DIY Diving Equipment
... all about my do-it-yourself equipment


So why does anyone want to construct diving gear by himself? The answers may differ from person to person, but I think the reasons most people have in common are:
  • challenge of building it
  • constructing it exactly the way you want to have it
  • the (sometimes only initial) opinion that it will be cheaper than buying
  • ...

The first "contact" with self made scuba diving gear I had in 2002 when I was diving with the diving group of NTNU Trondheim. There were a few skilled students who had access to the necessary workshops and the skills and brain to construct a quite decent tank lamp (Ole Martin Pedersen, Erik Høy, ...). Since I had not the time nor money to start right away I dismissed the project for some time.

Now in 2005 back in Leoben (doing my PhD) I have the chance to use the workshop of the depmartment at University of Leoben in the basement which is fairly well equipped. So I tried as well and the result was very satisfying for me. Below is a selection of selfmade diving gear.

Diving Gear
Spool
Cold-Water Spool
Reel
Lamp Head Holder
10Ah Accu-Tank
Lighthead 50mm Halogenlamp
Lighthead 35mm Halogen Lamp
Lighthead 10W HID-Lamp
Electronics for Halogen Lamps
Weights for Recreational Diving
NEW 16.03.2007!
Weights for Double 7/300bar - 185mm tank distance
NEW 15.12.2007!

Usful Things
Belt Holder

Of course I did not design the projects all by myself, I had a lot of inspiration from several other people! I always mention where I got inspired and where I copied from. Click here for a summary of the links!
Some words about materials

 In order to "survive" in sea water the aluminium should not contain copper. Aluminium best suited for unterwater lamps are aluminium, magnesium, silicium alloys: AlMgSi0.5, AlMgSi1












































Spool with about 30m, 2mm Nylon Line (or 25m, 2.5mm)

To shoot the deco boye or extend the reel I did these spools they are straight forward, very simple construction. I downloaded the blueprints from www.hoehlentauchen.at and modified the dimensions a bit.

   CAD blueprint
   Picture gallery

Pictures of the Spools















































Cold-Water Spool

Basically a normal spool, just with an additional feature to be able to hold it with thick gloves. The design is copied from Halcyon Pathfinder and made from PE-HD. Delrin (POM) would be better because it is harder, but I had have some PE left so will use if to do this piece.


   CAD blueprint Attention: I did not built this part yet!














































Reel with 100m, 2mm Nylon Line

The be able to do ice-diving I built myself a reel with 100m line. The reel has got a fixing break to prevent the line from being uncoiled by accident. As someone might recognize the reel is quite similar to the Halcyon Pathfinder. To be honest I first wanted to buy such a reel, because they are really good. But after checking prices I just started off to do it on my own, especially since I had the materials for the whole reel already laying around somewhere. I took me some evenings to think about how the construction might work best, and then another couple of hours to do the handicraft.

   CAD blueprint - Assembling
   CAD blueprint - Laced Parts
   CAD blueprint - Locking Screw
   Picutre gallery is coming soon ...

Pictures of the Reel















































Lamp Head Holder

The holder are to hold all the lamp-heads I made. The handles can be mounted very simple onto the light heads. Some o-rings hold the lamp head in place and makes it easy to dismount it.

   CAD blueprint
   Picture gallery

Goodman Handle

 The body is made from aluminium, the piece for the hand is made from Delrin (POM). To have a better grip I made some carvings into the handle (see pictures).



Recreational Handle

 For recreational diving I also made an other handle.















































10Ah Accu-Tank

To power the light-heads I designed an accu-tank which
  • should be mounted onto the tank/backplate
  • holds 10 pieces of 1.2V 10Ah NiMH accus
  • is 90mm in diameter and 300mm long
  • holds the electronics to softly startup the Halogenlamps and give a low voltage alarm
  • After testing: the lamp is alive for 3hrs and beyond with a 35W Osram IRC bulb

The tank is milled from an aluminium pipe d(inside)=80mm, d(outside)=90mm for the body and two pieces of aluminium of D=100mm and a length of 35mm for the cap and bottom of the tank.

   CAD blueprint - Tank
   CAD blueprint - Switch
   Picture gallery

The Base Materials



Construction Process



In Action ...

