Save a Dive O-ring kits

[brian cooper]

Is there, out there, a requirement for a little packs of O-rings suitable for putting in your dive bags and forgetting about UNTIL you have a problem miles from your lds? A blown hose seal, a swivel leaking, your DIN fitting torn,your A-clamp blown out, you dropped one of the odd-ball O-rings when you took something off to remove the dead frog that crawled into your reg and died?

I'm basically an Independant SCUBA service tech, and during my search for supplies of service kits (which I now have for various makes) have been measuring and cross referencing ALL the O-rings that I have come my way....AS568 Dash series,BS Imperial, BS Metric, non british standard metric and just plain odd ball.
These sizes are mixed on the same regulators eg Aqualung using identical parts (including part #) as some Apeks bits, and some parts having different part # depending if you look in the manual or on the manufacturer's service kit....very confusing

I popped it all on my computer and crunched all the info, size, material,parts number etc and cracked it....

Now I cannot condone the use of unauthorised/ non manufacturer's spare parts being used to service diving equipment by unauthorised non manufacturer's service technicians (thats my disclaimer...) but wouldn't it be useful to have a bag of spares, that YOU were responsible for, that YOU could put in YOUR reg until you could get it checked out by a compitant technician (YOUR DECISSION).

These O-rings would be in Viton only, so you could decide if that was compatible with your Air/ EAN reg, again your decision..

If there is a need for such a kit, all I would have to do is feed the make/model of 1st and 2nd stage into a suitable computer and come up with a list of "randomly selected O-rings" that could be hyperthetically be put in a bag and posted to you- incase you wanted something for the week end...This at the momment is totally theoretical,and how would you pay me,in English pounds, not for the O-rings but for the knowledge of which O-rings go in which reg...

The obtaining the kits, the measurement and building up of the database has taken me nearly 6 months and a fair lay-out of cash so don't ask, you can't have a copy...

Reply on forum my all means, to get the discussion going but a PM if you want to talk privately.

Brian Cooper

Life is what you do in the surface interval between dives.

 

[Pez de Diablo]

Don't be afraid of O-Rings (except our own little O-ring here on the board).

The tolerance on an O-ring is not on a scale that you cannot measure it yourself. Let the O ring sit on the work bench and use a calliper to measure the ID and the thickness and then call a bearing or gasket company and they will advise the O-ring required - ask them and note the size number. If you don't feel comfortable with that, in North America many industrial supply stores sell an O-ring Kit that will have a selection of O-rings (Buna N) and you will be able to match up any scuba requirement to an O-ring in the kit.

Each O-ring has a number (3 digits) and this universal size number can be referenced to regardless of material, so if you want Nitril or any other material spec, you order by the reference number. O-rings are cheap, about 3 o-rings per penny (if you buy 100 at a time).


O-Ring Materials

http://www.crownproductsinc.com/oringsm.html

O-Ring sizing tool - this thing is inexpensive and about a block from me - give them a call. Heck if you call the Calgary number tell them you work for an Oil company or you are a purchaser for a manufacturer and you purchase hundreds of O rings a week. They'll send you on free ; )

http://www.ableorings.com/sizecone.asp

O ring size chart

http://www.broadleytech.com/o-rings-size-chart.html[/URL]

 

[jamiei]

