From the course: Learning Underwater Photography

O-rings - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Learning Underwater Photography

Start my 1-month free trial

O-rings

“

- [Narrator] Underwater camera systems can be a big investment, and we're operating in some pretty harsh conditions. So in this chapter, we're going to talk about some basic care and feeding suggestions. And this is going to include some setup and basic maintenance. So in this first movie, we're going to be covering O-rings, and we're going to start off with O-ring types. O-rings are basically divided into two types. We have static O-rings such as the one on the main housing seal that don't move during use but you will need to occasionally remove, clean, and lubricate them. And we're going to be discussing that process in this movie. Dynamic O-rings are ones that move during use, and you're not really going to see them because they're located within a button or a lever assembly that's passing through the wall of the housing and they're generally not user-serviceable. So now let's talk about handling those O-rings. You definitely want to refrain from using a metal appliance to remove a static O-ring. Not only can you damage the O-ring, but you can also damage the surface that that O-ring makes its seal against. And at that point, you're opening yourself up for a potential leak. Most underwater photo gear that relies on O-rings for its watertight seal is going to come with its own plastic O-ring removal tool. This is definitely the preferred way to get that O-ring out for cleaning and lubrication. If you do need to use a dental-pick type tool, make sure you use one that's made out of brass. Now, brass is a very soft metal, and it's less likely to damage the protective coatings and sealing surfaces that the O-ring is sitting on and also less likely to damage the O-ring itself. So let's talk about lubricating our O-rings. Now, the lubricant is not what makes the seal. The O-ring is what's making the seal. The sole purpose of the lubricant is to keep that O-ring moist and pliable. If you put too much lubricant on, you can actually ruin the seal. And without lubrication, it's possible that your O-ring is going to dry out, crack, and again open you up to potential leaks. O-rings can be produced from several different materials and each material requires a specific lubricant. So anytime you buy a piece of underwater gear that comes with an O-ring, it's probably also going to come with its own lubricant. So you really want to make sure you're using the right lubricant with the right O-ring. And this is important because using the wrong lubricant can cause that O-ring to either swell or shrink, and that can open you up to a potential leak. So the correct way to lubricate an O-ring is to first clean your fingers and clean the O-ring. Generally a microfiber towel is good way to do that. And then what you want to do is put a little bit of that lubricant between your forefinger and thumb, rub it around, and then take the O-ring and slowly work it through your fingers and massage that lubricant into the O-ring as you go. Now, don't pull the O-ring through your fingers because that could distort the shape or actually damage the O-ring. Once you've finished, you want to make sure there's not excess lubricant hanging off the O-ring. The O-ring should really just have a nice shine to it. Occasionally it becomes necessary for us to relubricate an O-ring. So every time we expose one of these static O-rings, so basically every time you open a housing or you remove a port to change it with a different one, you're going to want to check that static O-ring for obstructions. And the easiest way to do that is with a flashlight. Even in the daytime in a brightly-lit room, you might not be able to see a little hair which is all it's going to take to cause a leak. So by using something like a flashlight and just taking a look around that O-ring, you can see whether it's going to become necessary to remove it and clean it and relubricate it. So, if it does become necessary, if you see some possible contamination, or if you see that there's excess amounts of water collecting behind the O-ring, you're going to want to remove that O-ring and follow the same process that we described earlier on how to lubricate it appropriately. So now let's talk about storing those O-rings. So in general, we don't want to store static O-rings. Remember, those are the ones that we can get to and the ones that we're going to be interacting with. We don't want to store those O-rings in place. So we don't want to leave it in the housing. Okay? Because that might cause stretching or misshaping. We're actually just having it get a little bit of memory as to the shape that it's in. So we want to make sure that we store these O-rings clean and lubricated. So we're going to take them off, we're going to clean them, and we're going to lubricate them as we discussed previously and put them in a plastic bag that labeled what it is for or where on the housing it came from. So O-ring kits might be available from the manufacturer. And most equipment is going to come with at least one spare set of those critical static O-rings. And that's an overview of the care and feeding of the O-rings that our system relies on for its watertightness.

Contents