First video housing with some slight modifications

So this is my 1st real post on this forum, thought I'd start it out with my new rig.

So I've been working on these modifications for my new Equinox housing for some time now and I'm almost done. Basically I ordered a housing from B&H that came with a 2.5" LCD. With lots of advice from ChinaDan on Scubaboard, another DVX100/Equinox user, I began the process of creating my own back port with a 5" LCD. I sent the original back port with the 2.5" LCD and the front port with the 4" Dome for a clean swap for a new front wide angle 6" dome port and started fabricating a new back port from scratch.

I was able to order an OEM 5" frameless LCD and created my own 12v 2900mAh and 2500mAh battery packs each out of 10 AA rechargeable batteries.

The Back port is made out of 1" thick clear acrylic. What I needed to do was a multi step process and having a C&C Router at my disposal was a huge plus, there's no way I could have done this without. I have to say it was somewhat nerve-racking working with this material because this was my first time so I bought a big enough piece to be able to make 2 ports just in case I screw up the first one.

What I wanted to do was make a cutout for the monitor, one for the input panel, and countersunk holes for a control knob so I could switch the monitor on and off, which was really me being cocky because this monitor will run for about 5 1/2 hours on the 2900mAh battery pack. The reason why that was a pain was because after the initial routing it had to be flipped over due to the hole for the control arm having to be countersunk on both sides. How do you flip over something round and have it land exactly where you want it? It's actually kind of hard to explain and I'd probably screw up the explanation if I tried.

Right now I'm in the middle of polishing and I've got to say it's no picnic. After polishing I'm going to mount the screen and input panel, then cut and bend the control arm and after that make a hood to block the sun and have it powdercoated. Once it's done it should be pretty sweet.

If anyone has any questions, comments and or suggestions on how to make this better, what I did wrong or what I did right, I would love to hear it. And a massive thank you tho ChinaDan for his advice.

Housing with Wide Angle Port

Acrylic

LCD Monitor

Board attached to monitor with Power, Video Input, Color/Contrast/Brightness Controls and on/off switch

Battery Packs

C&C Router with Alex changing tools

Tools are measured down to 1/1000" for precise accuracy

First cut is a rough cut, then a finishing which only takes off about 1/16" of material shot at 1/1000sec shutter speed

My Favorite pic!

Finishing Cut

Cutout for Monitor

Countersink for Control Arm

The black dots are markers where I needed to drill holes to tap for the latches that hold the port on the housing and D-Ring for tether.

Billy

So I finally finished with my polishing, mounted the screen and control board(or whatever it's called)and cut and bent my control knob so here are those pics. The last thing I think I'm going to do is make a hood for the monitor to block the sun, most likely out of aluminum and have it powder-coated or anodized. I'll post those pics if anyone cares. I used mirror mounts to secure the monitor. With the depth that it was recessed at they worked out perfectly.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my new rig.

Billy

Empty V:

Man, that's AWESOME! If I have projects, can I send them to you for CNC router work?

Great job!

Andy

Nice work. I would also ensure that there is enough dessicant in the housing with all that heat going off.

Also adding a monitor shade will help with reflections on the acrylic. Perhaps a rubber boot?

Nice work. I would also ensure that there is enough dessicant in the housing with all that heat going off.

Also adding a monitor shade will help with reflections on the acrylic. Perhaps a rubber boot?

So what's a good desiccant to use? The housing is mostly made out of PVC and I've heard that you don't need to use desiccant with PVC, if I'm wrong please correct me. The last thing that I want is to get into the water and have this thing fog up. I just left my metal guys shop and we're going to make a monitor shade out of stainless steel. I was thinking about power-coating it but it's really not necessary and I'm not sure how the paint will react with the saltwater. I looked around and couldn't find any rubber material that would work so I settled on the stainless. Does this sound like a good choice? It's going to stick out about 3" which seems about right for the size of that monitor and will be attached with flanges on the sides and top that I'll use to screw directly into the acrylic.

Thanks for the help!

Billy

Billy, those blue silica gel packs are the best. They turn pink when they hit saturation point.

PVC is a poor conductor of heat. With all that battery and camera inside that housing, the heat will stay in the housing, causing whatever moisture to pop up on the dome surfaces, esp when exposed to sunlight as well before jumping into cold water.

As a precautionary measure, it's a good idea to setup the housing the night before so that the desicant has time to absorb the moisture.

Paint isn't necessary and really will just chip off. We don't need more crap in the ocean. 3" is a good length but I'd experiment with a full boot as light from the bottom can screw up the view too. I had a housing by Ron Taylor for my VX1000 which was much like yours. It was perfectly balanced but I was swayed by electronics later.

