New IDA-76 Diver

Captain Calamity · 15th July 2008, 23:08

Hello everyone! As I can neither justify nor afford a grown up rebreather right now, I thought i'd embrace the dark side and build myself a pendulum oxygen rebreather to play with in the swimming pool and on shallow bimble dives. Although I am sure that my mechanical skills/understanding/sense of preservation/willingness to take things really slow are up to the job I lack the equipment and space to fabricate the parts to properly build from scratch. A quick inventory of commercial/eBay/bits in the shed that I could used to assemble a rebreather that might actually work lead to the conclusion that my wallet would take a direct hit. Then I saw the IDA-76 at an irresistable price...

IIRC it offers enough upgrade potential to make an interesting project, and it comes with most of the bits that I would have otherwise struggled to build/afford. I understand the one-way valves are quite special, although I'm not sure about the supplied gimp mask. I am aware that with the stock scrubber I won't be KISSing it and doing 40 metre dives.

When the ЯЕАРЕЯ arrives from Latvia I plan a careful check of the unit before a dry dive and a pool dive. I think it will need some minor mods out of the box - disconnecting the T piece within the counterlung as per jaap's advice (to give some protection from a water in the loop), and figuring out how to fill the cascade cylinders from a DIN cylinder of O2. I realise the size of the O2 cascade severely limits the endurance of the unit when the amount of O2 used to purge the unit pre-dive is taken into account - hopefully enough will remain to do a short pool dive, but if not then the final mod will be to plumb in off-board O2.

If anyone has already got a cheap and easy answer for filling the cascade bottles i'd be grateful if you'd share it with me. Also, a question for all the other IDA divers, especially those in the UK: which disinfectant is best with these breathers/are there any disinfectants which can hurt the innards of an IDA?

Thanks for your help and interest. Hopefully a first dive report and a some pictures will follow over the next few weeks.

CC

kiwi_diver · 15th July 2008, 23:37

Nigel Hewitt has had some success getting filling adapters made in the UK for soviet kit. He's on RBW as NigelH I think.

Corallaro · 16th July 2008, 07:41

Hi ...

this is my IDA-76 mod:
i will leave it as pure compact O2 reb.
the big limitation of IDA-76 is the volume of tiny tanks (0.47 litres)
Ok...
I remake the original frame and use the original IDA-71 internal O2 tank (1 liter) with some pieces of external IDA-71 tank and KIP-8.

this is the result:

01: T piece of externalIDA 71 tank routed of 90° (the internal filter of t piece now is at fill of O2 instead to be to the in of bottle but it work)
02: external IDA-71 tank Gauge
03: adapter found in IDA-71 spare parts
04: rigid HP hose from russian KIP-8
05: original internal IDA-71 tank
06: original hose of IDA-76 + non visible adapter from IDA 71 spare parts

i also remake the rubber cover because the new configuration is a pair of centimeters more long...

Giovanni

Corallaro · 16th July 2008, 07:43

other photos

robertfondren · 17th July 2008, 06:01

Hello,
These (76's) are neat, functional rebreathers, with a *LOT* of utility built right in. I cut the LP line from the cascades, installed a barbed brass fitting with a male quick disconnect, and attached my lean gas straight to the built-in second stage. I've also installed a P-Port, and one drysuit inflator valve for manual addition of rich gas, and with that, you've got a "grown-up" rebreather!
One also has the option of filling half the scrubber for short dives, and if you move "up" to a larger (read-more expensive) unit, they make an excellent BOB.
Now if I were only smart enough to post pictures!
BTW, Dshop 2000 is an excellent store.

Captain Calamity · 17th July 2008, 23:16

Thanks for your replies and pictures, i'm sure i'm going to have a lot of fun with this rebreather.

I'll update you and send a few pictures when it arrives.

CC

Captain Calamity · 26th July 2008, 23:48

Well, second dive really, as I took it for a dry dive whilst watching Zulu last night.

