Fill er Up And Check the Air

Filling an RGU Without Taking It out Of The Case.

Everytime I looked at that port in the front of the tank, I knew damned well that I could use it as a filler. I made inquiries all across the world to get a fitting that would go on it with no success. Then I bought a couple of pressure gauges that use that port. Now that the fitting was available, the adaptor could be made. First I cut off the gauge with a hacksaw and removed the stem from the two piece unit. With a screw extractor I removed the stub of the gauge in the stem. Next I drilled out the stem and tapped it to 1/8 inch npt. I installed a male male 1/8 inch nipple.

From there it is an easy jump to 1/4 npt using an 1/8 inch female to 1/4 inch female. At this point the world is your oyster since 1/4 npt is a basic standard. Now I can fill the tank from any cga 540 oxygen fitting with either the whip or straight without ever taking the tank out of the case or opening the case. I only have to change the scrubber. I do not even need a wrench to do any of it. Everything is designed to be hand tightened.

Yes Dave I did use a lathe on this little job...Ain't ya proud. No epoxy this time.

More innovations that make diving easier and more fun...

And here is John getting his second rebreather lesson. He is not giving a Vulcan live long and prosper sign, he is helping me figure out the new focal distances for the dome lens I just put on the digital camera.