Sacrilege???

[duckbill]

Warning:
Shoe Goo contains toluene, which is harmful to breathe. It must be not be used in a breathing apparatus unless you are very certain all of the solvents have evaporated out of the adhesive before breathing through the system. To request an MSDS, send an email to msds@eclecticproducts. com or call 1-800-333-9826.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Good point, Duckbill. I let mine set for about three weeks before using it. It does evaporate away after a while.

All the cements contain potentially hazardous solvents. The old wet suit glues contained benzene, which causes cancer (these have been replaced in recent years--last 15 or so years). If a solvent-based glue of any kind is used, it must be allowed to sit for quite a while before using it for breathing. This includes repairs on diaphragms, etc.

My professional work is as an industrial hygienist, and this is very, very important. Duckbill spotted something I should have thought about.

SeaRat

John

 

[1969ivan1]

2thDIVER, I like it! I may have to get me one of them reg bodies and try that in one of my FX cans. Thanks for the info.

 

[2TH DIVR]

A couple notes

The can hole has to be opened up. I did this with a file so I could leave a flat to match the one valve assembly for alignment.

I didn't try the yoke, but am pretty sure it has the same height as the Blue label Healthways. I tried the spacer from one. With thickness of the FX cans the valve did not stick out beyond the nut far enough to seat on the tank. I made up a delrin spacer.

Still waiting to get it wet.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Please give us a dive report when you get a chance.

I own two of the faux 50 Fathom regs, and am convinced that they are the best deal going for someone who wants to get a DH reg for actual diving purposes. One of mine has a USD Mistral upstream mechanism installed, and the other has a Voit downstream unit.

Greg Barlow

Greg,

I'm curious with your downstream Voit unit (which is the original configuration, the VCR-5 Blue 50 Fathom from 1961 or so), which hole you pointed down the intake tube. Was it the small hole or the large one? I ask because AMF Voit purposely did not use the large one, and didn't even point the small one directly down the intake as I recall. I think Voit did this to keep the unit from out-performing their higher-priced regulators.

I have done some experimentation over the years, and found that if the larger opening is pointed directly down the intake, this becomes a fabulous breathing regulator.

If you will look up Patent #3,028,860 you will find that this was patented by Emil Gagnan on April 10, 1962 (effective). His original design had a reserve valve mechanism too. But the design was Gagnan's, filed February 27, 1957. It is interesting that the reserve mechanism Gagnan envisioned would only work on a downstream single stage regulator, as it involved a ball valve with a spring behind it on the upstream side of the main seat. The air pressure kept the passageway open until the tank pressure was less than the spring pressure, and sealed the opening with the ball valve. So essentially they had two seats, with the reserve one just upstream of the main downstream seat in this design. I wonder why it was dropped and only the downstream valve was incorporated into the actual regulator?

SeaRat

 

[Greg Barlow]

John,

I do have the larger hole oriented down the inhalation horn. I, too, find that it makes a significant impact on the work of breathing.

From my research, I cannot find any further information on the original Gagnan reserve system. I am thinking that it may have been too complex considering that the primary benefit of the single stage designs was that of their simplicity. Simplicity=lower production cost!

Greg