Unlike others here, I felt that Savvy was much easier to read than Harlow's book thanks to the illustrations. Perhaps that's because I'm not a native speaker, and words like "poppet" sound like gibberish to me. I thought the illustrations in Savvy are outstanding... oozing clarity, and pleasure to look at.
Regulator savvy book
- Thread starter jlnel
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axxel57
Contributor
If you want to know how to do it, Harlow's book or the Service Manuals might help you.
If you want to understand what you are doing, read the bible (the savvy).
If you want to understand what you are doing, read the bible (the savvy).
I think if I actually had some regulators to work with while reading Savvy it would have more meaning to me but I am not willing to breakdown one of my working regs to use as a model, especially since I'm not confident of getting it back together again in working order. Looking for a cheap used first stage to use for practice. I think that would make the info and illustrations in Savvy more meaningful for me.
Where is the best place to order Harlow?
Where is the best place to order Harlow?
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- Location
- Somewhere between here and there
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
SCUBA REGULATOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR by Vance Harlow
I've never seen it anywhere else although I'm sure it is.
Thanks buddhasummer. That's the site I had found too but wasn't sure about it. Order placed.
halocline
Contributor
I believe that very few people would get much out of reg savvy without a significant amount of previous knowledge of regulator function and/or an unusually high aptitude for technical concepts. It's really focused towards professional regulator techs who want to understand the various forces at work within regulator design and function. The Harlow book, OTOH, is specifically written for the DIYer who wants a good orientation on working on the more common regulators out there. To me the only down side to it is that it's pretty old and could use an update. I personally skirt that issue by staying with old regulators!
I like reg savvy quite a bit, but I do already have a good knowledge of the basics of regulator function and I enjoy thinking about the more esoteric concepts of regulator design. I also think it's an important book for regulator history, because Wolfinger was involved in some pretty ground-breaking projects, including the center balanced coaxial valve (air1, D series) and the pilot.
Another good resource that hasn't been mentioned would be a collection of some of DA aquamaster's lengthy and informative posts on this forum. He's rarely around any more but he was extremely generous with his considerable knowledge for a long time on this board.
I like reg savvy quite a bit, but I do already have a good knowledge of the basics of regulator function and I enjoy thinking about the more esoteric concepts of regulator design. I also think it's an important book for regulator history, because Wolfinger was involved in some pretty ground-breaking projects, including the center balanced coaxial valve (air1, D series) and the pilot.
Another good resource that hasn't been mentioned would be a collection of some of DA aquamaster's lengthy and informative posts on this forum. He's rarely around any more but he was extremely generous with his considerable knowledge for a long time on this board.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
What kind of regs did you have in mind, what do you currently use? I'm supposing you want to work on stuff that is similar or the same as your primary set.
If you're just wanting something to practice on, I've seen regs on ebay dirt cheap, they may not be ones that fetch a pretty penny, but they are definitely good regs. There is plenty of stuff out there that could be had for as cheap as $10-$50.
Also keep your eye out at garage sales and craigslist. I've had people give me old crusty corroded stuff that they deemed as "junk" and I've torn it down, cleaned everything, sourced parts, and got the stuff running.
Part of the fun is learning about what you can get parts for easily and what is more of a challenge. The most fun is trying to get parts for regs that are the most forbidden and tightly regulated. Upon successfully getting parts off the black market or a back alley deal it gives you a great sense of getting away with some sort of no no and sticking it in the face of the parts police.
It's actually a very addicting hobby.
Hey Eric. I have a selection of AL's but its my Scubapros that I really need to learn to service myself. Specifically MK25 and S555's. One set of which is O2 clean.
I have already started watching eBay and Craig's list and gathering schematics. Need to start a tools list as well and I guess I am going to need a ultrasonic cleaner too. I seem to recall a thread that mentioned that Northern Tools has a good, economical one available.
I bought Harlow's regulator book just a few weeks ago (along with the Oxy Hacker's book, which is also great.) I have no intention of cracking open my nearly new AL reg for a year or two, but I really like the idea of buying an old reg or two from craig's list or ebay to learn / practice on. Any thoughts about common old 1st and 2nd stages that would be fairly similar internally to a more modern AquaLung Titan LX? Or is it mainly a matter of a diaphragm vs. piston design? (I'll want to learn on a diaphragm reg, at least to start.)
-Don
-Don
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