Home made cam buckle

[Eric Sedletzky]

I scavenged a used plastic cam band/buckle from an old BC to use on one of my loaner Freedom Plate rigs and the damn thing broke when I latched it down.
So no more plastic crap.
I made my own out of stainless.

But that also got me thinking:
A lot of poodle jackets only use one cam band and the buckle is always plastic. Doesn't that bother people? What if your one and only buckle breaks when you're on vaycay?

 

[Zef]

Wow....Freedom Buckles to go with your Freedom Plates.

-Z

 

[emoreira]

Beautiful

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I just finished the second one.
Wow they work great!
Not hard to make either.
I'm going to have to make a few more for my other loaner Freedom Plate rigs.

 

[happy-diver]

That plastic buckle didn't break there's no problemo with them

What freedom plates, how about you stop wasting your time on paint damaging crap and build some

Although I absolutely love the look

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

That plastic buckle didn't break there's no problemo with them

What freedom plates, how about you stop wasting your time on paint damaging crap and build some

Although I absolutely love the look

Oh it broke alright, blew out the hole as you can see. I cut it in half to make a pattern.
It was even made in USA, so much for what I thought was fiber reinforced polymer, not!
All my tanks are galvanized, no chipping paint.

 

[dm9876]

Nice bit of custom gear there! Did you replicate those little ridge parts that make it wider or just use flat plates? Sounds like it must grip alright based on your description. I know what you mean about the frp sometimes hard to know without destructive testing

 

[Scared Silly]

But that also got me thinking:
A lot of poodle jackets only use one cam band and the buckle is always plastic. Doesn't that bother people? What if your one and only buckle breaks when you're on vaycay?

The bigger problem with single band poodle jackets is with the cylinder staying with the jacket. Multiple times I have seen a cylinder merrily floating behind a diver who has no clue other than their reg keeps getting pulled. Stopping them and trying to explain the issue is typically quite comical.

What freedom plates, how about you stop wasting your time on paint damaging crap ..

That gets solved with a bumper under the cam:

Highland Tank Straps w/Quick Release SS Cam Buckle (PAIR)

These Highland Tank Straps make changing tanks quicker and easier

www.divegearexpress.com

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Nice bit of custom gear there! Did you replicate those little ridge parts that make it wider or just use flat plates? Sounds like it must grip alright based on your description. I know what you mean about the frp sometimes hard to know without destructive testing

I just used the old buckle as a template.
I laid the plastic buckle down on a piece of 10 GA plate and marked around the perimeter with a sharpie (4 of them) then hand cut those out with my plasma cutter.
Next I ripped a piece of 2" flat bar out of the same sheet and sliced it up to make the bars. Then tacked them in place with the TIG and then welded all of it together.