Why the big Diff in wing $$$

[divad]

Thank you Divad. Your remark here made me find a wing on my budget.

If you were me, you'd still need to buy a black magic marker.

 

[HantsDiver]

that is actually a very important question.

Do you go back and forth between singles and doubles and need/want to use the same backplate? Use something that has an STA since it is much easier to swap back and forth without having to unthread cam bands.

Do you travel a lot? If you do, then you probably don't want to get a wing that requires the use of an STA since it is extra weight and bulk to carry. I.e. don't buy Halcyon, DRiS Trianta, etc.

If you travel a lot you may also not want to get a wing that is really stiff to pack like the Oxycheq's.

wet/dry doesn't matter, but travel vs. local may

I'm a bad person to answer those questions as I have several backplates both in steel and in alu.

I have a weighted halcycon sta - and if I'm traveling I just take the weight out.

But they are fair points.

 

[HantsDiver]

Following that logic you should still drive a Model T. After all it has 4 wheels and an engine ......

Not really. Cars are technologically different. A wing is a bag of air.

 

[HantsDiver]

I have a 25 lb wing that trapped air. It was noticeable and annoying. The manufacturer uses the same bladder in their 35 lb and 25 lb wings. Difference is the outer shell size. An oversized bladder inside a small shell leads to air trapping. Some manufacturers do similar, others use smaller bladders for their smaller wings. It costs less to use 1 bladder for 2 different wings.

For me, some wings work better than others.

Fair enough. I've never experienced this but I have learned something. That's good to know going forward.

 

[ronscuba]

The air trapping I described is only noticeable when you don't have much air in the wing. For example, your weighting is perfect and towards the end of the dive. Air gets trapped in the bladder because of all the folds and creases created when it is stuffed into a small shell.

 

[rhwestfall]

@ronscuba that is an eye opening picture...

 

[divad]

The air trapping I described is only noticeable when you don't have much air in the wing. For example, your weighting is perfect and towards the end of the dive. Air gets trapped in the bladder because of all the folds and creases created when it is stuffed into a small shell.


View attachment 415092

Is that a DiveRite?

 

[ronscuba]

Not my picture (I linked another SB members pic), but I have the same situation.

It is a DGX wing, but it is the same as a Dive Rite travel wing w/o the label. Some other manufacturers do the same thing.

To be fair, the air trapping and venting issue is only noticeable in the situation I described. If this is does not describe how you dive, then you don't have to worry.

 

[tbone1004]

someone needs to pull a Halcyon Eclipse 30 out of the bag as well, the inner bladder is quite a bit larger than the outer bladder. Has to be so the outer bladder takes all of the pressure and puts the inner bladder at less risk of puncture

 

[cool_hardware52]

Stiff bladders, i.e. stiff urethane films or fabric / urethane laminates pucker, like a mylar balloon. That alone requires an over sized bladder to fill the shell smoothly.

Thinner bladder materials also need to be oversized to limit the inflation stresses on the bladder.

DSS uses a custom blown, 30 mil, fairly soft urethane film.

The thicker films attenuate impacts better than thin films.

The thicker films are actually easier to weld, as the weld energy isn't conducted away from the joint and into the die or platten, and slight variations in material thickness across a given bladder is more easily tolerated. Think about trying to "level" a welding die that maybe 24 x 30 inches with two layers of laminate that may have .004-.005" of urethane on them vs two layers of .030" compliant film. Gaps between the die and material is a bad thing that can lead to arcing.

Welding DSS SMB's which use a 400 denier laminate is much more difficult than welding 30 mil baldders.

The lower durometer allows the material to stretch a bit. That greatly reduces puckering.

The thick films are also sufficiently robust that the bladder alone can be inflated outside of the shell. That's also possible with most of the laminates, but not without more puckering, laminates just are not compliant.


DSS Torus 17 shell on top of DSS Torus 17 Bladder

DSS Torus 17 Bladder Side by side DSS Torus 17 Shell

Fully inflated DSS Torus 17 Bladder only

Tobin