Bicycle Helmet Mirror Mount

thingiverse

A rugged az-el mount that converts a telescoping inspection mirror into a bicycle helmet mirror. Instructions We ride our Tour Easy recumbent bikes a lot and depend on our helmet mirrors to keep an eye on traffic. Unfortunately, commercial bicycle helmet mirrors seem to be very stylish, exceedingly fragile, and surprisingly expensive. This mount represents the other extreme: plug-ugly, robust, and (after you have a 3D printer, anyway) cheap. All the plastic bits print in one operation; I used bright yellow filament, but black might be more suitable. Fit a hex nut into the recess in the main body, run a matching screw through the elevation turret, then glue-and-clamp everything together. A setscrew in the tiny hole on top provides just enough friction to keep the elevation mount in place. Cut the third section of the inspection mirror just behind the second joint and epoxy a pan head screw inside the shaft. The shaft fits into the azimuth mount's snout and screws into a small hole due aft of the snout that holds it in place. The double ball joint attaching the mirror to the shaft has far too many fiddly little parts. I epoxied the nut in place and put a thin rubber bushing under the screw head to provide a bit of compliance. That allows small adjustments without any tools while remaining tight. The thin helmet interface plate has a slightly concave surface that matches the helmet curvature well enough to let double-sided foam tape bond them firmly together. These mounts have survived a few thousand miles of bicycling with no visible damage, which is a definite improvement over the commercial mirrors! More details and backstory on my blog:http://softsolder.com/2011/06/24/better-bike-mirror-doodles/http://softsolder.com/2011/07/12/helmet-mirror-smaller-mirror-shaft/http://softsolder.com/2011/07/01/helmet-mirror-mount-first-light/http://softsolder.com/2011/06/29/helmet-mirror-mount-solid-model/http://softsolder.com/2011/06/26/helmet-mirror-mirror-modifications/