DA-"aqua master" question

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dogfix

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Hi fellow divers!

I'm new to this board.

I'm also new to double hose regulators. It's a whole new world!

I just aquired a DA-"aqua master" double hose regulator. Having read thru some of the past messages I have gleaned some information about this device.

Can anyone point me to any good souces for additional information, technical and practical?

I would like to get this thing tuned up. I do have some experience servicing equipment, having received training, and service my own Poseidon and TUSA regulators

Thanks!
 
You can start with these sites. They include links to others:

http://www.vintagescubasupply.com/

http://groups.msn.com/SKINANDSCUBADIVING1950s-1980s/messages.msnw

To tune an AquaMaster there are two schools of thought. The official method is to set the intermediate pressure (IP) at 110 psi at full tank pressure (2200 psi). An informal method is that at at a tank pressure of 500 psi, increase the IP until you hear it leak, the back off a bit. The logic is that the AquaMaster first stage is an unbalanced upstream regulator. The HP seat is held against a spring by tank pressure. As the tank pressure drops the IP increases. Up from about 110 at full tank pressure to about 140 psi at low tank pressure. So, if you adjust the IP as high as you can at low pressure, you don't have to worry about it at high pressure because the IP will be lower (if you follow). A properly tuned AquaMaster is a delight to breathe off of.
 
I can send you a service manual if you want
Neil
 
Well, I've been working on the USD Aquamaster for many years. I was trained on it in the US Navy School for Underwater Swimmers in Key West, Florida. There are some very good suggestions above, but there are a few things that were not said about the Aquamaster.

First though, you can get a complete description of how to service the Aquamaster in the US Navy Diving Manual, March 1970. It goes into great detail about how to service the Aquamaster, including the settings mentioned above about setting the interstage pressure at 110 psi. However, the US Navy used the old Aluminum cylinders (which could not be hydroed, by the way) which were 3000 psi. So they set the interstage pressure to 110 psi on a full cylinder, at 3000 psi.

Second, do not attempt to replace the LP seat holder unless you actually have a leaking LP seat. Most of the original LP seat holders used a nut and washer that was not a locking nut, and so they were either filed or punched with a center punch to preclude the nut from backing out. There is a note in the manual stating, "Be sure to use litharge cement and counter-punch the nut (25) and the disk shaft (33)..." Therefore, you may not be able to remove it without cutting it off (which was the normal procedure. So, before you try to remove the LP seat holder, be sure you have the correct replacement if this has been done to the LP seat holder.

The Vintage Scuba Supply link below is good, and has new hoses, mouthpieces and valves. It is quite possible that you will need new mouthpiece valves, and a new flutter valve. The old one may be rotted into the metal of the bottom box. If that's the case, you will need to remove it, and the best way I have found is with a thin blade of a pocket knife. No solution will touch it, so don't try.

When you put the mouthpiece/hose assembly back together, you must balance it so that it can stay in your mouth without pressure. There are two ways to do this. Either place the regulator down on a table, and aim the mouthpiece straight back at the regulator box, or hold the mouthpiece balanced on your fingertip about three inches above the regulator and in front of it. If it balances there, it will be balanced when you have it in your mouth.

A double-hose regulator should sit low, between you shoulder blades, when worn diving. This position is easiest to achieve by using double-tanks (see the photo, enclosed).

Finally, if you see any of the tanks in the enclosed photo, they must be drilled. They are 3000 psi aluminum with a plug in the bottom, and used a very old technology from the 1960s to give the Navy UDT/Seal teams an aluminum tank set (anti-magnetic). They were never made to be hydroed, and some have found their way into the civilian market (at least, I saw some in a school welding shop in the 1980s).

I hope this helps.

SeaRat
 
Not the originator of the Rathat are you?

I had a couple of the big plugged 80's. Traded them for couple steel 72's. Too hard to get hydroed.

The teams still use the Aquamaster for dive phase. Its used to get students used to the feel and design of the Draeger LAR 5. They have a full dive locker at BUD/S that maintains them. Probably one of the few places left that USD actually sell parts to.
 
I'm not the originator of the RatHat, although I had heard of it. I tried looking it up on the internet, and kept getting all the computer links to Lenix. I probably would have been more visible in the diving world had I done it, but I've been concentrating on buoyancy compensation, finswimming, and older equipment (now, that is--I kinda grew up with it).

Concerning the BUD/S maintaining a scuba locker with DA Aquamasters, that's interesting. I saw a Discovery Channel special on BUD, and they were using Snark III regs, but I don't remember where.

When I adjust my reg, I take it to a low pressure (under 500 psi), then adjust the intermediate stage 'till it leaks, and back off some. It makes the reg breath very nicely.

The flutter valve needs to be pulled out into a position where it is over the main part of the diaphragm, or the reg will leak a bit due to pressure differentials.

I graduated from US Navy School, Underwater Swimmers, in Key West on May 26th, 1967. G.F. Young was the Training Officer, and P,W. Willits the Commanding Officer.

SeaRat
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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