How not to remove a DIN stem

[jborg]

Hi Hamfisted scuba tech here with a tale of woe!

I was going to give one my my Poseidon Xstream firsts a cleanup and some love. The DIN stem requires a thin 17mm wrench, where the DIY variant is to grind down a normal 17mm wrench a bit and then use that. However, I thought I'd spring for the real thing and bought the thin 17mm wrench from scubaservicetools.com. Maybe that was the wrong choice; at least, it's not the chrome hardened steel usually found in wrenches. Now, the DIN stem is quite tightly torqued. Here's what I got for my, I thought, fairly gentle efforts.

Now I'm going to need a better wrench and, probably, a new DIN stem.

 

[steinbil]

Ouch! I'm glad the Apeks regs use an Allen key for the DIN-bolt, because they are not easy to unscrew and need quite a bit of torque.

 

[ChrisMBC]

FWIW, I use ‘cone spanners’, very thin wrenches that are common for bicycle service, which I already had lying around. It should be $10 or so for a high quality Park Tools wrench, and I can vouch for their high torque reliability. Only issue is that they’re not chrome, so you might have to line with electrical tape to prevent marring.

The other option for a thin wrench (although maybe not thin enough here?) that I use endlessly for my reg service are the Knipex Pliers wrench. The smaller sizes do have extremely thin jaws.

 

[iointerrupt]

The real thing is actually a not-inexpensive custom socket:

Silent Explorers Maple Grove Minnesot United States Online SCUBA

Silent Explorers, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States, online sales vintage Aqua Lung Double Hose Regualtor parts, Poseidon Rebreathers Regulators, Professional CCR Regulator Service, Shearwater Dive Computers

www.silentexplorers.com

With a small machine shop worth of equipment, you can just make your own!

That said, thin wrenches do work if things aren't too tight. And you wouldn't be the fist person to scratch the wrench flats, most of my used first stages look like that. Still dive just fine.

 

[jborg]

cone spanners

Nice tip, thanks.

 

[rsingler]

Poseidon is maddening with their thin wrench flats and no central hex broach. I have had exactly the same thing happen with corroded tropical regs that come in for service.
The Scubatools enclosing tool is absolutely a must-have for Xstreams.

Poseidon D.I.N. Socket

Poseidon D.I.N. Socket

www.scubatools.com

Thin wrenches, and even worse, Park Tool cone wrenches either deform or destroy the wrench flat.
Fortunately, the new Poseidon Diving Logistics prices are FAR better than their predecessor, if you have to replace the bolt.
One last nondestructive option is the DIN Removal tool from Scubagaskets.

Universal DIN retainer scuba tool *updated* - Scuba Gaskets

Scuba Gaskets - Universal DIN retainer scuba tool *updated*. din retainer tool, scuba tool.

scubagaskets.com

 

[happy-diver]

Nah no no cone spanners, remember the cone has a locknut which requires very little torque to lock
Nah they're too thin for anything being hardened mark everything as they twist out before they snap

Except hardened bike parts