Twin valve guard/protector...

[Mdemon]

I've had a lot of help here on finding suppliers for the finished article, but they're so damned expensive I want to make my own. (£154 FFS!   )

The stainless steel halo shouldn't be a problem.  Sticking the damn thing on the cylinders is!

Does anyone know where I can get the collars which fit around the valve?  ...or suggest some way I can fit 12mm stainless steel bars around the cylinder neck?

Many thanks,

John

[jasondrake]

A mate of mine tried similar and found the collar idea more grief than it was worth. He ended up welding the guard to his top twinning bands. A few inch high stainless metal plate , curved to match the twinning band curve, pointing vertically to above the top of the valve and then bent over to the horizontal to form a guard. I suppose you could weld the halos onto a ss vertical bit. If you get my drift. Looked a bit shit but strong enough that he can invert, and he says it's less prone to entanglement than the halo ones.

[Dr Stevil]

<font color='#0000FF'>someone was recommending &quot;U-bolts&quot; recently, sound worth a try.
£154 !! FFS, where was that? DWH do CD VGs for £90 (brand new) then there are those £50 ones which seem OK too.
Chee-az
Steve

[And]

<font color='#0000FF'>Hi

MDemon, speaking as a Yorkshireman, do you really want or need them ?

I see people with them quite regular at places like Stoney and they look crap. Most people when they talk about manifolds have never known them to fail, so why spend the money? Do you really think you're going to bang your valves so hard that they break?

Just a thought

WL

[Dr Stevil]

<font color='#0000FF'>

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (wetlettuce @ May 13 2003,14:33)]I see people with them quite regular at places like Stoney and they look crap.

Yeah, 'cos divers look soooooo cool strolling around car parks in their &quot;tea-bags&quot; don't they .... &nbsp;

I hate to  be the bearer of bad news WL, but I don't think people associate drysuit diving with looking cool, however diver's rainbow coloured weightbelts (minus lead of course) were a fashion item in this country a couple of years ago, but in the US they're considered a symbol of &quot;Gay Pride&quot;  

As far as looks go, I always thought VGs looked cool even before I had my own (shiny chrome maan! how can that not look cool). Having said that mine is there for functionality as I stand my twinset up on it. Also seems to prevent all this &quot;rolling off&quot; of valves I keep hearing about from some sources. &nbsp;But I can see why the Klansmen don't like them, potential entrapment hazard when donning the pointy headed sheet &nbsp;


You inverting your rig John?

Chee-az
Steve

[And]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Steve W @ May 13 2003,15:21)]

Yeah, 'cos divers look soooooo cool strolling around car parks in their &quot;tea-bags&quot; don't they ....  

I hate to  be the bearer of bad news WL, but I don't think people associate drysuit diving with looking cool, however diver's rainbow coloured weightbelts (minus lead of course) were a fashion item in this country a couple of years ago, but in the US they're considered a symbol of &quot;Gay Pride&quot;  

<font color='#0000FF'>Hi

[Sigh] Nobody mentioned the 'Klan' Steve and I understand that 'upside down' twins need them of course to stand up on, no use at all during the dive of course. I thought everyone knew that.

I didn't think MDemon was going to wear them upside down but hey, he might think it looks cool! and then you can have the Upside Down Do Everything Right Klan (UDDER) and you can all look cool

If we don't buy diving gear too look cool, then why are there hundreds and hundreds of different styled fins and coloured drysuits and all that crap in all the dive shops ! Stuff that we don't need but they tell us we do and the poor beginner wastes loads of cash. Just find a diver who has never bought something which originally looked 'cool' and later got rid or didn't ever use it.

I still say that when you have your twins the right way up valve guards look crap and serve no purpose whatsoever (unless of course you count hanging your gloves and hood on them after the dive to dry He He) or perhaps to use them as an underwater aerial for an underwater radio thingy. Perhaps we can start a thread on possible uses for them &nbsp;

Have Fun. Somehow I guess you won't agree

WL

[Dominic]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]If we don't buy diving gear too look cool, then why are there hundreds and hundreds of different styled fins and coloured drysuits and all that crap in all the dive shops !

And why is it all BLACK? Have you ever tried to get some blue jetfins? They'll laugh you out of the shop..

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Perhaps we can start a thread on possible uses for them

Transport - I did hear one story of a bloke who had a car accident and watched his twinset go cartwheeling along the road merrily, which might have been a lot nastier if it hadn't had the guards on it..

[Dr Stevil]

<font color='#0000FF'>Chill, 'edible-plant-of-Brassica-family' dude, only funning wit cha    

&quot;Cool&quot; ness is IMO, like beauty, very much in the eye of the beholder, so there's no right or wrongs on that one, though I dare say GI3 will argue he looks cool in his speedos whilst we know better

As for the stuff you mentioned about the shops, you wanna see what they have in US shops, mindboggling crap like mini-compressors floating on an innertube with a Phillipino-diver style mouth-pipe, truly frightening !

Bottom line is that the diving industry is just that - an industry, and will try to flog anything to anyone if it will swell their coffers (e.g. &quot;The Spare Air&quot; - need I say more )

As for uses, Dominic has remided me that one of my decisions to get a VG was after hearing about a guy who was in a car smash and the VG saved his valves from getting broken, (and becoming intra-vehicle ballistic missiles), so I see them as a safety feature. Underwater, I sometimes find its comfortable to hold onto the VG while finning along, makes an alternative to the arms-folded posture.

Chee-az
Steve

Hey, who left that burning cross on my front lawn!
 

[And]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Steve W @ May 13 2003,18:25)]Chill, 'edible-plant-of-Brassica-family' dude, only funning wit cha    

<font color='#0000FF'>Hi

ditto mate &nbsp;
GI in speedos ? seriously 70's pornstar

Have Fun

WL

[Mdemon]

Oi!  Stop hijacking the thread - I still need a valve guard (or bits thereof)!!!    

Wet-L; yup, trust me, I don't spend cash where I don't have to (ask my local dive shop)!  I am inverting, because I can't reach the valves.  Actually, one of the biggest reasons is to stand the gear up while I put it on.  I think there's more chance of damaging valves by dropping the cylinders on them than any banging I get up to underwater.  I do have one cunning plan though...  I use a Tiger Gear block and a 6Kg v-weight - all up weight (without wing and with gas) is just over 50Kg.  The cunning plan was to put a heavy rubber roller on one side of the halo to allow me to drag the bugger from jetty to boat etc.  Hmmm,  suppose I could also clip my torch to it too...

Steve W - ROFWL!  Laughed my nuts off.
By the way, isn't black sexy - all my gear is black?  And Blue fins?  Sooooooooooooo last year...  Actually I think a shiny chrome halo is going to as sexy as anything can be which isn't black...

I've gone to the Dark Side as far as hoses are concerned - inverting means long hoses!  A great invention, actually.  Do I qualify for a pillow-case yet?

As for GI3 in Speedos (as opposed to K3), I believe the forum description was &quot;camper than a row of pink chiffon tents&quot;...

Now, how am I going to get my valve guard sorted???