DIY equipment

[frosty the snowman]

Having started this in the introductions forum, I thought I'd bring it in here. In the early 90s, Odin and I were diving on the M2. One guy on the boat had a torch which appeared to be made from, among other things, an old pressure cooker and a projector! So the question is what's the best, worst, dodgiest or most impressive bit of home made gear anyone has come across?

[Gary K]

don't know but I bet most of it is Diggers

[MATTBIN]

I'll second that - Diggers Dyson/B&Q home'built' (Built - being a very loose term indeed) Rebreather, gets my vote for both best (it didnt kill him, despite us all thinking it would) and worst (Heath Robbinson eat your heart out).

Stevil - home made torch using a runway light, most impressive.

Matt

[finbar.taylor]

Under water hoover has been quite sucsessful and looked very impressive although I was not very popular using it on a well know wreck just out of swanage. Apparantly the vis was crap for days afterwards.

the air chisel with a bc adaptor is quite effective but would probably not use it on the breather as your teath chatter so much you'd be likly to flood the loop. When using them on dry land you can brace your self better than underwater!

[nigelH]

So the question is what's the best, worst, dodgiest or most impressive bit of home made gear anyone has come across?

I have to offer my gas powered DPV.

It looked so obvious. A cylinder with a first stage plumbed into an air-line style drill with a prop in it. Instant DPV.
So I bought a cheap air drill from MachineMart, bodged a drysuit nipple into its input, soaked it in oil overnight and off we went to try it out.

• Heavy. More negative than a UN veto. Difficult to manage in the water even on a rope.
• Too powerful. It trys to twist out of your hand. Probably the wrong prop for the speed but all that I had.
• Wrong shape. You can't hold it below you so it blows in your face.
• Noisy. You wouldn't believe what it did to the 'Silent World'.
• Eats gas. Emptied 'my little pony' in a few short runs.
• Dangerous. A prop guard with that sort of power would, with hindsight, have been a must.
• Bad life expectancy. The ordinary steel works had rusted solid by next week and dismantling with a hammer modified a few vital bits so I threw it away.

[Stesh]

[*]Dangerous. A prop guard with that sort of power would, with hindsight, have been a must.

Could you not have kept the original guard that came with the desk fan?

[Odin]

Digger shopping basket - a piece of modern art....
and my first home made wetsuit...
3/8 inch double skin with yellow tape!

[Finless]

So the question is what's the best, worst, dodgiest or most impressive bit of home made gear anyone has come across?

TBH, I don't really remember too much ...... but it was GOOD gear!

[frosty the snowman]

Yeah my first wetsuit was home made but had somewhat flashy blue tape rather than yellow. Odin may remember the ,
'breakthrough' that was my ever-erect delayed SMB... until the lead weight that kept it erect detatched and collided with my head at 22 metres. Course viagra hadn't been invented then...

[Adrian Kelland]

Yeah my first wetsuit was home made but had somewhat flashy blue tape rather than yellow. Odin may remember the ,
'breakthrough' that was my ever-erect delayed SMB... until the lead weight that kept it erect detatched and collided with my head at 22 metres. Course viagra hadn't been invented then...

Blue tape - splitter!