Jetsam Baby Booster Maintenance

[sunnyboy]

Wow! You really did take it apart. Are you going to replace anything except the small orings from the maintenance kit?

 

[teksimple]

Done! Will test at lunchtime.

 

[teksimple]

Alright. It is largely disassembled and cleaned. The seals look fine. Mind you, this was working just fine, but was a no brainer decision to disassemble and clean because it has been sitting for so long. I was embarrassed to take a before photo because it was SO filthy inside. I am surprised that it hasn’t exploded, but I guess Christolube is supposed to look like that after pumping oxygen for a decade.

Done! Will test at lunchtime.

Even without testing, I am very impressed with the late, great Gordon Smith’s engineering. Glad I had a chance to dive with him before his passing.

 

[teksimple]

All tests successful! Boosts like a champ. The metal-to-metal reed valve has near zero leakage in a 15 minute hold test.

 

[teksimple]

I spoke to soon. As soon as I got above about 2500 PSI, there is a noticeable leak. I believe it is pitting and raised corrosion bumps on the piston rod surface that is leaking through the high pressure seal as (think I) I have ruled out every other possibility. Going to disassemble and polish the piston, hoping that this will fix it. Will also have to order another seal kit from KISS Rebreathers because I am sure the corrupted piston has done some damage to the brand new seal (and the old one).

 

[teksimple]

Exhibit A & B

 

[Agro]

Is this the piston? What is it made of? Brass? Until now I only saw stainless steel pistons in a O2 booster.

Polishing will not solve the problem. You need a new piston for sure. Can you buy one? Or produce it by yourself on the lathe? If you do so you may think about using ss instead of brass.

 

[teksimple]

It is undoubtedly steel, possibly stainless steel but the corrosion probably from sitting in the closet with condensation inside for quite a few years makes me think it is just tool steel. It is a composite piston. The rod is steel, the other part with the gasket and o-ring whose name escapes me, is aluminum.

 

[teksimple]

And yeah, I think too much polishing and the high pressure seal will have too much of a gap, but am going to try anyway. The high pressure seal has a spring inside of it so hoping that extra tension will compensate for the metal that I am going to buff off. I do not have a lathe and I don’t think anyone makes these anymore so will have to see if I can have a metal/machine shop here fashion a new rod.

 

[Agro]

Do you have a picture of the whole piston? From different sides? How ist steel part connected to aluminum part?

If you can easily disconnect alu and steel it seems to be an easy job to produce a new steel part.