How to make scuba gear? Homemade scuba gear: manufacturing instructions

Homemade scuba gear is an inexpensive device for breathing under water. The authors of numerous reviews claim that this unit can replace expensive diving equipment in case of diving to a depth of four meters. So, homemade scuba gear - what is it and how to make it?

The dependence of man on technology

When asked about how to make a homemade scuba gear, you should remember that any human activity that is not associated with the use of any devices, equipment or other equipment makes you hope only for your own luck or the help of a friend. These, for example, include ordinary swimming. The use of technology by man - a car or scuba gear - multiplies its capabilities. But in proportion to the complexity of the technique, the dependence of man on it increases.

A diver equipped with a set of “mask, fins, snorkel” is in an unpleasant situation when he loses some of the existing equipment underwater. But the diver gets into a much more difficult situation if the air supply suddenly stops under water. This can happen at a depth that cannot be reached in one breath. Bulky scuba gear reduces mobility and increases water resistance. A similar emergency can occur under the ice or in a cave. Submariners should be very attentive to the technique used. This is especially true for those who decided to make homemade scuba gear.

About the complexity of the issue

Modern scuba diver equipment is focused on his comfort and safety. All components and equipment should be thought out to the smallest detail. Specialists have developed rules for the use of equipment, violating which is strongly discouraged. When a novice amateur encounters the slightest difficulty in operating the equipment, he should seek the advice of his trainer, as the trouble-free use of the equipment is the key to safe diving.

Scuba gear is a fairly complex device. Experts say that creating a home-made scuba diving at home is quite difficult. To do this, you must have the appropriate knowledge and the ability to work on good turning equipment. Those who are interested in the question of how to make homemade scuba do-it-yourself should learn as much as possible about this device.

History

The word "scuba gear" in translation means "water lungs." History indicates that the apparatus was created gradually. The first to patent the regulator of air supply from the surface and adapted it for use in scuba gear. In 1878, an apparatus for breathing under water was invented . It used pure oxygen. In 1943, the first scuba gear was created. Its authors were the French Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Device

Those who decide to create a home-made scuba gear should know that this unit consists of 3 main parts and several additional devices:

• Balloon Usually apply one or two containers with compressed respiratory mixture. Each capacity holds 7 - 18 liters.
• Regulator . It consists of a gearbox and a lung machine. Scuba gear may contain one or more gears.
• Buoyancy compressor. An inflatable vest, whose special purpose is the regulation of the depth of immersion.
• Pressure gauge equipped with a signal that triggers when air pressure reaches 30 atmospheres.

Features

Those who want to create a home-made scuba gear need to know about the features of its components.

• The high-pressure cylinder included in the scuba gear is a reservoir for storing air. The working pressure in it is 150 atmospheres. A standard cylinder with a capacity of 7 liters at this pressure holds 1050 liters of air.
• Scuba gears are used one-, two- or three-balloon. Typically, the capacity of the cylinders is 5 and 7 liters, but if necessary, 10-, 14-liter cylinders are used.
• The shape of the cylinders is cylindrical, with an elongated neck, equipped with an internal thread for fastening a high-pressure tube or pipe.
• Cylinders are made of steel or aluminum. Steel cylinders are covered with a protective anti-corrosion layer, which is used as zinc. Steel cylinders are more durable than aluminum cylinders, but they are less buoyant.
• The cylinders are filled with a gas mixture or compressed filtered air. Modern tanks are equipped with overfill protection.
• They are connected to an air reducer, which reduces pressure from 150 to 6 atmospheres throughout the scuba operation. With such indicators of pressure, the respiratory mixture enters the pulmonary machine.
• The pulmonary machine is the main device in the scuba device, as it uses breathing air, the pressure of which is equal to the pressure of the water on the diver's chest area.

Scuba Types

Those who decide to construct a home-made scuba should know that in diving three types of equipment are used: with open, closed, half-closed circuits. They are distinguished from each other by the used breathing method.

Open circuit

It is used in inexpensive, light and not large equipment. It works exclusively on air supply. Upon exhalation, the recycled composition is released into the environment without mixing with the filling mixture. This eliminates oxygen starvation or carbon dioxide poisoning. The system is simple in design and safe to operate. But it has a significant drawback: it is not suitable for deep-sea diving due to the high consumption of the respiratory mixture at great depths.

Closed circuit

The scuba gear works according to the following principle: the diver exhales air, which is processed - it is cleaned of carbon dioxide, saturated with oxygen, after which it is again suitable for breathing. Advantages of the system:

• light weight;
• insignificant dimensions of equipment;
• deep diving is possible;
• provides for a long stay of the diver under water;
• there is an opportunity for the diver to go unnoticed.

