DIY DSLR Housing in plexi in progress !

[the_dragon_no1]

Hello everyone !

I have started makeing a housing for my cam. take a look at the pic's and feel free to post ideas, or questions :cool2:
will try to use flat rubber gasket between the lins part and the house itself.. might have to go for a O-ring :?

-glue i have used is 2k epoxy, and on small parts inside, i have used regular superglue.
-main plexi is 11mm thick.
-will be useing stainless steel latches. (ordered)
-will be useing "Ikelite" control glands (ordered)
-the two handles, is from angle grinders
-i will also order a wireless flash soon, and build a flex arm, and housing for it aswell
-"wing" plate under is from real carbonfiber.:cool2:

Got one problem so far.... mounting the plexi in front of the lens, to the pipe, without gluing it ( if i realy dont have to) any good ideas please
the "support" pipe inside the black lens pipe WILL be glued with pvc glue. as now, glass and "support" pipe is moveble inn/out.
i was gonna use a pvc end cap(cut out center), with latches on, BUT, they dont make the size i need i think aprox 82mm inside, btw.


(pictures is not in order)

 

[mishko]

Hi,
I see you didn't get much answers yet, so just a couple of things that, from my experience, do and do not work:

1. Go for o-ring. Rubber gasket will almost certainly leak, no matter how much you tighten the screws. The touching surface area is simply too big.

2. For the front acrylic window, use the o-ring, too. Make the flange from the same material (PVC?) with inner diameter = OD of the pipe and 6 or so threads, glue it to the pipe end and make the acrylic window with holes for screws. Check the macro port on my site for images if you like.

3. How do you plan to seal the rear door? You will have to polish the surfaces, as they look way to rough to seal properly. You will also need some kind of groove for the o-ring in the back door. Again, rubber gasket won't do it, at least it never did for me...

Good luck with your project
Miso

 

[the_dragon_no1]

thanks for the reply
1. I Have changed the gasket for a O-ring might had worked with the gasket, but the flange was abit soft, so i couldt tighten as much as i wanted.

2. weeeeeellll, my FIRST idea was to use a "flange to reverse flange", joined together by a pipe inside, and then mount the lens window like you say........ i know see that i should have gone that way maybe... not to late still tho, will have a look at it tomorrow

3. at the rear edge i will use a mill to mill out a o-ring groove (will borrow a mill at my friends garage), then tighten with 4 ss latches.

Q.1: O-ring cord, for custom O-rings... does it work, and last ?

Q.2: Do O-rings NEED a groove ? think i read somewhere that it would take ALOT of pressure for the O-ring to move without a groove ( atleast deeper than the 20 meters i will dive ).

Q.3: twist buttons, or Push buttons(with spring), whats most common, and easy to use ?

ps. Awsome site, and housings !! nice to get some help from people with experience with these thing

 

[Akimbo]

We built a lot of Acrylic underwater camera housings in the 1960s with a table saw and drill press. The poor-man’s alternative for machined O-ring grooves is illustrated in the attached Acrobat file. Securing the back plate was done first with brass threaded studs and wing nuts, but was soon replaced by Nielsen Latches like you are using.

See http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/making-your-own-gear/375873-canister-latches.html

Here is Nielsen Hardware Corp's home page:
Custom Handles & Latches | Strikes, Container & Cases Hardware | Industrial & Adjustable Latches | Nielsen Hardware | Nielsen Hardware

You can buy from them online or Google: “nielsen stainless steel latches”. The list goes on for pages. I haven’t checked the Nielsen site, but you can download a CAD file from the Reid site.

Compression Spring Catches Latches [Material: Type 304 Stainless Steel]

Many of the descriptions say Zinc finish, but many really are stainless when you look closer at the specs.

Another option available today is to make a template guide for a router. The router must adjust to pretty low speeds to prevent burning the Acrylic though.

As for your port, have you considered making the entire port from Acrylic? You can buy Acrylic tubing, solvent weld the flat port to one end, and an interior flange to the other. Alternatively, you could just solvent weld the tube and flat port to the housing.

If you can find someone with a small lathe, it is not that hard to make a port for glass. The attached photo is one left over from the “old days” made by a retired machinist in his garage. The metal ring is aluminum, the Acrylic ring was made from 1” Acrylic laminated together, and a tempered glass disk fit inside with an O-ring seal. I always enjoyed making those housings.

 

[the_dragon_no1]

nice reply ! i like the backplate/O-ring design.. simple and working..
as for useing acrylic, i want to use most pvc, just because it's cheaper, and easier to get a hold of where i live. ( and i work part time as a plummer, so i get parts there
i dont like the idea of weld/glue port to housing, as i THINK i will be makeing dome port aswell, and want it tobe easy to change. yeah it's realy fun makeing, and thinking of new ideas all the time, can be abit expencive, but hey, i love to learn

 

[Akimbo]

nice reply ! i like the backplate/O-ring design.. simple and working..
as for useing acrylic, i want to use most pvc…

The same concept works in PVC of course. The trickiest part is getting proper compression on the Nielson Latches. A drill press makes it a great deal easier.

 

[mishko]

- If the flange is soft, I'm afraid o-ring won't help either. Maybe you should really consider acrylic if you can get it, maybe 8mm for the flange. And you can also roll the tube from, say, 4mm acrylic and solvent weld it. Then you can also solvent weld the front window.
- I see now you have drilled the holes for bolts through the housing. How do you plan to seal them? They will leak through the thread. If you planned to use some sealant on the threads, don't use Loctite commonly used to fix bolts in place, it will make the acrylic crack in short time. Making the blind threads from the outside would be better solution, less potential leaking spots.
- o-ring cord will work if you do it neatly, cut it diagonally so you get bigger surface, don't misalign the ends, and dont leave any glue blobs. After drying, inspect and correct any imperfections (fine sand paper etc...).
- the groove simply keeps o-ring in place, but if you don't make it smooth on the bottom, it will leak there...
- twist or push - no big difference in gland, you choose which is simpler to reach the particular camera's control and of course, in case of twist you use torsion spring, and for pushbuttons compression springs, torsion being somewhat harder to install, as you need some off - axis support for the other end.

 

[the_dragon_no1]

well, the flange is soft, but i can see thru the acrylic that it is a good seal. For the six bolts, i have been testing with both smal gasket rings, and o-rings. Seems to work fine with both so far. Yeah i'm thinking of switching to acrylic tube and flange. Know of a good online store, for tubes,weld,sheet plate ?

 

[the_dragon_no1]

some late night working, and i re-did some work.. glued a flange-to-flange, with a support pipe inside. useing pvc glue mixed with some thinner.
looks like a mess now, but i will sand and clean it tomorrow, and go over the joint with som 2k epoxy aswell. then i will bolt a 5-6mm lexan glass in the front (seen in background), with a inner O-ring between lexan and flange.

the flange agains the housing, willl also be bolted, as it used to. the O-ring solution on the bolts worked, but i dont trust it, so i might cast the bolts to the housing with some 2k epoxy maybe.

as for the flange being soft, i have some spare flange rings of pvc i might double up, to make it stronger.

didnt know people used springs on twist buttons but ok, yeah thats what i will do then. any pictures of this setup maybe ?

great replys

 

[the_dragon_no1]

some searching for a dome for this build, and i found this:

Red See-Thru Super Quality Acrylic Dome-The Electronic Goldmine

more pictures of it here:

StreamHawk Wireless Video Explorer, Page 6 - Robot Room

should fit my flange great (if i decide to use it tho), it's 4mm thick, and CHEAP. the hight is 1inch.

would this be a good dome to use ?