Many freedivers rave about how good the Aqua Sphera mask is. Lowest volume of any mask, great visibility, compresses to face at depth so even less air volume is required, etc.. Martin Stepanek recently used one to set the World Record in Free Immersion at 102 meters. Recently I went to a second PFD clinic and like in the first, both Martin and Kirk highly recommended this mask.
The problem is its too wide for us narrow face divers. Recently I acquired the Aqua Sphere Seal mask which has the same frame and lenses, but with no nosepiece so I could use it for statics and dynamics with a nose clip. It sealed fined so I thought maybe Aqua Sphere narrowed the Sphera mask recently so I purchased one. No luck, the Sphera skirt is about ¾” wider than the Seal and the only way I could get it to seal was to really tighten the strap. My dive buddy said I looked like I was in major pain (maximum face squeeze!)
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I decided to try and narrow the mask by bending the frame. It was a lot of trial an error, so I decided to pass on what I learned to make it easier for who ever wants to do it. These instructions will also work for replacing the lenses. I believe you can get the Seal mask with colored lenses, which you could put into the Sphera mask if you wanted it that way.
The first thing to do is pop out the lenses, which is very easy. You can just pull the frame apart a little and push then from the inside out. The hard part is putting them back in.
With the lenses out, the skirt pulls out from the frame so you now have the frame by itself. Since the lenses are not very flexible, to narrow the mask you have to bend the frame at the bridge only, otherwise the lenses would bend it back it you were able to get them installed back in. I put mine in a wide vise so it would have some bending tension. I set the vise so it bent the frame narrower about 1”. Then I took a Butane Solder Iron without the tip (any condensed flame would work or a heat gun) and heated the bridge and the upper frame at the bridge and let it cool in the vise. When finished the frame was ¾” narrower (at least one step worked right the first time!).
The next is putting it back together. The silicone skirt has a small grove the lenses fit it. This makes a very small lip sticking out between the frame and the lense. The frame is cut so that it will spread open and allow you to put the lenses and skirt in from behind. To open it you take the strap and then the buckles off. You can wedge a small flat blade screwdriver between the buckle and the frame toward the bottom side of the buckle. Push the frame part down and pull the buckle away from the frame. It takes some playing, but you will eventually get it. The buckle snaps to keep it in place on the bottom part of the frame, which is why you need to push the bottom part of the frame in with screwdriver to get it off.
You can now put one lense in the skirt and position it in the frame while spreading the frame, and then close the frame to hold it in place. It takes a little bit to figure out how to get the roller pin in position before you push the buckle back on. I suggest you look at its position before removing the buckle, or only remove one buckle and replace that lense before the other one so you have a reference.
Bellow are some pictures. It seals great with little strap pressure now!
don
The problem is its too wide for us narrow face divers. Recently I acquired the Aqua Sphere Seal mask which has the same frame and lenses, but with no nosepiece so I could use it for statics and dynamics with a nose clip. It sealed fined so I thought maybe Aqua Sphere narrowed the Sphera mask recently so I purchased one. No luck, the Sphera skirt is about ¾” wider than the Seal and the only way I could get it to seal was to really tighten the strap. My dive buddy said I looked like I was in major pain (maximum face squeeze!)
.I decided to try and narrow the mask by bending the frame. It was a lot of trial an error, so I decided to pass on what I learned to make it easier for who ever wants to do it. These instructions will also work for replacing the lenses. I believe you can get the Seal mask with colored lenses, which you could put into the Sphera mask if you wanted it that way.
The first thing to do is pop out the lenses, which is very easy. You can just pull the frame apart a little and push then from the inside out. The hard part is putting them back in.
With the lenses out, the skirt pulls out from the frame so you now have the frame by itself. Since the lenses are not very flexible, to narrow the mask you have to bend the frame at the bridge only, otherwise the lenses would bend it back it you were able to get them installed back in. I put mine in a wide vise so it would have some bending tension. I set the vise so it bent the frame narrower about 1”. Then I took a Butane Solder Iron without the tip (any condensed flame would work or a heat gun) and heated the bridge and the upper frame at the bridge and let it cool in the vise. When finished the frame was ¾” narrower (at least one step worked right the first time!).
The next is putting it back together. The silicone skirt has a small grove the lenses fit it. This makes a very small lip sticking out between the frame and the lense. The frame is cut so that it will spread open and allow you to put the lenses and skirt in from behind. To open it you take the strap and then the buckles off. You can wedge a small flat blade screwdriver between the buckle and the frame toward the bottom side of the buckle. Push the frame part down and pull the buckle away from the frame. It takes some playing, but you will eventually get it. The buckle snaps to keep it in place on the bottom part of the frame, which is why you need to push the bottom part of the frame in with screwdriver to get it off.
You can now put one lense in the skirt and position it in the frame while spreading the frame, and then close the frame to hold it in place. It takes a little bit to figure out how to get the roller pin in position before you push the buckle back on. I suggest you look at its position before removing the buckle, or only remove one buckle and replace that lense before the other one so you have a reference.
Bellow are some pictures. It seals great with little strap pressure now!
don
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