Maintenance question

[Francois Mille]

Hello everyone,

My name is Francois Mille, I work for an NGO, STENAPA, at Sint Eustatius, in the Caribbean.

I have been doing the maintenance on regulators for 3 years now, and I have a first-time issue.
The yoke screw part of the first stage is stuck. It is not on a tank.
I would like to save the plastic protection.

I used WD40, ultrasonic cleaner .... nothing seems to work.

Any tips I could use to release it?

Thank you for all the help you can give me

 

[The Chairman]

Pic??? Sometimes a sharp rap with a hammer, but without seeing it, I have no idea if that's appropriate.

BTW, I loved the diving in Statia! Wow! I also loved your fort. Sorry to hear that Mr Stanials (sp?) passed. He was awesome.

 

[scott7685]

sounds like maybe a mixed-metals situation between a stainless steel and chrome-plated brass maybe? Galvanic corrosion could have locked them up.

 

[ancient diver]

Hello everyone,

My name is Francois Mille, I work for an NGO, STENAPA, at Sint Eustatius, in the Caribbean.

I have been doing the maintenance on regulators for 3 years now, and I have a first-time issue.
The yoke screw part of the first stage is stuck. It is not on a tank.
I would like to save the plastic protection.

I used WD40, ultrasonic cleaner .... nothing seems to work.

Any tips I could use to release it?

Thank you for all the help you can give me

Perhaps you can unscrew the yoke retention nut on the first stage and remove the entire yoke and screw from the first stage. That will make it easier to work on the frozen screw. If you aren't in a hurry you could then try soaking the entire yoke assembly in a mild acid such as vinegar. In Bonaire they used to sell fairly strong ascetic acid instead of vinegar, it worked really well on carbonate deposits. If you cant find that, try heating the vinegar a bit. After soaking, the raps with a hammer that The Chairman suggests might do the job.

 

[scoobyluu]

Could try soaking in WD-40 overnight (or a couple of days). Like mentioned above, there could be some mineral buildup that a vinegar soak would help with.