Ultrasonic Cleaning?

[Wayward Son]

The last time I had 2 reg sets serviced it cost me $400 at the LDS & I actually considered maybe just not servicing them again & buying new regs every 2 or 3 years. This shop costs a lot more than my last one did. If I had all 4 done it would have been $750. I didn't ask how much labor / stage, I just sucked it up, paid the bill & cried some on the way home LOL

The parts for all stages comes to about $200 -to me, best prices I've found so far, to do all 12 stages, not from the shop. That leaves me, from a single service, $550 or so to spend on tools. So $160 on a cleaner leaves me $390 more for parts & tools & I don't have to do all 4 regs to start with. Really, 2 sets to start.

No, I can't buy all the advanced bench tools for that but I'm pretty sure I can get the ones I really have to have. None of these stages are known to be difficult to do. And as Pete notes, if I do it, then I'll know exactly what was done. Pretty much why I do almost all the work on my cars & trucks & have for decades. However, I will add that I currently have no issues with the quality of serving. George did & still does outstanding work & the LDS here, so far as I can tell, doesn't present me any concerns in this regard. The one LDS owner/tech that I do have legitimate gripes about was many years ago in Nashville & I'm told he's dead now, so no point in getting into that any way.
But I've thought about doing my own for years & finally decided to pull the trigger on it.

So I'm making a list of what tools & service kits I need, where to get them & shortly will start tooling up.

 

[lowviz]

...//... A competent, professional, mfg trained, repair technician using the proper tools will provide the best possible service for your gear. ...

There is the problem, how do you determine that you've actually found one of those people? I've been burned in the past by an incorrect order re-assembly of my secondaries. Diaphragm pulled loose and gave me a mouthfull of saltwater.

 

[The Chairman]

Pete, We see it differently.

I'm sure we do. I was in automotive for thirty years, am a master certified auto & truck technician. I've seen more than my share of "pros" who cut corners because they 'knew better' and who didn't care about the end user. If they had a bad day, their work suffered. Unfortunately, most professional reg technicians have very little training, much less experience. I've only met a dozen that I would consider top notch.

Regulators just aren't that complicated. They are a rather simple feedback system that most any reasonably mechanically minded lay technician can deal with. I know because I teach a class on how to service them quite often and no one has failed yet. If you want complicated, look at something like an E2SE Feedback Carburetor from the nineties...

​

 

[rhwestfall]

To blindly think the guy in the shop is "the best" is pure insanity. A few years back when I was getting back into the sport, I dropped off my regs to a shop I had used for years prior. I too got slapped (2 months later after wondering what the heck was going on with my gear) with the excessively high bill. My gear was returned to me having them breaking one part and charge me for the replacement, scratching the snot out of a reg body and saying nothing, improperly assembling a stage, returning another so far out of tune it wasn't functional, and all this was billed hourly...

When I confronted the owner, I got "well, (aside from advertising as a certified shop for the brand), we don't see those often so it took him some extra effort.... on my dime? Really? AND IT STILL WAS NOT DONE RIGHT!!!!

 

[rhwestfall]

And the "ASCE Certified Technician" who ground the shaft off an intake/exhaust valve and put it in as the push rod for my clutch assembly because he lost it somewhere is the "A-Team" I should believe in because he has a paper certificate on the wall????

 

[oya]

No, I can't buy all the advanced bench tools

You'll DARE to overhaul a reg without a magnehelic, tool 1506 (the crown remover), tool 2304 (the balance chamber o-ring seater), and tool 222022 (the secondary placement nut height adjustment gauge)?

I dunno... your lungs will probably implode the very first breath you take off of that reg!

(I am a factory trained technician on 6 different brands {including demon Poseidon}... my own regs I do with the tools found in my Plano 777 "save-a-dive" kit.)

 

[Wayward Son]

You'll DARE to overhaul a reg without a magnehelic, tool 1506 (the crown remover), tool 2304 (the balance chamber o-ring seater), and tool 222022 (the secondary placement nut height adjustment gauge)?

I dunno... your lungs will probably implode the very first breath you take off of that reg!

(I am a factory trained technician on 6 different brands... my own regs I do with the tools found in my Plano 777 "save-a-dive" kit.)

I take it that one needs the missing sarcasm font

 

[Wayward Son]

so Pete, where do you hold this class & what's it cost?

 

[The Chairman]

Hey, I'm not trying to drum up business, but the class is usually here in the Keys at my home and is specific to HOG regs. However, much of what you learn is transferable to other regs. Price? I can't remember, but you can check out www.DiveWithElena.com. Some will take my tank inspection course right along with it. I've also been certified on Atomic, Poseidon and Zeagle. However, I haven't met a reg that I couldn't rebuild unless the housing was cracked (mostly second stages).

 

[Wayward Son]

long drive but might be worth a few vacation days to do at some point.

I have scubapro but they screwed me so bad that at some point I may just sell them off & buy hogs. For now I'll stick with servicing them, but those parts are the last business that SP ever gets from me.