Worthington closing plant where scuba cylinders are manufactured

[lynchpit2]

I just talked to one of the owners (missed his name) of XS Scuba as well as Ronnie Thompson from Norris.

On the Worthington tanks being built by Norris, they did not buy the scuba manufacturing of the Worthington tanks, however they do have an agreement with them to manufacture the shells. (They did buy the rights to many other tanks that Worthington was producing, but not the Scuba tanks) As the manufacturing equipment needed to be shipped and set back up, he said it could take quite some time before they are able to run any shells.
The shells would then be sent to Worthington to have threads cut, galvanized and certified. He did mention that this is only an agreement so well have to wait and see what will come out of this. He expected it would be at least a year before any shells were produced. Then who knows how long before they could reach the market.

As far as XS Scuba and what tanks they are offering, they have gotten in the Faber line and they are painted gray to look like the galvanized tanks and come with their pro valves. (they bought Thermo Valves so they are basically those with their safety handwheel.
Here is a link to what they are offering. Sea Pearls - Faber High Pressure Steel Cylinders

Looks like my resale cost of galvanized tanks just went up......

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Paint them gray so no one will notice!

Glad I have 6 HDG Worthington HP100s.

 

[Scubadude_LA]

As far as XS Scuba and what tanks they are offering, they have gotten in the Faber line and they are painted gray to look like the galvanized tanks and come with their pro valves. (they bought Thermo Valves so they are basically those with their safety handwheel.
Here is a link to what they are offering. Sea Pearls - Faber High Pressure Steel Cylinders

Looks like my resale cost of galvanized tanks just went up......

Wow, no LP options??? Ouch!!
No big deal I guess, the white ones work fine too...
Sorry to see XS hit with this mess.
Proud owner of 4 Worthy HP120s and 6 LP85s.
Luv the hot dip galv. But I've seen some really beat up rusty Fabers that work just fine.
Maybe I'll sell some Worthy's to help fund my new Meg

Edit:
Just wanted to add a thanks to the folks in Tilbury for a job well done.
Sucks to see a group out of work that has provided such a fine product for us to have fun with.
You built a product that will probably outlast all of us.

 

[scubafanatic]

I just talked to one of the owners (missed his name) of XS Scuba as well as Ronnie Thompson from Norris.

On the Worthington tanks being built by Norris, they did not buy the scuba manufacturing of the Worthington tanks, however they do have an agreement with them to manufacture the shells. (They did buy the rights to many other tanks that Worthington was producing, but not the Scuba tanks) As the manufacturing equipment needed to be shipped and set back up, he said it could take quite some time before they are able to run any shells.
The shells would then be sent to Worthington to have threads cut, galvanized and certified. He did mention that this is only an agreement so well have to wait and see what will come out of this. He expected it would be at least a year before any shells were produced. Then who knows how long before they could reach the market.

As far as XS Scuba and what tanks they are offering, they have gotten in the Faber line and they are painted gray to look like the galvanized tanks and come with their pro valves. (they bought Thermo Valves so they are basically those with their safety handwheel.
Here is a link to what they are offering. Sea Pearls - Faber High Pressure Steel Cylinders

Looks like my resale cost of galvanized tanks just went up......

...talk about a Rube Goldberg process ! So, let me get this straight...PST couldn't figure out how to produce galvanized scuba tanks at a profit and went bankrupt, then Worthington couldn't figure it out either, and now there's this bizarre vague 'alliance' between Worthington and Norris (Norris is also a past failed scuba tank manufacturer, I believe they're failed at this twice in the past, and per another recent SB thread Norris has a history of NOT renewing their DOT HP tank 'exemptions', leaving Norris tank owners with expensive scrap metal) that's supposed to return galvanized tanks back into the market ??? Color me skeptical !

First rule of scuba: don't hold yer breath!

 

[rhwestfall]

So, I stopped in at my LDS for the first time in a fair bit. Behold, there were the new Farbers (interesting green-ish drab color and the "black" valves). OMG the prices!!!!

I had picked up a pair of new XS HP120's through them a short while back, paying through the nose for them (support your LDS). The HP80 Farbers are selling for the price I had got the 120s for, and the 120 was almost $100 more than what I had paid. And I watched as a guy walked out the door with two 80's, so it isn't like they aren't selling.......

OUCH!!!!!

 

[Xaryo]

the Faber might be a bit more expensive, but they don't rust inside as much as Worthy. You will save on tumbling.

 

[rhwestfall]

the Faber might be a bit more expensive, but they don't rust inside as much as Worthy. You will save on tumbling.

so, you get bad fills, eh?

edit:

As to more expensive? Last fall I sourced three HP100's for less than 50% of the price now... I realize it was a tremendous deal, but >50%.... seems there is some serious monopoly strategy going on here...

I hope someone can get back in the game..

 

[Leadking]

This CANNOT be done with Exempt cylinders. Pressed Steel Tank (PST) tried this when they sold their equipment to a Korean firm. Under DOT guidelines, all work must be done by the entity holding the permit. Norris has the facilities to do all the work, excluding galvanizing, which is done AFTER hydro, in house.

I just talked to one of the owners (missed his name) of XS Scuba as well as Ronnie Thompson from Norris.

On the Worthington tanks being built by Norris, they did not buy the scuba manufacturing of the Worthington tanks, however they do have an agreement with them to manufacture the shells. (They did buy the rights to many other tanks that Worthington was producing, but not the Scuba tanks) As the manufacturing equipment needed to be shipped and set back up, he said it could take quite some time before they are able to run any shells.
The shells would then be sent to Worthington to have threads cut, galvanized and certified. He did mention that this is only an agreement so well have to wait and see what will come out of this. He expected it would be at least a year before any shells were produced. Then who knows how long before they could reach the market.

As far as XS Scuba and what tanks they are offering, they have gotten in the Faber line and they are painted gray to look like the galvanized tanks and come with their pro valves. (they bought Thermo Valves so they are basically those with their safety handwheel.
Here is a link to what they are offering. Sea Pearls - Faber High Pressure Steel Cylinders

Looks like my resale cost of galvanized tanks just went up......

 

[scubafanatic]

This CANNOT be done with Exempt cylinders. Pressed Steel Tank (PST) tried this when they sold their equipment to a Korean firm. Under DOT guidelines, all work must be done by the entity holding the permit. Norris has the facilities to do all the work, excluding galvanizing, which is done AFTER hydro, in house.

So who does the galvanizing ....Worthington ?

 

[Leadking]

The cylinders were complete, including hydro, and then sent to the galvanizing facility. Worthington did not do the galvanizing.
I know, as I was one of the parties that set Worthington up in the scuba business.

Lee

So who does the galvanizing ....Worthington ?