custom 1st stage!!

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neil287x

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Location
Exeter CA
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hey so, i bought a used 1st stage reg off eBay about a week ago. it only cost me about $30 so i said what the heck. i was unaware how old this reg i had purchased was, and that the ports were awfully big. i went down to my LDS and asked the guy behind the counter about it and he looked all through his shop and couldn't find anything that fit. i was pretty desperate to make something work, so i went to my local ace hardware and bought a couple of bolts and some Teflon tape. bout five minutes later, i was ready to dive into the pool. (im not taking this thing into open water..yet.) i was just wondering if anyone else had done anything like this before? if so, how long did you keep it in and did you ever take it into ocean/lakes?
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Why not? Doesn't look like anything is in any danger of catastrophic disassembly. Use of the graded bolts was a nice touch. A little overkill on the teflon tape, but what the hey? I've done worse and lived to tell the tale. It's just mechanical application, it doesn't have to cost $3.99 for a plug that your LDS might not be old enough to stock. I'm assuming that the threads were a match and it wasn't cross threaded :wink:

Might want to duct tape a second stage onto it, though. I think they have those clamp thingies
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that will do that for you.
 
Leisurepro shows 1/2"M to 3/8"F adapters in an older catalog as part number AQUHAB. Your temporary solution will probably not like salt water much.
 
ha ha this actually isn't a joke. i really did have no other option at the time. but i still dove with it. both dive shops i went to seemed shocked at how big the ports were. the guy tried everything he had. it is a dacor 360. I've looked on the internet for plugs but i seem to be unlucky in finding anything. maybe i'm looking in the wrong places??
 
Trident part number A175 1/2" First Stage Plug wO-ring.

Almost any dive shop can order them. You can download the catalog from the Internet.

Richard
 
I bet Dacor has some spare plugs that you could order pretty cheap that is made for this reg. That way you don't have the corrosion potential and it would make it look a little less Frankenstein.

Anyway, good luck!
 
For a period of time, Dacor and US Divers had this thing going about wide diameter ports. I have a USD Royal (the 80s version) that has the same size port. They used to make hoses with wider diameter fittings as well. The marketing departments of both companies had everyone convinced that wider diameter ports = more gas flow.

They never did explain, however, just how that worked when the hose attached to a standard size fitting on the second stage.

All that said, please don't pressurize the first stage in your picture. Although they might work OK on the LP ports, I seriously doubt the bolts you are using are made of a steel grade to handle the HP port and could very easily fail and become a bullet.

Leisure Pro for the adaptors is a good source!
 
I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about this sport as I am still new. But this is your life support. And as a 1st stage, it is for everything (primary, secondary, buoyancy).
Without these bolts seating properly with proper o-rings, the Teflon tape is an absolute necessity... But as a boater I can tell you about an invisible demon that may come to cause harm to your jury-rigged setup. Electrolysis. Dissimilar metals when submerged in water create a battery affect. In short they trade electrons. Actually not trade, but one acts cathodic and the other acts anodic. The more noble metal takes electrons from the less. In time this could cause a catastrophic failure of the more cathodic metal or either of the metals will morph into something else.
Your bolts, if you plan to stay with them, must be made form the same metal or a metal with the same properties as the 1st stage itself. Especially in salt water.
Be careful.
 

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