Thanks for the suggestions Drew. I was wondering if the purple/blue silica tubes would do enough damage to moisture in such a large housing. I used to use those in my u/w still setup and was very happy with it's performance. I remember now that it was the acrylic ikelite housings that are much less likely to fog.

Do you think that if I have the bottom of the monitor shade extend off the acrylic by 1" it would produce a better result? BTW the SS thickness will be 16 gauge, we came to the conclusion that anything thinner could be too easily bent and dented.

Billy

Personally PVC is the bane of the environmental friendliness to me but I'm biased that way

The other issue with the shade is it has to be black on the inside so there are no reflections. Good luck figuring out how to do that That's why I buy my housings complete and just bitch at the manufacturers for not thinking about some things. So much easier than burning brain cells on designing my own.

I do have to commend you on having the ingenuity to make sure a monitor. It's fortunate that the DVX100 is 4:3 so you get to use the full monitor. How do you stabilize the equinox? With a big tub like that, I assume the yaw and lateral roll must be omnipresent?

Also how much does that thing weigh now with all the frilly bits?

And for the sake of the readers, if you don't mind divulging the approx costs of sure an endeavor?

Hey that looks great.

Congrats on your project.

I'm sure you will need a shade for that LCD though.

Personally PVC is the bane of the environmental friendliness to me but I'm biased that way

The other issue with the shade is it has to be black on the inside so there are no reflections. Good luck figuring out how to do that That's why I buy my housings complete and just bitch at the manufacturers for not thinking about some things. So much easier than burning brain cells on designing my own.

I do have to commend you on having the ingenuity to make sure a monitor. It's fortunate that the DVX100 is 4:3 so you get to use the full monitor. How do you stabilize the equinox? With a big tub like that, I assume the yaw and lateral roll must be omnipresent?

Also how much does that thing weigh now with all the frilly bits?

And for the sake of the readers, if you don't mind divulging the approx costs of sure an endeavor?

Unfortunately with the DVX100 my choices were limited to equinox and equinox. And it's not like the DVX has been the most widely used camera in the pro-sumer and documentary market for the last 5 years or anything. If the shade has to be black would black anodized aluminum do the trick? I believe that anodized would resist oxidation wouldn't it? Equinox sent me a part for mounting a ball clamp and it was just an aluminum bar with holes in it that has been anodized. How do aluminum back plates resist corrosion, are they anodized or just polished?

Thanks and I don't mind burning the brain cells, I never got heavy into drugs but I bet I could still count them on one hand.

Billy

Billy

Looks great--kudos

I wish I had my hands on tools like that!

So whats the final weight of the rig?

Hear a link to what you need---http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/242571-REG/Pelican_PC1500D_Silica_Gel.html

These fit in housings nice you can stick them in the oven for three hours to reactivate after they turn pink. I had this in my Sony-Z1U and never had one dive with any moisture. I also turned on Mark Thorpe to these for his Z1U while on a trip together and he's had good luck with them as well.

Hope that helps--maybe you should quit your day job and make custom housings for a fraction of the cost--God knows we need more competition out there!!

enjoy

-Scott

Billy

 

Looks great--kudos

I wish I had my hands on tools like that!

So whats the final weight of the rig?

 

Hear a link to what you need---http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/242571-REG/Pelican_PC1500D_Silica_Gel.html

 

These fit in housings nice you can stick them in the oven for three hours to reactivate after they turn pink. I had this in my Sony-Z1U and never had one dive with any moisture. I also turned on Mark Thorpe to these for his Z1U while on a trip together and he's had good luck with them as well.

 

Hope that helps--maybe you should quit your day job and make custom housings for a fraction of the cost--God knows we need more competition out there!!

 

enjoy

 

-Scott

Thanks Scott, I was looking at those but couldn't tell if they had any kind of color/moisture indicator. I found them on amazon for $9.99/each which is about $4 cheaper than B&H. I'm not sure on the weight but, before the modifications with the original back and front ports and camera inside it would weigh approx 41lbs and would be neutral. With with modification and my 2 light cannons I'm guessing around 45lbs and still should be neutral, hopefully.

I keep getting from people that I should start making housings. All I did was make the back port, it really wasn't that difficult just took a lot of asking questions and access to some incredible tools. I'm sure that the rest of the housing wouldn't be that tough to make if it was constructed out of this heavy PVC material. I gotta say that I was a little disappointed when I first put my new back port on and found out the that housing wasn't perfectly round. The edge of the port doesn't line up 100% and my router doesn't lie. But that's mostly aesthetics because the o-ring makes sufficient contact and I guess in the end that's all that counts. Now all I need is for my UR Pro filter and Century Optics Wide angle lens to show up and I'm set.

Thanks for the comments and help!

Billy

If the shade has to be black would black anodized aluminum do the trick? I believe that anodized would resist oxidation wouldn't it?