I have cross-referenced scubapro o-rings and purchased a ton of them for myself. If anyone has the schematics already, they can compare them on my site www.athenshomesolutions.com/scuba. I have them listed for sale .50 each I think (most cost me .35-.40 but I had to buy a lot of them). I'm only selling them because I have more than I can use. I also have a source for 90 durometer rings for hp applications, but haven't bought any yet because I have to buy 100 at a time and could never use them. The SP is the scubapro number. I also have a catalog that has scale pics of a ton of o-rings if anyone ever wants one cross-referenced. This catalog also has several clips that match those used on my scubapro and conshelf regs. These are high quality, 70 durometer buna-N o-rings. I'm not trying to make any money obviously. The time I spent cross-referencing was for my own good. I should also have some nyloc's available soon when I get the time to match them up. I also believe I can find a supplier of seats. If I could only find who makes the hp seats and filters I'd have it made. I've also talked extensively with a technician about the shelf life of these o-rings and I'm told they should last at least 10 years or more. If anyone is interested, just take a look at the site if you have the schematics already or PM me. I didn't post more info about the o-rings on my site because I didn't want to draw too much attention. I see from a post below me that o-rings can be had for "3 per penny". I bought them in packs of 10 for .35-.40 each and the price break for 100 wasn't nearly that much. The ones I bought were for close tolerance mechanical systems. I bought them and paid that much because I had more confidence in them. I'm not sure I'd go with something that cheap. If anyone has any doubts or wants to buy the o-rings themself (10 pack min), just PM me and I'll give you the info so you can verify the prices I mentioned or order from their yourself. The place I got them from happened to have a dist center about 50 miles from me so I had them in 2 days.

 

[jamiei]

some might argue that I'm not the person that should be pointing this out , but I'll say it anyway(cause maybe I am). I think the reason for this board is not to sell secrets, but to share them. I believe you got a lot of free information from people on this site brian, myself included which you in turn are thinking of trying to sell. Anyone can easily cross-reference o-rings if they have schematics or kits, both of which are easily found as you well know. If you can buy o-rings in bulk at lower prices and make some profit reselling them, by all means do that, but I don't think its right to sell knowledge on this board. I sell interfaces and kits for people to make them. I don't try to sell the plans because its widely available and free knowledge. If anyone needs help, I gladly offer it. I have directed countless people to Roli Wasmer's site if they want to build one themselves. Roli has put a lot of time and effort into helping divers by providing free plans to build interfaces. Without him, there would be a lot of us out here with lighter pockets. I'm here to help whether its making an interface for someone or directing them to a site that will help them build one themself. I do make money on both the kits I sell and the interfaces, but I save people money on both. I sell kits complete with instructions, illustrations,a complete circuit board, and even pics of assembly on my site for cheaper than they can go out to radio shack and buy the material needed to do it themselves. I've learned a lot on this board and never paid a dime and I don't expect anyone to pay me a dime for the knowledge I have to share either. I've spent more time than I want to think about trying to make a great product and I'll never make enough money selling them to recoupe the time I've put into it. My fiance' absolutely hates the word interface and its caused a lot of arguments between us, but I enjoy it and I enjoy helping out. The great comments I get from people make it all worthwhile.

I appreciate that you are trying to help divers, but knowledge should be traded freely on our board in my opinion because thats what makes it the best board around. I could be totally out of line here and if anyone thinks so, I apologize. Brian's time is worth something as is all of ours and if you don't have access to the needed info, maybe he offers something that you need. I do feel however that if you don't have the needed info (schematics, etc.) then you don't have any of the knowledge needed to go into your regs. If you need a hose o-ring, they're all about the same size and not hard to locate or figure out, nothing to charge for.

If you have the info, buy a kit and cross-reference it yourself. The catalog I have cost me about $6 and the pics of o-rings are to scale. If you don't have the info, find it or don't touch your regs, ever.

 

[Pez de Diablo]

jamiei once bubbled...
some might argue that I'm not the person that should be pointing this out , but I'll say it anyway(cause maybe I am). I think the reason for this board is not to sell secrets, but to share them. I believe you got a lot of free information from people on this site brian, myself included which you in turn are thinking of trying to sell. Anyone can easily cross-reference o-rings if they have schematics or kits, both of which are easily found as you well know. ....

I appreciate that you are trying to help divers, but knowledge should be traded freely on our board in my opinion because thats what makes it the best board around. I could be totally out of line here and if anyone thinks so, I apologize. ....

Jamiei,

You are right on the money. This type of knowledge should be traded freely.

Brian, I hope you didn't spend alot of money....