primer on compression fittings for camera housings?

[Moogyboy]

hey all

After doing a bit of searching here I found out that a way to implement control rods in an underwater camera housing is by using common brass compression fittings. Cool...I always wondered how you do that and what the dang parts were called. Now I'm still no expert on this and outside of working on my toilet I don't have any real experience with compression fittings. So my question is what would the physical arrangement be for this thing? In particular, how would you attach the fitting to, say, a housing made of PVC pipe...do you need a tube of some kind or would the rod itself go through the fitting and the fitting be either screwed or glued into the hole, or what? Also,would you use some kind of packing like the kind in a faucet or do you have to use the o-ring or whatever it is that goes inside the fitting? I hope you'll forgive my ignorance about this...I'm actually pretty interested in making my own uw video thing and I love the challenge but I myself am a bit hardware challenged.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[diversteve]

...In particular, how would you attach the fitting to, say, a housing made of PVC pipe...do you need a tube of some kind or would the rod itself go through the fitting and the fitting be either screwed or glued into the hole, or what? Also,would you use some kind of packing like the kind in a faucet or do you have to use the o-ring or whatever it is that goes inside the fitting?

I used a solid brass compression fitting(plug) to fill a hole in the clear back of my housing. There was a hole that used to have a gland in it for a coax cable, but it was damaged. So I drilled it out and tapped the hole and inserted the plug with a little white teflon plumbers tape around the threads. Works great and it's never going to leak. I'm guessing that's how the compression fittings you want to use will install as well.

I don't know what you use inside the fitting to ensure a watertight seal. If you're looking for control rods, Ikelite also sells theirs. Also grunzster on this board is/was selling a few extras on eBay this week as well as a dome port and a clear Ikelite box.