DIY dive gear successes and failures

[mddolson]

pcscuba bubbled:"Will that handle work with a C-cell Maglite?"

It sure will , just adjust the inside diameter ( 1.25 dia) to be about 1/32" bigger in diameter than the size of your Maglite.

Mike D

 

[Padipro]

Mike,

What is a "BAIL HANDLE"? Is this an actual item you can buy or is it just the name you gave that part of the handle while you were making the drawing?

Scott

mddolson once bubbled...
I was in a heavy current dive last weekend, and it made me think about needing a Goodman handle for my cannister light.

Attached is my drawing of my handle.
It fit's good, I'll let you know how well it works after this week end.

Mike D

 

[mddolson]

Sorry for the use of the unexplained term.
the "Bail" handle comes from the country/farm where I grew up as a kid.

It describes the shape of the handle, in my drawing (an elongated oval shape). A bail handle was part of a bailing hook, a large J shape steel hook, with oval Bail handle in the atraight end, used to hook into rectangular bails of hay, and pull them onto a wagon, during haying season. Now-a-days this is all done by a conveyer, or a bail slinger that throws the bails into a wagon, rather than by hand. I've not seen many rectangular bails any more. Round bails are more common today, picked up by a single long spike on the front of the tractor.

Regards

Mike D

 

[DNAXdiver]

bale

 

[mddolson]

rule no. 1 : spelling doesn't count.

Mike D

 

[pcscuba]

I know this thread is kinda dead but I just finished my canister and I was working on a goodman handle. I've seen all the different designs on this board and I've decided on a design a little bit different. Instead of drilling holes in the maglite handle and possibly making it leak you can get a 1-1/4" stainless 2pc split shaft collar. Bend a piece of 1" x 1/8" stainless flat stock so it will fit you hand and tack weld the collar on the flat stock. Now you can unbolt the top half of the collar and remove the handle whenever you need to and you don't compromise the sealing of the light head. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Tommygun53]

I just tested my canister light last night in spring mill pond, WOW, what a light! And no leaks although i STILL HAVE TO PAINT IT YET. PCSCUBA I think you have a great idea there with the split collar, I am going to build one...Normally I pressure test all of my D.I.Y. gear before I use it,well any kind of housing anyway to check for leaks and to take a video housing for instance, I will take it to a SIMULATED DEPTH OF SAY AROUND 150 FT. inside a 7.5 gallon paint pot or pressure pot.You can find these pressure pots at Mcmaster-Carr.I usually do this without the camera inside,so some weights are needed to hold it down,then I fill the pot with water and set my computer on top of the housing,(make sure your computer is completely under water)close the lid and pressurize the tank with air and listen for unusual sounds.I usually test to well past the depth I plan on taking the equipment.This has saved my video camera at least once.The only problem with this is you usually bleed the air off the pot kinda fast ,then it looks like youve done a very rapid ascent on your computer and you shouldnt dive with it for at least 24 hrs.Thanks again Padipro for all the valuable info and for everyone else on this board for thier contributions.

 

[Web Monkey]

How did your dive light work out?

 

[Padipro]

Glad I could help out and that everything tested good.

Any touubles with the light head leaking? Mine keeps cracking the bulbs and leaks a little water past the O-ring. I either have to use a thinner O-ring or cut the grove in the head a little deeper.

Scott

BTW....Anyone looking for cheep O2 sensors for their DIY analizers check out this auction on Ebay. I bought 3 of them and received them in the mail today. Of course I only opened one package but when I hooked it up the my analizer it workd as advertised.

O2 Sensor

 

[Tommygun53]

Now that you mentioned that I went and checked my lighthead and there was a little moisture inside and the glass was cracked.My solution was to add a cushion between the mr16 glass and the alumunum recess.I used a quick curing dow corning silicone (catalyzed and Hi-temp)I can get the part numbers for you if this works.I did coat the glass with grease before i did the squish, that way the glass is still removeable.I havent made another dive with it yet though.The pot life of the silicone was only about 2 minutes with the hardener i used so you have to work fast...Although I suppose you could use just about any silicone should work...