Hate to ask but cannot figure out the mfgr of these

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Wilsonintexas

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I inherited two alum tanks. I can tell from initial hydro that one was make in 04 71 one in 11 81.

I know that there is a good chance that these are 6095 alum. But i am having trouble verifying who made them to check.

Here are pictures of the stamps. They do dot say dot-3al

It looks like the mfgr is usd. Which confuses me
 

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FredT
09-13-2012, 12:57 PM
The SP6498 is the "special permit" Luxfer used to to manufacture the tanks it made for USD and others before the issuance of the 3AL standard. When the 3AL standard was released the tanks were restamped 3AL by the retester at the next hydro. This tank is made of 6351 aluminum and is subject to a federal inspection requirement that the hydrotest shop do an additional inspection for neck cracking and stamp it accordingly so a properly tested cylinder of this vintage will have 2 stamps placed on it.

Assuming no internal pitting or cracks the tank can be cleaned for O2 or nitrox service. OTOH most shops in south Fl and the Keys won't fill any 6351 tank with anything even if it properly retested. An unknown history tank is assumed NOT to be compatible until it's cleaned, since it probably has residue of compressor oil or silicone grease inside. Both are no-nos when it comes to high O2 concentrations.

Any idea where and how it was stored in the 20 years between the manufacture and hydro, or the 18 years since the last hydro? If stored empty inside you may have a gem for that vinage.

6351 tanks have a (small) tendency to develop sustained load cracking if stored full, overfilled, or have a great number of cycles. Because the tanks with cracks tend to explode while filling operations are underway with considerable energy release capable of destroying the shop and/or killing the fill tech many shops won't touch them in case they "win the lottery" and get the one in 10,000 or more that lets go.

The new testing program should catch those with growing cracks, leaving the +99% of existing sound tanks in service. The difficulty is that most retest shops don't have enough traffic in 6351 tanks to pay for the new now required test equipment to properly re-certify them for neck cracks. As a result many hydro shops will not test them at all.

Aluminum tanks of that vintage could be either 72s or 80s that year. You could probably flip a coin as to probability. That is when AL tanks first were making inroads into the Steel 72 market. The volume marking as part of the roll mark is done on newer vintage Luxfers, at least 10years newer than that bottle. None of those manufactured for USD had volume as part of the roll mark. It is possible to confirm volume by measuring the volume of water it takes to fill it, or by weighing the bottle both dry and full of water and applying Boyle's Law to that volume of water.

More than you want to know about Luxfer cylinder inspection and marking can be downloaded from here:
 
No problem. Spoiler alert: the news is bad. :-)

Notice that the tanks are stamped DOT – 6498. That number is the special permit (used to be called exemption) that those tanks were manufactured under. A quick google shows that they were made by Luxfer.

Luxfer made tanks for most all of the scuba companies. US divers, aqualung, Dacor and others. If it’s a scuba company branded tank, it’s about 95+ percent that they were made by Luxfer.

Here’s a link that documents the 6498 tanks being Luxfer: https://scubaengineer.com/documents/luxfer_qa_south asia technical seminars 2-02.pdf

And yes: their born on dates are long before 1990, so you are assured that they are made of 6351 aluminum.

ETA: yeah, next time I’m just gonna wait slightly longer. @lexvil covered everything you need to know. :-)

ETA2: well, maybe one thing he didn’t cover. These tanks are not a catastrophe. They are not a direct and serious danger if they are handled correctly according to the information outlined above. However, there is a slight but real risk that the tank will rupture. And therefore it is practically impossible to get those tanks filled. Dive shops say it’s because of that risk that they refuse to fill them. Personally, I feel it’s because it gave them an excuse to sell people new scuba tanks – a feeling that has only been reinforced by some dive shops refusing to fill any aluminum scuba tank more than 20 years old, with zero evidence of increased risk for those tanks.

In any case, it’s very much a case of their compressor, their rules. Personally, I fill my own tanks and I have a half dozen or so of aluminum tanks made out of 6351 aluminum. However, I am meticulous with those tanks: they get hydroed every five years, with a VE test performed every year. I can borrow a VE tester so it doesn’t cost me anything. If it did, I would scrap them. Not worth the cost when a tank made out of 6061 aluminum is fairly cheap to buy.
 
When one of mine failed I got really really angry took it home and threw it down really really hard against the floor

044.JPG


And just like that it invented a new use for itself!

Magnificent!
 
If you don't feel like googling the special permit, arrowhead testing did the in house testing for Luxfer. That is their stamp to the left of the hydro date.
 
I just took eleven bad alloy tanks to recycle, didn't even bat an eye. Total garbage.
Normally I don't even let those vagrants on my property but these were donated tanks.
I tend to cut them up and make stuff out of them. Dog bowls, reg display stands, umbrella holders. I need to make one of those door stops Happy posted above.
 
Depending on the angle of the fangle a lump of counterbalancing lead on the inside is good
These look great on a wall, rather than the stumpy ones on shelves, to display your cool regs
Until I get sick of them, and my brain falls out my arse, and I take tanks regs and all to the tip
 
Even quicker mfg marking shortcut - the doghouse (some say "fat up arrow") inside the original hydro stamp is the Luxfer logo.
 

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