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Replica Dive Helmet
"Once the helmet was on I just started walking the negative buoyancy kept you on the bottom and you felt like captain Nemo or Buzz Aldren on the moon." --Jose
"My diving suit really should have been preserved in a museum if only as an example of what can be done when one has to do it. I hammered iron into the form of an open helmet, into the front of which I fastened a dead-light, from an old yacht, and covered the whole, except for the dead-light-with painted canvas as far down as my chest. In order to overcome the positive buoyancy of the body I tied sash-weights to my legs, and hoped that this would permit me to walk around on the bottom. No circus clown ever looked any funnier. Bart Champion laughed himself into stitches when I tried the suit on." --Simon Lake
Build Your Own Dive HelmetIf you've seen Disney's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, you probable wanted your own dive helmet. So build one! Jose Berrios will show you how to do this with fiberglass. Warning: This can kill you! Before you try breathing compressed air under water you should know that it is possible to die by simply breathing compressed air at just 3 feet below the surface and then holding you breath as you surface. Take a scuba diving class before you test your dive helmet.
Step by StepThe helmet will be constructed from fiberglass that is laid over a mold of the helmet, so the first step is to build a mold of the helmet from items you have around.
The form cut into 2 separate pieces, the main body of the helmet and the visor over the face. When the fiberglass hardens the main body portions will be removed first and the the visor portion can be pulled out. In this way the mold can be removed without destroying it and then used again to make another helmet.
The helmet form or mold is now completed and ready to be covered with fiberglass in the next step. It will first be covered in two layers of aluminum foil which will allow it to pull away from the mold once the fiberglass has cured. PVC elbows will be installed for the air line and air exhaust port.
Dive Helmet Test ReportSaturday 4/10/2010 Sunday 4/11/2010
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Thanks to Mike Holt, submarine enthusiast and Argonaut Jr.
historian for collecting and supplying the articles above.
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Greg Cotton offers an article that demonstrates how home make diving equipment is sometime very helpful for breaking laws.
www.divingheritage.com
- Diving Heritage
www.thehds.com -- The Historical
Diving Society