3D print gopro 9 housing for deep dive

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I'll be interested to see the results. You don't see much testing of serious applications publicized.

And nylon is probably not going to be as stiff as you want. A carbon fiber filled nylon might be better. Or carbon fiber filled polycarbonate might be even better.
 
I think Lexan would be stronger than Plexiglass.
Could the buttons be opposing magnets between the lexan? Push a button and the opposing magnet would want to push away also and then trigger the camera?
 
I think Lexan would be stronger than Plexiglass.
Could the buttons be opposing magnets between the lexan? Push a button and the opposing magnet would want to push away also and then trigger the camera?
I like the idea for the button but I'm not too sure on how to keep them in when the camera is out; anyone have seen an similar design ?
 
The magnet idea would have strange mushy physical feedback. And be complicated as you would need retaining features on both sides, and more clearance for springs that would now be inside, not outside.
That would add bulk too...
But it certainly would reduce potential leak points.
 
I think Lexan would be stronger than Plexiglass.
Lexan(polycarbonate) is absolutely stronger than Plexiglass (PMMA/acrylic).
But we are also talking about 3D printing, where acrylic isn't even an option anyway.
Polycarbonate also is much more chemical resistant and fails in predictable and progressive ways. Acrylic just cracks without warning!
Only advantage of acrylic is it can be laser cut and easily chemically welded.
 
Lexan(polycarbonate) is absolutely stronger than Plexiglass (PMMA/acrylic).
But we are also talking about 3D printing, where acrylic isn't even an option anyway.
Polycarbonate also is much more chemical resistant and fails in predictable and progressive ways. Acrylic just cracks without warning!
Only advantage of acrylic is it can be laser cut and easily chemically welded.
for the 2 transparent windows, i will go with polycarbonate ; but i still need to find a way to fix it
 
Not brittle, but it does swell. Carbon fiber will probably reduce that a bit, but there's a reason they use polycarbonate for the supersuit. And good reason the Golem Gear housing is aluminum.
 
Creating impermeable pressure housings with FDM printers is difficult. Strength is not the issue here, a thick housing in any material will be plenty strong. Dealing with permeability from gaps between the layer lines is the challenge. ABS, PET/PETG, polycarbonate would work. I wouldn't do this in nylon or PLA. To have any shot at low permiability you should print HOT and SLOW with a good bit of increased extrusion and line overlap. 100% infill obviously. Use dry filament. Reduce cooling fan. Play with settings and look into the techniques used by people trying to achieve very strong layer adhesion or optically clear parts.

If using ABS you could vapor smooth it with acetone to create a fused surface but even that isn't really impermeable.

Rigorously test anything you make before putting a camera in it.

Resin printers might work well for this but I'm not too experienced with those.

The "salt remelting technique" is a very viable option, or to go another route so is using lost-PLA casting to make the parts from aluminum based on a 3D print.

Acrylic is marginally more scratch resistant than polycarbonate which turns out to be the biggest reason it's preferred for this sort of thing. Laser cutting and solvent welding an acrylic housing is a very reasonable option.

For the buttons, I'd basically copy what almost all camera housings use. A shaft with a spring, o-ring, and a couple of circlips. The walls of the hole will have to be nicely drilled or polished for the o-ring. Using a machined metal sleeve glued into the part is an option but I'm not sure if that's better or worse in this case. You can probably find something like that off-the-shelf.

I've been meaning to write up a more detailed post about 3D printing stuff for underwater use. At some point I'll get around to it if enough people are interested. In the meantime feel free to hit me with any questions.
 
My suggestion...

At this point don't worry about the details such as lens and buttons. Just try and make a 3D printed waterproof housing. That is the biggest hurdle I see at the moment. The rest is meaningless if the printed part can't hold back water.

Once you make a waterproof housing... That is where you work at putting holes in it that don't leak. You are going to be doing a lot of test dives of empty housings finding a 3D printing material/process that will work.
 

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