Nauticam mirrorless housing o-ring maintenance

[outofofficebrb]

Hi!

I just upgraded to a Sony full frame mirrorless from a Sony compact. Both cameras have been paired with a Nauticam housing and have the vacuum valve. I've thoroughly mastered the o-ring care on my compact after doing hundreds of dives on it but I'm feeling a bit more intimidated by the new mirrorless housing by having 3 o-rings to maintain (main entry into housing, port, and viewfinder when I add/remove it) vs the 1 I had on my compact.

I found this from Nauticam but I was also hoping someone could provide their own anecdotes on their routine care of o-rings, especially for weeks of repetitive diving doing 4 dives a day consistently. How often are you pulling it out, checking it, and/or greasing them? Is there anything that you do or don't do that differs from that document? If you have any tips/suggestions, all would be welcome. It's a new routine that I need to get used to and I'm hoping the experience and wisdom of the group will put me at ease.

Thanks so much!

 

[davehicks]

If you rinse and work the buttons after each day of diving you won't likely have any problems even after hundreds of dives.

My D850 trigger started getting sticky a few weeks ago (400-500 dives) so i pulled it, cleaned out and lubed it up. I had a few spare C-clips and put in a new one during reassembly. They tend to get bent up on removal but can be reused with some adjustments if you have no spares.

 

[outofofficebrb]

If you rinse and work the buttons after each day of diving you won't likely have any problems even after hundreds of dives.

My D850 trigger started getting sticky a few weeks ago (400-500 dives) so i pulled it, cleaned out and lubed it up. I had a few spare C-clips and put in a new one during reassembly. They tend to get bent up on removal but can be reused with some adjustments if you have no spares.

What is your routine for the port and main housing o-ring? I’m not too worried about buttons and trigger.

Thanks

 

[davehicks]

What is your routine for the port and main housing o-ring? I’m not too worried about buttons and trigger.

Thanks

Remove and Rinse in a bowl of water if they get any grit. Other wise leave them alone. Occasionally very lightly lube the port oring but never lube the housing oring. Only use the nauticam lube or tribolube. Silicone lube will destroy these oring.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Remove and Rinse in a bowl of water if they get any grit. Other wise leave them alone. Occasionally very lightly lube the port oring but never lube the housing oring. Only use the nauticam lube or tribolube. Silicone lube will destroy these oring.

Thank you!

 

[WS007]

Hi,

Thanks for posting this interesting link from Nauticam...

Whenever possible the housing is immersed in freshwater after every dive.

I do not clean O-rings upon every opening of the housing, sometimes after a major change of the setup (e.g. when switching from WA to macro). In practice this is every 2-7 days of diving holiday, depending on the situation.
I then remove the O-ring and clean the O-ring seat on the housing/port with a swab (it is important that these are fuzzle free, e.g. like these: https://www.fruugo.at/100200pcs-foa...nDsa6pemo64dmj7yYRG2FVkwX9Mp0eZcaAsbMEALw_wcB). Then I clean the O-ring with spectacle cleaning wipes (e.g.: Clever Brillenputztücher | BILLA) and grease it very little with Nauticam grease before reinserting them...

Once a year the housing is assembled (w/o camera), vacuum applied and put in the dishwasher (together with TC, mask, compass, asssembled flashes etc...) for a wash at room temperature and no detergent. Then a drop of this greasing solution is put to the space between every button/wheel and housing (D&D Top Secret O-Ring Fluid). This liquid creeps into this small space and lubricates the O-ring. SInce I do this only once a year, I do not fear that the O-rings may swell in case the fluid is not compatible (the dealer says it is) - swelling of O-rings happens upon the wrong lubricant TOGETHER with frequent application. Before my first application of this fluid on an old NA-EM5II housing (I bought it used), buttons had become sticky, but the fluid completely resolved this problem. Maybe one day I will have to remove the buttons/wheels, clean and grease them, but so far not required...

So far, this routine was enough to keep my housings o.k. (Nauticam EM5II and EM1II; a Nauticam A7RV housing is ordered and on the way; it will also be treated alike)...

Wolfgang

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi,

Thanks for posting this interesting link from Nauticam...

Whenever possible the housing is immersed in freshwater after every dive.

I do not clean O-rings upon every opening of the housing, sometimes after a major change of the setup (e.g. when switching from WA to macro). In practice this is every 2-7 days of diving holiday, depending on the situation.
I then remove the O-ring and clean the O-ring seat on the housing/port with a swab (it is important that these are fuzzle free, e.g. like these: https://www.fruugo.at/100200pcs-foa...nDsa6pemo64dmj7yYRG2FVkwX9Mp0eZcaAsbMEALw_wcB). Then I clean the O-ring with spectacle cleaning wipes (e.g.: Clever Brillenputztücher | BILLA) and grease it very little with Nauticam grease before reinserting them...

Once a year the housing is assembled (w/o camera), vacuum applied and put in the dishwasher (together with TC, mask, compass, asssembled flashes etc...) for a wash at room temperature and no detergent. Then a drop of this greasing solution is put to the space between every button/wheel and housing (D&D Top Secret O-Ring Fluid). This liquid creeps into this small space and lubricates the O-ring. SInce I do this only once a year, I do not fear that the O-rings may swell in case the fluid is not compatible (the dealer says it is) - swelling of O-rings happens upon the wrong lubricant TOGETHER with frequent application. Before my first application of this fluid on an old NA-EM5II housing (I bought it used), buttons had become sticky, but the fluid completely resolved this problem. Maybe one day I will have to remove the buttons/wheels, clean and grease them, but so far not required...

So far, this routine was enough to keep my housings o.k. (Nauticam EM5II and EM1II; a Nauticam A7RV housing is ordered and on the way; it will also be treated alike)...

Wolfgang

Thank you for sharing your process!