Need A Clip!

[dwashbur]

One of the shoulder clips on my Orion Triple BCD broke the other day while I was taking the BCD off. I found clips at Joann Fabrics in 1" and 2" widths, but of course these are 1 1/2". Does anybody know where I can get one locally? So far I've tried Home Depot, Joann, Michael's, and Sports Authority with no luck. Oh yeah, also my LDS. They didn't have any either.

[mz53480]

... Does anybody know where I can get one locally?...

Check with Norris. I believe he had something like this happen to one of his about a year ago.

[Nwbrewer]

One of the shoulder clips on my Orion Triple BCD broke the other day while I was taking the BCD off. I found clips at Joann Fabrics in 1" and 2" widths, but of course these are 1 1/2". Does anybody know where I can get one locally? So far I've tried Home Depot, Joann, Michael's, and Sports Authority with no luck. Oh yeah, also my LDS. They didn't have any either.

Is it just a fastex buckle?

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/side.html

If all else fails you could try -
http://www.seattlefabrics.com/cam_buckles.html

And of course there's always -
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=12 (I couldn't resist....)

[mz53480]

And of course there's always -
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=12 (I couldn't resist....)

What, no backplate included in that? What a scam......

[Nwbrewer]

And of course there's always -
https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=12 (I couldn't resist....)

What, no backplate included in that? What a scam......

Here you go, I think it even works with the Orion... (A bit pricy though....)
http://www.scubal.com/content/products_ ... anpham.php

You can see Dave's BC here in the discontinued section - http://www.scubal.com/content/products. ... 4&langid=1#

I think the first link I posted is what he needs, I really was trying to be a little bit helpful...

[dwashbur]

Yeah, that's close to the BCD I have, and yes, that first link was what I need. I'll take a closer look, thanks!

[Rockfish]

Can you post a picture of the clip? I have a bunch of plastic clips just gathering dust and if I have what you need I would be happy to mail it to you.

Mike

[dwashbur]

Can you post a picture of the clip? I have a bunch of plastic clips just gathering dust and if I have what you need I would be happy to mail it to you.

Mike

This link has it:

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/side.html


It's the first one, the side release buckle. As far as I can tell I need it in either 1.5 inch or 1.75 inch, depending on where you measure it.

[Pinkpadigal]

Dave,

Did you try REI? They have the largest selection of clips I have ever seen. It seems to me about 4-5 years ago, I bought a 1.5 clip in there.

[Rockfish]

I think that I have some of those and when I get home after work I will confirm that I do or do not have one. I'll PM you later probably around 10 PM.

Mike

[ljjames]

Seattle fabric supply...


http://www.seattlefabrics.com/

i know they have some 1.5" buckles in stock.

[Rockfish]

Ok I found two that I have no use for. Send me your address and I will put them in the mail for you.

[dwashbur]

Ok I found two that I have no use for. Send me your address and I will put them in the mail for you.

Let me check Amy's REI suggestion today first. Maybe I can save you some postage. Thanks!

[dwashbur]

Okay, after talking with a very knowledgeable guy at REI who's also a former diver (who knew there was such a thing?????), the problem with the clip is this: it's a much lower profile than anything they or anybody else I've found carries. What I would really like to do is find an exact match so I only have to replace the broken part, which is the half with the points. Why? Because the upper half, the "female" side, is so firmly sewn into the BCD I think it would take a bulldozer to get it out, and an industrial-strength sewing machine to put a new one in. The upper half of the clip says it's a Tifco BC38; the lower half says tifco BC381. All the clips I've found so far are much thicker than this one, which leads me to suspect that either a) I'm going to have to find a place that carries that specific clip, which probably isn't made any more, and/or b) I'm screwed.

Rockfish, does this thing sounds like any of the ones you found? If not, I don't want to inconvenience you for no good reason.

[Rockfish]

I am at work right now but I will look at what I have when I get home and let you know. If you are out and about you might want to check in with Seattle Fabrics. They have a lot of different buckles and if they don't have one in stock then maybe they can order one for you or refer you to someone else. It will probably be after 10 PM tonight before I get back to you.

