5 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

I've had the idea for a simple and lightweight monitor housing for a while now. About five years ago, I was able to turn it into reality together with the German underwater housing manufacturer UK-Germany. At that time, underwater monitor housings already existed, but they were either extremely expensive, large, and heavy, or mostly based on recorder monitors.

But I only wanted a simple monitor, a sort of viewfinder replacement.

For the monitor, I chose a simple product from Feelworld, as I absolutely had to have normal buttons on the device. We initially wanted to create our own cable solution for connecting the underwater housing to the monitor housing, but that was too complicated, so we opted for HDMI connectors and cables from Nauticam.

The monitor housing is made of POM plastic and was milled from a single block. The front is made of Plexiglas.

This is exactly what I am about, but I don't have the machines to do it, I was thinking in something like a cheap old plastic housing for a compact camera where I can adapt a monitor. Your one looks great and profesional.

22 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

I've had the idea for a simple and lightweight monitor housing for a while now. About five years ago, I was able to turn it into reality together with the German underwater housing manufacturer UK-Germany. At that time, underwater monitor housings already existed, but they were either extremely expensive, large, and heavy, or mostly based on recorder monitors.

But I only wanted a simple monitor, a sort of viewfinder replacement.

For the monitor, I chose a simple product from Feelworld, as I absolutely had to have normal buttons on the device. We initially wanted to create our own cable solution for connecting the underwater housing to the monitor housing, but that was too complicated, so we opted for HDMI connectors and cables from Nauticam.

The monitor housing is made of POM plastic and was milled from a single block. The front is made of Plexiglas.

This is amazing! What size of battery can you fit in that housing? And Feelworld model?

On 10/22/2025 at 9:52 AM, foetusmachine said:

Options are 709, 2020 and P3.

Awesome! I would be terrific - if you had time - if you could show us the differences on screen. It could be a room scene with window and something behind it (garden, tree, anything) and shot by iPhone in HDR (default) and posted to YouTube so it would show HDR mark after posted. So it would be HDR video. It could also help you to determine best practice while underwater. With my Shinobi I found PQ mapping having the most dynamic range but HLG mapping keeping screen brighter. On my Sony A1 that is. I will try to do something like that later to show example.

17 hours ago, atus said:

This is exactly what I am about, but I don't have the machines to do it, I was thinking in something like a cheap old plastic housing for a compact camera where I can adapt a monitor. Your one looks great and profesional.

Thanks for your feedback. In my case, the milling of the case was also done by a specialist.

I might have a case from the series for sale soon. I can inquire and clarify the prices if necessary.

1 hour ago, RomiK said:

This is amazing! What size of battery can you fit in that housing? And Feelworld model?

When it came to the battery, it was clear from the start that I could do at least two or three dives with one battery. For this reason, we decided on a maximum size of NP-F750.

This allows me to do three or even four dives.

The Monitor is an FeelWorld Master MA5

____________________________________

In the meantime, I'm considering whether I should create another series or another prototype of a case. Preferably even more compact. On paper, there are various approaches, including solutions using a smartphone instead of a regular monitor, connected to the camera via USB-C, and apps like Monitor+.

On the other hand, various products are now available. I just took a look at the new WeeFine WED-5 Pro a few days ago. It's a cool piece of equipment, also quite compact, and at around €1,200, the price is still reasonable.

My monitor case cost just over €1,000, including all the necessary sockets and cables, although the parts themselves were very expensive.

I would be interested in a housing which was JUST a passive monitor. No need for any sort of control.

I've been looking for a Weefine phone case with ruined electronics to see if I could turn it into a monitor housing by installing a cable passthrough at the depth sensor.

4 minutes ago, Grantmac said:

I would be interested in a housing which was JUST a passive monitor. No need for any sort of control.

I've been looking for a Weefine phone case with ruined electronics to see if I could turn it into a monitor housing by installing a cable passthrough at the depth sensor.

A solution with such a case and a smartphone or a simple display is certainly worth considering. However, most monitors available on the market won't work with such a case because they're too thick and have a battery on the back, which takes up space.

A smartphone seems simple at first glance, but at closer glance, problems like the operation become apparent. You should be able to open an app, etc. I've tried a few things. I've now come up with a solution through dry testing, consisting of an older iPhone and a mouse controller that can be used to control the iPhone. The cable connection is via USB-C from the camera and via an adapter to Lightning.

