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Waterproof tester

jkingiii

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So the problem is I don't have enough hobby's or projects so I took on building a deepsea waterproof tester. I have a 10 bar/145 psi tester that is ok for making me feel comfortable with washing hands and such without causing any damage. But I participate in many watersports including diving and have a couple gens (not rolex or omega) that are up to the task and want to make a couple of my reps equally capable. I found the litiz diver 125 bar/1813 psi tester but for over $4k USD that is not going to happen. I started with a solid cylinder of aluminum, 8" diameter by 12" tall, cut 3" off for the lid and machined a 3" diameter by 4" deep hole to insert watch. Machined a passage for the high pressure from pump, a port for the gauge in the lid, a weep hole to insure tester is full of water and 1/4" oring groove. I drilled and tapped 8 3/8" holes for hardened stainless studs to hold the lid down at extreme pressures. This all took months in my spare time between other projects, life and of course work. Finally put it all together today and tested outside with safety glasses on, 2k 3k 4k psi, yeah safety glasses sounds sufficient. Easily made and sustained 1k psi, 2k psi and 3k psi, however could not make 4k psi on first attempt. I noticed the gap between the lid and body of tester had increased by at least 1/8" or more. So I released the pressure and removed the lid, the oring had moved a little so I put it back and reinstalled the lid. On the first attempt the lid handles were hand tight, 8 of them so I thought that was good, on second attempt I tightened with a pipe wrench multiple times in a star pattern. On second attempt I achieved 4k psi but the gap grew between the lid and body again. I have come to the conclusion that the studs are being pulled out of the aluminum block. In the next few weeks I will drill out the stud holes in order to install stainless keenserts and try again. All in I have about $600 invested not including machine time, but we have mills and lathes at work and my home shop is well equipped, so I am still well under the litiz and even name brand 10 bar testers. Not really the point though, like most of us if I have less than 20 projects going at one time need to add one.​​​​​​​
 
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p0pperini

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Forgive me for asking a dumb question (I’m not really up on the various techniques of pressure testing), but how will this solid metal tester work in practice? Normally the test chamber is glass, so you can watch for bubbles escaping from the pressurised watch. With no way to see what’s happening, is the only way of testing going to mean checking whether the case has let in water?
 
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Ex-ki

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I respect your project which is probably a really good idea to work on, but why not just buy a Chinese copy of the Bergeon 5555 on Aliexpress?
They are sold for a hundred bucks only and work very well.
 

beau7816

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Aliexpress is where i got mine and it works great, cost £85

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk
 

p0pperini

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BTW, I wasn’t criticising the OP’s decision to build one (everyone likes a project!), I was genuinely curious to know if there was something about the design I was missing. Although given these leads on cheap pressure testers, I now find myself tempted to add one to my workbench. It could sit on the shelf with my timegrapher, which almost never gets used either... :)


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Rx4Time

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Forgive me for asking a dumb question (I’m not really up on the various techniques of pressure testing), but how will this solid metal tester work in practice? Normally the test chamber is glass, so you can watch for bubbles escaping from the pressurised watch. With no way to see what’s happening, is the only way of testing going to mean checking whether the case has let in water?

My guess is he'll pressure it up with movement decased and then look for water incursion afterwards, or the crystal to pop out as he depressurizes it? I'm just taking guesses here. It's an ambitious and interesting undertaking to be sure.
 
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jkingiii

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I have a 10 bar/145 psi/330 ft tester which is good for normal wear and light swimming and snorkeling they say. I have a couple citizen and bulova's rated for 200 and 300 meters which is 19 to 28 bar, well beyond the capabilities of the standard testers. This tester is inline with the litiz 125 diver tester which will cover most dive watches, good for 1200m/4000ft, I am looking to build a tester capable of the deapsea dweller 3900m/12800ft/5548psi/383bar which as far as I know doesn't exist outside of Rolex. Even the $3k to $5k vacuum testers are only good for 10 bar. The test method of the litiz diver 125 is to first test to 10 bar in a standard tester to make sure there are no gross issues with the watch. Then test to the rated depth in psi/bar, remove the watch and heat on a hot plate to 100F and place a drop of cold water on the crystal, if condensation appears it failed, if not it passed.


litiz 125 diver demonstration video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YexiNN_rnxc&rel=0
 

Complete

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Your aliexpress one is 80-150ish psi max.

This guy is aiming at hydraulic pressures in the 4.000 psi or greater range.

I like your setup OP. I would think stainless would be the way to go vs aluminum.

Upgrade to 1/2” studs on your next version. Will help studs pulling out and it looks like you have room.
 

jkingiii

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Thanks, headed that direction. Stainless cylinder was higher than I was willing to pay, larger studs or keenserts and try again. Going for 5550 psi to test deapsea dweller.
 

Raddave

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Thanks, headed that direction. Stainless cylinder was higher than I was willing to pay, larger studs or keenserts and try again. Going for 5550 psi to test deapsea dweller.


Thru bolts with nuts on either end would be my choice
 
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Raddave

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jkingiii

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I like the design of the one from Amazon, I'm checking on the pressure rating. Still pretty vested in current one so not giving up yet.
 

jkingiii

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I like the design of the one from Amazon, I'm checking on the pressure rating. Still pretty vested in current one so not giving up yet.
 

DrHack

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This is nice work, jkingiii ! I appreciate what you're doing here, and your fabrication work is excellent.

I would suggest it's more likely that the bolts are stretching as opposed to pulling out. Or perhaps the threads on the bolt or case are deflecting. In the first instance case a through bolt might not help (might still stretch), unless it it a bigger/stouter bolt. I hope you are well clear of this thing when pressurizing, if one of those bolts lets go it could be a missile.
 

DrHack

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I don't get this chart, unless they are building in a 5-10x safety factor. Recreational scuba divers would not go beyond 165 feet, and this chart shows that level for "short periods of swimming." The "Diver" level goes far beyond any scuba diving depth, but that's the rating recommended for scuba. What gives?