A
artiz
Guest
Following on from REVAN's project (much thank's Ron) I have now managed to construct a Mark 2 of Ron Smith’s excellent loop snorkel with a few modifications to please myself. The most important being the addition of a more conventional snorkel mouthpiece.
PART 1
I therefore used an old but suitable donor (IST) snorkel which already had a detachable silicone mouthpiece…
I cut the fitting off with a jigsaw and sanded down (manually) with sand paper wrapped around an old piece of 15mm copper pipe until the shape matched my 16mm pipe precisely. I then wrapped masking tape around the pipe and drilled 2 x 11mm holes carefully… finishing off the breathing hole with a soldering iron and then ruffed up the bonding surfaces with sandpaper.
The average bore or inner diameter of the 5 snorkels I own worked out to be about 22mm so the pipe I chose was spot on (by luck & REVAN's (10mm ID) guidance rather than judgement) and was (£3.73) - 16mm OD x 11mm ID from ebay uk.
I assumed the bonding together of these 2 parts was going to be the weak part of my upgrade but didn’t really want to spend loads of money on top quality bonding agents etc... so tried using only the glues/bond which I already had. Firstly I super glued the mouth piece mount directly to the pipe. I then filled/gunned a bead of black Sikaflex-EBT all the way around the outside join, smoothed and then left for 24 hours. This just didn’t look or feel secure/good enough so I found, ordered and applied some black sugru which is a malleable silicone putty, (£8.50 for 3x5g) and clearly made for the job....
These initial results speak for themselves... whether/how long it lasts is another story/post?
Some important points to note so far are:
More later in PART2 when finished.
PART 1
I therefore used an old but suitable donor (IST) snorkel which already had a detachable silicone mouthpiece…
I cut the fitting off with a jigsaw and sanded down (manually) with sand paper wrapped around an old piece of 15mm copper pipe until the shape matched my 16mm pipe precisely. I then wrapped masking tape around the pipe and drilled 2 x 11mm holes carefully… finishing off the breathing hole with a soldering iron and then ruffed up the bonding surfaces with sandpaper.
The average bore or inner diameter of the 5 snorkels I own worked out to be about 22mm so the pipe I chose was spot on (by luck & REVAN's (10mm ID) guidance rather than judgement) and was (£3.73) - 16mm OD x 11mm ID from ebay uk.
I assumed the bonding together of these 2 parts was going to be the weak part of my upgrade but didn’t really want to spend loads of money on top quality bonding agents etc... so tried using only the glues/bond which I already had. Firstly I super glued the mouth piece mount directly to the pipe. I then filled/gunned a bead of black Sikaflex-EBT all the way around the outside join, smoothed and then left for 24 hours. This just didn’t look or feel secure/good enough so I found, ordered and applied some black sugru which is a malleable silicone putty, (£8.50 for 3x5g) and clearly made for the job....
These initial results speak for themselves... whether/how long it lasts is another story/post?
Some important points to note so far are:
- The angle of the actual fitting (exactly where on the pipe) is critical later on but must come from individual choice & comfort and based on a bit of research and test? (more in part 2)
- The natural bend, flexibility and bore of your pipe are critical!
- The holes drilled in the pipe should probably exceed 20-22mm or the size of both diameters of your chosen pipe or you risk restricting airflow.
More later in PART2 when finished.
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