conversion costs?

jasondrake

I am about to get my hands on a slightly used IDA-71 in original spec.

I wonder if anyone out there who has converted one for use as a Kiss or adjustable-needle-valve type unit could help me out.
What I want to know is, how much did you spend getting the unit dive-ready?

I already have cylinders, regs, guages, harness etc. And access to tools and the knowledge to use them. I'm lloking to set it up with an adjustable needle valve and ppO2 monitoring.

Just curious as to how the costs added up in real life.

Any info greatly appreciated,
Thanks
Jason

P6017

check out Dave Suttons page he's done some mods on the "71".
Pete
http://www.nobubblediving.com/franken-rig.htm

Dave Sutton

Or ask me directly! ... ;-)


Dave Sutton

(yes, still alive and slaving over a lathe and milling machine in the little diveshop of horrors.... torturing rebreathers since 1977....)

Underwaterbear

Welcome aboard Dave. I'm sure there's plenty of guys and gals here, that like me, have been inspired by your pages.

Look forward to your input...

Anything new from the slab lately?

Cheers,
Andrew

Skipbreather

Dave-

Welcome to the board!

It is always a total pleasure to see one of the guys who was doing it before “IT” was socially acceptable show up to sprinkle wisdom & experience on us relative newbs.

Best,
Ken

caveseeker7

Welcome to (our) Rebreather World.

__________________
Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

Dave Sutton

Hmmm....... and I thought I was done with this stuff.

Been busy here in the shop and also in another world of diving, freediving. Holding your breath is the ultimate in no-bubble diving, but that's another story. Still diving Alpinist, have to laugh at people who are discussing *how many* 7 litre cylinders to haul along for bailout.... with a 60 pound rig on your back and three 7 litre bottles for "emergencies" one wonders why bother with a rebreather anyhow? Still using the NASA philosophy for EVA from the Orbiter: Wear a REALLY GOOD life support system and maintain it perfectly and live long and prosper. Oh well..... CCR on the back and OC in the brain is still the norm, more gear must be better, eh? As for me, a modified OMG C-96 stil seems fine to normal sport diving depths and I'm not dead yet..... ;-). When it gets too deep for that then the IDA's come out of the drawer. I'd have a Mark-15 if Keven would EVER return the two that he's had for THREE YEARS for electronics upgrade, but I despair of ever seeing them again.

OK, back to the subject at hand:

IDA-71 stuff: I've evolved the Franken-Son design quite a lot since I stopped updating the website, basically we have abandoned using any dilunt in the chassis, use both scrubbers, and only carry 02 internally. We are using shoulder-mounted quick disconnct whips to feed diluent back into the rig from an offboard cylinder and snap on any *correctly sized* diluent bottle to meet the mission. Snap on a 1 litre bottle for shallow no-deco, snap on a 7 for deep diving, and anything in between. We did find that running only one scrubber led to some minor hypercapnic incidents at depths in excess of perhaps 150 feet. Running both scrubbers eliminates this.

This is actually a follow-on from a special set of IDA-72 conversions I did, which use both of the original IDA-72 internal bottles for 02, and only having diluent fed from offboard. This has worked well, again the diver simply snaps on any appropriately sized offboard bottle for diluent. Since most people want to carry a load of diluent for bailout, suit-feed, lift-bag inflation, etc., this has worked great. I DO NOT recommend using only one scrubbr in the IDA-71 conversions any longer, so that's the "new news" for IDA-71 users.

IDA-72: With its built in open-circuit loop-split mode, the HUGE internal scrubber, HUGE diameter loop, and design criterie to 300+ meters, the modified IDA-72 has become the SUPER rig for deep diving. Two large 02 bottles internally, an external diluent feed, using a KISS valve for main 02 feed and a second manual valve for bypass 02 feed (or for when so deep KISS function stops), isolated 02 feeds for redundancy, and some other mods it has become a real workhorse. Have some guys regularly running them in 500FSW+ ops on a daily basis now (fish collecting in the Pacific) for 2+ years with zero issues. Probably 800+ dives to at least 400 feet to date with this setup. GREAT rig.

Have a whole array of new (to the internet anyhow) small projects that I'll share one day. Bailout rig is perfected. New sensor holders with built-in diluent injection ports (also allowing sensor validity checks during a dive), several other little "goodies". Not sure I'll show and tell, still thinking it over. It's funny for me to see many of the little things I built in the old days now commercialized and being sold. Progress in a way, but now people can buy stuff in advance of their ability, and as usual I'm not a big fan of being able to buy too much. Built it and understand it, buy it and too many people don't appreciate what they have.

