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Lots of good info, I am not really looking to by pass having my stuff done by a professional I want to learn about them and become one of the professionals, lots of good replys and I appreciate them all.

Thanks
 
Good luck with that- you'll end up with no-name bottom of the line regs.

Dive Rite? HOG? We must have differing opinions of what "no-name bottom of the line" means.

most new regs have free parts for life anyway.

Yes, but most regs don't need the "annual service" that keeping that "for life" business requires.

*(Sherwood has some of the most reasonable prices for repair kits of any reg I know of)

Yes, they're quite reasonable.
Are they easy to get if you service your own regs? No.

Depends what regulator you have but your right. Reg companies LOVE to create specialty tools that are necessary to test and tune some models. The AL Air Source comes to mind. Id guess that you will have the same hurdles getting these tools as you will with part kits.

Many of which can be made with little difficulty by the kind of individual who takes an interest in servicing regulators. I would posit that most of us who do our own aren't in it solely to save a few dollars.
 
I went through Hall's Diving Center in the Florida Keys.

Diving Equipment Repair Technician Training/Career in Scuba Diving, Marathon FL Scuba Diving Career Training

They give a hands on overview of regulator repair and the "theory" of regulator repair. With this type of background most dive shops might give you an opportunity to work on the bench and also send you to various manufacture's repair seminars, which are more about familiarity than actual repair.....

Airspeed press is good, also check out:

Regulator Savvy (Spiral Bound)

We call this the bible. Been fixing regs now for 20 years. Good luck.
 
What brands do you refer to that are starting to sell directly? Aqualung, scubapro, oceanic and probably Sherwood will only sell parts to dealers directly, for sure. If you are finding parts elsewhere, they are not 'legitimate' and from Europe or shops going out of business. Good luck with parts coming from overseas- never know what youll get. A customer brought in a BRAND NEW regulator they got from the Internet (overseas) with a cut main piston ring. RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. I fixed it and he paid for labor and kit.

Dive Rite, Zeagle, Edge/Hog and a few other newer guys are supporting the sale of parts to divers. My regs are all Scubapro and it took me a while but I have been able to get parts with little problem from a variety of sources. In fact, I managed to find a source for a din filter retainer (10400124) which I doubt if you can get through your "legitimate" source. They are the same parts with the same rare manufacturing defect that you might find from any source.

Why would you charge a customer for a kit when all you needed to replace was an o-ring? Sure, you made a few extra bucks. But you probably also made an unsatisfied customer and then you wonder why the shop is losing business.
 
What brands do you refer to that are starting to sell directly? Aqualung, scubapro, oceanic and probably Sherwood will only sell parts to dealers directly, for sure. If you are finding parts elsewhere, they are not 'legitimate' and from Europe or shops going out of business. Good luck with parts coming from overseas- never know what youll get. A customer brought in a BRAND NEW regulator they got from the Internet (overseas) with a cut main piston ring. RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. I fixed it and he paid for labor and kit.




Good luck with that- you'll end up with no-name bottom of the line regs. most new regs have free parts for life anyway. *(Sherwood has some of the most reasonable prices for repair kits of any reg I know of)



Shady backroom deals is not legitimate to me. BTW- are you selling parts on Ebay?



Depends what regulator you have but your right. Reg companies LOVE to create specialty tools that are necessary to test and tune some models. The AL Air Source comes to mind. Id guess that you will have the same hurdles getting these tools as you will with part kits.

I hate to agree, but I must.
 
OP, best way to learn is to get involved with a shop with an active repair department you can learn alto of tricks from someone who has experience.
Sorry for the slight derailment.

...Why would you charge a customer for a kit when all you needed to replace was an o-ring? Sure, you made a few extra bucks. But you probably also made an unsatisfied customer and then you wonder why the shop is losing business.

Nothing to do with making a few extra bucks, but per manufactures guidelines on servicing regulators. Straight from the manual:

"Do not attempt to reuse mandatory replacement parts under any
circumstances, regardless of the amount of use the product has
received since it was manufactured or last serviced."

This example also highlights the danger and disadvantages of buying life support gear from the internet: you get NO warranty (at least not from an auhoridzed dealer)

Id say that doing the job correctly and safely is the best customer service I can provide. I'd never met the customer before and he was thrilled that his reg was fixed properly; I now fill his tanks on a regular basis.
 
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Lets see, I have regulators from 30 to 50+ years old and manage to keep them working fine with no manufacture supplied parts.
 
Airspeed press is good, also check out:

Regulator Savvy (Spiral Bound)

We call this the bible. Been fixing regs now for 20 years. Good luck.

Gah. Forgot to mention this one, and it's right on the shelf behind me with the Airspeed Press books.
That's another book worth its weight in silver.
 
Nothing to do with making a few extra bucks, but per manufactures guidelines on servicing regulators. Straight from the manual:

"Do not attempt to reuse mandatory replacement parts under any
circumstances, regardless of the amount of use the product has
received since it was manufactured or last serviced."

As long as you installed all parts in the kit, I guess you were not cheating the customer. But I do suspect that the manufacturers declaration applies to an "annual service" and not the replacement of a defective o-ring on a new (or freshly serviced) regulator. BTW, what manufacturer are you talking about?

This example also highlights the danger and disadvantages of buying life support gear from the internet: you get NO warranty (at least not from an auhoridzed dealer)

Id say that doing the job correctly and safely is the best customer service I can provide. I'd never met the customer before and he was thrilled that his reg was fixed properly; I now fill his tanks on a regular basis.

I just don't see the danger or disadvantage you would like to have folks believe exists in buy regulators and other scuba gear on the internet (including used gear). From my point of view, it is a much greater danger taking a regulator to some unknown scuba technician for service. (I am not suggesting you are one of those techs that do poor jobs and returning a dangerous regulator to an unsuspecting customer.) And I have no problem giving up or losing the typical limited (conditional) warranty on most scuba gear as they cost so much more than they are worth. Many of my regulators are about 30 years old, purchased used for about $100 per set and reconditioned, by me, for about $25 in parts; with performance and reliability similar to what would cost $1000 in an LDS.
 
But I do suspect that the manufacturers declaration applies to an "annual service" and not the replacement of a defective o-ring on a new (or freshly serviced) regulator. BTW, what manufacturer are you talking about?

Yeah, the highlighted part clearly refers to not trying to make a guesstimate about the status of the parts based on often non-verifiable use (and since certain parts do deteriorate while not in use depending on how the regulator was stored) and replace them during the annual rebuild. That makes sense. Putting in the whole kit unless you suspected the regulator was actually used doesn't. By that logic anytime you disassemble a regulator you have to rebuild it.

I have also been very happy with my internet purchases (again all Scubapro) and I feel a lot more comfortable working on my own regs: I know a few guys now that I would completely trust with my regs, but back when I started I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't just hand them over to some unknown tech. And the whole "free parts warranty" thing is a misnomer - it's no warranty but simply a rebate to entice you into keeping up with annual service. Good for people who don't care about taking care of their own equipment, worthless for others.

If I were starting from scratch today, I'd definitely support companies that provide rebuild kits. While they all sell excellent regs, at least one also happens to be very attractively priced (EDGE/HOG)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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