How much is involved in rebuilding your own 1st, 2nd stages?

[NorCalDawg]

Thanks alot for the advice spectrum, everybody else too.

 

[jchaplain]

Anyone know where you can get regulator rebuild kits? In another thread it mentioned diveinn.com but they don't seem to be selling reg parts there anymore. I'm looking for Mares rebuild kits.

 

[dave4868]

Although I'm interested in learning how to do this, I prefer to trust my rebuilds to a shop and tech who have a lot of experience doing it, know what to look for and have the proper tools and testing equipment. It is life support equipment.

I remember when I completely rebuilt my old M38A1 military jeep in the early 70's. When I started, I thought I was too much of a geek to be able to do it successfully. I learned I could handle it quite competently. Well, escept for the distributor being 180 degrees out of phase (but the flames sure looked cool when they belched uip through the carburetor as each spark plug fired!). Of course that was an easy fix, but a mistake like that on a reg could be a disaster if it happened at 180 ft.

Bill, with your obvious mechanical ability, I'd bet you would only need a hour or two with a great reference like Vance Harlow's Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair.

http://www.airspeedpress.com/newregbook.html

After that, I'd bet you'd never trust your "life support equipment" servicing to anyone but yourself!

To paraphrase the author, "It's not rocket science, it's kitchen science."

That book was the best scuba investment I've made.

Dave C

 

[jchaplain]

Bill, with your obvious mechanical ability, I'd bet you would only need a hour or two with a great reference like Vance Harlow's Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair.

Dave C

I agree. I have 2 Mares regs and it is really easy to disassemble, re-assemble, and adjust them. You just need a few basic tools and a pressure guage to adjust the low pressure output. If you have any tech skills you will find that they are not complex mechanisms.

John C.

 

[MichiganDiver]

I assume you need a high-pressure source (i.e. tank) to properly test a reg once you've serviced it. True?

 

[mike_s]

I assume you need a high-pressure source (i.e. tank) to properly test a reg once you've serviced it. True?

Yes... you will need a tank to deliver pressure to the 1st stage so that you can set the Intermediate Pressure as required. (You'll need an IP gauge also for that to plug into the power inflator quick disconnect).

 

[TomP]

Anyone know where you can get regulator rebuild kits? In another thread it mentioned diveinn.com but they don't seem to be selling reg parts there anymore. I'm looking for Mares rebuild kits.

There are plenty of threads with kit sources but try these guys

 

[Rick Inman]

Tons of great reg resources here - service manuals, parts suppliers and more.

The site is kind of hard to navigate. Click "Talk", then "Equipment", then "Regulators".

 

[jchaplain]

Tons of great reg resources here - service manuals, parts suppliers and more.

The site is kind of hard to navigate. Click "Talk", then "Equipment", then "Regulators".

That site just has a dead link for equipment.

Northwest Technical Diving Services

 

[redacted]

That site just has a dead link for equipment.

It is working OK for me.