Warning! Scubapro MK 10 fault

[michaelwatt]

I´ve sent my regulator to service every year since the purchase in late December 1994. It was bought used in the same shop. So it was new in 1992 or 1993.

We have a spell of very cold wether so I sent the set in for the annual service. Just last night the LDS owner called me and told me: Your first stage body has cracked!!

Just makes you wonder when that happende? And what will Scubapro say about it? And how many other foulty regulatore are out there?

Oh, by the way the first stage body is made out of one piece of metal so the most likely failure mode is material weakness!

Also the tought of what could have happende if the first stage had come appart during a dive :scared:

The truth is the shop screwed up and broke your reg. I have been diving with MK 10's for many years. The body is solid machined brass. I broke a retainer nut on one on my bench, just to test it. It took all my strength and a two foot cheater bar. It did no damage to the body. Someone in the shop broke it, there is no way it 'cracked' Someone cracked it.
Get someone else to work on your regs.

---------- Post Merged at 03:32 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:30 PM ----------

The truth is the shop screwed up and broke your reg. I have been diving with MK 10's for many years. The body is solid machined brass. I broke a retainer nut on one on my bench, just to test it. It took all my strength and a two foot cheater bar. It did no damage to the body. Someone in the shop broke it, there is no way it 'cracked' Someone cracked it.
Get someone else to work on your regs.

---------- Post Merged at 03:35 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:30 PM ----------

I´ve sent my regulator to service every year since the purchase in late December 1994. It was bought used in the same shop. So it was new in 1992 or 1993.

We have a spell of very cold wether so I sent the set in for the annual service. Just last night the LDS owner called me and told me: Your first stage body has cracked!!

Just makes you wonder when that happende? And what will Scubapro say about it? And how many other foulty regulatore are out there?

Oh, by the way the first stage body is made out of one piece of metal so the most likely failure mode is material weakness!

Also the tought of what could have happende if the first stage had come appart during a dive :scared:

The truth is the shop screwed up and broke your reg. I have been diving with MK 10's for many years. The body is solid machined brass. I broke a retainer nut on one on my bench, just to test it. It took all my strength and a two foot cheater bar. It did no damage to the body. Someone in the shop broke your reg. There is no way it 'cracked' Someone cracked it.
Get someone else to work on your regs.

 

[pjhansman]

Answering a 9 year old thread.....is that some sort of record?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It's an old thread, but the mis-information he just added (as well as heather well intended by wrong advice) to needs to be addressed.

A few years ago, I'd have said the same thing - that the shop screwed up. However, I was servicing a Mk 15 - a Mk 15 I'd serviced annually for the last few years and while reseating the yoke retainer I managed to peel the top almost off the reg body with about 8-10 pounds of torque on the wrench - only about half way to the 22 ft pound setting on the wrench. The ease that it came off with surprised me.

I'm not a newby to servicing regs, I've been a current Scubapro tech since the 1990s, and I knew my business - but I peeled that first stage open like it was made of clay with very little torque applied. Now, I suspect that one of two things happened.

1) Sometime between that annual service and the last annual service, a tank the reg was on fell over, got lifted by the first stage or in some other manner the retainer got knocked, banged or over tightened, or more likely,
2) At some point in the distant past someone serviced the reg and massively over torqued the fitting, causing a crack in the first stage body that eventually propagated to the point of failure at that very low torque value.

Scubapro recalled the Mk 20 first stage as most of them (all but the latest Mk 20 production) used an older unstepped retainer, and that retainer had the potential to stress the first stage body if the yoke or DIN retainer was over tightened. The new step creates a positive stop to keep the threaded retainer from literally prying the top off the first stage body. However, the Mk 10 and Mk 15 use the same basic retainer design and are prone to the same basic failure. I suspect that the same thing happened with your reg.

I'd also argue that Michaelwatt did in fact damage the Mk 10 he failed to "break" on the bench, its just that the crack(s) that he caused will take several years and pressure cycles to propagate to the point of failure. Unfortunately, if it ever does break he'll blame the shop that serviced it. :demented:

 

[halocline]

Were lots of words spelled differently in 2003?

 

[AfterDark]

I REALLY like my MK V's!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

As an aside, Scubapro did replace the Mk 15 in question with a new Mk 25 - but the owner could document original ownership and current service status.

 

[drbill]

I dive almost exclusively with Mk10s (have 6 of them). I did experience two cracks in the body of one of them. I believe it was due to problems while servicing the reg under the previous owner, not an issue with Scubapro's manufacturing. I love the Mk10s although it is getting harder for my local shop to get parts for servicing them.

 

[halocline]

I love the Mk10s although it is getting harder for my local shop to get parts for servicing them.

You need a new shop, unless you're talking about repair parts (like a new piston), not routine service. Seats and kits for these regs are easily available and likely will be for years.

 

[drbill]

My shop is quite good and yes, I'm talking about repair parts... I've informed them where to get service kits. There just isn't much of a user base here for the older ScubaPro regs (or any others for that matter) because I live on an island.

 

[oncor23]

Yeah, it's an old thread, but why start a new topic? My MK 10 just failed massively. The body split the whole length just past where the yokes arms attach. So, the yoke was hanging on to a sliver of metal...and the rest of the body was free and held up by all the hoses. I was preparing for a second dive with a low pressure tank at 2500 psi. I was about to get into the BC when it let loose. Made quite a bang. I got the air turned off, and everyone on board thought maybe an o-ring or burst disc had gone, but not the case. It was serviced about 3 months ago, but apparently it's hard to tell when the body is about to break?? So the LDS has another MK 10 to replace it, but I've got to wonder if that's a good idea. When will the next one let loose???

At least no one was injured....this time.

I'm not the original owner, so I have no idea what Scubapro will do...if anything.

Thoughts?