Trident

[davetowz]

I like the idea of notching the tip, I have a couple of inline adjusters that really do choke down the flow, Thanks.

 

[halocline]

I do agree that it is merely a convenience, but I had/ have 7 or 8 2nd stage to do and unscreweing and rescrewing the second stage become tiring if your too far off. What do you mean by balanced and won't pop out?

I have way more than that and believe me you do not need the inline adjuster. How often do you adjust them, anyway, once every few years? It takes 5 minutes at most by hand. Most of my 2nd stages have metal orifices, and I absolutely don't want to turn the orifice while it's pressurized anyway. So, you have to turn off the tank, bleed the air out, purge, regardless. Right? I just don't see where the inline tool is any great convenience unless A)you're doing these all day long, i.e. working in a shop, and B) don't mind turning the orifice while it's pressurized against the seat. I guess with plastic orifices that's okay, I don't know, I wouldn't do it.

 

[Zung]

+1
Using the "couv-Do" (as in Karate-Do) described above, it doesn't take more that a few tries to get it right. I did a dozen regs before I bought the ST adjuster, and the added convenience is barely worth $69 plus freight.

That is unless I take the risk of cutting the seat and fine tune it under pressure: the adjuster let me find the exact point where it stops free flowing. But in practice, this point is below the case geometry fault, so the reg free flows in a face down position.

 

[ams511]

Zung, do you use a magnehelic when adjusting the second stage?

 

[Zung]

No, I use a $2 manometer.

 

[herman]

A few drops of food coloring in the water makes it easier to read...and pretty to.

AMS511, manometers are inexpensive, simple to build and great for adjusting the second stages, just be aware that the inch/mm reading you get off them must be doubled. If you are getting a 1 inch movement in the water column for example, that is actually a 2 inchs of water column measurement (aka 2 IWC) ......and a reg that is badly in need of help.

 

[Candiru]

I'm confused. Double the distance between the 2 water levels, or double the distance of the movement of one side?

 

[ams511]

Thanks Jung and Herman but I actually do have a magnehelic. I bought a new one off ebay a while ago for around $20, I figured at that price there was not much to lose. Still trying to score a cheap ultrasonic unit but I think Harbor Freight may be the answer. Now I just need the time and the parts. lol

 

[herman]

Read one side then double the amount. You could read the total colum shift but it's just a lot easier to deal with one side.

 

[halocline]

I don't bother with measuring the cracking effort. I just get it as low as I am confident that the reg will be stable in the water. With the D series this is easy; there is almost no case geometry fault and if it doesn't freeflow on land, it's likely to be fine in the water. With the conventional 2nds, most of mine are adjustable, so if I get it a bit low and it's unstable at depth I can simply tighten the adjust a turn and all is well. The others I just keep at whatever feels right to me. The cracking effort measurement is going to change as soon as the seat wears in anyway.