Well Pardon Me - the USD 1085 appreciation

[Nemrod]

I would beg to disagree, if you do not mind sir, with that thread, The Grail" as that sissy Scubapro109 is the new kid on the block and hardly plays in my league!



You know my name by the scars I wear from the battles I have fought. I am a rock, I Am What I Am:



And I was here long before the 109 and will be here long after it's soft purge cover crumbles to dust!

Those two are mine. The Calypso/Conshelf series goes way back. My Calypso J I bought in 1966. My Conshelf XIV 1085XX that was found when a dive shope closed up. The display cabinet was moved and from behind it fell a NIB Conshelf XIV in the box! It and a mint mate are my last remaining of the kind as I have given away to deserving young divers (and sold a few too) all the others .

Some things are forever.

James

 

[Jcp2]

A set dives with me in Michigan. Conshelf 14 with enough LP ports for drysuit. I need to get a splitter so that the Conshelf XIV can be a backup.

 

[Couv]

And I was here long before the R109

...considering there is no such thing as an R109 I suppose you are correct.

Besides, your Conny is more comparable to a early version of the SP108 than the far superior 109. They are both classic downstream design (single adjustment on both) compared to a barrel poppet design. The 108 later (hp version) had dual adjustments.

The barrel poppet design of the 109 will blow your man down.

109: I yam what yam and that's all that I yam.

 

[Nemrod]

@Couv fixed that for you!

I prefer Peanut Butter to Spinach as my super power food and I just ate a PBS!

So then the 1085XX, compared to the second stage regulator 109, does have a full size exhaust valve of 30mm vs 26mm, a larger exhaust tee, has a hard purge button that will not rot or deform and due to the side vents on the chrome and brass diaphragm cover was not at all prone to free flow in high flow environments and therefore did not need the extra complication of a cracking force knob. Even with the knob cranked in the 109 and especially the knob-less 108 would burble away into the current .

Take that will ya Mr. Bluto!

 

[Pressurehead]

I would beg to disagree, if you do not mind sir, with that thread, The Grail" as that sissy R109 is the new kid on the block and hardly plays in my league!



You know my name by the scars I wear from the battles I have fought. I am a rock, I Am What I Am:



And I was here long before the R109 and will be here long after it's soft purge cover crumbles to dust!

Those two are mine. The Calypso/Conshelf series goes way back. My Calypso J I bought in 1966. My Conshelf XIV 1085 that was found when a dive shope closed up. The display cabinet was moved and from behind it fell a NIB Conshelf XIV in the box! It and a mint mate are my last remaining of the kind as I have given away to deserving young divers (and sold a few too) all the others .

Some things are forever.

James

I have a few of them, and an ammunition box [7.62] full of parts, and a few of those neck straps as well.
Sitting in a plastic box, not being used, just don't know what to do with them, I have enough 'door stops'.
Love my G250s and G260, those are used a lot, the above , not at all.
Sad.

 

[Pressurehead]

Just a few of them.

 

[Nemrod]

The last of the line, technically still available to military customers (??. The Conshelf 14 with the 1085(30/38):



I am not sure but I think the 1085XX has enjoyed the longest production run of any second stage? Think so.

Uh, do not anyone send me any 1085 regs, well, okay a 14 with the side port I will take. I was giving them away like candy a few years ago. A bum, dive for food, here, take a 1085! Not really, but I did give all of mine away save for another NIB set I sold cheaply enough. But I got to keep one set. Now, if anyone has one of these they wish to part with I call shotgun!:

 

[Pressurehead]

I have box full of those parts, except , 65 and 66, and only one 57 in good order.
The Conshelf XIV first stage scared the crap out of me when it was first given to us [Aust. navy], a few of the very first ones failed, I was witness to one 'blowing' at depth, we went back to piston until the problem was fixed, thin pin breaking if I remember right, it has been solid since.
BUT, first stages with a 'membrane' were off the list for my own gear until now, I have a MK19 in the stable, that is a long time " to get over it"

 

[Nemrod]

I have box full of those parts, except , 65 and 66, and only one 57 in good order.
The Conshelf XIV first stage scared the crap out of me when it was first given to us [Aust. navy], a few of the very first ones failed, I was witness to one 'blowing' at depth, we went back to piston until the problem was fixed, thin pin breaking if I remember right, it has been solid since.
BUT, first stages with a 'membrane' were off the list for my own gear until now, I have MK19 in the stable, that is a long time " to get over it"

There have been reports of that pin failing but some argue it, the old Mark V piston vs Conshelf diaphragm first stage controversy, fodder for another thread someday . If the pin fails, the regulator locks up, not blows up. You may have had a diaphragm unseat, there could be an issue, especially if the HP diaphragm was slathered incorrectly with silicone grease. If anyone can document a failed (bent or sheared) pin on a Conshelf type first stage I would love to see photos. We may have already had that thread and none were produced.

However, this thread is not about the Conshelf 14 first stage but the ubiquitous 1085XX second stage that was a mainstay of USD product line. The early screw on exhaust tee versions such as my Calypso example was all but the same as later versions of 1085 save for the tiny 24mm exhaust valve and the two vent diaphragm cover. There was if I recall some sort of letter recommending to retire the small exhaust valve second stages with the two screw exhaust tee and the 1085 came to be with the large 30mm exhaust valve with manifold bell in about 1973. The other workings are essentially the same.



James

 

[Pressurehead]

If the pin fails, the regulator locks up, not blows up. You may have had a diaphragm unseat, there could be an issue, especially if the HP diaphragm was slathered incorrectly with silicone grease. If anyone can document a failed (bent or sheared) pin on a Conshelf type first stage I would love to see photos. We may have already had that thread and none were produced.

All I remember was it gave no gas to the diver and it happened twice in the time I was at the diving school, I was not trained to service regulators until the next year, I would have loved a look inside of it, not my job at the time, so I am only going by what I was told.
I am a witness to one failing, no gas was enough, wrong term 'blow', it "blew up for him though".

OK, back on topic.