Univ. Camera Quick Release

thingiverse

Hey thingikids. I had a customer come in to our shop last week with a special project, though he didn't know it. He is a VASCULAR SURGEON and he has a tiny little ultrasound machine he takes with him everywhere, like a teddy bear. He has used a special attachment, a bracket, with a modified Polaroid camera so he can take photos of his work via the ultrasound machine and prove to the insurance people he did what he did, and probably managed not to kill them in the process. You can't really get Polaroid film anymore, so he's sort of stuck. He asked if there was a way we could set up a different kind of system for him. Since Fuji Instax film and cameras don't let you focus so closely, and digital is kinda the wave of the future as well as compatible with those interwebs you hear about sometimes. My boss, wise sage man that he is, suggested using the existing bracket to fit a new camera model, a Canon Powershot SX130, to the ultrasound unit. This seemed unwieldy to me, since the bracket would be about 9 inches longer than necessary, having supported the old Polaroid 600-type camera. So, using measurements taken from the original, I went about replacing the 2mm aluminum bracket with a custom Makerbotted version that would suit a newer, smaller, fancier camera. Instructions No instructions yet, just explanation. The bracket itself, uploaded into the "whole_rig" Sketchup file below, is designed to fit into custom slots on the housing of the ultrasound unit. The big deal, the reason I uploaded all this, was for the quick-release plate, which you can find listed below. This is unique, not unlike my previous thing http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3872, which was designed for a camera that makes it absurdly hard to change the batteries out in. Since this rig is only to be used by the customer for this purpose, and not for weekend family visits or parties or Paris, he only needs to swap the batteries out every 1-2 weeks or more, but should be able to do it easily. The quick-release plate is designed somewhat off-set, to accommodate perpetual mounting to the camera, but also to allow clearance to pop the little side-door open as needed. And also, there is some redundancy in STL files below. The plate in file 2B fits better than the one in the group file. The mount itself in the whole_rig file is a bit larger and nicer in its mounting than the one in the plain file. The thing itself is designed ideally for one type of awkward camera, but will work nicely with others. I have not weight tested it, but rest assure I will be making my own plates in the near future for all my shenanigans. Photos to come of the mounted and functioning rig, as soon as the good doctor brings it to me. A final note... Please don't steal this to sell to other ultrasound owners... I worked hard on it and am very proud, and need the money. But by all means, steal, borrow, chop up and mutilate the release plate and all that implies. It was fun to make and man bow-howdy I did learn a bit. There is an instruction with that: I printed it with RepG0023, Skein35, raft mostly disabled with exception to SUPPORT -- this is imperative since the tongue-tab thing hangs in mid air to provide spring latching support for keeping the plate in place. It works, for serious... but you have to have adequate clearance to let that tab sit all the way down and let the plate out and in again. This takes some trickery and possibly filing. God-speed.