For awhile now I've been thinking of making a camera mount for the car so when I go out driving I can record it for friends or just myself. Not so much a LowNSlow kill documentary (as I don't race) as an in-car-camera for whatever outings I feel like going on. I'm sure this has been done a million times before--probably "designs" very similar, if not exactly, like mine, so don't expect anything new and exciting! :)

Luck had it that I had a bunch of spare wood from some crates a taxidermist used to send me some of my deer heads from last December. I was breaking them apart and figured I'd salvage some of it and give this a prototype-style go. I wanted to make something that clamped to the two bars that hold our headrests in place.

I really just took some wood and held it up to the head rest and marked it, measuring later to sinc-up the second half.

The wood I used was two pieces of what I considered at a glance to be 2x2, two pieces of what I considered to be 1x3 and a giant hunk of 1/4" thick pressed board (not sure of actual "industry" name).

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount10.jpg

I cut both the 2x2's and 1x3's into 11 inch strips--the number 11 simply being where I had earlier eyeballed the needed width of the headrest. With this length it would easily cover slightly more than the entire width of the headrest. I then glued and screwed one piece of 2x2 to one piece of 1x3, and repeated it for the remaining pieces.

I now had two identicle pieces to use as the clamps--one piece would go on the front of the headrest, the other on the back side. I would use some bolts to hold them together. In order to make a more secure fit with less sliding I decided to make tracks in the pieces that would wrap around the bars in the headrest.

To do this I used small shop clamps to hold the two pieces togther (see picture) as they would be once the bolts were installed.

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount1.jpg

I then took a headrest out of the car and marked where the two bars sat on the pieces--eyeballing the center. I went to my wood drill bits and decided on a diameter that was slightly smaller than the actual bars. If I chose an equal size the bars would fit either just flush or slightly loose even with the bolts in place. With the grooves smaller they would "hug" the bars and still maintain the ability to tighten or loosen their grip with the bolts. I chose 5/16" Here is a picture of the pieces still together with the bars marked and holes started. I drilled right where the two pieces met so the hole would turn into an equal groove on each side of the bars when seperated. When they were clamped together like this is also when I drilled 4 bolt holes--the ones that would eventually become MY clamping system once it was done. Doing it while clamped, obviously, ensured everything would line up.

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount2.jpg

I cut the hunk of pressed board to a 12x9.5" rectangle. My camera is about 9 inches from front to back, so the additional 3 inches of length was that plus extra room for the above pieces which the board would be mounted to. I glued and screwed the board to the 1x3 portion of one of the pieces--assuming that the larger the connected area was the more stable it would be. The following pictures show it already together, but also illustrates how the board was connected. Where the board ends is where the two halves seperate and clamp to the headrest.

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount11.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount12.jpg

Once everything was attached and the holes were drilled for the mount, I got the hardware needed. I measured out the dimensions of the entire thing. The bolts needed to hold it together as a clamp would have to pass through 3" of material (ends up my 2x2 was a 1.5x1.5) and still have enough thread left over to use properly--4" was about right. Arbitrarily I chose 1/4" diameter for the holes, and thus the bolts. I put the bolt holes on either side of each headrest bar (4 holes total). This is probably overkill, but I'm one for "too much is better than not enough". I used the proper washers and wingnuts to finish the clamp issue. Pics with and without the headrest clamped in:

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount3.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount13.jpg

I brought my camera with me to Lowe's to see if any bolts would fit its mounting port--I actually assumed that I would have to get some proprietary bolt from a camera shop for it to work. Luckily enough the very first thing I grabbed at the store was a bolt that fit perfectly. Go figure! I won't bother with those details as I'm sure most cameras are different so it won't matter. Besides that, I don't think I even looked to see what it was--it fit and I was happy. Again, using the tried-and-true eyeball method, I guestimated where I'd want the camera mounting bolt to be and slapped it in. You can see it in the above pics as the silver thing in the middlish of the pressed board and in the following picture (which has the headrest out of the car and in its clamp--those are the two posts sticking out of the bottom):

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount5.jpg

Finally I just slapped the camera on using the mounting bolt and stuck it in the car, on the passenger seat, of course! When the seatback is at a certain level of recline the camera is damn-near level with the road. This was something I, stupidly, didn't consider but it worked out just fine as that was my goal in the first place *wipes sweat off brow*. The lense is roughly where a person's eye would be if they were actually sitting there. The following pictures are of the camera mounted, both inside and outside the car (the camera and the pictures!).

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount4.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount6.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount7.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount8.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount9.jpg

Some things I didn't consider but, luckily, didn't hinder me:
1) I didn't think of how I would put it on--whether I would take the headrest out, or clamp it on while still on the seat. Either way works, but what I didn't consider is that when you take it OUT to mount, it slightly skewes the bars. It does this whether you mount it in or out, actually, but when it's out the bars don't line up exactly with the holes anymore when you go to put it back in. This wasn't really an issue because the difference was small enough that you can line it up with little work, and is actually a benefit as it is now snug (which it would become had you never taken the rest out--you just wouldn't have to worry about lining up the bars). Either way it serves to keep the headrest from rattling with this new weight.

2) You'll notice that I have wingnuts on one side in front and on the other side in the back. I originally intended them all to be in the back, but my new self-tapping drill bits self-tap SO well that it can damn-near take the drill out of your hand--I ended up with slanted holes. They were lower upon exit than when I started--the wingnuts wouldn't turn with the 1x2 base sticking out on the back. So those two got winged in the front. I'll probably cut off the rear overlapping wood as it isn't needed, but until then, this will work fine.

