OC 1 Gadgets - Underwater Camcorder Housing

This got to be one of the most simplified underwater camera housings possible.



Parts:
Acrylic tube: 6"x 4"x 0.125" ( use different length, wider diameter as needed )
Acrylic scrap parts
Test Titan 4" Schedule 40 ( use diameter that will ~ fit inner diameter of the tube )
Acrylic glue for 'capillary welding'

Tools: Saw, Sander

Cut the endplate out of scrap acrylic. Join it to the tube. Make sure that the bonding surfaces are smooth and clean. Use 1500 grit wet sanding.

Buy a test titan Sioux Chief. It is a plug for PVC pipes. Sand the perimeter down by ~ 0.1" until its slides more or less well into the tube.

Make a mounting plate for the camera out of a scrap part. This mounting plate will hold a screw - not on the picture yet - that is used to screw the camera down.
In addition some small acrylic rails will be glued inside the tube to guide the plate.

Test under water. Use at your own discretion, no guarantees based on this description please. There are some irregularities at the bottom of the top plate that you may want to sand down.
Modify to your liking; add a camera hood, a grip ...

Cost: $ 30 including the special glue and a related applicator.

Good for the beach, definitely for short under water action, too, and after some testing and maybe use of Vaseline this should also work for longer under water activities.

OC 1 Technique - Training - Gadgets

This is a very simple timer circuit.


I use it in a little device, a trainings aid.
The key feature of the board is a triple nickel '555' chip. The input to the 555 is regulated with a potentiometer ( here shown as R ) and a capacitor C. The capacitor is charged over R; when it reaches a certain voltage, comparators in the chip come into action, setting a flip-flop control.

The flip-flop control determines the frequency of the output on pin 3. The LED/buzzer are connected to 3.

Up/down regulating of the potentiometer will activate the buzzer/LED at a given rate.

Example of intended use:
Mount the device on the front iako, next to a Garmin.

1. Set a stroke rate: ex. flash light/buzzer once every second = 60/min
Set a distance on your Garmin
Set an allowed time range for this distance
Paddle the distance in the given time range at the given stroke rate.
2. Reset the flash/buzzer to once every 0.9 seconds = 66/min
Keep set distance and time range. Paddle.
3. Reset flash/buzzer at a higher rate, lower rate, just as you wish.

Exercises like this will train you to keep a certain speed at various stroke rates.
It will also allow you to find the stroke rate at which you feel most comfortable at a certain speed, your most effective stroke rate, your race pace and stroke rate.

A simple gadget, a small project. You can buy such as well as more sophisticated buzzers on the net, too.