Help Identifying Older Scubapro 2nd Stage Please

[halocline]

Forget the life support argument. Failed brakes on a car are far more dangerous than a failed regulator, assuming of course you're diving safely, meaning with a buddy and/or alternate air source.

This is an ideal regulator to start DIY service on. I'd go for it if I were you. Invest $50 in the Vance Harlow book on regulator repair, a few tools, and you can buy parts at vintagedoublehose.com. Then there are several of us on this forum that have worked on these things for years and can advise you. If you post photos of your parts someone will identify stuff for you. These regs are amazingly simple, and tools are FAR less specialized and expensive than either automotive or plumbing tools.

 

[chrpai]

Anyone want to make her an offer for the regs in case she doesn't want to go down the DIY route?

 

[ReneB]

Forget the life support argument. Failed brakes on a car are far more dangerous than a failed regulator, assuming of course you're diving safely, meaning with a buddy and/or alternate air source.

Excellent point! And, being an avid DIY'er, I am excited at the thought of getting into things myself.

Does the Harlow book have a good list of tools that I'd need? I bet if not, if I poked around here a bit I could figure a lot of it out. I have lots of hand tools and even a magnifying loupe .

---------- Post added April 9th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ----------

Anyone want to make her an offer for the regs in case she doesn't want to go down the DIY route?

No thanks, I'd rather fix it myself or have someone service it than buying something new that may not necessarily be better.

Oh, 'she' is actually a he.

Rene = male
Renee = female

no offense taken, just letting you know. Actually, if I were a female, I'd be amongst the ugliest ones you'd ever laid eyes on ...

 

[chrpai]

Someone should tell Rene Russo that her name is spelled wrong then.

Cool, sounds like you found a good group to be with then.

Time to go play some Mr Cash. A boy named Sue....

 

[rhwestfall]

IIRC, the necessary tools are well discussed, and the guys in the DIY forum can help you too. Welcome to the dark side....

 

[ReneB]

Someone should tell Rene Russo that her name is spelled wrong then.

I wouldn't do that ... that's how her parents decided to spell it when they chose the name.

Its origins is as a French name, meaning reborn, and there is a masculine (Rene) and feminine (Renee) form for it. As someone that was born and raised here in the US I can tell you that as far as I can tell, many, if not most, people here have no idea that it can be both a male and female name and there are the two spellings. You usually see females with both spellings and rarely see any males with the name. And, those few males that I have met with this name are either from abroad, or born to Canadian or European derived parents. Interestingly, in Latin America, it's always (in my experience) a male's name.


Now, on to the DIY ... not only do I enjoy fixing things, I am one of those guys that fixes things instead of throwing them out when broken. It gives me a lot of pleasure and it feeds my frugal nature. Though these days I think it's now called recycling and repurposing. I'm more old fashioned and just say I'm a cheap Bastid so I like saving $$$.

Can't wait to get started!

 

[redacted]

Excellent point! And, being an avid DIY'er, I am excited at the thought of getting into things myself.

Does the Harlow book have a good list of tools that I'd need? I bet if not, if I poked around here a bit I could figure a lot of it out. I have lots of hand tools and even a magnifying loupe ..

The good news is the 109 really does not need any special tools. And there is really no better place to start DIY than with a 109.

Here is a link to a bunch of Scubapro information. This one is for 2nd stages but look around - there is lots more: http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/scubapro/Schematics/2. Stage/

The 109 schematic shows both the old Balanced Adjustable poppet and the new Duro poppet used in the unbalanced version. If the innards are still 109, you will need to have the newer duro poppet which takes a replaceable seat. The older poppet has a seat fixed to the poppet and is not replacable. If it has been converted, the BA poppet will either have a metal stem and a seat that is not replaceable or it will have a one piece whitwe plastic poppet with stem and will take a replacable seat. The S-wing poppet is the newest version and uses 2 small o-rings to seal the balance chamber. For a short while there was a similar poppet that only used one o-ring with a replaceable seat that is probably still usable.

If it has been converted to balanced adjustable, then you want the S-wing poppet.

If you are game, you can remove the retaining clip from the adjustor and unscrew the adjuster to take a look inside and see what you have. The poppet will stay in place as it is held there by the lever but the spring and spring pad (109) or spring and balance chamber should drop out with a little tapping. The S-wing poppet and Duro poppet are both very white plastic which is what you hope to see. The old unbalanced poppets is usually an off-white, sometimes grey. Older balanced poppets have a metal stem and are usually blue plastic - sometimes grey and sometimes off-white. If you regulator has been serviced in the last 15 years, it probably has the newer poppets.

That will give you an idea of what will be needed to service it. Before you take it apart any further than that I'd get an IP gauge and test the rig to determine the going in status.

Let us know if you need any help.

 

[ReneB]

@awap -- that link doesn't seem to work. In fact, I can only get to the top level of that site <http://www.frogkick.dk>, anything below that, e.g. <http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/> gives one an error.

I'm hoping it's just temporary.

 

[redacted]

Here is a link to the manuals: http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/

It works fine for me but some firewalls might cause a problem with a foreign site.

 

[herman]

Excellent point! And, being an avid DIY'er, I am excited at the thought of getting into things myself.

Does the Harlow book have a good list of tools that I'd need? I bet if not, if I poked around here a bit I could figure a lot of it out. I have lots of hand tools and even a magnifying loupe .

---------- Post added April 9th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ----------



No thanks, I'd rather fix it myself or have someone service it than buying something new that may not necessarily be better.

Oh, 'she' is actually a he.

Rene = male
Renee = female

no offense taken, just letting you know. Actually, if I were a female, I'd be amongst the ugliest ones you'd ever laid eyes on ...

I wouldn't do that ... that's how her parents decided to spell it when they chose the name.

Its origins is as a French name, meaning reborn, and there is a masculine (Rene) and feminine (Renee) form for it. As someone that was born and raised here in the US I can tell you that as far as I can tell, many, if not most, people here have no idea that it can be both a male and female name and there are the two spellings. You usually see females with both spellings and rarely see any males with the name. And, those few males that I have met with this name are either from abroad, or born to Canadian or European derived parents. Interestingly, in Latin America, it's always (in my experience) a male's name.


Now, on to the DIY ... not only do I enjoy fixing things, I am one of those guys that fixes things instead of throwing them out when broken. It gives me a lot of pleasure and it feeds my frugal nature. Though these days I think it's now called recycling and repurposing. I'm more old fashioned and just say I'm a cheap Bastid so I like saving $$$.

Can't wait to get started!

Rene,
With comments like those you are going to do fine in the DIY forum.
The only specialty tool I can think of for the MK-10/109 is a bullet tool, shoot me your mailing address in a PM and I will mail you one. It's a small price to pay for the laughs I got from your comments .
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