sambolino44
Contributor
I just finished re-building the power inflator on my DSS Torus 35 wing, using the DSS inflator service tool. I bought the tool a long time ago and only just now got around to using it.
This is the first time this valve has been dis-assembled since I bought it in August of 2007. I've had 92 dives on this valve before servicing it, all in salt water, and rinsing it or soaking it after every dive. I've never had a problem with the function of this valve; never leaked, stuck, or anything.
The tool was tight on the cartridge valve spool. I didn't think to measure the spool itself until after I put it all together, but I just measured the tool and it's about 0.505" - 0.507" across the flats. It's kind of hard to know you got the calipers absolutely straight but still, I'm pretty confident that the tool should have adequate clearance, so that leads me to believe that the spool was big.
When I first got the tool, I thought the bent-over tabs for removing the cartridge valve looked wimpy, but now that I've used it I can see that it's more than adequate. That part of the process went smoothly, both dis-assembly and assembly.
My eyeballometer tells me that the distance between the centers of the spanner and the 1/2" hex is about 1.2"; not 1-1/4", I'm not sure what it is. I don't know if torque specs are available for the cartridge valve, but if you made that distance known, we could use a hex bit in our torque wrenches and with a bit of calculation torque our cartridge valves properly. As if you guys needed any more evidence that I'm hopelessly anal.
I was disappointed at how much of the chrome plating has worn off of the brass parts inside both valves in this inflator. It's worn off not only on the wear surfaces, some of which wear only on plastic (!), but also on the outer hex wrench flat areas that never get touched by anything. To me this indicates just being cheap with the plating. Oh, well. (heavy sigh)
My regular-sized Snap-On socket just fit inside the valve body to remove the oral inflator valve, so that was lucky. I had to rotate it and finesse it a bit to get it out after several times of pulling out just the extension. Another lucky thing was that, when I went looking for something to hold the buttons as I loosen the screws on the other end with a wrench, I found a pair of brass slip-joint pliers in my toolbox with the serrations ground off and a round surface just the right size. Who'da thunk it?
I wonder what those small holes in the sides of the valve are for: are they part of the manufacturing process, or maybe there for some way to hold rotating parts instead of using my brass pliers?
I used blue Loc-Tite on the button, instead of the red that had been on it, just because that's what I have. I may regret this in about a year. Well, maybe not, I just checked the Loc-Tite site, and red is stronger than blue.
I re-used all the O-rings instead of replacing them because: A) they all looked OK under magnification, B) they were all still pliable, and C) I'm a lazy sod and couldn't be bothered to sift through my bag of O-rings to find the right sizes.
I noticed that the DSS website apparently has an error: it says, "...A 1/2 in. hex wrench for the QR nipple...and a 1/4 in. Hex for removing the spool from the Cartridge valve." Besides the questionable Capitalization of Various Words, you got the sizes mixed.
So, the final verdict is: I'm pleased with the quality and value of the DSS Inflator Service Tool, but if there is a published torque spec for the spool valve, you may want to consider changing the hole spacing.
This is the first time this valve has been dis-assembled since I bought it in August of 2007. I've had 92 dives on this valve before servicing it, all in salt water, and rinsing it or soaking it after every dive. I've never had a problem with the function of this valve; never leaked, stuck, or anything.
The tool was tight on the cartridge valve spool. I didn't think to measure the spool itself until after I put it all together, but I just measured the tool and it's about 0.505" - 0.507" across the flats. It's kind of hard to know you got the calipers absolutely straight but still, I'm pretty confident that the tool should have adequate clearance, so that leads me to believe that the spool was big.
When I first got the tool, I thought the bent-over tabs for removing the cartridge valve looked wimpy, but now that I've used it I can see that it's more than adequate. That part of the process went smoothly, both dis-assembly and assembly.
My eyeballometer tells me that the distance between the centers of the spanner and the 1/2" hex is about 1.2"; not 1-1/4", I'm not sure what it is. I don't know if torque specs are available for the cartridge valve, but if you made that distance known, we could use a hex bit in our torque wrenches and with a bit of calculation torque our cartridge valves properly. As if you guys needed any more evidence that I'm hopelessly anal.
I was disappointed at how much of the chrome plating has worn off of the brass parts inside both valves in this inflator. It's worn off not only on the wear surfaces, some of which wear only on plastic (!), but also on the outer hex wrench flat areas that never get touched by anything. To me this indicates just being cheap with the plating. Oh, well. (heavy sigh)
My regular-sized Snap-On socket just fit inside the valve body to remove the oral inflator valve, so that was lucky. I had to rotate it and finesse it a bit to get it out after several times of pulling out just the extension. Another lucky thing was that, when I went looking for something to hold the buttons as I loosen the screws on the other end with a wrench, I found a pair of brass slip-joint pliers in my toolbox with the serrations ground off and a round surface just the right size. Who'da thunk it?
I wonder what those small holes in the sides of the valve are for: are they part of the manufacturing process, or maybe there for some way to hold rotating parts instead of using my brass pliers?
I used blue Loc-Tite on the button, instead of the red that had been on it, just because that's what I have. I may regret this in about a year. Well, maybe not, I just checked the Loc-Tite site, and red is stronger than blue.
I re-used all the O-rings instead of replacing them because: A) they all looked OK under magnification, B) they were all still pliable, and C) I'm a lazy sod and couldn't be bothered to sift through my bag of O-rings to find the right sizes.
I noticed that the DSS website apparently has an error: it says, "...A 1/2 in. hex wrench for the QR nipple...and a 1/4 in. Hex for removing the spool from the Cartridge valve." Besides the questionable Capitalization of Various Words, you got the sizes mixed.
So, the final verdict is: I'm pleased with the quality and value of the DSS Inflator Service Tool, but if there is a published torque spec for the spool valve, you may want to consider changing the hole spacing.
