DIY Canister Light and Lighthead

[Tiny Bubbles]

The handle is done... I made it out of PVC, and rubberized it with plasti-dip. The maglite and bungees are clamped in place with stainless set screws.

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

bcsean, what size o-ring are you adding on top of the bulb?

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

It's all finished. see attachments!
There's more photos on the MSN board.

 

[Padipro]

Damn!!! Nice job Tiny. It almost looks to good to take in the water and scratch up. :banana:

Let us know how it works out the first time out.

 

[bcsean]

I used a 133 o-ring. I work in a hydraulic and pneumatic equipment shop. I'm a salesman, so finding bits and pieces like o-rings is kinda easy. Just pulled it off the shelf.

I think the difference was the bulb I used. It's a Phillips, and fits with a bit of slop. ALso, the pins are quite close, I guess there are 2 styles. A buddy gave me both sockets, the one that worked was the narrow one.

Now to build the canister.

 

[mddolson]

Nice job.

Looks to be an extremely fine job.
Congradulations.

Mike D

It's all finished. see attachments!
There's more photos on the MSN board.

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

Damn!!! Nice job Tiny. It almost looks to good to take in the water and scratch up.

Let us know how it works out the first time out.

I'll take it in the water and see how it works out, just as soon as this frozen God-forsaken part of the World thaws out so I can go diving! Which will be soon, I hope.

I used a 133 o-ring. I work in a hydraulic and pneumatic equipment shop. I'm a salesman, so finding bits and pieces like o-rings is kinda easy. Just pulled it off the shelf.

I think the difference was the bulb I used. It's a Phillips, and fits with a bit of slop. ALso, the pins are quite close, I guess there are 2 styles. A buddy gave me both sockets, the one that worked was the narrow one.

Now to build the canister.

I also used a 2-133 o-ring, and I had to machine the groove deeper. My solux bulb already burned out from playing around with it, and I replaced it with a phillips (I liked the solux better... The light was more blue and "looked" brighter, even though the brightness is probably the same). I still don't know why some DIY divers have to cut the groove deeper, and other DIY divers get away with not doing that.

I used a TP-61 socket from Bulb Direct. It fits both the wide and narrow pin bulbs. But I read that once you use one style bulb, you can't switch to the other style without replacing the socket. The socket gets bent a certain way the first time it's used.

Nice job.

Looks to be an extremely fine job.
Congradulations.

Mike D

Thanks! That means a lot to me coming from a guy who likes "Makin Divin Stuff " and who knows how to spell "congradulations"!

-tiny-B

 

[Padipro]

I'll take it in the water and see how it works out, just as soon as this frozen God-forsaken part of the World thaws out so I can go diving! Which will be soon, I hope.

You should take a road trip down this way, it was 78 today, a little over cast and windy but 78 non the less. A couple of us drove to Key Largo and dived the Spiegal Grove last Thursday and the water temp was a bone chilling 77. I had to wear a 5 mil semi-dry with a hood and my buddy had to wear his dry suit it was so cold. I can't wait until the water starts to warm up around here. :slick:

I still don't know why some DIY divers have to cut the groove deeper, and other DIY divers get away with not doing that.

I'm waiting to see if the folks that don't deepen the groove in the reflector housing will admit to flooding their light head. The edge of the bulb cracks under pressure as the O-ring will only compress so far before the force becomes to much for the glass on the edge of the bulb to take. Once it's cracked it leaks. I had this problem when I first made the light. I was using an O-ring that was very thick and made of a very hard material. It wouldn't compress enough to allow the Mag-lite lens to contact the lip of the reflector housing and stop the compression. As the pressure increased the edge of the bulb would crack and allow water past the O-ring. I solved the problem by switching to a softer material and a slightly smaller cross section O-ring. Even though I had deepened the groove I haden't deepened it enough for the type of O-ring I was using. You don't need very much of the O-ring to stick up above the lip of the reflector housing to get a good seal and if too much is above the lip, it will crack the bulb and flood the light.

 

[bcsean]

If it leaks it leaks, and I'll change it. I'm just going by the divelight where you have your document posted. It says make sure the o-ring sits half way under the lip. That's pretty much exactly how mine sits. And if it leaks, I'll post as such. No point hiding it. Problems happen, and we'll learn from each other.

Thanks again everyone for all this help. Gotta determine battery pack so I can build canister.

Oh, and I found a wire that I think might work. It's about 18 gauge, with a stainless braided layer inside the sheating. It's insanely strong, but still bends well. Anyone used this before? I'm gonna give it a shot and hope for the best as its available and free.

 

[Water Bear]

:wow_2: Awesome job Tiny!!:wave-smil You totally rock!:bang: Now lets celebrate!