Hey guys!
This is the how to build video on my GoPro dome port.
If you don't know what a dome port is, please see my overview and sample footage video.
This build is a little more complex than it looks but it's still much less expensive than
the dome ports that are on the market commercially.
I think the SPL is around $500.
The KNEKT is around $300 and the DeepPro dive housing, of course that's pretty involved
but that's $1300.
Anyway, I'm going to tell you about the components of this and then we'll do the assembly and
build.
The dome that I'm using comes from EZTopsWorldwide.
That's the name of the company.
I'll put a link in the description below.
This is a 7 inch dome so it's got a 7" diameter.
I've got a 5" on order just to try.
When you order it, get the quarter inch thickness.
So it's a 1/4" thick and a half inch flange.
So this outside flange is 1/2".
And whatever size you buy, make sure you get the maximum depth which is half the diameter.
So you know if you get a 5" dome, then you'll be able to have a 2.5" high dome.
That makes it half of a sphere and that's what you want.
The seven inch dome is probably the maximum that you would want.
This is actually a little bit to big.
It's very buoyant in the water and it's actually really large so it's just tougher to take
care of and carry around with you.
Whatever size you get just make sure you are extremely protective of the exterior of the
dome and the interior when you're building this because this is the new lens.
If this gets scratched, you're going to see that scratch in all of your videos.
So just be very very protective of the surface.
The backing plates are made from these sheets of acrylic or Lexan.
I bought these at Lowes.
They're 8"x10".
That makes it pretty perfect for this project.
There's no extra waste hardly.
The acrylic is .080" thickness and the Lexan is .093".
So it's a little bit thicker and a little bit more rigid.
This was like three dollars.
This was about four dollars.
So they're relatively cheap.
The 7" dome, another reason not to go bigger is that with the flanges, it just barely fits
on the 8" wide sheet.
So just another small reason not to go bigger than 7 inches.
When you buy these, make sure and leave on the protective coating that's on the front
and the back side.
Do not take that off until way further down in the build.
I made my gasket out of some closed cell foam that I bought off of amazon.
It's not a perfect solution.
I'd kind of like to find a better material that's cheaper and stands up better.
This is a little bit too flimsy.
This is the 1/16 inch but I would probably recommend going with a 1/8" thick or even
a 1/4" thick.
But make sure you get closed cell foam or rubber.
Open cell foam will let water through so make sure and get the correct stuff.
The hardware that holds this all together are these 10-24x3/4 inch stainless machine
screws.
For the 7" dome that I built, I used 8 around the circumference and if I had it to do over
again I would probably use 10.
If you have a smaller dome you can probably can get away with 8.
8 was a bare minimum for a good seal on my dome.
The washers and the nuts are also stainless especially if you're going to use this in
saltwater.
The washers are number 10 washers and these are nylock nuts so their self locking.
Next for the project you're going to need some flat black paint.
Make absolutely certain that it's flat.
You don't want semi gloss or gloss or anything like that.
This didn't even say it was for plastic but it actually worked well.
It doesn't have to be this specific paint but just make sure its flat.
Then you're going to need some black silicone adhesive.
Make sure that it says it's waterproof.
That's obviously what we need is waterproof.
I bought this at Napa auto parts store but they should be all over.
This is the Permatex brand but it doesn't necessarily have to be that brand.
Just make sure its silicone and it's waterproof.
It doesn't even have to be black but black makes it look better.
Then you're going to need a special screwdriver to remove the screws from the GoPro waterproof
housing.
I believe this might be a Torx T5 bit they are not common so you're probably going to
have to order one.
This specific one came from Amazon.
It came with a replacement bezel for a GoPro 3.
I'm not actually using the bezel right now but I needed the screwdriver and that was
one of the easier ways to get one.
You can also get these screwdrivers straight from GoPro in their lens replacement kit.
It's a little bit more expensive but it also comes with glass lenses.
Lastly you'll need a GoPro 3 waterproof housing or a dive housing from GoPros website.
I believe they're the same thing.
These are the housings that have 8 exposed screws on the front of the bezel.
