The ultimate low volume 'mask', Pipe goggles !

[commonerg]

After playing around with different masks and clamps I finally have a setup I'm happy with.

I ruined a nice new Seal XP swim mask in the process. The silicone on the Seal mask tears easily when it is wet. Be careful if you are trying to modify one into a pipe mask.

The black silicone on this speedo swim mask is very nice. I love this mask. Great field of view. Low Volume. Strong Strap. Again, I used the little 2 way connector which helps with the seal and allows me to remove and replace the tubing.

The nose clip is just a small clamp I got at home depot. The rubber bands at the bottom make it not clamp down so hard on my nose (it kind of hurt).

The total cost on this was $21
$17 for the mask
$1 for little clamp.
$2 for tubing
$1 for waterproof superglue

$46 total if you include the scraped Seal XP mask.

 

[pheydebreck]

mjacobs,

you are right, an open tube works also well, and you can really use it as a depth gauge, at a certain depth water begins to drop into the mask (a nice signal, you are almost there!)

herbert nitsch used a sphera seal mask with pipe for a FI world record attempt, as he told me, it worked also quite well without holding the pipe in the mouth...

 

[mjacobs]

You could maybe even put the open tube INside the mask rolled around the perimeter of the faceplate, mark the tube, and have a visual and accurate depth guage built in while simultaneously reducing mask volume. I'm not really a dive for the numbers guy and haven't tried it, but it seems to me it might work.

 

[ahofbauer]

I copied a DIY pipemask a friend made once. In this case it was a pair of extremely cheap goggles (1.20 us dlls) two small peces of brass pipe, epoxy glue, FESTO brand compressed air hoses (inner diameter of some 3mm) and a T-connector (also FESTO).
The polyurethan hoses are even "jummy yellow".

The "mask" turned out to be really useful and practical if used in combination with a noseclip. We also tried it with a balloon for self-equalization.
The best air container solution for the mask was the use of several meters (up to 15) of a very thin plastic hose with an inner diameter of about 1mm. This thin hose (being open on one end) worked like a compensation tank.
The idea of integrating it into the lead collar came quite naturally.

NATVRA NON NISI PARENDO VINCITVR

 

[strauss]

My PipeGoggles are partly inspired by Wal’s design.

Took me about 10 minutes and cost less than 5 bucks, excluding the goggles.

I used:

• AquaSphere Kaiman Goggles
• 4mm plastic tubing (windscreen washer system part, available from auto store)
• “T” connector (windscreen washer system part, available from auto store)
• Rotating leather punch. Ensure the punch is “hollow”.
• Set of pliers
• Scissors

Method:

• Punch 3mm holes toward outside of each lens. Sharp edge of punch on outer side of lens.
• Trim ends of tubes on an angle, like the end of a hypodermic needle.
• Gently pull these ends through the 3mm lens holes with a set of pliers.
• The hole should be slightly smaller in diameter than the tubes. This way the tubes will be “constricted”, making them water and airtight.
• If hole is too small, make larger by carefully inserting and twisting punch.
• Trim the pointy end off so you don’t poke your eye out,
• Attach “T” connector and mouthpiece
• Trim all tubes so that the “T” connector sits just above your upper lip
• TEST!

The advantages I can see of this design are:

• Theoretically, an even distribution of air to each eye
• No glue required
• Simple

Tested them to -5m, no leaks. Now I just need to get a noseclip!

 

[monkeyhatfork]

I have a similar pair, tyr goggles and about 5bucks worth of aquarium supplies from wal-mart, the nose clip in the photo doesn't really work, have a real one on order from dive fit.

 

[Vedrana]

View attachment pipe.bmp


My pipe goggles

 

[strauss]

Nice simple design there.

 

[Vedrana]

Once i had dive with sphera but now only with pipe goggle because i had free hands and no equalization problems.
It is very easy to made it, and very nice to dive with it.

 

[ptoot]

made my pipe goggles tonight, using a Nasal Oxygen Cannula and a Camelbak Bitevalve on a regular pair of Speedo goggles.

I cut the cannula (used for giving people 2 - 5 litre oxygen per minute) where the thicker tube intersects into two 3mm tubes.

Then slid a Camelbak bite valve over it (leaving it sealed off until you bit an blow or suck the air out). The thin tubes run nicely behind the ears and get together as a tie around my neck:

It works really well (in the pool, will need to test it deeper later).

Needed:

1 pair of goggles € 15
1 nasal oxygen cannula € 3 ?
1 Camelbak bit valve € 7
some PVC glue

pliers, 3mm drill.

The 3mm thin tubes enter on the sides.

You can let go of the valve whenever you like, the goggles will not fill up

 

[apneaboy]

Very very good!!

Please post again when you have used them at depth, if your eye balls are still in the right place i will follow suit

With all that tubing and a couple of kinks and the amount of air space i could see a situation where it could be squeezed. The camelback end is the ingenious bit about that!

The test is depth, good luck mate cos that will save me about £120

What is the missing picture?

