Hey guys, jsut wondering if anyone has made their own under water camera housing…reason I ask is that im in th emiddle of building one for myself and was loking to shoot ideas back and forth if anyones got any!
so far ive built the pluf, moldd off of it, and now have very joyfully destroyed said plug.
Ive got my mold all ready to go and am going to lay up my first housing today…photos will be later this evening if anyone is interested!
-Ryan
very interested in this thread. cant wait to see the pictures.
Im hoping someone has ideas on a button to actuate the shutter. ive heard of a few different ideas, but id like to use a trigger release…like a pistol-grip. my besy idea is to use one of the corded releases photographers use, lead it into the pole/handle, and place a sealed button over it…but where in the world do you find a sealed button???
I built one for my camcorder about 5 yrs ago. Never got round to putting controlls on it. Just turned on the camera closed up the case and went diving. Built it for a trip to the GBR. Ran out of of time for the controlls and never got back to it.
I bought plans off the net, which included ideas for controls. I’ll see if I can find the plans. Problem is I’ve had a couple harddrives since then.
It is a large diamiter PVC tube with clear end held against an O-ring.
I’ll take some pictures…
It is not pretty but it shot a lot of underwater video down under and then later in Hawaii as well.
mate, i’m very interested in this thread. i was thinking of starting a similar one last night. i’m all ears.
insides:
Side:
Bottom:
the holes are for release ease…I use Partall PVA, its a water soluble film type stuff…paint it on, it dires in a little bit, then go for it…inject water and it turns to liquid again…POOF and youre out!
okay, so can you talk us through it a little? what did you uses for a mould? how did you make it? etc.
step by step would be nice. i’m clueless, but keen. i’ve just been away up in noosa shooting video with a mate’s borrowed housing (a dave kelly, really well made, but a bit too expensive for me) & i’m pretty keen on setting up my own rig.
Ive been looking at making one for about a year now and the easiest thing I think would be as follows but Ive not gotten around to trying it out yet so I dont know if if would work:
Get some PVC pipe large enough to put your camera in so it is facing down the pipe. (get the pipe with a threaded end and 1 end cap too) and then another small section of metal pipe that fits over the lense section of your camera.
Make a couple of plywood discs that fit snugly into the pvc pipe
Cover your camera with a few layers of wool or felt (I was going to use an old scarf and wrap it upthen use rubber bands so it holds a bit of the cameras shape)
cut the pipe 3 times longer than the required camera length and screw the cap onto one end nice and firm
put the ply discs in the open end and push them all the way up against the cap (thay are to support the threaded section of pipe)
Pre heat your oven to 80C
put on some thick leather gloves
put the pipe in the oven standing on the end cap
watch for signs of it deforming when it looks soft pull it out and quickly drop your wrapped camera inside and line it up so it is pointing out the opend end.
Work the outside of the pipe by hand to form and shape around the camera bundle, when you get to the lense area use the metal pipe to preserve the lense port.
when happy with the shape let it cool (it will probably have cooled already) and unscrew the end cap to remove the ply and camera bundle.
make some mounts inside (I was going to glue in cut/shaped peices of hard rubber) so it doestn rattle around.
make your cotrolls - the tricky bit - there is a company I found in japan that makes and sells controlls I’ll try find them.
Cut a bit of 6mm or thicker pespex the cover the lense port. (countersink a shape for an O ring if you have the tools - remember to use blunt tools/bits on perspex to avoid breaking or cracking it)
glue and seal the lense
Insure your camera for accidental damage
test it in the bath tub, then the pool, then the sea making improvements as you see fit.
thats as far as my thought process went before our camera was stolen and solved my problem for me.
rif.
thats for that! if you can find the japanese company, that would be killer also!
my way is (so far) as follows:
1: shape a piece of foam to the shape you would want you final product to be, if not a little bit smaller, maybe 1mm.
2: one layer of glass over the whole plug, sand it down a bit.
3: bondo the damn thing, grind it out relentlessly, get everything as flat as you can, make sure there are NO negative curves.
4: bondo again, filling the pits and making everything flush.
5: hotcoat the whole thing, like a gloss coat on a board.
6: open it up with 320, polish it out (i didnt polish mine because i get fed up with the damn thing, seeing as how i was going to destroy it anyways).
7: cover the polished part in partall (PVA), make sure there are no dry areas at all, let it dry and do a second coat for fun and reassurance.
8: hotcoat the thing with lam resin a few times to build thickness (i used UV, so this was a sinch).
9: lay up a bunch of glass, in pieces, squares, use 10oz, 4 oz, 3/4oz mat, whatever you want, just make sure there are no air bubbles.
10: keep laying stuff up. If you plan to use the mold alot of times, try to get the thickness up to almost 1/4"…thats a bigtime mold, production style.
11: now…remember that thing youve been putting all thie time and energy into, all you hours of sweating?..cut it in half.
12: once youve cut your beloved into two pieces, you can soak the seam where the partall separates the layers, just use a squeaze bottle or something, you cant see the partall though.
13: use anything you can to begin to pry the sides apart, i used a screwdriver and twisted it, then while twisted, inject more water to reach further, keep going around the whole side, all the while youll be absolutley DESTROYING your plug, try to be gentle with the mold side though :).
14: i drill holes in the bottom of the mold/plug bundle at this point, and inject water form the bottom, this will help separate all around your part.
15: Then i used locking pliers to grab enough of the wall of the plug to begin pulling it out…work around the edges, and then oneday, when youve worked realy hard and are about to throw it…the part will slide out like it was buttered the whole time…WHAT???
16: at this point you can wetsand the inside of your mold if you want, take off any pits or things youll find, but try not to touch it if you dont have to.