Billy

If the aluminum is marine grade then it should do well. I'd just watch for the contacts with the steel screws as different metal contact will cause rust issues, as I'm sure you know.

Also check out the WA adapters from 16:9. I think their quality is equal and in some ways better than Century Optics.

If the aluminum is marine grade then it should do well. I'd just watch for the contacts with the steel screws as different metal contact will cause rust issues, as I'm sure you know.

 

Also check out the WA adapters from 16:9. I think their quality is equal and in some ways better than Century Optics.

I'm trying to see what I can get as far as marine grade aluminum. Apparently it's also called "copper free" aluminum and the 2 alloys available that I found are 5086 and 5036, if anyone's interested. The metal on metal contact is always a concern, I wonder if stainless will clash with it or not. I guess we'll find out once this thing is done now I just have to find this special alloy aluminum.

Personally I'm a big fan of Century Optics. 16x9 inc. discontinued their 0.7x converter and only sells the 0.75x, the 5% less frame does make a difference. Besides that, the 0.75x is about $900. When the DVX100 first came out I was lucky enough to be one of the first to put it into production in LA. We tried it out on a lower budget music video/EPK with the century optics converter and couldn't have been happier with it's performance. I think I'll visit 16x9 at NAB this year and ask them what happened to the 0.7x.

Thanks for the help!

Billy

congrats on the mod

that seven inch screen will be nice. you will need a shade for it though. one thing to keep in mind is that you want the inside of the shad to be a mat black so you minimize reflections. one recommendation is to use Titanium screws they will not rust and should be fine for attaching that shade.

congrats on the mod

that seven inch screen will be nice. you will need a shade for it though. one thing to keep in mind is that you want the inside of the shad to be a mat black so you minimize reflections. one recommendation is to use Titanium screws they will not rust and should be fine for attaching that shade.

Well it's more of an issue of 2 different metals oxidizing due to contact. I'm going to first try powder-coating the aluminum (alloy 5052) just to experiment with how the powder-coat reacts with saltwater and I will be able to get it done in time for my trip on Sunday. To get it anodozed I'd have to send it out and then I might not get it back in time. It's really not that big of a deal to remake this thing if I have to. Hopefully it will resist the corrosion if it does then I'm in pretty good shape. The powder-coat should be thick enough to create a barrier between the aluminum and the stainless steel screws. I'll report my findings once they are found. I should have pics of the hood in the next few days. Plus I think trying to get titanium screws in the next 2 days might not work with my travel schedule. Does anyone know how titanium reacts with other metals when put in saltwater? I really don't have a clue.

Billy

Excellent modification - I have recently purchased an Equinox housing, and the first thing I thought of was to switch out the monitor. Good to see the pros and cons of your experiment. Thanks for posting.

Well despite losing a light cannon and some buoyancy control arms (which I just bought) on my test dive Saturday I was able to take my setup out for the first time today in Hawaii. I was able to get in 2 really great dives, The Sea Tiger(after getting shafted at the YO-257/San Pedro - my favorite dive of all time). After soaking my gear in the tub in my hotel room for 1/2 hour I pulled out my camera and hooked it up to the TV. One word, DAMN! I knew this camera looked awesome topside, underwater it blew my mind. I'll put this camera against any HDV camera anytime.

With a party gel(bastard pink) taped on the camera's lens behind the wide angle adapter and being able to MWB, this camera looks nuts. Also being able to shoot in 24P(and panasonic seems to be the only company that has mastered the art of 24P) always makes a huge difference. I kept the ND filter off and bounced between f2.8 and f11 as the sky went from sunny to overcast several times during each dive. Even at 120fsw artificial light wasn't needed. I also decided to not adjust the shutter and that paid off.

This image looks so clean and the colors are true, I'm stoked! Now I just need lots and lots of practice to be able to keep this housing ultra steady. Luckily it's a really large setup so it's stability in the water is pretty exceptional.

There are 2 things that have to be adjusted though.

1) the housing is back heavy due to the large capacity batteries (10hr) I have for the camera and the 12v battery pack(AA'sx10) for the LCD module. I think I might make some kind of foam covered in fiberglass that I can attach to the bottom to lift it up a little, it shouldn't affect the buoyancy too much because it's slightly negative.

2) the plastic gears that drive the focus ring didn't engage all the way all of the time and might have stripped a little. I can remove one of the 2 plastic washers on the control knob to push it in another 1/8". Hopefully that will make a difference.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the hood made in time but I didn't get any reflections, even on this sunny Hawaiian morning. I don't have my firewire cable so I'll have to wait until I return this Saturday to capture my footage. Thanks for the help everyone!

Billy

Hey Empty V,

Just curious... are you interested in making another modified backing? It looks great!