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I have been playing around trying to make my own spring straps for a while, and I have been trying a slightly different method of attaching the springs to the fins. I would appreciate people's views on this. What I have done is this: (1) hook the springs directly onto the existing attachment hardware on the fins, and bent the hook end of the spring back inside the spring so that it won't come off; this makes the mechanical connection, and so all that now needs to be done is cover up the connection to prevent any entanglement risk (2) take about 2 to 3 inches of the 1/2 inch inside diameter tubing (which you need some of anyway for the spring heel covers), and cut it in half lengthways (3) push it through the attachment hardware, bend it round, and push the two ends together, so that they join around the spring (4) slip a half inch length of thin bicycle inner tube over the two ends to hold them together (actually a one inch length folded double on my first version). I am aware that a picture tells a thousand words. I don't have a website, but I'm happy to e-mail something. I have done a couple of dives like this and they seem to work fine. There should really be no force at all on the rubber covering of the attachment, because it is just a covering. My plan is to glue the inner tube section onto the rubber tube, and then put a small band of shrink wrap over it to hold it all firm. I am toying with the idea of using a much longer section of inner tube which runs the whole length of the spring strap and covers the whole spring, hopefully preventing any possibility of a line being caught in a stretched spring. I have played with a few different types of tubing, and found that the "santoprene" 1/8 inch wall seems to glue OK in this way, if you use "seal cement" (neoprene cement) and clean it up well and roughen it before glueing. Alternatively a couple of tie-wraps or a hose clip might do the job of holding the tubing on (in both cases covered by a piece of inner tube or shrink wrap to prevent entanglement). It has also occurred to me that it must be possible to find rubber end stops with a 1/2 inch inside diameter, and a cross hole could then be drilled at the end for the attachment hardware to go through, and this would be the simplest way of doing it, although it would require removal and replacement of the existing attachment hardware. The motivation for this approach is that it saves any machining etc (or that whole business with the hockey pucks), and it has a smaller and smoother profile than some of the other attachment methods. It can also be done in about 10 minutes without removing the original mounting hardware on the fins, and it is dirt cheap. The idea of a longer covering for the whole spring comes frrom the EE straps (which I have a pair of). By the way, I notice that the EE XL straps seem to use a longer spring than some of the articles recommend (12.5 inch vs 11 inch). I would hate to be involved in "stroke see, stroke do", so this idea is made for discussion, not as a recommendation to anyone. Please note that I haven't done any serious dives with it, I haven't shown it to any serious divers, and I am currently diving with EE straps which (I would guess) have been properly exposed and tested. Comments appreciated. Simon Richards ********************************************************************** This message is for the named person's use only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No right to confidential or privileged treatment of this message is waived or lost by any error in transmission. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail or by telephone at 212 403 3500, delete the message and all copies from your system and destroy any hard copies. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. ********************************************************************** -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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