02 lube

[IowaCaveDiver]

doing my annual service on my regs... I was a certified scubapro tech back in my dive shop days... i am out of 02 compatible lubricant and wondered what you guys use and where you get it? I know I can go to my LDS and pay a tiny fortune for a thimble full... but somebody once mentiond they bought a tube of it at a home improvement place or similar. Looking or the best possible value but don't want to compromise safety?

Also... what process do you use for cleaning your regulator parts... I have always used muratic acid mix and then a baking soda mix to neutralize (for corrosion removal) then some simple green solution for 02 compatability. Any better suggestions?

And another also... i've always tuned my regs just using a LP intermediate pressure guage for the first stage IP and then hand/sound/feel tuned the second stages. Anybody have a good outlet to get the scubapro tools to adjust the two adjustments on the second stages and possibly a magnehelic guage? Not sure if it is worth the investment... 10 years so far and no equipment malunctions or major safety issues. I was trained to service the my regs in a sort of old school fashion.

BTW... I have all scubapros but my fiance dives dive rite regs and I've torn into about every reg on the market in my past except these. Any big differences I should be cautious of?

Matt

[Sludge]

I have always used muratic acid mix and then a baking soda mix to neutralize (for corrosion removal) then some simple green solution for 02 compatability. Any better suggestions?

Here's the best way I've found: get a bottle of Kaboom Tile Cleaner from the grocery store. Get a small dish and mix one part Kaboom with one part water. Use a toothbrush to get the corrosion off. (Get big hunks off with an Olfa or a pick.) Keep a bucket (or sink) of water to dunk the part in, because the Kaboom will take the chrome off after thirty seconds or so. But if you brush it for ten seconds and dunk it, then repeat, this is the best method I've found for removing corrosion without removing the chrome.

Follow it up with Simple Green in an ultrasonic. If you don't have one, you can get a cheap piece of crap for thirty bucks off eBay.

[aainslie]

I give the tribolube guy 24 hours to post an ad... Anyone want to run a pool?

[cmalinowski]

I give the tribolube guy 24 hours to post an ad... Anyone want to run a pool?

Or 12hrs for Joel to run an O2-cleaning sale

[amphipod06]

you guys make my day... too funny (not the OP, the after comments...)

Have a fabulous weekend and dive safe,

Celia

[Sludge]

too funny (not the OP, the after comments...)

So you're going to group me in with these clowns?

[DA Aquamaster]

A 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water works fine for normal cleaning. It works better if you clean and or soak in Simple green first. Basically yhe simple green degreases and when the oil is removed from the part the acetic acid can clean it much more effectively.

I am also a fan of a 3-4% solution of Muratic acid for cleaning heavily corroded/encrusted parts. What you get at the hardware store is normally a 30% solution so you'll need to cut it about 10 to 1. There are folks who will correctly cite various chemistry sources and point out that muratic acid is very effective at removing chrome, but the important difference here is the low concentration and a short 5-10 minute dip time. In that regard muratic acid was very popular with Scubapro trained techs for a few decades and I see MK 5s that have been regularly serviced with a 3% solution of muratic acid for decades that still have their chrome intact, so properly done it is very effective at removing crud, corrosion and deposits but does not seem to have an adverse effect on chrome.

Simple green crystal is nice as it does not require as much rinsing as regular simple green but that is more an issue with tank cleaning than with reg cleaning.

I also prefer blue gold in my ultrasound - but it's a little more expensive and is a lot harder to find.

I've used Tribolube for about a year now and I like it better than Christolube. The carrier agent does not seem to dry as much and it does not get as gooey. It's also a little cheaper.

Peterbuilt tools makes a nice inline adjuster (scubatools.com) and that's really all you need in terms of specialty tools to quickly adjust most SP second stages.

[amphipod06]

So you're going to group me in with these clowns?

you want me to???
(no, not really...)

Dive safe,

Celia

[IowaCaveDiver]

alright... need some 02 compatible lube and don't want to pay $105 for a tube of the "tribolube" stuff... any better solutions?

[FW]

alright... need some 02 compatible lube and don't want to pay $105 for a tube of the "tribolube" stuff... any better solutions?

PM coming