Vintage Tank Bands

[Paladin]

I recently bought an old Dacor adapter that connects two singles (without removing the original valves) into doubles. I bought it off of Craigslist for $25 and the seller threw in an old set of steel tank bands for free. The bands are in decent shape with just a slight amount of rust that will easily clean up. But these bands ar not as wide as other bands that I've seen, being only 1 inch wide. Are these bands usable or should I get new bands? There is an identical set on Ebay for sale. I've included the URL for the photo:

vintage double bands to put 2 scuba tanks together - eBay (item 360186160479 end time Oct-04-09 08:15:40 PDT)

 

[herman]

Total crap and dangerous. They should be disposed of properly, as a service I will be happy to help you out and properly dispose of them for you....not that I have a BP they would fit or anything like that.

 

[Fishpie]

That Dacor adaptor is not the most elegant way to connect doubles, but, putting that aside, the chances are that the bands you got given will have been used in conjunction with the adaptor.
You should try the ones you have and see if they fit before looking for new bands....those ones on ebay are nice though.

 

[KY_BOB]

Total crap and dangerous. They should be disposed of properly, as a service I will be happy to help you out and properly dispose of them for you....not that I have a BP they would fit or anything like that.

Herman is good at disposing of vintage gear. Everytime I see some vintage gear posted for sale, he seems to help the person out by taking it off of their hands.

 

[Cave Diver]

There is an identical set on Ebay for sale. I've included the URL for the photo:

vintage double bands to put 2 scuba tanks together - eBay (item 360186160479 end time Oct-04-09 08:15:40 PDT)

I wonder what the seller has against people in Missouri?

 

[Paladin]

Thanks, guys. I bought the adapter simply because I want a set of double 72s (with J valves) to use with my DA Aquamaster, but want to be able to quickly break the set back into singles if the need arises.

 

[herman]

Herman is good at disposing of vintage gear. Everytime I see some vintage gear posted for sale, he seems to help the person out by taking it off of their hands.

You should see the shop, old gear everywhere. You going back to Bonaire next year Bob?

 

[Gilldiver]

I used those bands for many years with 72 and 80's and a sherwood mainfold. I have two sets of bands around the garage where I cut out the back pack curved sections and used them with a back plate and wing for many years.

They will work just as well with a UDS manifold and a cheater bar. What you do is bolt them to a plastic cam pack using the curved middle part, slide them over your tanks, put on the cheater bar, turn on the air to make sure that the two yokes hold, and then tighten up the bands. If all goes well, everythign holds. If not, well there is a reason why the cheater bar was also known as a suicide bar.

As for the bands, you can make it work with a modern back plate by just turn the bands around so that the curved section for the back pack is in back of the rig.

 

[SwimJim]

I have a set of bands exactly like that. I use short bolts with wing nuts to attach my backplate and wing. Currently I'm using a pre 1960 US Divers manifold, but I have used a suicide/cheater bar manifold with them in the past. Both work well.

Jim

 

[Paladin]

Thanks again. The bands are covered with vinyl but the coating is damaged in a few places. The steel underneath is slightly rusted at the points where the vinyl is torn. Now that I know that they are usable, I intend to strip the vinyl off, use a good rust remover/inhibitor, then coat the bands with epoxy and paint them.

Divers Supply sells a plastic backpack that has attach points that look as if they are meant for just the type of bands I have. I'll get one of those when the bands are ready to use. The backpack on my 72 also has them, but I like to have a separate backpack for each of my tanks. I have one on my 72 and one on my AL80. Both are vintage backpacks with rubber insulated metal cam bands.