Self service Ikelite X rings?

[reefrat]

Does anyone know how to service the "X" rings in an Ikelite housing??

It's an SLR housing- couple of years old and I have a set of new rings for it.
I've rung around, no-one services them locally and it's a long way from here in Western Australia to Ikelite in the USA so I'll have a go myself if it's not too difficult.

 

[ike]

Should not be a problem. Only concern is take care that the "X" ring is not twisted in the gland. Actually, probably no need to replace except in the unlikely event one is actually leaking.

 

[MarkH]

Does anyone know how to service the "X" rings in an Ikelite housing??

It's an SLR housing- couple of years old and I have a set of new rings for it.
I've rung around, no-one services them locally and it's a long way from here in Western Australia to Ikelite in the USA so I'll have a go myself if it's not too difficult.

I did mine myself, but I don't know the official way ( and I'm sure it's better than what I did). One of my old SLR housings was leaking around the control rods so I took off the handle for the control rod and pulled out the control rod. Now there's just a hollow "tube" with the x-ring inside. Now the hard part: -Taking the old x-rings out. I didn't want to scratch the inside of the metal control tube so I tried to use all kinds of crazy plastic and wood "picks" to get the ring out. The problem was that the pick had to be pretty narrow and sharp to fit behind the ring and the things I was using were just too flexible. Finally out of frustration I just gouged them out with a sharp, narrow knife blade. Putting the new x-rings in was easy compared to that. I thought for sure it would leak, but I've been using it for over a year now (max depth around 120 feet) and so far it works great.

 

[reefrat]

Thanks, I'll be carefull getting the old rings out.

I thought it would be a matter of loosening the nut on the inside of the housing and then the control rod would come out!

Did you lubricate the X ring with Ikelite silicone grease?

Since I've had the housing (got it second hand) it has done about 20 dives to 20 metres without incident and all the controls move smoothly. However one of the nuts inside has a small amount of corrosion on it and I wonder if it has leaked at some point!So I thought I'd better change the X rings before my upcoming trip to the Solomon Islands in July (Yippee!!)

 

[MarkH]

Thanks, I'll be carefull getting the old rings out.

I thought it would be a matter of loosening the nut on the inside of the housing and then the control rod would come out!

Did you lubricate the X ring with Ikelite silicone grease?

Since I've had the housing (got it second hand) it has done about 20 dives to 20 metres without incident and all the controls move smoothly. However one of the nuts inside has a small amount of corrosion on it and I wonder if it has leaked at some point!So I thought I'd better change the X rings before my upcoming trip to the Solomon Islands in July (Yippee!!)

If your housing is anything like mine, if you remove the nut on the inside, it allows you to remove the whole control rod assembly. This makes it easier to work on (I forgot to mention this), but I still have to remove the handle to remove the shaft from the sleeve part of the assembly where the X-ring is. If you haven't noticed any leakage, I wouldn't bother changing the x-rings. I would be paranoid of causing a problem when there wasn't really one in the first place. I've had several old Ikelite housings and there always seems to be a bit of corrosion here and there on some fittings. No big deal.

 

[MarkH]

Oh, and yes I lubricated the x-rings, but with some old nikonos grease. I lubricate them from time to time with whatever I have handy, usually some kind of silicone lube. I just put some on the shaft and move it around.