After it arrived I stripped, checked and cleaned the unit. Most of the twine used to secure the hoses was a bit suspect, so this has largely been replaced with cable covered with inner tube sleeves to prevent them rubbing on the CL and wearing a hole. I haven't been able to get to the internal fittings to inspect/replace yet, as I don't have the tools to remove the OPV to access the inside. For now I do a positive test to ensure the exhale hose inside the counterlung is intact. I broke the connection from the inhale side of the scrubber to the inhale T-piece (as advised by jaap to reduce the chances of a caustic cocktail if the loop floods) by pulling the hose through the scrubber connection of the counterlung and cutting it short.

Filling the scrubber was not a problem, it just needed patience and lots of shaking to ensure a good fill with no loose sorb. After positive and negative tests were passed I donned the gimp mask, screwed in the DSV and purged the CL three times, and then a couple of times more. Finally it was time to boldy lower myself into the depths of a 2 metre pool, accompanied by my safety diver giving me the OK signal at roughly five second intervals!

The full face mask was awful. The oronasal part of the mask was uncomfortable and gave me a headache, and the angle of the eyepieces made judging distance and position very hard - even putting on my fins was a challenge. Within ten minutes I thumbed the dive.

Undaunted I cable tied a Scubapro mouthpiece round the threads of the DSV, rechecked the unit and purged the CL once again before returning to the unforgiving depths of the shallow end of the swimming pool. What a difference! After all I have been reading I expected the WOB to be terrible - it wasn't bad at all, despite all sorts of gymnastics and odd angles the unit breathed OK. The scrubber was OK for an hour (mostly at rest, although I did do some vigorous finning at the end to see what the scrubber could take), and this was despite some water getting into the scrubber - probably when I did a DSV remove and replace (not a good idea with the open port on top, even if you do exhale very hard before going back on to the loop it would seem some water sneaks in.

Overall I am impressed. I think that with a bit of work I could be very impressed, lets see what you think about my plans:

Definite plans:

1. Fabricate a new scrubber cage and front cover as per Corallero's IAD-76, which looks very smart.

2. Attach my 1.5L oxygen bottle (an O2 clean argon bottle) properly beneath the cage. The combination of cable ties and bungee used today did nothing to ease the concerns of worried spectators.

3. Add P-port monitoring via my VR3 (as soon as the port and cable arrive from tecme). Until then the ЯЕАРЕЯ goes no deeper than the swimming pool, and I get to practice lots of dil flushes.

"Probably" plans:

1. Add a high flow quick connect to the ADV feed so I can disconnect the first stage when washing and disinfecting the unit. Also this opens up the possibility of feeding DIL to the ADV *if* I add a leaky valve later to convert the unit to mCCR (see below)

2. Add a convenience zipper to simplify checking the internal hoses and connections, and make the unit easier to dry after cleaning.

3. Chop off the floatation batwings and hoses. Part of me wants to keep them as this is such a well engineered little rebreather, but in reality I will be wearing a wing and backplate with a 12L of air as bailout when I dive this in the sea (it was bought to build rebreather experience cheaply before I decide what the next step is, and to sneak up on wildlife for pictures/the freezer). Keeping the unit compact as possible seems sensible. I am not going to attack the ЯЕАРЕЯ and do irreversible damage just yet until I have made up my mind.

"Maybe" plans:

1. Add a leaky valve system (KISS or Hydrogom), along with a drysuit inflator valves for dil and O2 manual add to convert the system to mCCR. It will also deal with the slight loss of buoyancy as the loop is breathed down between ADV actuations, although I am sure I could learn to live with this.

I put this mod in the "maybe" section as I think that this option also means moving to a 2 or 3 cell monitoring setup which goes against the "keep it cheap and simple" philosophy of this rebreather. There's a saying in the UK - "you can't polish a turd". I don't think that the ЯЕАРЕЯ is a bad rebreather, but I suspect conversion to full mCCR would be better suited to a -71 if that's the direction I choose to go in.

