Slippery Slope - Doing my own ScubaPro Maintenance

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aalbert

Registered
Messages
58
Reaction score
46
Location
Miami, FL
# of dives
100 - 199
Decided to give it a shot (after watching the VHD series of videos).. In total I currently have 1 Mk5, 4 Mk10s, Air 1, 109, G250, D350 (plus a Dacor 950 and a bunch of other regs, some of with are NIB... going to keep the Dacor out of nostalgia and sell the rest so I can standardize on Scubapro Mk10s, D series, another 109, and G250s)..

The D350 and its associated mk10 I sent to AirTech since it is for my 13yr old son who is new to diving, and I didn't want to cut any corners when it came to on the job training with the D350. The Air 1, will probably be retired (after scrounging additional D350s or D400s), but maybe I might attack it some point, so it can be retired in full glory (it only leaks a little). At present I am attacking one of the Mk10s (one with lowest IP and obvious leak) and the 109 / G250, so I started my scuba specific tool collection with those in mind (via an order to Herman, scubatools.com, and VDH) .

109 came apart easily, and after 10 minutes in a 50/50 water/vinegar solution looks great. It was a low use regulator to begin with, so fortunately it doesn't suffer from abuse, etc.

The Mk10 came apart relatively easily. The pressure seat wouldn't come out with a quick blow of the tank or picks, but after 20 min in the freezer fell right out, and the piston O-Ring basically fell apart when I grabbed it with the brass pick.

G250 cover is welded on pretty well, so I am awaiting a tool from Amsterdam to unscrew it (I could use spanners etc, but it is in really minty condition, and I don't want to scratch it up) - so it is on hold currently.

Anyway here are some pics.. Will post more as the project continues.

ScubaPro_Tools.jpg


scubapro_mk10_apart.jpg


scubapro_mk10_piston.jpg
 
Nice. I mostly use MK10s and 109s, and enjoy rebuild time when it comes around. Looking forward to my first attempt at rebuilding a D series soon.

I partly blame my addiction to older ScubaPro regulators to years of reading DIY posts here and look forward to following your progress.
 
Reassembled the 109 this evening.. Biggest pain in the process was getting the o-ring onto the Volcano orifice - if there is a bullet tool for that, I would gladly buy it. Now has a new poppet, o-rings, exhaust valve, exhaust diffuser, and mouthpiece. Tuned it to the best of my abilities (adjusted the volcano to not free flow) - seems a little stiffer than previous, but I would assume that is due to the new poppet etc. getting seated in.

scubapro_109_disassembled.jpg


scubapro_109_assembled.jpg


The Mk10 I went ahead and cleaned up most of the body a little more.. The piston shaft o-ring came out in multiple pieces - it had definitely lived all that it could. I need to get a hex key of the proper size to remove the low-pressure swivel so it can be serviced.

Old Piston O-Ring
scubapro_mk10_old_piston-O-ring.jpg


Old Piston Shaft O-ring
scubapro_mk10_pistonshaft_old-O-ring.jpg
 
Thank you for sharing your journey in doing servicing and repairs yourself. I am looking forward to doing my own servicing one day as well.
 
Put the Mk10 back together this evening... Everything went fairly smoothly, just had to double check myself against the annotated mk10 PDF (available on a post here), to make sure I didn't forget any o-rings (in the end, I had no spares).

Hooked my old IP gauge to it, and came out with about 125 @ 2000 tank PSI (I re-used the 3 shims that were in the regulator, although I put it back together with 2 on the chamber side, and 1 on the piston side)... IP on this same unit was 100 before I started the rebuild.

Re-installed the 109 2nd stage, and with 125 IP, it felt a little better breathing.

I have ordered more kits from VDH to rebuild my other Mk10s, but I don't think they will make it here for the long weekend.. but once they do come in, I will post those rebuilds.

scubapro_mk10_pistron_re-ringed.jpg


scubapro_mk10_IP.jpg
 
I do my own repair on aqualung and dive rite first stage and second stage adjustment with a manual that works great in the details in how to perform the techniques in servicing.
 
It's a slippery slope, but enjoy the slide, I do.


Bob
 
Awesome! Can’t wait for the video version :)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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