The first tests with the accu tank were very satisfying, no water came in!
The lamp was tested in "dry-runs" (without batteries and electronics) in:
  • The Millatätter See @20m
  • Tauchturm Graz @11m

Then the "serious" testing followed:
  • About 15 dives during a safari tour on the Nefin Arafa on the Nefin Arafa ranging down to 31m
  • Norway, down to 31.4m 19.09.2007
  • Norway, several dives down max. 43.0m December 2007



Experiences, Hints, possible Impromements, ...
  • The first dives with the tank went very well. The tank weights about 3.3kg in air, and has about 1.5kg negativ buoyancy suberged in water. Using a counterweight of 1kg on the opposite side of the tank made it hard to recognize it at all. So no negative influences to the diving position can be reported.
  • The two o-rings per cap seal perfectly well, I could not find any water or mist find during the 15 dives down to 31m so far
  • The switch on the tank is no problem at all, it can be reached very easy and compfortable just by moving the right hand to the back. The tanks vertical position is adjusted so that the hand automatically reaches the switch.
  • The functionality of the switch to turn the lamp on/off every quater turn proofed to be a very good feature. You do not have to take care in which direction you turn it.
  • The lamp lasts beyond three hours using a 35W Orsam IRC lamp, which made night dives up to 80 minuts possible (and still having more than enough safety margin!)
  • The mounting device with two pieces of pipe with different diameter sliding into each other prooved to be very handy.














































Lighthead 50mm Halogenlamp

This lamp was designed as primary lamp for the 10AH accu-tank. It is made from a single piece of aluminium 100mm long, 80mm in diameter to hold a simple halogen-lamp with 20 to 50W.

   CAD blueprint
   Picture gallery

The Base Materials



Construction Process



In Action

As already described at the tank the lamp was tested extensively in Egypt. Testing the lamp down to 31m the lamp head also was perfectly waterproof. No problems with that at all. The 35W Osram IRC lamp gives a very good and bright light.



Experiences, Hints, possible Impromements, ...
  • 35W Osram IRC lamps are well sufficient for night diving and taking pictures.
  • The screws to seal the glass to the body is not a too good solution. During the 15 dives in salt-water the stainless steel screws as well as the aluminium were corroded quite a bit. A much besser solution would be to use a coupling ring as I did on the 35mm lamp heads.
  • UPDATE: After about 25 dives in seawater the screws are not moving any more. Tried to change the bulb, not possible any more. Lets hope the bulb lasts for a while now!
  • The weight of the lamp head unter water is nearly not existing. Together with the recreational handle is is very handy to use the lamp.














































Lighthead 35mm Halogenlamp ... FOR SALE! ... SOLD!

These lamps were designed as video lamp for the 10AH accu-tank. To prevent the screws neccessary for the 50mm to tighten the front ring which presses the glass onto the O-ring this design has got a coupling ring.

   CAD blueprint
   Picture gallery

The Base Material




Construction Process




In Action

I tested the heads, they are as well waterproof as the 50mm light head! Since I decided to go for the 50mm light head only I am selling these two!















































Lighthead 10W HID-Lamp

I did not built this one yet. I have not decided until now what HID Lamp I should go for. Anyway, here is a short description and blueprints of the lighthead. The design I got from www.hoehlentauchen.at and modified it for my purposes ... Thanks Alex for you help with that.

   CAD blueprint

The Base Material


Essencially the same as for the 35mm heads















































Electronics for Halogen Lamps

To switch the lamp I looked for a possibility without making a "hole" into the hull. To do so I decided to use reed contacts with magnets to steer the electronics. On www.kopka.at I found what I need. As always I modified the plan a bit to adapt it to my needs. My electronics now has:
  • Softstart to prevent high current (adjustable max. current)
  • Reed contact to switch on/off
  • Low voltage alarm using a acoustic signal (adjustable voltage alarm)

   CAD blueprint

Material List

Voltage Alarm (numbers in parentheses are article numbers from www.conrad.at):
  • resistor 10kOhm
  • potentiometer 10kOhm
  • ... to be completed soon

Soft Start with Reed Contact (numbers in parentheses are article numbers from www.conrad.at):
  • reed contact
  • resistor 1kOhm
  • potentiometer 1kOhm
  • ... to be completed soon














































Weights for Recreational Diving

During the time in Norway I bought my Viking drysuit, so I also needed some weights. At the NTNU diving club they had all the stuff needed, so we poured some weights.

   Picture gallery

Pictures of Process and Result















































Weights for Double 7/300bar - 185mm tank distance

Since the D7/300bar is a bit heavy on the top side, I decided to make an X-Weight which goes between the tanks just below the lower tank bands.

   Picture gallery

Pictures















































Belt Holder

I do have a single tank adapter for my backplate/wing combination for a recreational DIR configuration. But the belts of the tank band was a bit to long and I did not want to cut it. So I used an old bike tube to "organize" the belt.

   Questions?

Pictures of Application Possibilities