My first DA Aqua-Master!

[KD8NPB]

One of the biggest issues you will have is holding the body to tighten it....DO NOT use the can or the can horns, they will bend. To really tighten the nozzle...or remove it for that matter, you need to hold the body in a special jig. There are some parts that if you continue to dive or work on DH regs you will want to keep on hand, the nozzle gaskets are one of them.

I clamp it down lightly on its side with a hydraulic press. It won't move, the problem I'm having is my old wrench cams out before I can get sufficient torque.

Some times the gasket can get out of place during assembly and get cut when tightening the nozzle. I place the gasket on the nozzle and hold the body upside down and screw in the nozzle up into the body. this helpes to keep the gasket centrally located on the nozzle. If you put the gasket in the body first it can get off center and get cut when you screw the nozzle in.

I assembly the HPN upside-down, as you said, mainly because of the needle and cap combo that goes at the end of the nozzle.

I double-checked the mating surfaces, they're both clean enough to eat off of with no nicks, gouges, or residual material. The gasket still is fresh with no deformation.

This is definitely an issue of torque, or lackthereof...

 

[KD8NPB]

A Harbor-Freight 15" crescent wrench resolved the torque issue. The IP is still good.

I took the regulator out to the pier in St. Joesph to get it dialed in. 1st test, I had the demand valve nut set too high...it was like breathing through a straw. 2nd test, it freeflowed on the first breath. 3rd time was a charm, I found the healthy medium. I'm still going to tinker with it a bit to see if I can find the minimum vacuum set point where breathing resistance is the least without causing a freeflow on a hard breath.

I had to flip the yoke valve on the manifold. The hookah port wouldn't clear the manifold nuts unfortunately with the orifice on the bottom. It's a little higher than I would prefer it. When I'm standing, it's right between my neck and shoulder blades. In the water, the holder / tanks ride up a bit and I can feel the breathing resistance go up a little, so I find myself pulling the pack down. I did try breathing in different positions to see how the resistance is affected. The resistance was less prominent than I thought it would be. It'll take some practice to get used to using a doublehose as opposed to a single hose! All in all though, it's a fun little regulator.

Throwback 60s / 70s setup for warm-ish water:

If only I didn't wear a prescription mask, I could actually have a proper oval mask!

 

[captain]

Even on the US Divers manifold the hookah port interfers with the nuts. It's better to cock the regulator slightly to clear the nut than to flip manifold over and raise the regulator.

 

[halocline]

Looks good so far! I wouldn't put a huge amount of time or money into that 1st stage; if you find that you enjoy DH diving, consider replacing it with a phoenix nozzle, or a used RAM nozzle if you can find one at a reasonable price. The performance difference is huge IMO.

I've been using an extra nut on the 2nd stage as a locknut rather than the nail polish. I just found it was easier to get very small adjustment increments to hold.