Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:37 pm
Itstanfo:
Had to smile when I read your post on 'nylon' washers - brings back the 'bad ol' days', or at least stuff that was not as good as what is being used now. The washers are teflon, not nylon. The wide, flat disc was made as an 'ultra-modern' replacement for what was originally in that big recess in the valve - a leather washer! The early french regs used an supple, oiled disc of saddle quality leather, about an eighth of an inch thick. The major HP nozzle (the snout that sticks thru' the yoke) had a wider seat than later models and sealed easily on the leather washer. Couple of tricks, tho', you don't screw down hard on the yoke screw to get a leak-free seal - you put the reg on with the exhaust hose parallel to the valve. which puts the intake hose at about 9:00, relative to the valve, you tighten the yoke screw until it is snug, but not as tight as you can turn it - then you take the reg by the two horns (like a bull!) and, taking advantage of the extra leverage afforded by the greater distance from the nozzle center, turn it into the normal diving position, which tightens it more than you can by the use of the yoke screw, and doesn't bend the ears on the yoke screw! (how many early regs have you seen with bent yoke screws, Bryan?). A couple of tries are required to get the hang of exactly where you need to initially position the reg to have it seal well when turned to the dive position and whether you need both hands on both horns or one hand on one horn.This system works well on teflon washers - BTW, you can buy teflon rod at your local plastics store or order from the net.(get virgin teflon - not 'recovered' or 'salvage', more money, but less heartaches!) Whip it down to your fave machine shop, have it center-drilled and part off as many discs as youve got rod for . . this is also a no-brainer for a friend with a unimat or similar.
Re: the flat-one-side, domed-the-other neoprene washers that were an easy sealing replacement for the teflon washer - these were called 'ZA o-ring adaptors' in the early USD catalogs (ZA was the part no.) and were first put out by a small independant maker - they worked so well that USD soon copied them. They are not exactly the same as today's counterpart mentioned in previous posts - but close as damn is to swearin'!
I still use a ZA-o ring adaptor in my trips - works great!
What does itstanfo stan' fo'?