MAKING THE PART: (these steps go for both sides of your mold, and your making two matching parts)
17: now you can tape up your holes from the bottom, and paint PVA into your mold, let it flow out, and let it dry completley.
18: do a nice even hotcoat of lam resin inside your mold, this is the outside coating of your finished part, if you plan on sanding you finished housing much, youll want to do a nice thick hotcoat, or two.
19: start laying up your glass over that, this is your strength. ive heard of one guy in HI making them completley out of mat, like boat fabric…but i dont like that because mat isnt particularly strong, it builds thickness well, but we here at sways know how to make something strong w/out thickness.
this is where i am at, i have one side of my part layed up, my layup is as follows:
first, a layer of carbon all the way around, then 10oz backing that up, possibly some aircore patches, then more glass over that, the aircore is the same as people are putting in fins…i use a lower weight aircore though. this will add strength but not weight really, ill back that up with some mat, and try to smooth it out so there are no gnarls near my camera.
okay…ill take a break now on this one, ill follow up when i get to those stages…but in brief, the lense will be plexiglass with numerous holes drilled and countersunk. the flange of the part are thickened up whien the pary is layed up in the mold, just use exta glass on that point, make them SOLID.
ill use a dremel around the flanges to create a groove for the o-rings, i may double up on those for security :).
ill use plexiglass on the back of the housing also, so the camera will slip in from the back. the same o-ring and flange setup will be used on this side also.
for a button, im still stuck, but i have a few ideas floating, we’ll see what happens.
at this point, i will put it in the bathtub…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand hopefully, i will end up not throwing it into something…with all this work, it should…work. 
-Ryan
the plug after my work on it to get the sides out:
the outsides of my plug halves after taking them out:
Carbon layed up:
You should be able to get off the shelf control parts from Aquatech (www.aquatech.com.au) or a retailer like backscatter.com. I have an Aquatech housing and have had an SPL. I can post pictures if anyone is interested in how they are set up.
The pistol grip release is the easiest method and if you are shooting in the impact zone, that’s all you really need. If you want to shoot from the channel, you might start thinking about a manual shutter and other controls. I would keep it simple and just have a remote shutter on the pistol and maybe a control for the top dial so you can change aperture.
I know that Sean at SPL would use a canon remote release and cut it to use for the pistol release.
id love to use a remote shutter, but the question is, how do you make a waterproof button to fit over the remote?
ive thought of using just one layer of 4oz, so it will flex a little bit and push down…
i was going to us ea cable release, and mount a button over that…just angle the release inside the pole. Or, ive heard of the cheapest way to go would be to take a soap dipenser top, the push down kind, and seal it off, using the spring-mechanism to push the button…pretty damn clever! (not my idea though)
How about a 5ml syringe with a tube on the end, use air pressure to actuate the shutter…
Alternately, what about a 3/4" rubber grommet with the centre still in place silicone around the flange…
...but where in the world do you find a sealed button????
Aloha Surferguy
Here is what you are looking for
http://www.ikelite.com/index.html
http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/control_parts.html
Also there is an easier way to create a perfectly sized shell for a camera then the ones people have noted here. Keep thinking boys… it will come to you eventually!
Also there is an easier way to create a perfectly sized shell for a camera then the ones people have noted here. Keep thinking boys… it will come to you eventually!
c’mon bill, don’t hold out on us buddy! i’m already a little overwhelmed so far by the process outlined above. i need an easier solution.
[=Blue]Think hard. The answer is more obvious than you think.
ahhh! i hate riddles! you’re a cruel man!
figured this one out last night:
http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/42000095/Images/3/AirReleaseNikonD100_500.jpg
squeaze the bubble dealy (easy to seal the entrance of the cord through the housing), air goes through the tube, and click, the shutter goes off…kindof like hicksy’s idea with the syringe, but these ones you can buy for something like $15…neato!
the button from ikelite is KILLER…ive been on their site numerous times and never seen those…i think im set on buying a few of those now
Bill might be talking about thermo forming a part which is done by…
1.build a frame with an o-ring seal the whole way around on one side.
create a hole in the wall of the frame for a vacuum hose.
Make another frame of exactly the same size.
Wrap camera up as in my previous post and place on a smooth flat surface.
Place the o ringed frame on the flat surfact with o-ring down with camera in the middle.
Connect vacuum but dont turn on just yet.
heat a sheet of 6mm x bigger than the frame perspex in the oven at 130c. when its soft drape the perspex over the camera bundle and frame.
place other frame over this and clamp down to the surface or use heavy weights to hold it down.
turn vac on and it will form the plastic to the shape of the bundle and also leave a flange where it hits the table to bolt on the rear door.
or he could just be talking about using a plastic zip lock bag with all the air squeezed out of it before sealing.
there is a company that actually make these for surf etc - I think they are rated to 20m from memory…
dont know how durable they are and I dont thing they would protect the camera if it took a knock/drop.
rif.
hmmm, that doesn’t sound real easy. & i won’t trust my camera with one of those clip seal thingies.
maybe bill’s idea involves sticky tape, a shoebox, an old clothes hanger & a pinch of wishful thinking. just kidding.
where are you bill?
For what its worth, I have a SPL housing, I will take some pics of and post for you guys to check out. The cable release for the cameras would be the way to go, as for a button on the trigger, I have a rubber type bulb one on mine. It is sealed with some type of cement I think. Again I will post a pic when I get back home in a few days. Good luck, sounds like you all are on your way to creating a great housing. Also for the rear clip issue, mine has screws built into the housing the you then tighted the rear with wing nuts. Just another option.
Anthony