This type of equipment is designed for a high level of training, beginners are not recommended to use it. The disadvantages of the system include its significant cost.

Semi-closed circuit

The principle of operation of such a system is a hybrid of open and closed circuits. Part of the processed mixture is enriched with oxygen, after which it is again available for breathing, and its excess is discharged into the environment. Moreover, different depths of immersion involve the use of various gas breathing shakes for breathing.

Reserve source

Many divers use mini scuba diving as a backup balloon. The mini model is a compact system designed to breathe underwater at shallow depths. It includes a gearbox with a mouthpiece and a small capacity with air. Air volume indicators depend on the individual characteristics of the diver.

Scuba application

Scuba gear helps a person swim freely underwater. Eliminates the need to go all the way to the bottom or stay upright. This is due to the widespread use of equipment not only by divers, but also by cameramen, repairmen, archaeologists, ichthyologists, hydraulic engineers and photographers, etc.

Many are trying to make a home-made scuba diver. The motivation for making such a decision can be either a desire to save money or an irresistible love of technical creativity. Network users willingly share tips and advice on the manufacture of the device at home.

"Spark": home-made scuba gear from a gas cylinder

You will need:

• Oxygen cylinders, metal composite, steel aviation with cutoff valves of the oxygen line (from the return impact) and non-return charging valves. Each volume: 4 l, weight: 4.200, working pressure: 150 bar.
• Aviation oxygen valve
• Homemade flywheel.
• Reducer from an ejection seat.
• Soviet gas reducer for propane.
• Homemade spring made of stainless steel wire , etc.

How to make?

1. Cylinders are connected using stainless steel clamps (can be made from washing machine tanks). Between the cylinders are inserted wood inserts, covered with an epoxy-based fabric, with black PF paint. Holes are drilled in the gearbox cover so that water does not stagnate.
2. Automatic inclusion of the oxygen system is removed. A lever with a check is installed.
3. A home-made regulator for scuba gear can be made from a spring made of stainless steel wire connected to the pressure relief valve of the gearbox and a duralumin cover with an outlet fitting for connecting the pulmonary machine. The gearbox is adjusted (pressure setting - 6.5 bar).
4. A lung machine can be made from a Soviet gas gear. In its case, you need to insert 2 fittings made of a duralumin tube (diameter - 16.5 mm). Wear a mouthpiece with a stainless steel clamp on one of them. In another, paste a textolite cup with a gas mask valve. If one fungal valve quickly fails, it should be made of a rubber reinforced mug (can be cut from shoe covers of the Soviet chemical kit) and a bolt with a nut that attaches the valve directly to the seat. Instead of the old connecting fitting, a new one is made of duralumin, which is glued on an epoxy basis to the place of the old one. The diameter of the valve seat is 2.5 mm.
5. To counter the opening force of compressed air, a home-made pulling spring is installed in the lid, which is hooked to the horizontal hairpin in the upper part of the lid.
6. The membrane is made of the same rubber from shoe covers. A washer with light weight is installed on it to eliminate vibration during inspiration. The inspiratory valve pad can be machined on a high-speed emery by hand from a piece of rubber.
7. The pulmonary machine is pulled together with three bolts. Tightened even by hand, they are able to hold the membrane well. The lower part of the lung machine for additional comfort of use of the equipment is equipped with a stainless steel plate with rivets, which is installed under the chin.
8. Shoulder kapron belts are made of halyard pieces without adjustment due to the lack of need. The belt may not have a quick release buckle.

Result Description

At a depth of 10 m, scuba gear allows you to perform heavy physical work (dragging along the bottom of cobblestones or swimming quickly) without the effect of a lack of air. Not equipped with a purge button, but without it it is quite possible to do. The lung machine only needs to be set up for the first use, after which the minimum setting is made by moving the inspiratory valves. It works at a pressure of 6-7 bar. Inhalation efforts are characterized as quite acceptable, similar to AVM-5. Weight - 300 g. Connects to the hose without gaskets, using a conical connection. The device is very light (about 11.5 kg), compact and streamlined. It does not have a minimum pressure indicator.

Another option for homemade scuba diving from gas cylinders

1. Prepare a balloon. Use capacities from up to 22 liters, depending on preference. You can use 2 cylinders of 4.7-7 liters. For ordinary diving, a cylinder of 200 bar is suitable, for technical - 300 bar.
2. Prepare a gearbox with a pressure similar to that of the cylinder.
3. Connect the gearbox to the cylinder. Make sure that the pressure in it is 6-11 bar higher than the ambient pressure.
4. Connect a hose to the gearbox, attach a pulmonary machine to the hose. When it is working properly and the master does not allow errors, the pressure corresponds to the pressure of the environment.
5. Connect regulators. Their number depends on the tasks. For the planned amateur diving, 2 regulators are needed: the main and the backup.
6. Install a buoyancy compensator (not necessary for the proper functioning of the scuba gear, but simplifies and makes diving safer).
7. Inflate the cylinder with oxygen and check the assembled system. If all its elements are connected without errors and the device is working, you should conduct the first test dive to a shallow depth. If it was successful, the scuba gear can be considered ready for operation.

