Scubapro 109

[RickPeck]

I would get that in writing. I just passed a guy in our plating department last week reworking the threads on a valve because they had put to much plating on them. Internal threads are not so much of a concern as external threads. If all your threads are internal, and small, it's probably not a big concern. If there are some external threads, it will be a problem.

Plating depends on current density and flushing of the plating solution around and through the parts. If the threads are small and blind holes the plating won't "throw" into the holes very well. If they are external and well exposed you will get the classic treeing on the crest of the threads.

Best regards,

Rick

 

[Luis H]

Just ask NASA as they spend $ to essentially reinvent a modern verison of the Apollo CSM for their next manned space flight vehicle. The Apollo/Saturn V was a far better and more cost effective heavy lift vehicle than the Shuttle ever was, but NASA defunded and lost the entire production infastructure and corporate knowledge they had gained with the Apollo program when they pursued shuttle development.

Yeah…some years back NASA was thinking about reviving the Saturn V to assist with the many large components of the space station. The Saturn V is the largest heavy lift rocket the US has ever produced and it had a perfect record. That in itself is fascinating considering that the Saturn V was design without the help of calculators and minimal computer help (mostly slide rulers). Well the problem was that all the drawings and documentation was all in paper (no form of electronic records existed at the time and converting all drawings to microfilm was considered too expensive). The drawings took too much space to store…the equivalent of hangers full from my understanding. Therefore, at some point it was decided to dispose of the drawing…thinking that it was obsolete and would never be used again. It was a big mistake.

 

[Luis H]

I would get that in writing. I just passed a guy in our plating department last week reworking the threads on a valve because they had put to much plating on them. Internal threads are not so much of a concern as external threads. If all your threads are internal, and small, it's probably not a big concern. If there are some external threads, it will be a problem.

Plating depends on current density and flushing of the plating solution around and through the parts. If the threads are small and blind holes the plating won't "throw" into the holes very well. If they are external and well exposed you will get the classic treeing on the crest of the threads.

Best regards,

Rick

Some of the threaded regulator parts that I have seen re-chromed the threads were full of some paste that was used to block any excess plating from building up on the threads.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Thanks for all your answers guys. You are always a wealth of info DA.

Checking the serial numbers, mine is in the high 3,000,000 while a dive buddy has a 109 in the 4milion and a BA in the 5 milion range. I asume the BA serial numbers just carried on from the 109s as they are the same case.
Any idea how many were produced?

I did notice one of my G250s has a plastic oriface with the older balanced poppet. When did they change to the all plastic poppet?

Lastly I know the chances are pretty slim but can you but the LP seats by them self as opposed to buying a whole service kit? Perhaps in packs of 10 or more?

The all plastic S-wing poppet has been around awhile - I think it came out about the same time as the G250HP and G500 around 1999-2000.

It is however a great poppet design and you can get the seats individually. Even with a healthy dealer markup they would not cost more than $2.00 -$2.25 each.

I am not sure how many were produced, but you'd be hard pressed to find a day when you could not find one to bid on one on e-bay so I suspect SP made a ton of them - and they are also incredibly durable and last forever so I also suspect a very high percentage of those made are still around.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Yeah…some years back NASA was thinking about reviving the Saturn V to assist with the many large components of the space station. The Saturn V is the largest heavy lift rocket the US has ever produced and it had a perfect record. That in itself is fascinating considering that the Saturn V was design without the help of calculators and minimal computer help (mostly slide rulers). Well the problem was that all the drawings and documentation was all in paper (no form of electronic records existed at the time and converting all drawings to microfilm was considered too expensive). The drawings took too much space to store…the equivalent of hangers full from my understanding. Therefore, at some point it was decided to dispose of the drawing…thinking that it was obsolete and would never be used again. It was a big mistake.

It was a very capable design that got unfairly shelved in favor of newer ideas in the wake and budget cuts following Apollo.

That was too bad. The Saturn V's F-1 first stage main engines were over engineered and it was anticipated that in an evolution of the Saturn V design intended to make parts of it recoverable and reuseable, that the F-1 engines could have been reused for at least 5 flights. But we just had to have a shuttle instead, regardless of the obvious issues, complexities and inefficiencies of heaving a multibillion dollar DC-9 sized aircraft into orbit with a comparatively small payload and then spending months and millions to refurbish it between flights.

Still, Apollo techology lives. The J-2 engine was used on the Apollo/Saturn V second and third stages and was initially considered for use as the shuttle main engine, but was not ultimately used as the SSME was developed instead. However it is going to get the last laugh as the J-2 is currently being updated as the J-2X for use on the Ares 1 second stage so it will be inserting crews into orbit from 2010 forward just like it did 40 years ago and long after the SSME's are retired.

On the one hand I am relieved that we have finaly moved away from a shuttle design that everyone knew would never meet the expectations set for it and that has in fact hindered the space program since 1975, but on the other hand I am dismayed that our space program took that 30 plus year detour in the first place.

With a bit of luck, I'll live long enough to see the passing of the plastic second stage regulator case as well.

 

[116fire]

Amen Brother...

 

[BigDaddyHouseboater]

I love old gear that still works as good or better than the new tech stuff... Pisses off the elitists.