CC.

PS pictures to follow when I find the camera to PC cable.

15th July 2008, 23:08	#1 (permalink)
Captain Calamity New Member Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Home Build Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: UK Posts: 10	New IDA-76 Diver Hello everyone! As I can neither justify nor afford a grown up rebreather right now, I thought i'd embrace the dark side and build myself a pendulum oxygen rebreather to play with in the swimming pool and on shallow bimble dives. Although I am sure that my mechanical skills/understanding/sense of preservation/willingness to take things really slow are up to the job I lack the equipment and space to fabricate the parts to properly build from scratch. A quick inventory of commercial/eBay/bits in the shed that I could used to assemble a rebreather that might actually work lead to the conclusion that my wallet would take a direct hit. Then I saw the IDA-76 at an irresistable price... IIRC it offers enough upgrade potential to make an interesting project, and it comes with most of the bits that I would have otherwise struggled to build/afford. I understand the one-way valves are quite special, although I'm not sure about the supplied gimp mask. I am aware that with the stock scrubber I won't be KISSing it and doing 40 metre dives. When the ЯЕАРЕЯ arrives from Latvia I plan a careful check of the unit before a dry dive and a pool dive. I think it will need some minor mods out of the box - disconnecting the T piece within the counterlung as per jaap's advice (to give some protection from a water in the loop), and figuring out how to fill the cascade cylinders from a DIN cylinder of O2. I realise the size of the O2 cascade severely limits the endurance of the unit when the amount of O2 used to purge the unit pre-dive is taken into account - hopefully enough will remain to do a short pool dive, but if not then the final mod will be to plumb in off-board O2. If anyone has already got a cheap and easy answer for filling the cascade bottles i'd be grateful if you'd share it with me. Also, a question for all the other IDA divers, especially those in the UK: which disinfectant is best with these breathers/are there any disinfectants which can hurt the innards of an IDA? Thanks for your help and interest. Hopefully a first dive report and a some pictures will follow over the next few weeks. CC Last edited by Captain Calamity : 15th July 2008 at 23:27. Reason: Grammar and spelling
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15th July 2008, 23:37	#2 (permalink)
kiwi_diver Alias - Ray Mansell Current Rebreather/s: Other SCR Other Rebreather/s: Other SCR Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 157	Re: New IDA-76 Diver Nigel Hewitt has had some success getting filling adapters made in the UK for soviet kit. He's on RBW as NigelH I think. __________________ Ray. == Latitude 36 South, where the deeper you dive, the warmer it gets! ==
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17th July 2008, 06:01	#5 (permalink)
robertfondren New Member Current Rebreather/s: Ray Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Ray Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: u.s.a. Posts: 88	Re: New IDA-76 Diver Hello, These (76's) are neat, functional rebreathers, with a LOT of utility built right in. I cut the LP line from the cascades, installed a barbed brass fitting with a male quick disconnect, and attached my lean gas straight to the built-in second stage. I've also installed a P-Port, and one drysuit inflator valve for manual addition of rich gas, and with that, you've got a "grown-up" rebreather! One also has the option of filling half the scrubber for short dives, and if you move "up" to a larger (read-more expensive) unit, they make an excellent BOB. Now if I were only smart enough to post pictures! BTW, Dshop 2000 is an excellent store.
(Offline)

