses: Two AL80's.

[Mudhiker]

My uncle who used to dive (rather recklessly it sounds, from his stories,) gave me two old AL80's. Sweet! Free tanks. All I gotta do is get 'em Hydro'd.

Manufactured in 1988. Last Hydro'd & VIP'd in 1993. Flaking, bubbling paint with powdery white aluminum underneath. Let the air out... removed the corroded valves. Odd odor of antifreeze, not sure what that is from. Visible moisture and corrosion inside both tanks. Yuck!

I'm a newbie (haven't even done a real dive since my OW cert yet) but I'm pretty certain it won't be worth getting these serviced. Aside from recycling the aluminum, what else can be done? Maybe wire brush, repaint, and keep them around the apartment for people to look at, sort of like the 3 inch shell casings that I've got in the bathroom for want of a better spot.

Oh well. But now that I no longer have tanks, I'm tempted by the DiveRiteExpress steel tank sale...

~Isaac

 

[H2Andy]

check out post 21 on this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=130671&page=3&highlight=worthingtons

a couple of good places to get Worthingtons

 

[SwimJim]

They would make some pretty cool lamps for the living room. Or you could make them into industrial strength wind chimes!

Jim

 

[Mudhiker]

They would make some pretty cool lamps for the living room. Or you could make them into industrial strength wind chimes!

Jim

I've heard of scuba tank wind chimes, but there's two problems with that. The first, we get a lot of wind here where I live, and two, if the wind wasn't making them gong, the drunk college-kid neighbors would.

Lamps... now there's a cool idea! I'm envisioning the aluminum all polished up and sealed with polyurethane, with the lamp cord enclosed in a long air hose. I'll have to drum up some old, cheap broken first stages to run the lamp head up out of. Maybe fashion the shade to look like a lift bag...

~Isaac

 

[rmannix]

this is a 1982 Luxfer 80 that developed a stress crack:

 

[terrasmak]

Bring them in and have them looked at , your LDS may do a free quick insp and let you know if they may still be usable. Its worth a try before you trash them .

 

[mike_s]

They would make some pretty cool lamps for the living room. Or you could make them into industrial strength wind chimes!

Jim

how about this one.... can't remember who's it is, but one someone posted somewhere.

 

[crpntr133]

LOL...way too cool. Might have to put my ear to the water for a trashed tank. Gotta have one of those lamps. I was thinking of a hanging one for the garage. Cut the bottom out of the tank and the boot.

I would say to tank the tanks in. I would think that the LDS wouldn't charge you anything just to look at them and say that they might be worth a VIP and hydro. Might be the difference of having two tanks for a few bucks and having nothing.

 

[ianr33]

Those lamps might just be the perfect use for a Spare Air

 

[ONESPEED]

Those tanks don't sound very promising but before you toss them check around, some dive shops will give you a trade in on old tanks if you buy new ones from them.