Going to try and make a camera mount

[DarkSoul]

  Alrighty, I have a few sheets of 1/4 aluminum down in the dungeon, so I am going to try and fashion a camera mount out of it.  May try a few different designs, but I think I am just going to go with a good Tank mount.  I'll post up some pictures and such as I try this.  Today I will be doing some research and see what I can come up with on a drawing first.  If you guys have some suggestions or comments post away, would like to see what you guys think.  If the tank mount is good, then I might move onto a rear mount, or a side mount.  If I do attempt them I will post some pictures of that as well.  Can you guys tell that winter bordom is starting to get to me?

[DarkSoul]

Once again I was set back.  I was planning to work on it once Melissa went back to work, but I got called to a fire in the Barney's River area and there went that idea.   Mind you I did get a chance to think more about what I am doing, and I now believe that I am going to construct 2 cam mounts.  One for front viewing and one for rear viewing.  If they work out good maybe I'll make a few up for give aways or something for you guys.

[Amherst XX]

Might want to make the bolt holes where it attaches to the tank more like slots than holes as different bike shave different bolt patterns and amount of bolts.


That way if you ever get another bike it'll still fit and if you end up making one for a give-away it'll be universal.

[DarkSoul]

Already way ahead of you Going to make it exactly like that, also that would give it the ability to pivit a bit incase you want to change the angle a bit :p

[DarkSoul]

Alrighty, got some work done on it today. Almost finished making a dummy template out of some hard plasitc that I have here.   The Aluminum is a lot harder to work with then I had first thought so things are going slow with it   Hopefully that will change tommorow as I think I will be picking up my table grinder   I have a few pics from my work today, nothing too fancy, but I'm going to throw them up anyway.

First and second ones are off the piece of metal that I'm working with, trying to cut it down to something easier to handle.
Third one is off my Gas cap guard taken off the bike, I have a Vortex racing cap so it might be differeing then what you have.

[DarkSoul]

Fourth is the frist stage if the work I did with the plastic.  I got the idea that if I ever wanted to make another on that it would be best to have a dummy template that I could work with.

Next I traced out my cap and cut it out.  I lined up the holes that bolt my cap onto the tank and passed them on to the plastic.  My plan is to pick up 2 bolts that are 1" longer then the ones that are in there now. (pics 5 and 6)

Last thing I did tonight (as I was writing this up) was shape the plastic a bit more and draw in where I will be cutting out for adjustment holes.
   Tell me what you guys thing so far, and if you have any suggestions please post them on up!  I'm going to keep working away at it tommorw and hopefully by tommorow night I will have some decent pics of the metal taking shape!

[DarkSoul]

Keep in mind guys, I'm doing this mostly freehand with a pair knife :p

[DarkSoul]

Alrighty heres the lastest!  Hopefully by tommorow it will be finished to the functional stage.  May still polish it up a bit nicer and such afterwards.

Started working with the metal today, was comming along verynicely.  Ever have one of them "WTF?" moments when your working on something?  The second images shows right about the point when I was thinking that.  Didn't seem like it was comming together for me, but I guess it was :p  I matched it up to my gas cap to make sure that the holes lined up for the bolts and that I could get my gas cap on and off when I have it mounted.  Everything seems to be going good thus far.  Was just cleaning up the edges tonight, tommorow I will put the bends in it and drill the camera mount holes.  Cross your fingures guys!

[Amherst XX]

looking good.

[DarkSoul]

Heres the first actual demo shot with the mount bolted on.  Yes I know my Mirror Stay is in the way, but I think I am going to mod this mout a but more and give it a X,Y,Z pivit.  For most bikes without a Mirror Stay (most newer bikes far as I know) this would work perfect.  My camera is zoomed out all the way, but if it was in a bit, I think it would be a decent shot

[Carter]

Look'n good. Remember, slow and steady won the camera mount making contest

[DarkSoul]

Lol, yeah I hear ya.  I'm taking my time with this one, cause I'm trying to get all the bugs worked out on the first crack.  Like I said, at this point, anyone that doesn't have a Mirror Stay could prolly use it now.  But my old bike got one, so alas I have to keep plugging away at it 

[DarkSoul]

Ok, after a ton of try crap and testing things, I finally finished the camera mount.  I actually finished 2 mounts, cause I couldn't get around that damn mirror stay.  Lifting the camera just made it shake like hell, so I had to make a mount right on the mirror stay.  Heres some pics of the finished products.

And yes, I broke a hose clamp fooling around with it :p

[DarkSoul]

Heres some pics taken from the mounts.  First is from the Mirror stay mount, second if from the tank mount.  As you seen in the previous pics, I added a rubber piece to the tank mount, this lifted the camera about 1/2 inch, makes it so you can use the video from the tank mount, still get the mirror stay in the way, but atleast you can see a bit better over it.  Also I think the tank mount would be a better place for an actual camcorder, its a bit more sturdy, and has less vibration I think.  The rubber can be removed if someone else was to use the mount, the hole where the rubber bolts on doubles as a camera mount hole as well for any bikes without a mirror stay.
 The Mirror stay mount seems to work really well with my camera.  I can take small vids with it too, but the quality isn't the best, would do in a pinch.  Could prolly mount the Camcorder there if I was on a nice flat road, but we all know that here in NS we grow potholes, so I guess I will have to test it to find out for sure.
  The last thing is there are just working models currently, I am going to clean them up and maybe polish them. If not polish then paint black, just something to make then look cleaner. But they should give you an idea on how to go about making something if you wanted to try.  If I had proper tools for working with metal I think that I could make a lot nicer job, but them the breaks I guess :p

[DarkSoul]

been awhile since I posted anything in this, but I did take the first video from the camera mount today.  Check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E88Vh6zT0M

I don't think it turned out too bad, I had to put some tape on the camera so that it wouldn't rattle, I think I shoudl put another one between where the screen flips around to get rid of that vibration too.  Will post another video once I make some adjustments