 

[ptoot]

@apneaboy:

testing it at depth will be in a few weeks time, leaving on holiday this friday, may not be able to report earlier than 10 August :/

Besides, I am not a mega-deep diver. I will have no idea what it does beyond -say- 30 metre.

After my holidays I'll publish a few more things I put together... In the meantime, have fun!

 

[ptoot]

@apneaboy: the missing picture was a picture of a Nasal Oxygen Cannula, just one I found on google:

like http://www.anaesthaids.com/pcat-gifs/products-small/oxym.gif

 

[ptoot]

@apneaboy: I tested the pipe goggle in the warm Mediteranean and it worked the way it should; I used my new Paradisia nose clip and guided the tube through it.

I'm not sure if next time I guide the tubes around my ears, I might try a version with shorter tubing running straight from the sides of the glass to under my chin.

I did not dive deeper than 20m with it but it worked nicely. I am not used to diving with goggles and did not really enjoy the limited view, the camelbak valved worked splendidly and kept the goggles pressurised and dry.

Will need to swim some more with goggles to feel comfortable with their vision, it sure saved a lot of air!

 

[ComputerBoy]

Hi there!

Since I don't like the cumbersome mask (even freediver's one), I was very happy when discovering this thread. I'm not a depth apneist, but as a recreational freediver, I do love the freedome given by the pipe-goggles.

At first I tried the ptoot's design (without bite-valve), but soon realized that it's difficult to do mouthfill-Eq with open pipes intruding into my mouth. I could use the togue to seal off the pipe opening and do the "tongue piston" technique but it's much harder than without the pipes. Moreover, I couldn't get the full mouth of air because in that pose, my tongue was useless (air just escaped to the goggles).

So; I've designed my own one which combines the self-eq system (pipe coils) idea of Jussi with the "bite valve" idea of ptoot. The pipe coils are much shorter than what Jussi's mentioned, just enough to roll around the goggles. With that short self-equalizing coils, I must put the pipe with valve into my mouth at 4m, 9m, 16m, 26m, ... to "chase" water off the self-eq coils. But within those intervals, I just guide the pipe under my chin like wearing the hat strap.

In my country (Vietnam), it's not easy to buy a bite-valve. So I've made a very simple "bite valve" by cutting a small slit (less than half the circumference) on the pipe and set it facing upward (toward my chin/mouth).

When under my chin, the pipe is bent inward closing the slit:

But when inside my mouth, the pipe is bent outward opening the slit:

Just some ideas I want to share with you all.

Happy pipe-goggles!!!

 

[growingupninja]

I am less concerned with mask volume but get a much, much better cold water dive response with goggles instead of mask, so I made a pair. I haven't done much testing yet but it drives me crazy to dive with stuff in my mouth (I don't ever use a snorkel either). It isn't an eq thing, I just don't like it. Has anyone successfully built a pipe mask with the eq tube running into their nostrils? Seems like it could be done safely--a shallow, molded nose plug which is integrated into a noseclip?

 

[ComputerBoy]

Has anyone successfully built a pipe mask with the eq tube running into their nostrils? Seems like it could be done safely--a shallow, molded nose plug which is integrated into a noseclip?

"Pipe into nostrils"!? I like your very innovative idea! Let's design and show us how to integrate the pipes into the noseclip I'm wondering how can you combine the 2 opposite functions: ventilation of the pipes and air way blocking of the noseclip? :duh

 

[growingupninja]

"Pipe into nostrils"!? I like your very innovative idea! Let's design and show us how to integrate the pipes into the noseclip I'm wondering how can you combine the 2 opposite functions: ventilation of the pipes and air way blocking of the noseclip? :duh

Well, for me, a noseclip when wearing pipe goggles would be purely to keep water from entering my nose if I am swimming at an angle (ie straight down or on my back), and not be necessary for EQ since I EQ hands free at all depths.

If the pipe goggle's ventilation/EQ function was combined with some nose plugs, it would function for me like a standard mask--the nose piece provides ventilation to EQ the mask, and at the same time prevents water from running into my nostrils. The design I am proposing would probably be useful only somebody who doesn't need a noseclip for EQ and doesn't want to swim with anything in their mouth.

I am thinking a molded silicone piece which acts as a plug to the nostrils, and which may need to be custom fitted to my particular nose, with an opening that permits air to flow from the nose into the EQ tube of the pipe goggles might be the way to go. I would need to build it very carefully as (1) I would not want it to leak, (2) would not want anything to get shoved up my nose, and (3) would not want to cover the cold water sensors on my upper lip.

 

[ComputerBoy]

Ok growingupninja, I've got yours. You've got the BTV (hands-free eq.) So; to replace the mask's nose pocket, you should design a very "lite" clip just to seal the nostrils from water.

Waiting to see your product!

 

[Simos]

And if you are like me and don't plan to dive to 100m in the near future, you can use shorter or thinner tubes.

This is my favourite bit of this thread rofl