Laguna Research Electronics

Amphibiman

Mine are a conversion that Dave and Wayne did at Laguna Research. I'm not sure if it is a stock part for them.

Robin

hoppyinca

I just hard mounted mine; a buddy of mine had some brackets... very appreciated; however, the are different than the ones show in the pics here...

If you do want to hard mount, definitely go with the type of brackets you see in these pics. If you've got someone who can easily produce them, I would go that route!

to buy have you checked with the ozzy guys or steam machines?

I plan on posting pics when I am done, switched to Laguna as well and other significant changes... need to clean the new piping, re-assemble and leak check... then finally get to dive again!!!!

hoppy

__________________
"The government is merely a servant... merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them..." - Mark Twain

fireman

Hey isn't half the point of diving a Mk15x that the plumbing is all HP, and you can avoid most of the "bangs"....

__________________
Heres to you Capt. Bill
Never Forget, and stay safe everyone.

deepwrecksc

Definitely - most of the plumbing is SS Swagelok but on the original MK15's the HP and LP lines coming off the regulators are flexible tubing. They are actually SS braided lines underneath a rubberized outer coating and can probably take the full sphere pressure so no real worries about them bursting. The hard-mount solution as shown in the pics on this thread simply allows for a more robust way to secure the spheres and to clean up the plumbing a bit.

Amphibiman: Thanks for the reply I'll check with the folks at Laguna about this, I'm sorely tempted to convert to these electronics anyway...

Hoppyinca: Would very much like to see your pics when you get it all sorted. I did send Peter at SMI an email about the brackets but have not heard back. Who in the land of Oz should I contact about brackets? Is this Colkan? I am VERY new on here - just did my training last week actually . All I can say is that I will never blow bubbles again! Anyway my machinist is a true artist when it comes to fabricating stuff but I'd prefer not to have to "wing it" on the dimensions for these brackets.

Thanks again fellas!
Lee

hoppyinca

definitely more secure for the spheres, one of my predominate reasons for hard mounting.

the eletronics are pretty dang spiffy... haven't dived mine yet, due to my re-plumbing project.

Yes, Colkan; my understanding is that they have nearly any part you can imagine. I was rebuilding an analog secondary and they sent me a parts/ price list of every part!

to "wing it" is not as bad as it may sound... maybe if you ask nicely someone will remove one and make the necessary measurements?

as soon as I get a chance I will post pics... my mounts are actually 2 pieces each, and they drop down in front of the 1st stage, screwing to the case bottom verses the sides. As I stated previously; srcewing to the sides seems much more stable and routing the piping would definitely be easier than the mounts I have...

hoppy

__________________
"The government is merely a servant... merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them..." - Mark Twain

hoppyinca

sorry for the delay...
here are the pics of my hard mounts... they are 2 pieces each;
one piece screws to to the case bottom
the second piece is captured under the yoke and screws to the first piece (this piece looked like it might be tall enough to use alone but it was not; screw holes can be seen empty... they are actually nearly 1cm off the bottom of the case).

LRImod_completed_DILside_001.JPG
DIL side; swage "T" for bailout conn

LRImod_completed_O2side_001.JPG
O2 side; 3-way valve for BO vis

LRImod_completed_O2hrdMnt_3wayBO_001.JPG
O2 side; same same...

had to give up my DIN valves and first stages, but I wanted the hard mounting more...

I will be posting more pics of the conversion to LRI in general; no write up yet... leak checks must still be done, and the "couch dive" has not yet been conducted...

hoppy

__________________
"The government is merely a servant... merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them..." - Mark Twain

Dave Sutton

Huh? I don't get it.


There's absolutely zero benefit to hard mounting the first stages and great value to using DIN valves and having a decent first stage being installed to replace the POS Sherwoods. I somehow don't see this as an improvement.... .

As for sphere securing, didn't you try the rubber o-ring system to hold the spheres in place using the original hoses? They tie the spheres in tight, and are easy to use. Makes installing the spheres easier, makes leak testing and working on the rig easier, etc. Man.. I just don't see the value here, no offense intended. I removed the hard mounts from my last rig, replaced the hard tube with HP soft hoses and am lots happier.

Send the DIN valves back if you are not going to use them: Others want them and the core valves that I modify are getting scarce. I'm almost sorry I made them if they are not going to be used.


Dave

.

__________________
.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"


Professional Small Boy: Never Successfully Cubicled.

chunter

Don't get too upset Dave. I have a set of DIN valves also that I likely will never use. I actually prefer the simplicity of the Sherwood 1st stages and I have used them happily past 375 feet. I also think that the hard mounted first stages makes sphere placement and removal easier (depending on whether a good job was done on the hard-mounting). I ditched the soft hoses on my 15 long ago to make it more like my 15.5.

To each their own.

Aloha,
Charlie

__________________
"Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." - Emerson

"Hobgoblin is a cool word."
- Charlie

Amphibiman

Nice job Hoppy,

I like the SS braided hoses. Where did you find those. I have to aggree about the original first stages. I don't think there is a simplier first stage than that one and pretty darn easy to rebuild (or, simply clean) in the field.

Robin