old scubapro

ok, so my friend has a scubapro reg setup, and it hasn't been used in several years. My shop said it would cost 100 to service, but they don't sell scubapro. I am thinking of finding scematics online and then letting him service it himself, he's tech savvy and good at this kind of stuff. Anyone ever do this themself? Is there a way to become a "certified" technician if not affiliated with a shop?

My recommendation - take it to a bona-fide Scubapro repair shop. 'Nuff said. Your friend's future life expectancy will thank you.

Mike

How old? what model SP is it? Reg service is not the forbidden voodoo it seems. There are a number of books out that will take you through the process. Parts may be a bit of a problem, but are out there. That said. While it isn't too hard to service regs on your own, You should leave it to someone else if you don't have the correct frame of mind to take it on. You will need a fiew specialty tools to do the job, and a desire to be methodical, and thorough. This is NOT a place for "good enough", and that mind set will come back to get you. Get the books, READ THEM, buy the tools and get the parts kits BEFORE cracking the regs. Don't do it now to see what makes it tick, then get the stuff later. If you have any mechanical ability, you should be fine. Just go slow, and learn by what you do.

Another thought, where is the shop going to get parts, if they aren't a scubapro dealer? Scubapro won't sell parts outside of their dealer network, as far as I know. $100 isn't bad for labor and parts, as long as they know what they are doing.

If you are mechanically inclined and know a fair amount about tools and how to use them, it is possible to learn how to repair your own regulator.

A book like Pete Wolfinger's (the former tech/training guru at Scubapro) Regulator Savvy available from www.scubatools.com is virtually a neccesity. I like this, particularly for Scuabpro regs as many of the diagrams used to illustrate the book are of Scubapro regs and Mr. Wolfinger used to write the training and tech manuals for Scubapro. The book covers regulator theory, repair and maintence procedures and well as adjustment theory and the various tools you may need to do the job right.

Oxyhacker has a similar book available through Airspeed Press, but I have never had a chance to read a copy so I am not cure how it compares. Both are $50.00.

The cost of tools is a potential issue as even if you already own basic handtools and a torgue wrench, you may still need $100-$200 in specialty tools and an IP gauge to do the job right. And that is not counting a magnahelic gauge to properly set and test the second stage inhalation effort.

Formal training is hard to come by. Most companies offer training seminars, but only to current dive shop sponsored employees. Plus, in most cases, much of the trianing occurs after the seminar in the shop under the guidance of an existing experienced tech as you cannot learn all that much in a one or two day seminar. So it becomes something of an on the job training or apprenticship program where the shop makes a fairly hefty investment in you.

Scubapro used to offer seminars provided by their tech reps at no charge usually at a dive shop within a few hours drive from other dealers in the area. However they recently stopped doing this and are now requiring techs to pay $160 each for a seminar from a specific trainer holding seminars only in larger metropolitain areas. This may or may not improve the training, but this unfortunate change in policy will make it far less likely for a shop to sponsor a diver willing to do part time tech work on the side in exhange for the training.

Parts are also fairly tightly controlled by Scubapro (and other manufacturers) and while some new parts and annual service kits are available through e-bay, they are often older parts kits that have been discontinued. Scubapro has an evolutionary design philosophy and they fequently change and upgrade parts used in their regulators as better technologies develop. Parts availability is also spotty and usually consists of liquated parts from out of business dive shops discontinued SP dealerships. Due to the resulting supply and demand issues on e-bay, parts tend to sell for 2-3 times their normal cost.

The average labor rate for a reg is about $25.00 per stage and parts tend to run $4-$12 for a second stage and $5-15 for a first stage depending on the models involved. So for a first and second stage only, $60-$80 is a reasonable charge and an octo could add another $30-$35.00 to that. Some land locked shops in smaller markets offer less expensive labor (locally we charge $10.00 per stage) so you may be able to get a slightly better deal.

But $100 is not unreasonable for an annual service, especially when you start totalling the costs of servicing your own regs. If you are a technical diver with several regs, the high initial investment needed to do it yourself and do it right makes sense, but if you are a recreational diver needng only 1-2 regs serviced per year, it would take you a few years to break even.

The specific reg in question is also an issue. Older Mk 10 G250's, Mk 10 Balanced Adjustables or Mk 10 D400's for example, are superb regs that are better in some ways than anything you can buy now and are well worth restoring/servicing. However a Mk 7, or early Mk 5 is a lot less desireable and a lot less useful to a modern diver. Similarly, second stages like the Pilot and Air 1 were excellent second stages in their day but are no longer supported by Scubapro and they can be difficult or impossible to obtain service for from both a parts and liability perspective.

DA Aquamaster:

A book like Pete Wolfinger's (the former tech/training guru at Scubapro) Regulator Savvy available from www.scubatools.com is virtually a neccesity. I like this, particularly for Scuabpro regs as many of the diagrams used to illustrate the book are of Scubapro regs and Mr. Wolfinger used to write the training and tech manuals for Scubapro. The book covers regulator theory, repair and maintence procedures and well as adjustment theory and the various tools you may need to do the job right.

Oxyhacker has a similar book available through Airspeed Press, but I have never had a chance to read a copy so I am not cure how it compares. Both are $50.00.

.

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Reg Savvy, they have two different bindings now. The binder is $50 the spiral is only $29.

I've been doing my own Scubapro regs for about 7 years now. My wife & kids are still diving the new plastic regs but I'm using the older metals (Mk 10/7/5 with R108, R109. & R156) almost exclusively. Compared to the newer models, they are quite simple to service. Documentation and tool are readily available. Parts take some work developing sources but they can be obtained. But getting started will cost well over $100 so if that is a pacing consideration, $100 for a good annual service is a very fair price. It would cost me about $50 just for parts including those o-rings that are not included in service kits.

What model regs are you talking about? Some of the older models may not have parts available and other are not suitable for use with modern tank pressures.

You can buy the service kits on e-bay and do it yourself, it's not much more difficult than changing o-rings in your kitchen faucet.

superstar:

You can buy the service kits on e-bay and do it yourself, it's not much more difficult than changing o-rings in your kitchen faucet.

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I disagree.

superstar:

You can buy the service kits on e-bay and do it yourself, it's not much more difficult than changing o-rings in your kitchen faucet.

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There are some significant differences:

1. If your faucet leaks you are not at risk of dying or injuring yourself.

2. Your faucets also operate at something far less than 100 psi, while your first stage operates at anywhere from 2250 to 4350 psi with a full tank and your second stage operates at 120-145 psi.

3. A small scratch on a mating surface of a faucet is no big deal. In contrast, for example, if you scratch the inside of your Mk 10 picking out the HP o-ring, it will leak and the only fix would be to replace the entire first stage body, if you can even find one - and in any event it would be cheaper to replace the first stage.

4. Using the wrong o-ring in a faucet is at worst an incovenience. Using the wrong o-ring in your regulator can result in catastrophic air loss at depth.

5. There are also longer term problems that can result from improper techniques and/or not following specific procedures and/or torque limits such as parts cracking, parts becoming stuck together more or less permanantly or, worse, coming apart mid-dive.

None of this is to say it's overly "hard", but it is critical that you know what you know what are doing and that you do the job right.