Lovecraft Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 My little project moves on, ever so slowly - partly because I have a lot of work and partly because the tools take a long time to get here. This time, it's the HE-valve: It's not drilled through - there is no screw or anything else on the other side. It would seem it's glued on (or stuck on the case by some other means). I can't move it in any direction. Granted, it's water proofed for sure, but I'd still like to stick my gen on there. I was planning on being able to "use" it (ie being able to screw it) but I'm thinking I'll just chop the gen valve in half and epoxy it. Probably have to drill it away, and hopefully without hurting the case. Has anyone who did a He-valve swap seen this before? I'd like to get some input before I start drilling away on the HE-valve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SportsterRider Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 I assume you're talking about the 5th gen 42mm? I doubt that it's glued on. It's more likely that it's pressed into a hole that simply doesn't go all the way through the case. If the hole is smaller than the genuine He valve, you could drill it through using the proper size and tap it (I assume it's threaded?). Or you could just cut the gen He valve to length, size the hole appropriately and press it in the way the rep factory did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovecraft Posted March 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 I assume you're talking about the 5th gen 42mm? I doubt that it's glued on. It's more likely that it's pressed into a hole that simply doesn't go all the way through the case. If the hole is smaller than the genuine He valve, you could drill it through using the proper size and tap it (I assume it's threaded?). Or you could just cut the gen He valve to length, size the hole appropriately and press it in the way the rep factory did. Yes, 5th gen 42mm. I'll try to just pull it loose. If there's a hole that I can enlarge that would indeed be the ideal solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovecraft Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 You were right - it was just a hole that the rep valve was pressed into. Decided to keep the case closed and just epoxied the gen valve into the hole. A pretty expensive part to just "glue" on, but it's a pretty big difference in thickness. Rather strange actually how the rep is way too thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougar1 Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Apparently some newer 5th gen PO's He are glued into place for waterproofing purposes?! They used to open and screw in just like a gen, but it was merely for aesthetic purposes obviously as it wasn't a functioning valve I have no idea what the dealers are at recently with these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovecraft Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 I'd most definitely prefer if it's possible to open/screw it - however, my beef with it is that it's MUCH thicker than the gen. I just don't see how something that off survived as long as to the 5th iteration of the PO. Of all the gen parts I got, this is one that couldn't be easily "solved" in a cheap way. Not that I know of anyway. The crown and tube fix is cheap. You can keep the hands and dial and lume them yourself. You can find a nice bezel pearl and lume it yourself. You can send away the crystal for some AR work and so on... You can't really fix the look of the He-valve cheaply. The other part could resonably be the end links - don't think there's a cheaper fix there. We are all different, but the two things that my eyes usually get stuck on are the pearl and He-valve... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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