Crewfish13
Registered
Okay, so I just bought my first reg set (Conshelf 20 1st stage, Conshelf SE2 primary and standard yellow USD Octo). First thing I did after receiving them was to pop the covers off the 2nd stages to check cleanliness and general condition (thanks for the tip, herman!). Squeaky clean all flexible parts in great shape. If fact, my first though looking at the guts of a 2nd stage was "They sell these for how much!?!?!" 
Other than some cosmetic stuff, the only thing wrong I can find is that the Octo has a couple of the standard short hairline cracks at the far end LP boss. Has anyone ever actually tried fixing these? Since they look to be a compression failure caused by over-tightening the LP connection, I can't imagine they'd actually affect the operation of the regulator unless they propagate into the reg body or start leaking air, which mine aren't. However, cracks like to propagate, and I'd like to stop 'em, if possible.
So here's my thought. Based on some google work, I've found only one reference to the reg material, which says the 2nds are ABS plastic, which seems about right. If I were to apply a small amount of solvent (MEK or Acetone) to the crack, it would literally melt the plastic back together, and the plastic would re-harden as the solvent evaporates. You could fixture it by lightly screwing the LP port in, and putting a hose clamp around the outside until it re-hardens (to hold cracks closed). The weld joint probably wouldn't be quite as strong as the original due to internal voids, but would stop the crack. And assuming I assemble it the right way in the future (with 2 wrenches and a torque wrench), I wouldn't expect it to re-crack. And if it did, it would happen when I'm assembling it, safely out of the water.
Stop drilling doesn't seem to be an option, as putting holes into something that's supposed to be airtight just leads to more headache in sealing it back up.
It sounds like a replacement bottom box wouldn't cost too much, or another 2nd would be easy to come by, but I can't bring myself to condemn the reg to the parts bin for such a small defect. Then again, it might void the warranty...
Other than some cosmetic stuff, the only thing wrong I can find is that the Octo has a couple of the standard short hairline cracks at the far end LP boss. Has anyone ever actually tried fixing these? Since they look to be a compression failure caused by over-tightening the LP connection, I can't imagine they'd actually affect the operation of the regulator unless they propagate into the reg body or start leaking air, which mine aren't. However, cracks like to propagate, and I'd like to stop 'em, if possible.
So here's my thought. Based on some google work, I've found only one reference to the reg material, which says the 2nds are ABS plastic, which seems about right. If I were to apply a small amount of solvent (MEK or Acetone) to the crack, it would literally melt the plastic back together, and the plastic would re-harden as the solvent evaporates. You could fixture it by lightly screwing the LP port in, and putting a hose clamp around the outside until it re-hardens (to hold cracks closed). The weld joint probably wouldn't be quite as strong as the original due to internal voids, but would stop the crack. And assuming I assemble it the right way in the future (with 2 wrenches and a torque wrench), I wouldn't expect it to re-crack. And if it did, it would happen when I'm assembling it, safely out of the water.
Stop drilling doesn't seem to be an option, as putting holes into something that's supposed to be airtight just leads to more headache in sealing it back up.
It sounds like a replacement bottom box wouldn't cost too much, or another 2nd would be easy to come by, but I can't bring myself to condemn the reg to the parts bin for such a small defect. Then again, it might void the warranty...
