DIY Dry Glove Rings/Gloves for $18

[CMAN]

The linerlesss gloves worked perfect!

[MRF]

Congratulations.

[1969ivan1]

I just completed a 2 hour dive with the PACKETSNIFFER cheapo diy dry glove system! Wow, not a drop of water. I wanted to publically thank PACKETSNIFFER for the post and the follow up help. After seeing this system in operation I am not sure why somebody would want to buy a dry glove system.....

[Ben_ca]

I'm sure he appreciates that his contributions to Scubaboard and TDS live on without him.

[1969ivan1]

That is so sad. I had no idea. I had sent him a few emails and PMs recently with no response. He had been so helpful with emails and pics dutring my dry gloves project and I thought it was curious that he had not responded to the last few.
I never met him, but he was a very helpful nice guy and will be missed.

[nwbrewer]

1969ivan1 can we see some pics? It seems as though all the others have been broken. I made some this weekend, I'll post my pics later. They worked, but I think I'd like a heavier/bigger glove. I can't don mine when wearing the suit, they are more or less permanently attached due to how tight the gloves fit.

Do you think these would work with the ones you built?

Deep See: Part of the Aqua Lung Family of Brands

Jake

[evad]

I'm making a pair of these too, and would love to see pictures. Posthumous thanks to PacketSniffer for starting this thread.

[nwbrewer]

Here's what I did to make my drygloves and rings. Much thanks to everybody who contributed to this thread.

DIY Dry Gloves and Rings.

DIY Dry gloves and ring are a fairly easy DIY project, requiring fairly few tools.

Step 1 – Acquire the necessary parts:
- 3” PVC coupling
- 4” diameter vacuum cleaner belts
- Rubber or Vinyl gloves
- Glove liners
- Contact cement



Step 2 – Mark the 3” PVC coupling and cut it in half. I used a 10” chop saw, but it could be done by hand if you’re careful.




Step 3 – I used a router to cut a grove, closer to one end. This will be where the vacuum cleaner belt will sit to hold everything together. This step can be done with a dremmel or just a file. I then sanded both pieces thoroughly to make sure that all surfaces were smooth so that nothing will snag on the latex seals on the suit.



Step 4 – Prepare the gloves. The inner surface of the gloves I bought was lined with some sort of fabric. Since this probably wouldn’t seal very well, I folded the gloves back on themselves, and applied a line of contact cement at the fold, and at the edge. Then fold the two together, to have the outside folded in permanently.




It’s a good idea at this point to make sure that every thing goes together. I assembled the gloves on the rings to make sure everything fits. Slide the glove over the ring, then slide the vacuum cleaner belt over the top to hold it in place.



Step 5 – Place the ring in the suit. The directions I was working from recommended going from inside the suit with the ring, but I found if worked better to just use a lot of talc and work the rings in from the open end. Make sure the end with the grove goes in towards the suit. I left mine so that the seal is still in place around my wrist. This way if the gloves leak the suit won’t flood.



Step 6 - Stretch the glove over the ring and latex seal. Then stretch the vacuum cleaner belts over the top of the gloves. You’re now ready to dive. Don the liner first, and put on the suit.



Step 7 – Go diving! Enjoy dexterity and dry hands!

I Dove them this last weekend in the local 55 degree lake. Not too bad, but the gloves didn't allow for much of a liner, so I switched it out for a set of atlas 66o smurf gloves and a thicker liner. Diving those tomorrow.

Jake

[CFDAlden]

Great pictures, thanks! Something to play with over the winter.

Nice router. I'll be whipping out the trusty dremel.

[1969ivan1]

Ok, I know this is not exactly helpful for somebody that is making the system, but they are cool pics anyhoo. I will try to take some pics of the rings and gloves later and post them as well. I am using blast glove from harbor freight. They only cost about 6 bucks a pair and are PERFECT. My first pair of gloves leaked owing to a cloth lining and Packetsniffer came to my rescue and suggest the gloves I am using in the pics. They are great. They are very long and handled the Zebra mussels with no problem. I actually grabbed a lot of Zebra encrusted stuff to see if I would cut them and they held fast. I used the 2 round vac belt idea as the round ones are much easier to roll on the coupling. Two is probably over kill as well, but the way I cut the groove allows me to use either system with ease.