17th July 2008, 23:16	#6 (permalink)
Captain Calamity New Member Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Home Build Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: UK Posts: 10	Re: New IDA-76 Diver Thanks for your replies and pictures, i'm sure i'm going to have a lot of fun with this rebreather. I'll update you and send a few pictures when it arrives. CC
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26th July 2008, 23:48	#7 (permalink)
Captain Calamity New Member Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Home Build Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: UK Posts: 10	The ЯЕАРЕЯ - First Dive Well, second dive really, as I took it for a dry dive whilst watching Zulu last night. After it arrived I stripped, checked and cleaned the unit. Most of the twine used to secure the hoses was a bit suspect, so this has largely been replaced with cable covered with inner tube sleeves to prevent them rubbing on the CL and wearing a hole. I haven't been able to get to the internal fittings to inspect/replace yet, as I don't have the tools to remove the OPV to access the inside. For now I do a positive test to ensure the exhale hose inside the counterlung is intact. I broke the connection from the inhale side of the scrubber to the inhale T-piece (as advised by jaap to reduce the chances of a caustic cocktail if the loop floods) by pulling the hose through the scrubber connection of the counterlung and cutting it short. Filling the scrubber was not a problem, it just needed patience and lots of shaking to ensure a good fill with no loose sorb. After positive and negative tests were passed I donned the gimp mask, screwed in the DSV and purged the CL three times, and then a couple of times more. Finally it was time to boldy lower myself into the depths of a 2 metre pool, accompanied by my safety diver giving me the OK signal at roughly five second intervals! The full face mask was awful. The oronasal part of the mask was uncomfortable and gave me a headache, and the angle of the eyepieces made judging distance and position very hard - even putting on my fins was a challenge. Within ten minutes I thumbed the dive. Undaunted I cable tied a Scubapro mouthpiece round the threads of the DSV, rechecked the unit and purged the CL once again before returning to the unforgiving depths of the shallow end of the swimming pool. What a difference! After all I have been reading I expected the WOB to be terrible - it wasn't bad at all, despite all sorts of gymnastics and odd angles the unit breathed OK. The scrubber was OK for an hour (mostly at rest, although I did do some vigorous finning at the end to see what the scrubber could take), and this was despite some water getting into the scrubber - probably when I did a DSV remove and replace (not a good idea with the open port on top, even if you do exhale very hard before going back on to the loop it would seem some water sneaks in. Overall I am impressed. I think that with a bit of work I could be very impressed, lets see what you think about my plans: Definite plans: 1. Fabricate a new scrubber cage and front cover as per Corallero's IAD-76, which looks very smart. 2. Attach my 1.5L oxygen bottle (an O2 clean argon bottle) properly beneath the cage. The combination of cable ties and bungee used today did nothing to ease the concerns of worried spectators. 3. Add P-port monitoring via my VR3 (as soon as the port and cable arrive from tecme). Until then the ЯЕАРЕЯ goes no deeper than the swimming pool, and I get to practice lots of dil flushes. "Probably" plans: 1. Add a high flow quick connect to the ADV feed so I can disconnect the first stage when washing and disinfecting the unit. Also this opens up the possibility of feeding DIL to the ADV if I add a leaky valve later to convert the unit to mCCR (see below) 2. Add a convenience zipper to simplify checking the internal hoses and connections, and make the unit easier to dry after cleaning. 3. Chop off the floatation batwings and hoses. Part of me wants to keep them as this is such a well engineered little rebreather, but in reality I will be wearing a wing and backplate with a 12L of air as bailout when I dive this in the sea (it was bought to build rebreather experience cheaply before I decide what the next step is, and to sneak up on wildlife for pictures/the freezer). Keeping the unit compact as possible seems sensible. I am not going to attack the ЯЕАРЕЯ and do irreversible damage just yet until I have made up my mind. "Maybe" plans: 1. Add a leaky valve system (KISS or Hydrogom), along with a drysuit inflator valves for dil and O2 manual add to convert the system to mCCR. It will also deal with the slight loss of buoyancy as the loop is breathed down between ADV actuations, although I am sure I could learn to live with this. I put this mod in the "maybe" section as I think that this option also means moving to a 2 or 3 cell monitoring setup which goes against the "keep it cheap and simple" philosophy of this rebreather. There's a saying in the UK - "you can't polish a turd". I don't think that the ЯЕАРЕЯ is a bad rebreather, but I suspect conversion to full mCCR would be better suited to a -71 if that's the direction I choose to go in. CC. PS pictures to follow when I find the camera to PC cable.
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