You might be able to find these used on ebay from people who that have upgraded to the
3+ or 4 case.
Or find them online new....
Ok!
Enough about parts.
Lets get to the build.
Some of these steps I'm not going to be able to actually do fully right here.
Mainly because I have mine assembled and I don't have the parts for my second one but
I will explain it well.
If you have questions, make sure and ask.
Get your dome out and lay it on top of your backing plate sheet and trace around the outside.
Then once you've got that circle on here, just cut it out.
So then you've got a circle backing plate.
And remember, do not remove the clear plastic protection sheet from the front or the back.
Make sure and leave that on.
Then take your dome and drill 8 holes equally spaced around the outside of the rim.
If you're doing a 7" dome or larger I would recommend doing more than 8 screws just so
that your seal in between the screw holes will be good.
When I drilled my holes for the 10-24 sized screws I used a 3/16" drill bit.
So that seemed to work well.
After that, take your circle backing plate that you just cut, put this on top and mark
the holes all the way around.
Also make a little witness mark, a little mark on one side and also on the backing plate
so you will know how to line up your screws.
It makes things a lot easier down the road.
Then take your backing plate circle and drill those that correspond to the holes in the
dome and what you end up with is a clear sheet with your holes drilled in it.
After you've got the backing plate done, take your foam or rubber sheet, whatever you decided
on, and take the dome and put it on there.
Trace around again, like that and cut out the exterior leaving you with a circle like
that.
Then space in another circle about a 1/2 inch, make a circle, cut that out, and that leaves
you with your gasket.
Then put the dome back on, take a market or pen and mark on the gasket where you want
your holes to be.
At that point in time you should also make a mark on the gasket that corresponds to the
mark on the dome so that you know how to line up the holes easily.
Instead of trying to drill or cut these holes in the gasket, since it's floppy it's kind
of hard to do.
What I had on hand is this .17HMR case.
That's an empty ammo case.
Some of you guys might not have access to this but this is what I had that worked well.
It's the correct diameter so you can just kind of punch out these holes.
Just stick it on there and wiggle it around and it punches out a pretty clean hole.
This next part is a little difficult for me to show since mine is already assembled.
The Gopro 3 case and dive housing have the power and function button on the front of
course but it is to tall, it will hit the backing plate.
So what you need to do is remove the button, it's pretty easy.
Just pull out a little E clip, tiny little E clip, with a screwdriver and then the button
slides out real easily.
Then you have to cut the case down just a tiny bit.
There's a little bit of the case that sticks up and protects the button.
Just shave that down or cut it off like an 1/8 of an inch just so that backing plate
can sit flush on the front of the housing.
After you've got the power button removed and the case shaved down a little bit, then
you need to fill it with black silicone.
Fill the button hole from the front side and you can see a little tiny bead comes through
and seals it up real nicely.
The next step is to take your special GoPro screwdriver and remove the 8 screws around
the bezel and pull that off.
It's pretty easy but just make sure you get a good grip on the screws and get them out
without stripping them.
Then we need to find the exact center of the backing plate.
You can do this mathematically.
What I chose to do was to use a protractor and just by trial and error, figure out where
the center of the circle is by making lines from the exterior to the center of the circle
like this and then you come over to another direction, do it again, do one over here.
Whenever you get it adjusted so that they meet right in the middle, that's obviously
where the center of the circle is.
Then you need to find the center of your bezel from your waterproof housing.
I did that by tying some thread through the holes so that they cross and that's the center
of the bezel.
So now you've got the center of the backing plate and you've got the center of the bezel
and you need to line them up perfectly.
If you want you can tape this down or just hold it very very securely and then you mark
the holes through here.
And since you have the clear protective film still on your sheet it's ok to draw on here.
You know, don't do it very hard but mark all 8 holes without moving.
it's got to be perfect.
When you're marking out your screw holes, it might not be a bad idea to have two of
your outside bolt holes horizontal.
That makes it easier when you're using it to have the whole thing level with the horizon
so that your shots are level.
After you've got all of your 8 screw holes marked, then you take a 5/64" bit and drill
those holes.
This bit should be the perfect size.
Not to big and not to small.
