to din or not to din

[knowone]

Use a faucet re seater to true and polish valve faces.

Sometimes the hole in the base of the valve
becomes
peened or is too small for the reg nub to fit.

Carry one in your pocket for rentals when no one is looking.

 

[texspeleo]

I converted all of my regs and cylinders to DIN a few years back, and when hanging out with like minded cavers, and having access to my own compressor with shore diving from my front door, found that it was an easy lifestyle to maintain. Now I do most of my diving in Mexico, from dive boats or rented tanks for shore dives, and all of my DIN regs are a pain to find tanks for (no I will not fly my tanks, and you negate any inherent safety factors by adding more o-rings with converters), and sit mostly in the closet unused because I built up a Mexico kit for single bag travelling with yoke regs. When I dive at home now, it is usually in cold water, and I've had far more issues underwater from reg freeze than o-rings in those conditions. Of all my 1st stages that I've had in cold water (Poseidon, Aqualung, Dacor, Sherwood, and SP are all currently represented in the closet) I've had the fewest 1st stage ice problems with the good old SRB3600s, which are a mile long with the DIN conversion. Short answer is that there probably is no simple answer. Go with what suits your style of diving best! I would agree that I've had more O-ring problems with my DIN regs, but a good pre-dive check will usually give you a clue if your leaking fine bubbles (or big ones, for that matter).

 

[Zung]

By request from the OP, here's the step by step to convert from yoke to DIN. Use this schematic for part references. Beware you need 2 torque wrenches to do it right.

1. Remove the yoke screw, part #2.
2. Remove the yoke retainer, part #6, either by clamping it in a vise and turning the body counter clockwise, or use the special yoke nut from Scubatools.
3. Take the DIN kit, and remove the filter retainer, part #8. Remove the spring (#9), and the filter (#5), set them aside.
4. Thread the knob retainer (#10) with the knob (#11) into the body, where the yoke retainer (#6) used to be.
5. Use a long 6 mm Allen wrench, and torque the knob retainer (#10) to 30 Nm or 266 in.-lbs or 22 ft.-lbs.
6. Fit the filter (#5), the spring (#9), and thread the filter retainer (#8) into the knob retainer (#10).
7. Use a 4 mm Allen wrench, and torque the filter retainer (#8) to 4 Nm or 35 in.-lbs
8. Fit the DIN o-ring (#7)
9. Done!

Go slow, don't cross-thread. Good luck.

 

[FritzCat66]

With DIN, you can always VERY EASILY add a yoke adapter.

With Yoke, you cannot easily add a DIN adapter.

It's as simple as that, really.

However, I would recommend keeping your original yoke hardware even after you convert to DIN.

Reason being: while yes you can keep a DIN-to-yoke adaptor in your bag, handy for occasional use of yoke cylinders, nevertheless if you're travelling somewhere where you know you'll be using yoke tanks exclusively, you can swap to your original yoke hardware for the trip, then swap back to DIN when you return.

Why would you want to do that? Well, it's not that hard, and your "native" yoke hardware makes for a more compact setup than a DIN with yoke adaptor attached.

I switch my Atomics back to yoke whenever I travel away from Florida and my own DIN tanks, simplifies things.

Just my 2psi...

 

[ScoobaSam]

It is possible to have the yolk converted to din adapter and the reg coverted to Din. Example, I had my scubapro MK25 converted to DIN. I then had the yolk peice turned into an adapter with the addition of a single nut. Now I have a DIN reg with a yolk adapter if needed. The yolk adapter sticks out a bit more, but I do not find it to be obtrusive. I do notice that most poeple sling their tanks too low on their backs. That might make the adapter uncomfortable.

 

[batman diver]

It is possible to have the yolk converted to din adapter and the reg coverted to Din. Example, I had my scubapro MK25 converted to DIN. I then had the yolk peice turned into an adapter with the addition of a single nut. Now I have a DIN reg with a yolk adapter if needed. The yolk adapter sticks out a bit more, but I do not find it to be obtrusive. I do notice that most poeple sling their tanks too low on their backs. That might make the adapter uncomfortable.

how did u do that ?

 

[ScoobaSam]

My shop guy just had to order the nut, then using the old yoke parts he was able to put together a working converter... I carry it with me when I use any of my Din regs away from home. This should be something they can find easily... I will add that the nut is not cheap and the biggest benefit really is just style (my adapter uses the scubapro yolk so looks like the rest of my gear) over buying an adapter. I think the prices are about a wash one vs the other. If you are interested, ask guy who has the parts catalog at your shop.

 

[FritzCat66]

FYI, It's yoke, Y-O-K-E.

"Yolk" is the runny stuff in the middle of an egg.

 

[batman diver]

shops seem much more helpful that side