Camera mounting - ball/flash mounting

thingiverse

There are loads of GoPro mounting accessories around, but I use a standard digital video camera... I got a GoPro long bendy swan mount and printed this to replace the GoPro mount with a flash size mount that I attach a universal, standard camera tripod mount to! Loads of fun in FreeCAD working out how to make it! And experimentation with the PLA to get confident it was up to the job. Print Settings Printer: Reprap Prusa i3 2017 model (from kit) Rafts: No Supports: Yes Notes: I originally printed the main part in two bits with out supports, but think printing in one is stronger, so printed it 'upside down' so there were a few supports in the 'flash shoe' gap, The nut has a flat side, so thats obvious... Post-Printing Clean out the support, in the shoe slot. check the threads. How I Designed This FreeCAD and Calipers. The standard thread for cameras is an archaic, legacy one that I don't have a tool to design for printing - and I wasn't sure I'd trust PLA that thin to hold a camera. So I went for a flash shoe type mount that you can get adaptors for - also a universal joint making control better. The rim of the Nut and the end of the thread are bevelled as it tightens to grip the 'ball' in the socket (there is a spherical cut out at the top of the inner hole). It doesn't hold massively tightly, but stiff enough for the universal joint to do the real aiming work. The thread bits are pretty thin... but being squashed between the nut and the ball means they can't be flexed that far, and seem to be up to the job. But put your camera on at your own risk!