New to Nauticam 550D

Hi,

I have just bought a secondhand Nauticam 550 housing. I have never owned a Nauticam housing before and was wondering if anyone could provide some advice on the best way to assemble to avoid any leaks. e.g correct o ring greasing procedures etc. Do you take the seal out and use a very small amount of o ring grease on both sides of the seal or? Would this be same for all the port o rings?

Any advice on care, assembly and maintenance would be greatly appreciated thanks

Wow, a secondhand 550 already! Good find!

1) there should be a small blue plastic card with a rounded point on it, use this to pop the main o ring out. If it didnt come with any BLUNT plastic edge will do.

2) Use a Q-tip to clean the o ring slot of old grease that the seller may have left behind.

3)Use about a pea sized blob of grease and work round the o ring between thumb and forefinger all the way round, feeling for cuts, abrasions, anything as you go. You may need a touch more the first time. The whole ring should appear wet with grease but not have any remaining blobs. Too much grease will only attract dirt and hair.

4) once u are happy, pop the o ring back in carefully. You may wish to add a touch of grease to the housing sections which join but it shouldnt be needed.

5) Do all o rings, inc ports in the same way. For screw threaded parts, compact port sections, a little more is useful for ease of turning.

6) no need to grease any part of the bayonet system, just the rings themselves.

7) cant remember if the 550 has a leak detector, but think it does. Check it by licking ur fingers and touching the contacts. The light should flash and should beep.

8) Lock the housing without anything inside and test in a suitable bucket/container.

Best do the first dive with tissue and no camera inside. This means should it have a fault from the seller, ur camera is not toast, and u get to go hunt him down!

After dives, just wash, rinse and dry before opening. O rings should last a while without need to re-grease. 2 opinions, if its aint broke, dont fix it. OR do it regularly and dont let it break. Just check each time.

Depending on how long u will have between dives, is it best to dis-assemble the ports etc and put caps on to stop the o-rings flattening out or ports getting stuck on.

Hope that helps.

Olly

Congrats on the new rig.

· First be very careful what you put near the o-ring, don't use any sharp tools to remove it.

· The most common mistake folks make is putting too much lubricant on the o-ring. I like to put a small dab on the tip of my finger and gently pull the o-ring through between my thumb and forefinger. It should slide freely and feel perfectly clean. It should just be shiny with no globs of lubricant anywhere.

· Use a foam applicator like women (and some men) use to apply makeup to clean the o-ring groove in your housing. I'm not crazy about q-tips or cotton swabs as these can leave parts behind, but lots of folks have used them for years with no problem.

· Once I'm sure the housing is clean and the o-ring is lubed and installed, I like to use a small bright flashlight to circle my way around the o-ring before I put a housing together. It’s amazing how many times I've found a "little tiny hair"”that I couldn't see without the light.

· Don't forget the small o-rings on the strobe connectors if you’re using synch cords.

· Since it's a new rig for you, Just for fun, after you've gone through the housing and serviced everything, put the rig together and try it out in the tub or pool without the camera installed to check for leaks.

· Once that checks out, check it again with the camera. Make sure that the o-rings seat well and don't extrude out of a joint. Easy to check with your eye. Pretty rare with the Nauticam joint design but worth checking.

· If you're paranoid like me you can dip your housing in the pool at the resort, or the rinse tank on the dive boat before every dive so you know it's sealed up. Leave it under for a minute and look for the red light.

· If you don't have insurance or just really like your camera, another nice trick is to descend directly below the housing with the port pointed down so you can see any water immediately upon entry. Dr. Mustard taught me that one.

Today's housings and o-ring seals really are pretty fool proof if you take your time.

Hope that helps,

Steve

Edit_ Sorry I jumped on top of you Olly, I type slow

Hi guys

Great advice and greatly appreciated and invaluable. The 4' inch dome port that I bought with the housing has a 20mm extension ring attached to it just wondering when the system is not in use am I best to take the o rings out and place them in a sealed plastic bag including the rear housing o ring to prevent them from flattening out? So take the rear housing o ring out and then put the rear of the housing back on?

There was nothing to remove the o rings any idea of what I should buy to do the job safely. Shining the light on the o ring and o ring groove is a great idea and the foam applicator one I will definitely use. My girlfriend wont miss a few of them lol!

Hi guys

sorry one more thing, the housing has a white oxidized look can you polish it up with anything to make it look new? or am I better off leaving it alone? thanks

Great advice and greatly appreciated and invaluable. The 4' inch dome port that I bought with the housing has a 20mm extension ring attached to it just wondering when the system is not in use am I best to take the o rings out and place them in a sealed plastic bag including the rear housing o ring to prevent them from flattening out? So take the rear housing o ring out and then put the rear of the housing back on?

I take the port out of the housing and put the whole thing in a plastic bag but your method would work too. I don't like putting the housing together without an oring, seem too easy to scratch a mating surface. Some folks use an old o-ring or even a couple of pieces of an old cut up ring to keep things apart while being stored. Just remember to put a new one in before you get wet.

There was nothing to remove the o rings any idea of what I should buy to do the job safely.

