Which service kit for R109?

[redacted]

The MK20 was cracking because of over thghting of the yoke nut or din. Some say it was something else. Anyway Scubapro did a volintary recall. It seem everyone wants to charge me $100 to $150 to do an anual on it and when I tell them I don't want them to do the anual they don't want to do anything. Eric at Scubapro at one point said he would have a local rep contact me right away. Well two months passed and then when I contacted him again he was going to send me a free shipping label right away. That was two weeks ago. What I need to next is to contact Consumer affiars and send them a certified letter as well as SP. That is where I'm at to date. What is sad here is SP is so out of touch with the common person they are going to lose there sales. The adhesive is for the D series regs. I can already refinish the soft seat for the poppet on the r 156 and the g 250. I can regrind the ring out of the seat with no problem. Works really nice only takes 10 to 20 seconds and it's just like new.

That's what I thought might be the case. I ran into the same thing which I think stuck in the minds of some shop because that is what SP told them to do initially. When I called SP they told me to send it in to them. It was fairly clear they accepted the shop's position as SP apparently pays them nothing for that work. I ended up finding other SP shops to do the free recall modification.

Refinishing the surface will work for a while on the older style balanced poppet but I doubt if it will work at all with the current S-wing poppet. the seat material on those looks to be only about 1/64th of an inch thick. That is one reason I like to leave some of my metal adjustables as 109s. Their LP seat for the current duro poppet is a standard hockey puck style available from a number of different sources. I also find them to be more stable under adverse conditions and, if well maintained and tuned, it is hard to tell the difference in the way they breath.

 

[INFIDELxx]

I recently purchased 2 R109's. I would like to try and convert them too R156's. My local LDS is a knucklehead (too say the least). Can someone tell me where I cant purchase the parts online?


Heres is one broken down. Can anyone possibly date this? Ive read about pulg holes. An supposedly there are two. I can only see on the mouthpiece side.

I was also thinking of having it Re chromed. Would re chroming all the internals cause a problem?

Thanks
Jason

 

[Luis H]

The silicone diaphragm, the X style poppet, and the spring with changing coil spacing, are all from at least the mid to late 70’s. I believe the poppet and adjusting knob changed in the 80’s, but I wasn’t working at a LDS by then.

 

[halocline]

You can probably get the poppet and balance chamber on ebay in a NOS G250 kit. They're pretty common; the new kits don't include the poppet and balance chamber. (Bad scubapro!) Then you just need the spring. That one's going to be a little tougher, but if you went to enough SP dealers, eventually one of them will be willing to charge you $5 each for the spring. On my G250HP diagram it's part #01020206, probably the same 3 for the current G250V part.

Or, you could find a stainless steel spring the same size and tension at a hardware store or a place like Mcmaster Carr. It would be some work to find the right one, but this would be a real service to the DIY crowd.

 

[wapati8]

I have been diving a US Divers Conshelf SE2 1st and Second Stage Combo for about 18 yrs now. I just recently had it serviced and the tech told me my new Oceanic Octo (bought to replace a sportways that the tech said was dead) would probably breath better than my primary.

I recently just picked up an R109 and R108. I want to rebuild them. I may be able to pick up a MK15 or 16 to pair them with. Does this sound like an acceptable 1st stage for this settup?

I am also looking for a good guage cluster and computer as well.

I want to have two or three rigs like this ready to go at any time.

I want to learn how to service/upgrade the 109 series and the 250 series. Any help or advice is greatly apreciated.

Thanks,

---Mike

 

[DA Aquamaster]

There were two older styles of poppet used, but the poppet only dates one way and at best just indicates when it was last serviced. (that one is probably late 1970's). The clear silicone diaphragm also probably dates from the mid to late 1970's as does the light blue exhaust valve.

The solid adjustment knob is also an early pre-late 70's feature as is the chrome plated brass orifice (compared to just the plain brass orifice).

So I'd agree with Luis that is is a mid to late 70's R109.

 

[Couv]

I want to learn how to service/upgrade the 109 series and the 250 series. Any help or advice is greatly apreciated.

Thanks,

---Mike

Hello Mike,

I will leave it to others to address the rest of your post, but here is my usual cut and paste advice for those wanting to service their own regulators:

Servicing your own regulator:

Welcome to the DIY club. The first thing is to start off with a service manual or two. Both service manuals usually discussed here are great; Vance Harlow's "SCUBA Regulator Maintenance and Repair"​

http://www.airspeedpress.com/newregbook.html

and the Scuba Tools book, "Regulator Savvy" http://www.scubatools.com/ are well worth the money.​

I own both and recommend getting one of each. If you are dead set on getting only one, then Vance's is a little more suitable for the DIY guy while the ScubaTools book is more suitable for the shop worker. ScubaTools has some pretty handy tools too, so if you order from there pay a few extra bucks and get the bullets, spanners, and regulator specific tools that you need with your first order and save on shipping. Get a few old regulators like the ones you will be servicing from eBay or Craigs list and practice. After just one or two seasons of servicing your own gear, you will have recovered your investment.​

Here are a couple of websites with tons of regulator specific manuals:

Regulator manuals

http://www.frogkick.dk/manuals/

Good luck,

couv