Regulator tester

[JoeB]

What is the best regulator tester that will operate directly from the buddy bottle without a dive cylinder. I have read that the Best fitting ones. can provide a poor seal and the Lane ones have a poor bleed valve.

Yes, I have a best fittings one, and it leaked like a sieve.  It was machined too big diameter in the bore.  This is an extract of an email I sent to Best Fittings:


Hi Sam.

I was hoping a bonded seal would work but alas due to the sizing they won't seal correctly.  I have measured the bore of the reg tester and it is dia18.46.  The reg sealing face od is dia14 and it uses a 1.73cs o ring. Hence it will never seal as the od of the o ring will be 17.46 hence I am 1mm too small to seal in the reg tester and therefore I believe it is machined too large.

Potentially a 14id x 2.5cs o ring would seal it but I do not have one in my kit of o rings and similarly my local hydraulics shop doesn't have 1.

If you can source a 14id x 2.5 o ring i will try it or alternatively if you have a spare body of the reg tester i can swap the other parts over myself and return the duff one.

Please let me know as I still have a gun I am unable to test.


Thanks. 

Joe.


They sent me some larger O rings,and now all I do is fit a larger O ring up against the std O ring on the reg then screw it into the tester.  It works fine and seals perfectly although not a technically good solution!.  Best Fittings wouldnt admit the design was fundamentally flawed!  However now it works ok I do like the setup and the ability to use the buddy bottle to charge it.

For reference, I did try to get one from Bob, but he had no stock at the time and I was desperate for the tester.  I would trust kit from Bob to be fully tested prior to release.

[nevadacowboy]

How long ago was this?  I have just ordered a tester from Best fittings, so I hope they have changed the machining spec since you bought yours.  I did not go for a Dr Bob testeras I specifically wanted one that would work direct from the buddy bottle.

[JoeB]

How long ago was this?  I have just ordered a tester from Best fittings, so I hope they have changed the machining spec since you bought yours.  I did not go for a Dr Bob testeras I specifically wanted one that would work direct from the buddy bottle.

September 2018, so should be ok by now...!   -with the extra O ring I fit onto the reg before fitting to the tester it seals fine.  So worst case you can still use it with no problems, you just need to remember to remove the O ring before refitting the reg back onto the action!