About how old would it be?
@$900 with whip and filter seems too good to be true
@$900 with whip and filter seems too good to be true
Question RIX SA-3E
- Thread starter JohnN
- Start date
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Like with a woman I don't know which of two questions would be harder to answer.
Guessing her weight or her age.
If I was pushed 25 years +/- and light enough to lift with one hand would be my answer being the gentleman that I am.
The key observation would be on the 3rd stage head of which 3 variants were made on the SA-3E
1st was Aluminium Black anodised and plain machined with no central 1/4NPT blank plug on the back so to remove the internal valve assembly and reeds you had to pull the valve out using a 6/32 bolt attached into the valve body.
The 2nd variant was change to stainless steel (non magnetic) same size and thread fittings 1/4 and 1/8 NPT for the inlet and outlet as the earlier aluminium head but in stainless to ensure a longer head body life
The 3rd and later variant was also in stainless but with a 7/16 UNF plug fitted centre back that enabled you to push the entire valve assembly out using a drift or dowel from the back end.
The dowel diameter had to be smaller than the reed valve centre hole to avoid bending the reed valve when pushing it out
The valve itself was also redesigned changing the material from a hardened steel again to a non magnetic stainless.
The other change was on the 3rd stage cooling coil changed from 1/4" half hard copper
to 3/16" stainless steel but with the additional change of using a 37 degree flared tube end fitting known as a SAE JIC flared end fitting. Great for the military customers and our workshop but not so favourable with individual scuba divers making up flared end fittings and contemplating copper crush seal washers during service.
All sound engineering 101 but hard to transfer the workshop skills with the fittings change. Iain
Iain
I can't comment on the $900 price but if it were re made again new I would expect the price to be cheaper than a Bauer Junior 2 but slightly more expensive than the Coltri MCH 6
With a lighter open aluminium frame rather than the old heavy 1/4" steel baseplate
and possibly with the main crankshaft in 7075-T6 aluminium rather than the older nickel plated steel
crank together with the swash plate outer ring and inner assembly for big weight reduction.
Some small changes to the bearing geometry, and packing, some weight adjustment to the piston assemblies to reduce vibration if the higher 2200/2300 rpm were to be continued.
An improved weight to balance consideration of the 3 pistons again for vibration reduction
Maybe aluminium coils for weight and heat exchange maybe stainless for life expectancy
or stick with copper coils and brass fittings for low cost
Certainly easy sleeve the main block for extended life expectancy increase salt water protection of components modify the outer race of the main shaft bearings and consider using off the shelf rod end bearings than the older modified "Super `Specials" Extend the main bearing life to 6000 hours keep the rod end re greasing at 10 hours from new then 30 to 50 hours thereafter
Reduce the spare parts prices by not having to go down the Mil spec route for commercial and retail sports customers that don't need to know the cure date and compound variant of each and every component in a bag of spares.
Other than that fit a fit for purpose 7075-T6 hard anodised filter tower with a proper BPR and a decent made in Germany pressure gauge with as a minimum 50 hour filter life, a visual 10/20/30% visual indicator to ensure filter changes at a proper verified time to capacity verification and not some half assed guess on a clock and timer or a blue splint you have to dismantle the filter to verify and most of all use self filled re pack cartridges in a stainless refillable cartridge shell that uses proper molecular sieve and not the imitation imported from China junk used for drying out double glazed windows.
There you have it, that's just about it apart from the colour/color. LOL Iain
With a lighter open aluminium frame rather than the old heavy 1/4" steel baseplate
and possibly with the main crankshaft in 7075-T6 aluminium rather than the older nickel plated steel
crank together with the swash plate outer ring and inner assembly for big weight reduction.
Some small changes to the bearing geometry, and packing, some weight adjustment to the piston assemblies to reduce vibration if the higher 2200/2300 rpm were to be continued.
An improved weight to balance consideration of the 3 pistons again for vibration reduction
Maybe aluminium coils for weight and heat exchange maybe stainless for life expectancy
or stick with copper coils and brass fittings for low cost
Certainly easy sleeve the main block for extended life expectancy increase salt water protection of components modify the outer race of the main shaft bearings and consider using off the shelf rod end bearings than the older modified "Super `Specials" Extend the main bearing life to 6000 hours keep the rod end re greasing at 10 hours from new then 30 to 50 hours thereafter
Reduce the spare parts prices by not having to go down the Mil spec route for commercial and retail sports customers that don't need to know the cure date and compound variant of each and every component in a bag of spares.
Other than that fit a fit for purpose 7075-T6 hard anodised filter tower with a proper BPR and a decent made in Germany pressure gauge with as a minimum 50 hour filter life, a visual 10/20/30% visual indicator to ensure filter changes at a proper verified time to capacity verification and not some half assed guess on a clock and timer or a blue splint you have to dismantle the filter to verify and most of all use self filled re pack cartridges in a stainless refillable cartridge shell that uses proper molecular sieve and not the imitation imported from China junk used for drying out double glazed windows.
There you have it, that's just about it apart from the colour/color. LOL Iain
OP
I pulled the trigger on the SA3. According to the serial #, it was manufactured in 1999 (according to RIX) It came complete with two fill whips (DIN and yoke), a filter stack with about 1 hour on it, backpressure valve, final moisture detector and a nitrox stick.
I did have to drive 4 hours each way to pick it up, but that is the only negative about the deal
I was shocked at how much an air quality test is going to cost me (~$180), but it seems very prudent
Boys and their toys
I did have to drive 4 hours each way to pick it up, but that is the only negative about the deal
I was shocked at how much an air quality test is going to cost me (~$180), but it seems very prudent
Boys and their toys
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