Clip tool

[treasureman]

IS there a specific tool to remove the c clips from the aqualung regs and a tool to re-install . I knwo ther are clamps why would I need a c- clip.

Sometimes i get the urge to put the originals on. besides I must have 50 of these things in a jar.

[Nemrod]

The problem with the clips is that they can damage the chrome and more important they can deform the case.

To remove them without damage I grasp them with a small end dike and pull out and down. Once removed I spread them a bit and set them aside.Upon re-install I set them around the case even and then squeeze them gently criss crossing a bit at a time until I feel they are snug without bending the soft brass case. I use a Blue Point parallel plier with a smooth grasping face to squeeze them.

I use the clips on my Mistral but everything else is converted to the ring clamps, either NOS or Bryan's reproduction ones. Sometimes when using the ring clamps, after they are installed you can still rotate the cans relative to one another. In that event, using the parallel plier I gently squeeze the clamp at seven locations as if it where a clip there. That usually fixes it. Only once, in Wazzee, did a fellow have a DA that Dan was working on and installed a new band clamp and it would not snug down. I think I finally got it to behave by squeezing the clamp uniformly as posible all the way around. If the cans are deformed, the diaphrams is siliconed and the diaphram is squashed down from age sometimes they just don't like to tighten with a ring clamp, in that case the clips maybe your safest bet.

Nemrod

[Bryan]

After removing and installing hundreds of these annoying clips, here is the process I use.
Tom Madere came up with the modification to the vice grips years ago and I believe that the 1st time I heard of using the small side cutters was from James a couple of years ago. Previous to that I was using a small pocket screwdriver with black electrical tape wrapped around the shaft with only the very tip exposed to remove the clips by prying up on them. Tom also has a modified set of dykes that look as close to the factory tool as I have ever seen for removal of the clips……
Basically the small flat end pliers are used to remove the clips. They grip the 1st time and there is very little chance of them pulling off and damaging the clips or the cans.
The modified vice grips are simply an inexpensive set that I took the round high speed cutting ball in a dremel tool and cut down and scooped out the 1st few rows of teeth to make an exact fit of the curved surface of the clip. When you re-assemble you have to do it a bit by feel a time or two until you know when the clip is closed tight enough without over tightening it. Since I do a lot of different regulators every week I cannot firmly set the stops on the vice grips as the difference in cans/regulators/diaphragms have to be taken into consideration for the final set of the clips.