So at this point you've got your backing plate and you have all 8 screws drilled and then
you need to take the bezel again, lay it back on here, line it up with the screw holes,
the drill holes, and trace a line around the outside of it.
Then on that line you want to just barely score the protective plastic sheeting.
Just barely score it so that you can take the two off separately but you don't really
want to cut into the plastic underneath.
What that is is a mask so that we can paint this area and obviously not paint the clear
area where we want the video to shoot through.
Now at this point in time if you want to be able to see the screen of the GoPro through
the dome, you need to also mask off a little area here.
So the film is still on, just cut a little square here that lines up with the screen
opening on the case.
The downside of this is that you may see that reflection in some of your video at certain
angles.
If you're using the GoPro remote like I have been than you don't necessarily have to see
that screen but some of you guys might want to see it.
So at this point you've got a scored line around here and possibly around the window
here.
then you need to peel the protective coating off.
Peel it off everywhere except for the window for the GoPro and for the screen if you did
that.
So at the end you'll have a protective film right here and right here if you're doing
the screen.
So you've got it masked off where you don't want the paint to be and everywhere else you've
taken the plastic off.
Take your flat black paint.
Again it has to be flat other wise you will see reflections off of this back plate onto
the front of the dome and they will get in the video.
Take the paint and paint three or four real light coats.
You don't want this to be running.
Do light coats and it eventually gets it all covered.
And after it's all covered just let it dry real thoroughly.
After the paint is dry then you can peel off the masking for the GoPro window and if you
chose to do a window for the screen you can peel that off now too.
So you have a flat black disk with a window for the GoPro to look through.
The cool thing is that on the back it looks real shiny and professional.
So that's kind of a bonus.
At this point in time you can peel off the back protective layer.
Since you're not painting anymore there's no chance of overspray so take the film off
the backing plate.
Now you've got the backing plate fully built and you're ready to connect it to the enclosure,
the GoPro waterproof enclosure.
Since you already have the stock bezel off, you've got the screws, just put it on here,
line it up and put the screws in just like normal.
What you can see through the window is...
Watch the gasket here and you can see when it's sealing up well.
There's kind of a dark line that forms.
That's the gasket that comes with the GoPro enclosure.
Just make sure you've got a good seal in there by looking through.
So now you've got the backing plate and the enclosure mated together.
The screw heads here, they are outside of the o-ring seal underneath so water can leak
through.
Because of that, you need to take your silicone sealant and put a dab on the top of each screw
head.
Make sure that silicone touches the base plate all the way around and there aren't any holes
in the middle.
So it's basically like a drop but this stuff is not real liquid...
you have to kind of put it on there.
After you apply the silicone just make sure you let it dry according to the directions.
So we're on the home stretch now.
You've just got to take your gasket material, lay it on here.
If you did a witness mark on the side, just line that up with the side of the backing
plate, and line it up with the dome.
Then you just take your stainless hardware, and I like to have the head on the dome side
and then on the back side you need a washer and a locknut.
And then just stick them through all the way around and cinch everything down.
So this is what it looks like after you get everything assembled.
It works pretty well.
If you've seen the other video you can tell what kind of shots it gets.
Just as a reminder: Always, always, always test these before you
put your camera in there.
Get it all sealed up, get the camera enclosure sealed up and submerge it under water for
five minutes and see what happens.
Some of the leaks are very slow but just keep an eye out for leaks between the dome and
the backing plate inside and around the screws that come through the backing plate.
Obviously make sure that the enclosure stays dry and also when you're using it just check
it periodically and make sure no water is getting in there.
You can kind of tilt the enclosure housing and see if water runs to a corner or not.
But that's it.
It should work pretty well for you.
I have not tested this at any great depth.
The weather here is not that great and the waters still cold so if you're going to use
it at any depth, just make sure you test that yourself before you put your camera in there
and use these at your own risk.
Its up to how you construct it as to how well it works.
It's a pretty good design.
If I have any updates, I'll let you know.
But anyway, I appreciate you guys watching.
If you have any questions, please let me know and if you enjoy my videos, please consider
subscribing.