I set about doing some research on the internet for a underwater video housing and found quite a few sites that sold housings but not much on how to build one. However it seemed that a simple cylinder with clear ends would be pretty easy to build. The original plan was to just switch the camera on and put it in the housing, film everything then edit it on the surface.
The design worked fine down to a depth of 28 metres but at this stage the water pressure started to take it’s toll and the end plates started to bend and leak a little. We later calculated that the 10mm thick ends had about 450 pounds of pressure on them !
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OK, so back to the drawing board. 28 metres wasn’t bad for a first attempt but I wanted at least 40 metres. The overall design was flawed as it was just not strong enough. I also learned that it’s best not to paint anything until you are sure it will work – I got carried away when it worked on an 18 metre dive !
The only problem was that if the camera was left in pause mode too long it would go to sleep and it couldn’t be woken up by the infra red remote. I got around this by using the same method to control a 12 volt solenoid. This operated the record on/off button and would allow the camera to be woken up if it switched off. The spring loaded levers just above the handles on each side control the on/off and zoom functions. Other functions can be added at a later date if required.
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