Homemade scuba gear from a fire extinguisher

1. A carbon dioxide fire extinguisher bottle is used (pressure - 150 bar, capacity - 5 l, weight - about 7.5 kg)
2. The valve must be turned to a round shape, screwed into a T-fitting (from the balloon from the ejection seat), which should be equipped with a charging valve.
3. On it are installed two duralumin plates tightened together.
4. The gearbox is mounted on them, which is a converted second stage of the oxygen reducer from the ejection seat (it works from 8 bar).
5. A self-made safety valve is made, the diameter of the membrane is reduced with the help of 2 plates.
6. A gear valve seat with a diameter of 1, 2 mm is made, a valve cushion (made of fluoroplastic), in addition, some other minor alterations are necessary.
7. The lung machine is similar to the model described above (see the “Sparka” section: home-made scuba gear from a gas cylinder ”). A body from another gearbox is used, as well as home-made exhalation and inhalation valves. The cylinder is secured with duralumin clamps to the fiberglass back.

Result

The device is reliable and reliable in operation. The main maintenance problem is corrosion of the duralumin gear housing in salt water. To solve the problem, silicone grease is recommended. The equipment is not equipped with a pressure gauge, there are no filters (you can use a siphon tube in a cylinder with small holes at the end). Weight - 9.5 kg.

On the Internet, there are other options for homemade scuba models from a fire extinguisher.

Option number 1

• The device is made of a cylinder - receiver (2 l) from a fire extinguisher.
• Fastens to the chest area.
• Instead of the regulator, a homemade pneumatic button is used to manually supply air for inhalation.
• The device is equipped with a check valve, which cuts off the air line in case of rupture of the hose that supplies air.
• There is no gearbox, therefore it is used at a limited depth of immersion.
• The membrane is pressed against the valve seat by a spring. When you press the lever, it rises and air is inhaled. The exhalation is made into the water using the exhalation valve.
• Air is supplied from the surface from a transport welding cylinder with a volume of up to 40 liters. A pulmonary machine is connected to the device.
• The pneumatic button mounted on the hand is more convenient than the button that you have to hold in your hand. The hand is partially released and used to do some work.

Option number 2

• A cylinder from a fire extinguisher (1.5 l) is used.
• The device uses a manual breathing system.
• The equipment is equipped with a valve - pneumatic button, valve and gearbox.
• It consists of a tube screwed into the nozzle from a fire extinguisher, in which there is a check valve, pressed against the conical seat with compressed air and a spring. A case with a membrane and a pin, pressing on a plastic valve, is screwed onto the tube. On the reverse side is a lever designed to be pressed with a finger.
• The air leaving this device passes through the nozzle (diameter - 2 mm), then goes into the mouthpiece for inspiration. The exhalation is carried out using the valve.
• The load belt is quite simple to manufacture. It is made from lead cylinders cast from a duralumin tube with a longitudinal section. Equipped with homemade quick release buckle.

There is no doubt in the reliable functioning of the equipment, but the tightness of the plastic valve that closes the cylinder is problematic

How to make scuba gear from a bottle?

The Internet offers instructions on how to make homemade scuba gear from a bottle. According to the author who provided it, for this you can use a sprayer used in gardening. The easiest way to find it in a specialized store for gardeners. When choosing a container, one should not give preference to too large bottles: they will strongly "pull" up.

You will need:

• sprayer (pump-action);
• flexible hose (plastic);
• underwater tube used for diving;
• capacity (bottle).

Technology:

1. First remove the limiter installed in the sprayer. This is necessary so that as much air as possible leaves the sprayer.
2. A hose is pulled over the top of the sprayer and carefully sealed with silicone or hot glue.
3. A plastic bottle cap is installed on the bottom of the underwater tube, with a pre-drilled hole along the diameter of the hose.
4. A hose is inserted into the hole, carefully sealed, sealed. Easy scuba diving is ready.

Operating principle

The bottle connects to the pump sprayer and is filled with air. A capacity of 330 ml is filled with air using 50 strokes. This amount of air is enough for 4 full breaths. A larger container should be equipped with a load, since an air-filled bottle floats up. To extract air from the bottle, just press the appropriate button on the sprayer.

Conclusion

Self-made scuba gear will save money and provide an opportunity to experience incomparable pleasure from participating in the creative process. In order to ensure the safety of their own lives and health, craftsmen must strictly follow the instructions.