MK V Dive Helmet – Cutting the viewport holes

It’s kind of scary to cut a big hole in the helmet, but it has to be done. I’ve looked over the engineering drawing for the MK V helmet, and tried to measure as accurately as possible where the viewport opening should go. And I’ve adjusted the location just a little, by eye. I’m using an inexpensive hole saw, from a kit purchased at Harbor Freight. The quality is not as good as something you’ll find at a tool store, but for limited use it should do the job just fine, and save a lot of money.

I’m drilling a pilot hole to get things started. Hole saws can be very “grabby”, so I’m moving slowly so that the saw doesn’t throw the helmet across the room.

Front Viewport

Top and Side Viewports

Man in the Sea Museum

Today I visited the Man in the Sea Museum, a really cool museum of diving history. It’s located in Panama City Beach, Florida USA. Some of the equipment on display was familiar because I had helped write Navy documentation for the equipment, while working for defense contractors in the late 1980s. The museum entry fee was reasonable (I think it was US$5) and they gave a free huge poster about the history of diving.

The museum people were all very cool, and friendly. They almost encouraged you to handle the helmets/suits and other items on display. And they were very nice to allow me to bring in a ruler and sketchbook to make some more detailed measurements and examination of particular items on the Mk V.