Just bought these for $10 each... he also had a "box of OEM spares" which I haven't seen yet.
Woo-hoo, tinker time
Woo-hoo, tinker time
Inside the Tekna Regulator
- Thread starter William Farrell
- Start date
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OP
William Farrell
Registered
Cool. The yellow one I had (sold recently) used a completely different mechanism inside---no tilt valve. I thought it might be a prototype or something. Please post pics as you go through these.Just bought these for $10 each... he also had a "box of OEM spares" which I haven't seen yet.
Woo-hoo, tinker time
View attachment 507545
OP
William Farrell
Registered
Apparently Ralph Shamlian was adopted, and after finding his birth parents he changed his name to theirs: Osterhout.
The three Teknas arrived today, stripped them for a quick look...
The black one had metal internals and looked very similar to the one at the beginning of this thread... well apart from missing several parts that had obviously been cannibalised!
The small ribbed diaphragm was very distorted and had a small tear in it.
The two yellow ones had a little bit different housing (black insert for the exhaust cap, two holes and a slot at the inlet end) BUT vastly different internals! These are a tilt-valve design I'd never seen before... maybe the same as yours?
The black one had internals almost exactly the same as the patent drawings... but these others are incredibly intricate and fiddly in design.
OP
William Farrell
Registered
1. Bummer about the cannibalization.
2. Those small reddish "seal rings" are very thin and do tend to tear. I have a spare or two if you need one.
3. The internals on the yellow ones are exactly the same as the internals on my yellow one that I sold recently. Very rare, and, as you say, very fiddly. They'll probably remain shrouded in mystery.......
2. Those small reddish "seal rings" are very thin and do tend to tear. I have a spare or two if you need one.
3. The internals on the yellow ones are exactly the same as the internals on my yellow one that I sold recently. Very rare, and, as you say, very fiddly. They'll probably remain shrouded in mystery.......
Yes, the yellow reg mechanisms almost look like pre-production proof of concept models.
Looking more closely, even the two yellow ones are different to each other!
There are subtle changes around the perforated disc in Fig 6 and parts 96 and 112, some additional very thin o-rings in one but not the other. The tilt valve poppet is a completely different design to the more commonly encountered one with the tiny crimped on seal cup.
The perforated discs in the yellow regs are a moulded plastic part, but on the later black reg those tiny holes are, incredibly, drilled through a solid metal block!
These regs must have been VERY expensive to produce, with intricate tiny parts and tight tolerances... built like a Swiss watch inside. The smallest amount of sand or corrosion would cause problems!
Looking more closely, even the two yellow ones are different to each other!
There are subtle changes around the perforated disc in Fig 6 and parts 96 and 112, some additional very thin o-rings in one but not the other. The tilt valve poppet is a completely different design to the more commonly encountered one with the tiny crimped on seal cup.
The perforated discs in the yellow regs are a moulded plastic part, but on the later black reg those tiny holes are, incredibly, drilled through a solid metal block!
These regs must have been VERY expensive to produce, with intricate tiny parts and tight tolerances... built like a Swiss watch inside. The smallest amount of sand or corrosion would cause problems!
OP
William Farrell
Registered
I agree on tolerances. Very little room for error on these. And zero possibility of tuning---they work or they don't.
It makes me suspect the yellow "prototypes" were specifically an attempt to allow tuning, as they do have some adjustability.
It makes me suspect the yellow "prototypes" were specifically an attempt to allow tuning, as they do have some adjustability.
My box of Tekna goodies from an older dive shop closing its doors... sadly no pistons and only one tilt seat assembly, condition unknown but 90% likely to be sticky goo.
OP
William Farrell
Registered
Turns out you have parts there that could help you "tune" a Tekna regulator. I've long thought they were not adjustable, but:
While playing with my collection a few days ago, I noticed that one seemed to crack easier than the others, with no obvious explanation. I started swapping parts, and eventually discovered that the inhalation diaphragm (part 82 in the patent drawing) was responsible. Here's the language from the patent:
-------------
Inhalation control diaphragm assembly 74 includes a diaphragm 82 which flexes inwardly when a pressure drop occurs within casing 62 in response to user demand. A pilot valve lever control guide 84 extends centrally inwardly from diaphragm 82 and is cross bored to receive a pilot valve control lever 86 extended from pilot valve 88 of subassembly 64. A spring loaded purge button 90 is mounted within diaphragm assembly 74 so that the diver may merely press button 90 to vent air into casing 62.
--------------
Turns out that cracking effort is directly related to the stiffness of the inhalation diaphragm (ID), and stiffness is a function of thickness, which can be indirectly measured by weight. I have a .1 gram scale for weighing espresso beans, and found that the IDs (with their stems) varied in weight from 1.0 grams to 1.2 grams. The 1.0g ID is distinctly more flexible than the others. To make sure I wasn't imagining this, I partially assembled a 1.0 and 1.2 and asked my wife to judge which stem was harder to move. She immediately picked the 1.2, saying it was obviously stiffer. The difference in cracking effort is just as obvious when these are put into regulators.
This is the only way I've found (so far) to "adjust" a Tekna. It looks like you have 6-7 of these IDs in your mystery box (upper right corner compartment), so if you have a sensitive scale, you too can build an optimized regulator.
While playing with my collection a few days ago, I noticed that one seemed to crack easier than the others, with no obvious explanation. I started swapping parts, and eventually discovered that the inhalation diaphragm (part 82 in the patent drawing) was responsible. Here's the language from the patent:
-------------
Inhalation control diaphragm assembly 74 includes a diaphragm 82 which flexes inwardly when a pressure drop occurs within casing 62 in response to user demand. A pilot valve lever control guide 84 extends centrally inwardly from diaphragm 82 and is cross bored to receive a pilot valve control lever 86 extended from pilot valve 88 of subassembly 64. A spring loaded purge button 90 is mounted within diaphragm assembly 74 so that the diver may merely press button 90 to vent air into casing 62.
--------------
Turns out that cracking effort is directly related to the stiffness of the inhalation diaphragm (ID), and stiffness is a function of thickness, which can be indirectly measured by weight. I have a .1 gram scale for weighing espresso beans, and found that the IDs (with their stems) varied in weight from 1.0 grams to 1.2 grams. The 1.0g ID is distinctly more flexible than the others. To make sure I wasn't imagining this, I partially assembled a 1.0 and 1.2 and asked my wife to judge which stem was harder to move. She immediately picked the 1.2, saying it was obviously stiffer. The difference in cracking effort is just as obvious when these are put into regulators.
This is the only way I've found (so far) to "adjust" a Tekna. It looks like you have 6-7 of these IDs in your mystery box (upper right corner compartment), so if you have a sensitive scale, you too can build an optimized regulator.
Thanks for the update, the owner of the dive shop was a Tekna 'tech' back in the day and offered to help with some tuning tips if needed. He also mentioned that the tilt valve tended to self-position tipping slightly down in one plane and this should be positioned pointing towards the ID rod aperture.
The mystery box should arrive in the next few days so I will weigh all the ID's and see what the variation is.
The mystery box should arrive in the next few days so I will weigh all the ID's and see what the variation is.
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