As soon as I have some more time, I'll pursue the project further and create a test case with the 3D printer. If that works the way I envision it, there might be a version for real-world use.

3D printing would probably need some sort of fiber reinforced filament.

An older compact camera housing seems like a good idea as well.

22 minutes ago, Grantmac said:

3D printing would probably need some sort of fiber reinforced filament.

There are people selling entire ports made of printed PETG. I do similar designs with ABS. No fiber needed.

2 hours ago, Tino Dietsche said:

A solution with such a case and a smartphone or a simple display is certainly worth considering. However, most monitors available on the market won't work with such a case because they're too thick and have a battery on the back, which takes up space.

A smartphone seems simple at first glance, but at closer glance, problems like the operation become apparent. You should be able to open an app, etc. I've tried a few things. I've now come up with a solution through dry testing, consisting of an older iPhone and a mouse controller that can be used to control the iPhone. The cable connection is via USB-C from the camera and via an adapter to Lightning.

As soon as I have some more time, I'll pursue the project further and create a test case with the 3D printer. If that works the way I envision it, there might be a version for real-world use.

I thought about similar issues to add my phone as an external monitor, no controls needed. My current idea is to get a Divevolk housing, which allows to operate the phone (benefit to set some stuff even in weird angles). Approach would be to drill a hole in the housing, cut an M16 thread, add an M16 cable gland, route a USB cable through it, done for the phone housing, camera side just needs a cable gland for the USB C cable. Sounds too easy in theory, my biggest concern is on checking if the case then still is waterproof, as there is no vaccum check available for the Divevolk housing (at least not that I'd be aware of).

I'm to happy with my current setup to invest in a Divevolk housing just to drill a hole in there and risk flooding my phone. Maybe someone has an old Divevolk housing to spare? Tools I have, also the needed 15bar tested cable gland (already built a DIY USB C bulkhead for polecam photography, works quite nice). Total cost should be around 300-350€ without phone (housing, cable, cable gland, o-rings/resin to waterproof everything).

5 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

There are people selling entire ports made of printed PETG. I do similar designs with ABS. No fiber needed.

I guess I can always make one then pressure test without monitor.

I've wondered about the printed ports as well.

4 hours ago, Fabian said:

I thought about similar issues to add my phone as an external monitor, no controls needed. My current idea is to get a Divevolk housing, which allows to operate the phone (benefit to set some stuff even in weird angles). Approach would be to drill a hole in the housing, cut an M16 thread, add an M16 cable gland, route a USB cable through it, done for the phone housing, camera side just needs a cable gland for the USB C cable. Sounds too easy in theory, my biggest concern is on checking if the case then still is waterproof, as there is no vaccum check available for the Divevolk housing (at least not that I'd be aware of).

I'm to happy with my current setup to invest in a Divevolk housing just to drill a hole in there and risk flooding my phone. Maybe someone has an old Divevolk housing to spare? Tools I have, also the needed 15bar tested cable gland (already built a DIY USB C bulkhead for polecam photography, works quite nice). Total cost should be around 300-350€ without phone (housing, cable, cable gland, o-rings/resin to waterproof everything).

I own both a Divevolk and a Weefine phone case, in my opinion the Weefine would be a far better option if you want to use the phone as a passive monitor. You might even be able to hack the external buttons for some control but that's beyond me.

6 hours ago, Grantmac said:

I own both a Divevolk and a Weefine phone case, in my opinion the Weefine would be a far better option if you want to use the phone as a passive monitor. You might even be able to hack the external buttons for some control but that's beyond me.

I'm not to familar with the Weefine housing, but as far as I know, then I'd need to start the monitor app before inserting the phone, correct? So one would need to insert the phone just before entering the water to avoid risking an empty phone battery?

20 hours ago, Fabian said:

I thought about similar issues to add my phone as an external monitor, no controls needed. My current idea is to get a Divevolk housing, which allows to operate the phone (benefit to set some stuff even in weird angles). Approach would be to drill a hole in the housing, cut an M16 thread, add an M16 cable gland, route a USB cable through it, done for the phone housing, camera side just needs a cable gland for the USB C cable. Sounds too easy in theory, my biggest concern is on checking if the case then still is waterproof, as there is no vaccum check available for the Divevolk housing (at least not that I'd be aware of).

