SP G250 jam nut

[Umuntu]

Couv is coaching me to tread lightly into new SP ventures so we will see where this shakes out.
The 109's were taken back down to brass and all the flaws, dings, dents removed then copper and chrome plated. They should have been in the SP museum but they would be nicer than anything they had there.

Bryan and @couv, if it's not commercially sensitive I would be greatly interested in how you restored the 109s. Did you send them out to a re-chroming shop or do the re-plating work yourselves ?

I've a bunch of old school 109s and 108s paired with MK 10s and 5s that need some new life breathed into them. They don't need an @buddhasummer finish, but they do need to be presentable again. I think with new rubber parts and re-chroming they could easily have another couple of decades of good service.

I've considered going to some of the shops that do restoration of vintage car parts, but have frankly been apprehensive about the likely cost.

 

[rsingler]

Bryan and @couv, if it's not commercially sensitive I would be greatly interested in how you restored the 109s. Did you send them out to a re-chroming shop or do the re-plating work yourselves ?

I've a bunch of old school 109s and 108s paired with MK 10s and 5s that need some new life breathed into them. They don't need an @buddhasummer finish, but they do need to be presentable again. I think with new rubber parts and re-chroming they could easily have another couple of decades of good service.

I've considered going to some of the shops that do restoration of vintage car parts, but have frankly been apprehensive about the likely cost.

When you find a place, and I'm looking too, let's double up! I have about a dozen that I've wanted to do exactly the same thing to. Maybe they'll lower the unit cost if we do a larger bunch at once.

 

[Umuntu]

When you find a place, and I'm looking too, let's double up! I have about a dozen that I've wanted to do exactly the same thing to. Maybe they'll lower the unit cost if we do a larger bunch at once.

I'd love to, but I'm in the UK. A long way from California.

 

[Couv]

I've considered going to some of the shops that do restoration of vintage car parts, but have frankly been apprehensive about the likely cost.

That's exactly what I did, and you are correct. The cost was more than I expected and I ended up selling the regs for less than I paid for the plating alone. Both shops I used have also gone out of business. This is very telling as our Environmental Protection Agency has made the cost of doing business so high, re-chroming businesses have to charge a price unpalatable to most consumers. Unless I find a more reasonable vendor, I would only consider doing this again on a regulator I intended on keeping for a very long time.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Mine were done (Luis had a couple done as well) by a friend who took perfection to a whole other level of obsession. Plating was his hobby and unfortunately he relocated to take another job and his new home does not have the space to setup his equipment. He said the 109's were extremely difficult to plate correctly. After his time and materials were figured in it would cost less to buy a new regulator if he charged accordingly. The only way it was affordable was because it was his hobby and he enjoyed the challenge.

Talk to local companies that do restoration on antique power and sailboats as they often work with parts that cannot be replaced and will had the skills to work with difficult parts......Won't be cheap though!

Couv is 110% correct.....EPA has killed chrome plating here in the US. It used to cost me almost as much to chrome plate the Phoenix first stages as it cost to have the machine shop make them.

 

[Umuntu]

Thank you both @couv and @OWIC647. [Un?]Fortunately we don't yet have an EPA, and there are still a few re-chroming businesses around. Unfortunately most are not near to where I live. So I will probably have to deal with them initially by email, which isn't satisfactory.

Are there any tips you can share ? Do's and Don'ts. I expect I will have to disassemble everything into its component parts. Are there any parts which I should avoid rechroming?

Did they take care of stripping the old chrome away too ?

For the 156/109 brass is: Body, Face plate, clamps (x2), Logo plate, adjustment knob, pin/clip
For the 108 brass is: Body, Face plate, clamps (x2), Logo plate

For the 1st Stages, should I avoid replating the piston?

Personally I would go for a (hopefully less expensive) satin finish. Lustrous

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Done correctly...According to my source....must be stripped down to the base metal. after that any flaws, dings, dents must be addressed by polishing, floating, brazing etc. Next it must be polished to a mirror finish, then the copper and chrome coats are applied. unless the base metal is perfect it's not going to be impressive. Plating something like a car bumper or similar is a much simpler process and does not require nary as much precision and skill. ALSO the anodes used to plate each individual piece must be placed in a certain way as to do an even thickness...This takes knowledge and years of experience. Anodes are not cheap and have a limited life.
You can't plate the piston. ....It is very difficult to get an even plating inside the bore of a 109 most from the factory have incomplete plating inside them and that's why you see a lot of corrosion in that area. Since it's brass it's not that big of a deal.

 

[Umuntu]

Thank you @OWIC647.

Personally, I lean more towards Wabi-Sabi than perfection. I think the dents and kinks make an object more approachable and less intimidating than a mirror perfect finish. So a car bumper job that takes care of eliminating verdigris and looks presentable will be fine. The regs are not for sale, just for use.

I have noticed on new LP/HP Plugs that there is at least one "row" of threads where the brass is still visible … probably where the anode thread connection was attached.

Why is more scuba stuff not made from monel? I understand it's more expensive, but it makes a whole lot more sense than marine brass, stainless steel or titanium.

 

[Bryan@Vintage Double Hose]

Thank you @OWIC647.

I have noticed on new LP/HP Plugs that there is at least one "row" of threads where the brass is still visible … probably where the anode thread connection was attached.
CORRECT

Why is more scuba stuff not made from monel? I understand it's more expensive.
This...I could make the Kraken from monel, titanium, stainless etc etc but it would never sell enough to cover the cost.
.

 

[ams511]

Don't know how I missed those...although glad I did.

The ones you were selling (or sold) looked excellent why would you want more?