paulthenurse
Contributor
So I decided I want to take video's underwater but I don't want to shell out buckets-o-cash for one of the fancy, shmancy professionally manufactured housings. Call me a tight-arsed, cheap Yankee but I figure I can make one on my own. (I may come by the tight-arsed cheap Yankee thing naturally, but two daughters in college make sure I don't stray far from it.) So I read a bunch of posts on the DIY forum and this is what I came up with. Thought it would be pretty cool if a bunch of other NELD'ers could make these and we could show the rest of the world that cold, dark, Helen Keller diving has it all over 100 foot vis.
This is definately a low-tech design. I'll turn on the camera, press record, put the camera in the housing, seal it up and jump over the side. Maybe I'll fiddle around with compression fittings to turn on/off and start/stop recording once I get comfortable with this. The next thing I need to do is find some sort of video editing program.
I started with a leanth of 4" Schedule 40 PVC. A hub-to-hub coupling, a couple of slip couplings, hours of sanding, some glue, and some 3/8" Lexan. The only things that were at all expensive were the SS latches and the O-rings. I got them for less than $50 at McMaster-Carr. (If you haven't ever been to McMaster-Carr's website be advised to first go hide your credit card before you go there. It's a big boys happy hunting ground.)
The removable end is fitted so that the lens sits right on an O-ring and there is another O-ring that should act as the main seal outside of that.
I shaped attachment points for handles out of 3/4" Tee's. I cut them down and sanded them to sit flat (curved) on the surface of the housing and glued them in place with 5200. I also added a couple of SS loops to attach tethers. (see photo 1) I added the tabs to raise the latches off the body of the housing because I was worried that 3/16 inch screws wouldn't be enough and 1/4" screws would go thru.
A couple more hours of sanding and finish painting and cleaning up the ragged edges of the glue and it should be ready to go. I sure hope so, because Alice and I are going out with Fran on Friday up to the Isle of Shoals, and I REALLY want to get some videos of the seals.
4' of 4"Schedule 40 PVC- $5.00
assorted couplings & glue- $10.00
Latches and O-rings (pack of 10) $48.00
12" X12" piece of 3/8" Lexan $10.00
Handful of SS screws - $1.50
PL5200 - $5.00
Can of yellow spray paint- $4.99
(I don't know if I should figure in the cost of the Octoberfest consumed during construction. I mean, I would have bought it anyways...)
Paulthenurse
This is definately a low-tech design. I'll turn on the camera, press record, put the camera in the housing, seal it up and jump over the side. Maybe I'll fiddle around with compression fittings to turn on/off and start/stop recording once I get comfortable with this. The next thing I need to do is find some sort of video editing program.
I started with a leanth of 4" Schedule 40 PVC. A hub-to-hub coupling, a couple of slip couplings, hours of sanding, some glue, and some 3/8" Lexan. The only things that were at all expensive were the SS latches and the O-rings. I got them for less than $50 at McMaster-Carr. (If you haven't ever been to McMaster-Carr's website be advised to first go hide your credit card before you go there. It's a big boys happy hunting ground.)
The removable end is fitted so that the lens sits right on an O-ring and there is another O-ring that should act as the main seal outside of that.
I shaped attachment points for handles out of 3/4" Tee's. I cut them down and sanded them to sit flat (curved) on the surface of the housing and glued them in place with 5200. I also added a couple of SS loops to attach tethers. (see photo 1) I added the tabs to raise the latches off the body of the housing because I was worried that 3/16 inch screws wouldn't be enough and 1/4" screws would go thru.
A couple more hours of sanding and finish painting and cleaning up the ragged edges of the glue and it should be ready to go. I sure hope so, because Alice and I are going out with Fran on Friday up to the Isle of Shoals, and I REALLY want to get some videos of the seals.
4' of 4"Schedule 40 PVC- $5.00
assorted couplings & glue- $10.00
Latches and O-rings (pack of 10) $48.00
12" X12" piece of 3/8" Lexan $10.00
Handful of SS screws - $1.50
PL5200 - $5.00
Can of yellow spray paint- $4.99
(I don't know if I should figure in the cost of the Octoberfest consumed during construction. I mean, I would have bought it anyways...)
Paulthenurse