I'm to happy with my current setup to invest in a Divevolk housing just to drill a hole in there and risk flooding my phone. Maybe someone has an old Divevolk housing to spare? Tools I have, also the needed 15bar tested cable gland (already built a DIY USB C bulkhead for polecam photography, works quite nice). Total cost should be around 300-350€ without phone (housing, cable, cable gland, o-rings/resin to waterproof everything).

I'd already had the idea of using the Divevolk housing. However, according to my research, the membrane used for the display isn't entirely problem-free. Because of the membrane, a vacuum valve isn't possible either. Concerns about the housing still being watertight are certainly justified; Divevolk housings aren't built to a high standard in certain respects, and an M16 hole is quite a nuisance.

If you could get a used Divevolk housing for very little money, you could certainly give it a try. The USB-C cable connection can be easily implemented using empty Weefine connectors.

9 hours ago, Fabian said:

I'm not to familar with the Weefine housing, but as far as I know, then I'd need to start the monitor app before inserting the phone, correct? So one would need to insert the phone just before entering the water to avoid risking an empty phone battery?

Using a smartphone in a case without any control doesn't make sense in my opinion. As you mentioned, you'd have to turn it on before diving, and if the app crashes, you can't do anything. Battery consumption is also an issue, of course, as the automatic shutdown function would have to be disabled.

A 4-way controller for controlling the smartphone in a case would be the simplest solution, but I haven't found a suitable, compact solution yet. I have a solution with a mouse controller, but I'll have to design and print a test case to see if it's still compact enough.

I personally haven't had much luck unlocking a phone in the Divevolk. Could be my big fingers or drygloves.

If I person could hack the bluetooth controller in the weefine case you could likely use it for some basic controls. There are 5 buttons plus the shutter.

On 10/21/2025 at 6:39 PM, foetusmachine said:

I'll try this one first and see how it goes and how long it lasts.

So I tried this and saw how long it lasted. I did a two hour shallow dive and it worked well... until right at the end as I was getting shallow and I noticed a pinhole stream of bubbles coming out of the top.

Clearly the float had spring a leak during the dive and had taken on some water.

I got it home and stuck it in a vacuum chamber and the salt water started leeching from a lot of the inter-layer gaps.

I sat on this for a while. I thought I could simply increase the number of layers and tweak the filament flow rate like some of the other posts have suggested. I believe printed ports are also made like this.

However, adding these layers meant the base weight of the float was jumping up significantly. So, in the end I decided to tweak the design slightly to have rounded edges and I layered up the part with epoxy and then top coated with layers of polyurethane. It's marginally lighter than a thick wall, over extruded print, but has the benefit of me being fairly certain it will never leak.

I've also started playing around with some ASA-Aero filament. It's ridiculously lighter than ASA and PETG, but not quite as strong. I'm planning to try a carbon fibre layup to see how that goes.

PS, im very happy with the screen itself and where I've positioned it. I had it on the lowest brightness and never had an issue clearly seeing the images from many angles.

What material did you print with? I found ABS to be a lot lighter than PETG and 2mm perimeters to be strong enough. 6-8% infill was enough to support the top layers and keep weight down. I also rounded the edges.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Dave_Hicks

5 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

What material did you print with?

I used ASA. Im guessing 2mm walls is 5 layers? That added a relatively large mass to my prints that I felt was better created with definitely sealed, thin layers of epoxy and polyurethane resin.

55 minutes ago, foetusmachine said:

I used ASA. Im guessing 2mm walls is 5 layers? That added a relatively large mass to my prints that I felt was better created with definitely sealed, thin layers of epoxy and polyurethane resin.

I went through everything you are doing with resin and poly. What i suspect you will find is that the float will crack and leak regardless of coatings. If your part is not strong enough to withstand the pressure it will crack. Only mechanical strength will solve that problem. I found 4 perimeters of .5mm and minimal infill was a sweet spot with ABS. At least 100ft with 50+ dives so far. ASA may be similar. ABS and ASA can be acetone smoothed for sealing and aesthetics.