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I purchased a 808 #16 camera and wanted to create a waterproof case to make some of those really cool underwater videos.
Hopefully there will be grace on my efforts as I am not as skilled as most of you.
So, I received some polycarbonate sheets from Tom Spettle when I bought my lathe.
I traced the camera on a thick piece and using a band saw cut it out. Tried to use a coping/jewelers saw, but this stuff is tough and I would be retired by the time I sawed out the hole. Once it was cut out with the band saw, I used a grinding stone on my Foredom to smooth out and make adjustments to the fit.
The camera is slightly thicker than the piece so I dished out the base a little so the camera sits lower. Glued the base to the middle section.
Made a lid with four screws. There is a 5th hole, but the 4th hole is where the drill bit broke. There is a stabbing motion that I found works and if you stop like I did, by accident, on my fourth hole the thermoplastic will hold your drill bit. If I was smart (which sense the bit is broken, clearly I am not), I could have added heat to the drill shaft and it would have pulled out.
Used some marine silicon and coated the surface of the main body and put a layer of petroleum jelly on the lid, closed it up and let it cure.
Once it was time to separate the lid, the center of the silicon was still not cured and pulled out. I went ahead and tested to see if it was watertight and it was "mostly" water tight. Just several drops worth of water.
As an experiment, I put RTV on the lid (after cleaning off the original layer of jelly) and put a coat of petroleum jelly on the original layer of silicon, closed it up. It is drying right now, so tomorrow we will see. Looking at the 4th picture you can see light areas where the original silicon mates up pretty good, but you can also see the center area of other points that needed filling.
As it was sitting there I thought about the sequence of turning on the camera, then taking the time to screw it all together and reversing that at the end of the mission. That is a lot of wasted camera time. So I added a couple of David's seals to use to push the camera buttons on and off.
This may not be the best move, at this moment because I have added other sources of trouble without resolving the first leak, but I did want to get this finished, we will see how smart it was.
I plan on adding hooks on the sides to hold the rubber bands. If this works, I would like to add a mounting point underneath that could be moved by a servo. My thinking is I can pan right or left remotely.
So, IF this gasket cough up does not work (bets anyone) any suggestion? (other than get another hobby)
Those that use the box for your WTC, what do you use for a gasket material?
Hopefully there will be grace on my efforts as I am not as skilled as most of you.
So, I received some polycarbonate sheets from Tom Spettle when I bought my lathe.
I traced the camera on a thick piece and using a band saw cut it out. Tried to use a coping/jewelers saw, but this stuff is tough and I would be retired by the time I sawed out the hole. Once it was cut out with the band saw, I used a grinding stone on my Foredom to smooth out and make adjustments to the fit.
The camera is slightly thicker than the piece so I dished out the base a little so the camera sits lower. Glued the base to the middle section.
Made a lid with four screws. There is a 5th hole, but the 4th hole is where the drill bit broke. There is a stabbing motion that I found works and if you stop like I did, by accident, on my fourth hole the thermoplastic will hold your drill bit. If I was smart (which sense the bit is broken, clearly I am not), I could have added heat to the drill shaft and it would have pulled out.
Used some marine silicon and coated the surface of the main body and put a layer of petroleum jelly on the lid, closed it up and let it cure.
Once it was time to separate the lid, the center of the silicon was still not cured and pulled out. I went ahead and tested to see if it was watertight and it was "mostly" water tight. Just several drops worth of water.
As an experiment, I put RTV on the lid (after cleaning off the original layer of jelly) and put a coat of petroleum jelly on the original layer of silicon, closed it up. It is drying right now, so tomorrow we will see. Looking at the 4th picture you can see light areas where the original silicon mates up pretty good, but you can also see the center area of other points that needed filling.
As it was sitting there I thought about the sequence of turning on the camera, then taking the time to screw it all together and reversing that at the end of the mission. That is a lot of wasted camera time. So I added a couple of David's seals to use to push the camera buttons on and off.
This may not be the best move, at this moment because I have added other sources of trouble without resolving the first leak, but I did want to get this finished, we will see how smart it was.
I plan on adding hooks on the sides to hold the rubber bands. If this works, I would like to add a mounting point underneath that could be moved by a servo. My thinking is I can pan right or left remotely.
So, IF this gasket cough up does not work (bets anyone) any suggestion? (other than get another hobby)
Those that use the box for your WTC, what do you use for a gasket material?
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