If you have to stick something in the groove a business card or thin credit card will work. I find that if you gently push the oring toward on side of the housing it will elongate just enough to pop out of the groove on one corner and you can get a grip on it with putting anything in the groove. Gently is the operative word, you don't want to stretch the ring. Same method works for port o-rings. Put your thumb and fore finger on the oring on one side of the port. Then just slide your thumb and forefinger around the port(one each side) from the bottom to the top and you'll have enough length to gently roll it out of the groove. Works for the little connector o-rings too. (Damn that's much harder to describe than it is to do)

I have no idea what to tell you about the discoloration. I've heard it mentioned here by folks but my housing hasn't done that yet. Hopefully a Nauticam dealer can jump in and help us out.

Cheers,

Steve

I take the port out of the housing and put the whole thing in a plastic bag but your method would work too. I don't like putting the housing together without an oring, seem too easy to scratch a mating surface. Some folks use an old o-ring or even a couple of pieces of an old cut up ring to keep things apart while being stored. Just remember to put a new one in before you get wet.

 

 

 

If you have to stick something in the groove a business card or thin credit card will work. I find that if you gently push the oring toward on side of the housing it will elongate just enough to pop out of the groove on one corner and you can get a grip on it with putting anything in the groove. Gently is the operative word, you don't want to stretch the ring. Same method works for port o-rings. Put your thumb and fore finger on the oring on one side of the port. Then just slide your thumb and forefinger around the port(one each side) from the bottom to the top and you'll have enough length to gently roll it out of the groove. Works for the little connector o-rings too. (Damn that's much harder to describe than it is to do)

 

I have no idea what to tell you about the discoloration. I've heard it mentioned here by folks put my housing hasn't done that yet. Hopefully a Nauticam dealer can jump in and help us out.

 

Cheers,

Steve

thanks Steve appreciate the help

Hi guys

 

sorry one more thing, the housing has a white oxidized look can you polish it up with anything to make it look new? or am I better off leaving it alone? thanks

Hi Scubajunkie,

Congrats on the purchase!

That white look is just minerals finding the microscopic pores in the anodizing. With a a quick wipedown you can get rid of it and make the housing look new. Reef Photo can get you a magic liquid to do this - you might give them a call. I don't have the name of it handy, but it was the easiest thing I've used to polish up a housing. I've used plain silicone grease with good success, and it not only removed the white stuff but kept it off. Furniture polish ala Pledge is supposed to work too.

Steve and Olly have given you lots of good advice here; i'll add just a couple of my thoughts. For o-ring grease, make sure you use either the Nauticam grease (Nauti-lube) or a fluorosilicone grease. Don't use plain silicone grease. And you don't need much. Grease does not make the seal - its primary purpose is to lubricate the o-ring if it needs to slide, so the main o-ring that needs it is the one on the port.

I have a couple of how-to videos that might help too - check them out, here:

http://nauticamusa.com/?page_id=968 (scroll to the bottom 3)

Also, on your question about the 20mm extension on the port - in general there is no need to take it apart... however, the longer you leave it together, the harder it will be to separate when you do try it, so you might want to do it once in a while just so it doesn't get totally seized up.

Cheers,

Cp

Hi guys

 

Great advice and greatly appreciated and invaluable. The 4' inch dome port that I bought with the housing has a 20mm extension ring attached to it just wondering when the system is not in use am I best to take the o rings out and place them in a sealed plastic bag including the rear housing o ring to prevent them from flattening out? So take the rear housing o ring out and then put the rear of the housing back on?

 

There was nothing to remove the o rings any idea of what I should buy to do the job safely. Shining the light on the o ring and o ring groove is a great idea and the foam applicator one I will definitely use. My girlfriend wont miss a few of them lol!

Go down to your local guitar store and get a couple of thin guitar picks. Makes a great o-ring remover. As for cleaning, I use foam swabs designed for clean rooms (Texwipe) that cost 10 cents each but I don't have to worry about fibers. As for polishing your housing, I would not recommend pledge (in the spray can) but you can try some silicone based cleaners (like armor-all) that will keep your housing from turning white. Just don't get it on the ports.

Bill

Go down to your local guitar store and get a couple of thin guitar picks. Makes a great o-ring remover. As for cleaning, I use foam swabs designed for clean rooms (Texwipe) that cost 10 cents each but I don't have to worry about fibers. As for polishing your housing, I would not recommend pledge (in the spray can) but you can try some silicone based cleaners (like armor-all) that will keep your housing from turning white. Just don't get it on the ports.

Bill

thanks for the info Bill

Hi Scubajunkie,

 

Congrats on the purchase!

 

That white look is just minerals finding the microscopic pores in the anodizing. With a a quick wipedown you can get rid of it and make the housing look new. Reef Photo can get you a magic liquid to do this - you might give them a call. I don't have the name of it handy, but it was the easiest thing I've used to polish up a housing. I've used plain silicone grease with good success, and it not only removed the white stuff but kept it off. Furniture polish ala Pledge is supposed to work too.

 

Steve and Olly have given you lots of good advice here; i'll add just a couple of my thoughts. For o-ring grease, make sure you use either the Nauticam grease (Nauti-lube) or a fluorosilicone grease. Don't use plain silicone grease. And you don't need much. Grease does not make the seal - its primary purpose is to lubricate the o-ring if it needs to slide, so the main o-ring that needs it is the one on the port.

 

I have a couple of how-to videos that might help too - check them out, here:

http://nauticamusa.com/?page_id=968 (scroll to the bottom 3)

 

Also, on your question about the 20mm extension on the port - in general there is no need to take it apart... however, the longer you leave it together, the harder it will be to separate when you do try it, so you might want to do it once in a while just so it doesn't get totally seized up.

 

 

great info thanks for you comment

 

Cheers,

Cp