The latest big project is the 42 foot Grand Banks Trawler EXPLORER that I'm running as a charter boat in Rhode Island (USA). Living aboard her summers, and running her for charters of not more than 6. Luxury once tasted becomes a requirement. We're rebreather friendly (duh!), have a great crew, and serve hot chow after each dive. Jens Kallmeyer (AKA-60 Diver) was aboard for our crew training day last Sunday and can attest to the boat. He's the one who bugged me to rejoin rebreather society, which frankly I've not missed a lot since I signed off several years back. Busier diving than ever before and with less stress dealing with disgruntled pea-brained (is that spelled right?) internet mouthpieces of various ilks

Oh well, need to split: Have a boat to run. I have some spots to dive the U-853 on July 3rd and 4th if anyone is interested. Kate has a good menu planned. Who cares about diving when you can eat? Bring your rig, bring your appetite, and leave your ego at home. We're out there to have fun... remember FUN? ;-). Come on the 3rd and/or 4th, and let's dive.



Dave Sutton
DSutton@NoBubbleDiving.com

Attached Images

Explorer1.jpg (38.2 KB, 250 views)

Jens Kallmeyer

Hey Dave

Good to see you hear. After telling me your experiences with certain people on the Internet I would have bet that you would never ever join this forum.
Your boat is just great, I can definitely attest that, expecially after you build me that little" Rebreather only" spot to fix my gear.
Not to highjack this thread too much, regarding the conversion of the IDA, Look at Daves website or here in the Gallery, figure out how you want to convert your system and make a list of stuff that you need, e.g. the regulators, hoses, valve etc. , sometimes people are surprised to see how much stuff they already have in their closet.
Why do you want to go for a needle valve instead of a KISS or Hydrogom valve? May be personal style, but I would rather go that way.
Thinking about the conversion of my AKA 60 to a 2-mix SCR with built in Bailout cost me about 500$ including new cylinders all the valves, additional OC reg etc.
What I found most important was to make an exact plan before ordering stuff.

Good luck and keep us posted

Jens

Crazyduck

YEAH BABY-- Welcome to the Board sir!

This is GREAT news!

Hope that you can stop by now and then and share your thoughts.
Your designs are the hallmark of Cold War Engineering gone Perestroika.

Any truth to the rumor that you made the chest mounted rebreather for Deep Sea Detectives? It looked like your handy work.

Again welcome to the board- you have been missed!

Later, Andrew

Snip...

__________________
Howdy Senor- What’s Happening!
Rob Davie April 2005-

Presently in a state of transition from Open Circuit to Closed Circuit.

"You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by it." - Buddha.

Dave Sutton

Cost of IDA-71 conversion: almost zero to more than what a new KISS rig would cost. It all depends on what you want to do. As-is with the offboard bottle and diluent you can use it by just adding a PP02 meter and nose venting and adding fresh diluent every now and then. If you go to good KISS plumbing and displays it'll not be cheap, could be $1500-$2000US for all the *good* stuff. You can probobly hack one togehter with mid-range stuff for $1000US. Don't use a needle valve, either use a KISS valve, or a Norgren fixed orifice. Adjust intermediate pressure to set flow. Needle valves are an utter waste of effort and expense. The flow does not need to be even close to metabolic, anything between 0.5 and 0.8 LPM is going to be just fine. Just enough to keep manual additions down to one ever 5-10 minutes is close enough.

Jens, thanks for the encouragement. Proud to have you as my friend. That spot on the boat will always be knows as "Jens Corner".

The chest mounted rig on Deep Sea Detectives was indeed my product. Modified OMG C-96 Pro with the large scrubber. Great rig. Unfortunately John took it deep-diving a little early, didn't rig it with a crotch-strap as I asked him to, and it floated up and caused a high WOB on the S-5 episode. There was a serious time constraint on the entire project as usual so he could not take the time to sort it in the quarry before going offshore with it. One of the unhappy parts of the last few years is that I missed the Deep Sea Detective boat, as I was asked to be one of the hosts but could not quit my day job for the money offered. Would have been fun, but not career enhancing. Oh well..... another lost opportunity, one of hundreds.


Let's start another thread if ya'll want to toss four years of questions at me... ;-) Who else but Jens wants to come on the U-Boat trips July 3rd and 4th?


Dave Sutton