Rust Remove on the reg part?

[Hoosier]

Hi

I found out some green rust on the ScubaPro DIN kit and soaked it with the dilute vinegar. And then, I did put it in the ultrasonic cleaner. But, it still have the red rust as being seen on the attachments.

Any idea how to get rid of this red rust?


Thanks in advance,

 

[james croft]

It is not rust. The vinegar removed the corrosion. The corrosion had removed the chrome plating on the brass DIN. The red color you are worried about is the brass. Not much you can do about it short of a replating job. Just keep it rinsed off with fresh water and as needed soak it in a dilute mixture of vinegar and water to cut any corrosion that may arise. Without the protective plating it will be more prone to corrosion.

 

[rcontrera]

Of all the regulators out there, Scubapro has always seemed to be the worst at chrome jobs. I learned the hard was with their stuff back in the 70s and 80s when I taught regulator repair. "Cooking" that worked with everyone else's stuff completely removed SP chrome plating.

Don't soak it in any acid compound next time. I switched to some stuff called Salt-X from the fishing industry. It busted up the salt buildup and allowed the corrosion to be washed off with soap and water.

 

[Ed Palma]

Hello rcontrera, I'm curious: What's the cooking process?

Also, do you have any experience replating regs? I'm just worried about the tolerances of the internals if I have mine done.

Thanks!

 

[rcontrera]

After a complete disassembly, we would wipe down any obvious grease, mud, dirt etc. and place the metal parts in a basket that we lowered into an acidic bath. Length of time in the bath depended on the type and level of buildup that we encountered. Then we removed the basket, rinsed in fresh water, gave it a dunk in a neutralizing solution to counteract any acid that might have been left and the parts then went to soap and water solution for final cleaning. Even though we were careful, we still had problems with Scubapro cheap plating jobs so switched to the Salt-X solution. it took longer but NEVER damaged teh chrome.

As far as plating, I am very familiar. I regularly plate chrome regulators, car hood ornaments, nick-nacks, etc in 22 karat gold! Gold only lays about 20 microns down so it will not mess with clearances. However, plating in nickel will build up a little each pass with the wand so only do what you need. And immersion plating with nickel will just put too much on unless you are extremely careful.

However, internal re-plating of first stages is almost NEVER called for. For that valve, the red you see is the copper portion of the brass and a light nickel plate will help protect it.

 

[Ed Palma]

Oh, so in general, a little red internally won't really matter as long as everything is maintained properly (IE keeping the internals nice and dry)? My reg (USD Pro Diver) is showing a little pitting corrosion internally, but otherwise is now nice and clean. (i got it 2nd hand).

Just making sure...

 

[DennisW]

The little bit of unplated brass will not hurt anything. I will get the green corrosion on it quicker than the plated parts, but the only way to fix that is to re-plate the part or replace it with a new one.

 

[Hoosier]

After a complete disassembly, we would wipe down any obvious grease, mud, dirt etc. and place the metal parts in a basket that we lowered into an acidic bath. Length of time in the bath depended on the type and level of buildup that we encountered. Then we removed the basket, rinsed in fresh water, gave it a dunk in a neutralizing solution to counteract any acid that might have been left and the parts then went to soap and water solution for final cleaning. Even though we were careful, we still had problems with Scubapro cheap plating jobs so switched to the Salt-X solution. it took longer but NEVER damaged teh chrome.

As far as plating, I am very familiar. I regularly plate chrome regulators, car hood ornaments, nick-nacks, etc in 22 karat gold! Gold only lays about 20 microns down so it will not mess with clearances. However, plating in nickel will build up a little each pass with the wand so only do what you need. And immersion plating with nickel will just put too much on unless you are extremely careful.

However, internal re-plating of first stages is almost NEVER called for. For that valve, the red you see is the copper portion of the brass and a light nickel plate will help protect it.

Ray, thanks for a good tip... But, what ratio are you using for the corrosion removal?

 

[rcontrera]

The normal mix is supposed to be 64:1 but we would double the strength and mix it 32:1.