Picturebrite cylinders?

Has anyone ordered a cylinder from picturebrite.com?

Their prices seem to be very reasonable. The cylinders are something called the Jim Diamond brand, but they look pretty standard, with the usual quick-disconnect fittings. The cylinders, from 1.75” to 3”, are $27.95 plus shipping. With a pump w/gauge, the 2” is $59.95.

Well I just wondered if anyone had any experience with this seller or with their cylinders. I can’t tell from the pictures whether the cylinders are the same diameter from opening to top like the LA’s, or whether they are cinched in at the opening a la the Boston’s.

This is a gay-oriented site, in case that matters to you. Not sure where the name comes from.

If you click on the cylinder Chuck, you get another enlarged picture which shows they are straight walled, and have a flange at the base.

I don’t have knowledge of the pump, so can’t help you there I’m afraid. But at that price, they would certainly be Ok for you to see whether pumping is for you or not

I have a “Jim Diamond” picturebrite cylinder. It is a fine cylinder. They were good to work with and shipping was fast.

I also have a Boston Pump cylinder. The picturebrite is somewhat cinched in, but the opening/lip is not as thick as the Boston one.

sta-kool, I would appreciate it if you could tell me what the difference is between the nominal size of your picturebrite cylinder, and the actual diameter at the narrowest point at the opening. What’s critical for me is the size at the opening, but if that’s different from the nominal size (i.e. - 2” or whatever), I need to take that into account.

It is a 2 inch cylinder. It looks like it narrows to a little bit over 1.75” at the opening. Say about 1/16th of an inch over. I’m sorry I can’t be exactly precise, it is difficult to measure.

The narrowing ridge is only about 3/16 of an inch.

In comparison, the boston narrowing ridge (what they call the “built in cockring” is almost 3/8 of an inch. Boston is a 1.75” cylinder, it narrows to a little less than 1.5”

Thanks very much for the information. It seems to me that ridge is critical to how well it works. That’s where the seal is formed, and that’s where your sack either gets drawn in or doesn’t. So the size of the opening is what’s important.

It sounds like the 2” is what I should get. I was a little concerned it would be too big if it was a straight-walled cylinder, but I think that narrowing ridge should make it just about right.

But you know, at these prices, you could get another size just in case.

Thanks again, sta-kool.

ChuckR, they even sell for a little bit cheaper on ebay. I think the cylinders are $22.50 and shipping may be a little cheaper too. Bidders name kept private. Seller name is picturebrite.

Check carefully though — they have two styles of cylinder. One is tapered at the top, the other is a perfect cylinder (other than the cinched opening). You do not want the tapered one.

Ok, I ended up ordering by phone because I needed a fitting for my existing pump that wasn’t listed on the site. That may have speeded things up versus a normal online order, but I ordered Thursday morning, and received the Priority Mail package Saturday morning. Two days. I ordered a number of other things besides the cylinder, and the total shipping charge was $8. Hard to beat that kind of service, or the price.

I got the 2” cylinder. The main body of the cylinder is indeed 2”, but it narrows right at the opening to exactly 1.75”, as discussed before. I think you either like that feature or you don’t. But it seems such a design would be used mostly as a girth cylinder. I’ve tried it a bit, and it seems to work ok for me.

The cylinder is 9.5” long, and has the typical quick-disconnect fitting at the top. It seems quite sturdy. I have no personal experience with other commercial cylinder brands, but this appears to have everything the more expensive brands have. If this style works for you, I don’t see any reason to pay twice as much, or more, for a Boston, for example.

The only negative is that the ruler decal is stuck on so that it begins about 3/4” up from the bottom, which makes you appear to be shorter than you are. So I’ll either reposition it correctly if I can, or just remove it. Everything else on the cylinder (the Jim Diamond label and the 2” label) is a decal, so you could have a completely clean cylinder if you want.

I’m quite satisfied with the quality, the price and the service. I’ll just have to see, over time, how the narrowed opening works for me. But especially if sta-kool is right about the Ebay prices being even lower than the $27.95 I paid, this seems like a very good deal compared with other cylinders I’ve looked at.

But of course, you have to be gay to order from this company. :-)

I think you will find the narrowed opening to be a good thing. For one thing it helps with getting a good seal.

I will say that I prefer my Boston cylinder a smidgen more than the picturebrite because of the thicker rim. But the picturebrite one is great, and I am thinking about getting another one in a large size to experiment with full package pumping.

By the way the boston decal ruler is the same way!

I was no lucky with picturebrite even if I agree that the quality is sufficient compared to the price.

And I like the Boston like narrow opening.

I got my picturebright cylinder and pump with the male coupler broken.

May I ask you if you ordered only the cylinder or also the pump?

One other comment. The male fitting (the one in the plastic tubing) that snaps into the female fitting on the cylinder body has a small o-ring. It’s a good idea to lube that o-ring, and the inside surface of the female fitting, with some vaseline or other similar lube. Before doing that, I managed to chew up the o_ring a bit.

That o-ring, by the way, is 8mm OD by 5mm ID, available at my local Ace Hardware for 69 cents. I bought several, just in case.

Chuck,

my problem is exactly the o ring in the picture brite male fitting. I received it broken.

Are you sure the dimension of the o ring are millimeters and not fractions of inches.

Can you “translate” better the sentence “is 8mm OD by 5mm ID”, because i tried to substitute it here in Italy but till now I failed.

Mark001, yes, the o-ring is definitely metric. I bought several today, and they work perfectly. Let me try to describe it better:

The Outside Diameter of the o-ring is 8mm. The Inside Diameter is 5mm. The material of the o-ring itself is 1.5mm thick. The outside diameter is the distance across the o-ring, from outer edge to outer edge. The inside diameter is the distance from inner edge to inner edge.

At the store, the o-ring should be described as simply 8mm outside diameter, 5mm inside diameter.

Hope this is helpful.

Are you sure?

Exactly 1.5 mm?

Yes I think so. It would pretty much have to be. The outside diameter is equal to the inside diameter plus twice the thickness of the ring material itself. If you are using the same “Jim Diamond” brand as I just received from Picturebrite, that 8mm x 5mm o-ring should work. I’m using one now. Just remember to put some lube on it.