USVH o-rings?

Hi,

since Under Sea Video Housings (www.usvh.com) stopped trading I haven't been able to get a reply from Warren, the now-retired former owner, regarding my request for spare o-rings.

The housing I have is the "mini-DV" version, for the Sony PDX10/TRV 950, and I'm down to my last o-ring for the rear port. I think the o-rings are probably standard, because the manual refers to them as "6-inch", but do any USVH users out there have any idea where I could by some NEW o-rings? what else should I specify in the order? (material, thickness, etc...)

I live in Belgium so a UK/European supplier would make life easier, but as it's a US product I'm anticipating having to track down a US o-ring supplier who uses the imperial system.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Mat

Hi Mat,

99.99% sure that it is standard - they all are - costs are too high to go 'non standard' and it is just not necessary.

Both imperial and metric sizes are stocked in Europe so that will not be an issue.

If Under Sea Video Housings is US based manufacture then it will be imperial - the US is not very metric - this is supported by the 6" stated in the manual.

anyhow the critical bits are:-

Diameter - get it measured with a micrometer or vernier - this will confirm if it is metric or imperial.

You also need to gauge how soft it is - this is less critical to be honest - but for instance Subal use a rear O-ring that seems to be 50 or 60 durometer (gauge of 'hardness').

Standard off the shelf is usually 70.

Compare it with a biggish O-ring out of say a strobe - is it more or less floppy/hard.

Alternatively:-

If you have an 'old' one and you can send it to me I will be able to ID it.

Paul C

Thanks Paul, that's really helpful - I had assumed that since housings are all different shapes and sizes then manufacturers would produce their own o-rings.

Actually, I've since measured the internal diameter and it's 5", not 6" as stated in the manual. Thickness is 1/8", and it's quite soft.

Seems to correspond to BS250N70, and I've made an enquiry with a company called James Walker to see if they can supply a non-industrial amount.

Cheers,

Mat

No problem.

James Walker is quite a big manufacturer - they may or may not want to talk!

There are a number of online suppliers - you might want to try this lot :-

http://www.polymax.co.uk/acatalog/NBR_O-Ri...01_-_BS284.html

They list BS250N70 - £0.16 each - not too bad a deal ( there prob is a min order charge ).

If you have any problems let me know and I will source them.

As with all of these things I would take the housing for a test dive without the camera in place - just in case....

Paul C

Yeah, I had a look at Polymax - complete bargain for 5 o-rings, but then they said the minimum order was £10.

If James Walker don't get back to me, then I'll probably go with Polymax and buy 50 of the things! I suppose I could always put the surplus in the classifieds section here

Thanks again.

Mat