Mike

[Nwbrewer]

Okay, after talking with a very knowledgeable guy at REI who's also a former diver (who knew there was such a thing?????), the problem with the clip is this: it's a much lower profile than anything they or anybody else I've found carries. What I would really like to do is find an exact match so I only have to replace the broken part, which is the half with the points. Why? Because the upper half, the "female" side, is so firmly sewn into the BCD I think it would take a bulldozer to get it out, and an industrial-strength sewing machine to put a new one in. The upper half of the clip says it's a Tifco BC38; the lower half says tifco BC381. All the clips I've found so far are much thicker than this one, which leads me to suspect that either a) I'm going to have to find a place that carries that specific clip, which probably isn't made any more, and/or b) I'm screwed.

Rockfish, does this thing sounds like any of the ones you found? If not, I don't want to inconvenience you for no good reason.

http://www.tifco.com/

Are you sure Seattle fabrics doesn't have it? They have a 1.5" "slim" buckle.

[dwashbur]

Okay, after talking with a very knowledgeable guy at REI who's also a former diver (who knew there was such a thing?????), the problem with the clip is this: it's a much lower profile than anything they or anybody else I've found carries. What I would really like to do is find an exact match so I only have to replace the broken part, which is the half with the points. Why? Because the upper half, the "female" side, is so firmly sewn into the BCD I think it would take a bulldozer to get it out, and an industrial-strength sewing machine to put a new one in. The upper half of the clip says it's a Tifco BC38; the lower half says tifco BC381. All the clips I've found so far are much thicker than this one, which leads me to suspect that either a) I'm going to have to find a place that carries that specific clip, which probably isn't made any more, and/or b) I'm screwed.

Rockfish, does this thing sounds like any of the ones you found? If not, I don't want to inconvenience you for no good reason.

http://www.tifco.com/

Are you sure Seattle fabrics doesn't have it? They have a 1.5" "slim" buckle.

I couldn't find anything useful on the tifco website; already tried. I haven't been able to get to Seattle Fabrics yet. Hope to do that today.

[dwashbur]

Seattle Fabrics didn't have anything, nor did UWS on Aurora. Apparently this is something proprietary to the Triple-L Orion, and doesn't match anything else in the known universe...

[Rockfish]

I looked at the Orion BCD on the ScubaL website and I know that the buckles I have do not look like the ones on their BCD. Not to ask a stupid question but have you e-mailed the manufacturer to see about getting a replacement part? If I looked at the right website it looks likes these are made in Vietnam. I'm guessing that you were trying to find a local replacement part so that you would not have to go that route.

I'm still willing to send you the clips I have and you can see if you can make one of them work but I don't think that they will help as I got them at Seattle Fabrics.

Good Luck!

Mike

[dwashbur]

I looked at the Orion BCD on the ScubaL website and I know that the buckles I have do not look like the ones on their BCD. Not to ask a stupid question but have you e-mailed the manufacturer to see about getting a replacement part? If I looked at the right website it looks likes these are made in Vietnam. I'm guessing that you were trying to find a local replacement part so that you would not have to go that route.

I'm still willing to send you the clips I have and you can see if you can make one of them work but I don't think that they will help as I got them at Seattle Fabrics.

Good Luck!

Mike

So far I can't find any contact info on the manufacturer. I found a couple of supposed sites, but one was in Japanese and the other is up for grabs. What did you find?

Save your postage $$, but I sure appreciate the offer!!!!!

[Rockfish]

http://www.scubal.com/content/products_ ... ocatid=103

I don't know if this is your BCD or not. I searched for a triple-l orion and I came up with this.

Mike

[Rockfish]

This looks like the clip on the Scubal BCD

http://www.johnhowardcompany.com/Contou ... Buckle.htm

or this may work

http://www.johnhowardcompany.com/Scuba%20Buckle.htm

here are some more,

http://www.johnhowardcompany.com/Side%2 ... uckles.htm

Can you post a picture of the damaged clip it might make it easier to find?

Mike

[dwashbur]

I finally managed to get a few pix. This is the BCD:

Here's a top view of the clip. Obviously, this is the one that isn't broken.

And here's an on-edge view.

I've managed to jury-rig it so the BCD stays together and I can use it, but it would be nice if I could actually fix it.

[Rockfish]

Looks like this is the one you need,

http://www.johnhowardcompany.com/Scuba%20Buckle.htm

Mike