While it is EXTREMELY stable in regards to the mounting, the seatback still rattles of course. I haven't gone on a test-run yet so I don't know how much the "stability control" on the camera will matter when I hit a rough patch. On a highway run, however, I'm hoping this will be rare. I'm thinking of a few ways to stabilize it--legs to the floor in front and back, or strong bungies/ties from the mount to the Childseat Anchors behind the back seat. We'll see.

I don't know what my schedual is now, but this would be a fun thing to test on the meet and drive on the 28th. I'll have to be at the back of the line to get the good "Row of Subies" effect! :) I'll make sure to cover the lense if I pass anyone!

Total dimensions: 2.5" at thickest point, 14.5" from front to back (not mounted, which adds an 1/8th to 1/4 inch gap) and 11" wide. I wouldn't get it too much thicker (maybe an additional 1" max) because of the max height of the headrest. Last thing I'm doing is painting it black.

Anyhoo--It's nothing special, but I thought I'd share with everyone.

LOL..... :lol:

nice :)

LOL..... :lol:


Don't worry, I won't make any movies to compete with yours! :D Hopefully my camera girl (the seat) won't miss any action, though! ;)

Don't worry, I won't make any movies to compete with yours! :D Hopefully my camera girl (the seat) won't miss any action, though! ;)


Creative... Im not scared. My movies suck :P

Heheh, well with my luck the movies I make will be an extremely sharp image of a windshield crack with blurry cars behind it!

wow, using wood is pretty ghetto.

thats a HUGE mount.

Thats pretty ghetto, (you need duct tape too) :lol:
looks like it would work out well.

I'd suggest parking it at Century, but then they'd just steal the camera. :rolleyes:

Nice work.

you should buy some carpeting or something to cover it up....something to match the seat, or the grey of the interior, and it wont look too ghetto... haha, i used a metal bracket with my old car. drilled some holes and stuck it inbetween the seat.

just don't get in a wreck with that thing there:lol:

I made a video mount for the C-130 and I used wood, too. I painted it black to cut down on the ghetto factor and to reduce glare. Nice job. I second the duct tape. Put a little on there for flare.

Winslow

I'm thinking you're right on the duct tape! :) It's already painted black--I'll try to add some pics like that.

But remember, it's not just ghetto, it's ghetto fabalus.

For less than 5 bucks, I'd say winner!

Hey thats pretty cool :) Maybe go out to some remote road with lots of twists and turns and do some rally videos lol... or record an autocross.

ha ha. pretty cool indeed. my idea of a camera mounted for the 28th got shot down. :(

Sorry to hear about that! I may have a chance to test everything today--although now I'm not really testing the ghetto mount, it works just fine. Now I'm testing the camera and make sure it focuses on the right areas and has a good view! :)

Duder,

I hope that they'll allow it if you go to auto-x or rally-x. That's a pretty awesome design though, very original.

They didn't like my idea of an in-car mount:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v142/eurojax/ghettoincar.jpg


:lol:

They wouldn't let me run until I took it off, something about projectiles and tensile strength of duct tape, I don't remember. It worked GREAT though when I was driving around with it.


The wood I used was two pieces of what I considered at a glance to be 2x2, two pieces of what I considered to be 1x3 and a giant hunk of 1/4" thick pressed board (not sure of actual "industry" name).

Plywood, is the word your looking for :)

I dunno, Jax...is that stuff I showed plywood? I always considered plywood the multiple thin sheets stuck together--not chipper scraps glued together and then pressed! :)

I like your design, myself! One sharp left, though, and it's teh end of JaxOrs!

It's still ghetto! Score!

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount15.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/subiefan_ak/mount14.jpg

Well, went on first test-run. What I learned:

1) The mount works really well! You get some vibration from the seat, but nothing offensive. Next time we'll try to secure the seat.

2) When lining up the camera, don't do it in the garage where you don't have a horizon to line it up with. It's also a good idea to show some dash. Both of these lessons would probably make for a video that isn't 90% sky (and, in turn, dark).

3) If I had a camera that wasn't a POS, I'd be much happier. Instead I have a hand-me-down (the price was right) that is an uknown number of years old that puts itself on pause at odd moments (usually when something interesting happens) or resets itself if anything more intense than closing the view screen happens. Using this camera I successfully got 6 and a half minutes of footage out of a 15 minute drive. I guess 1/3 ain't bad... :mad:

Oh well, it was a fun project, even if I CAN'T use it until I fork over the green for a better camera. :banana:

It looks pretty stealth now. Good job.

If we had carpool lanes, you could stick a mannequin head on that thing and be buzzing past slow traffic.

here's what someone else did with a cheapo web cam.

http://erinch.com/archives/42

Hehe, nice. If I only had a laptop with more than a 15 minute battery life! :)

But that does give me an idea...hoodscoop cam! :)

AK--I like your idea...on road trips to the Lower 48, perhaps.

haha, i never thought of using a webcam..lol. you can stick it in the car, secure teh laptop and record away. wish i had a way of recording my drifting from the outside:devil:

that wood is call osb, or oriented strand board. don't ask me how I happen to know that, i don't know.

I know i've seen some camera mounts that stick to the window using suction cups. Those seem to work really well.



Also if you're interested Orion I have a canon GL1 for sale for $1k

that wood is call osb, or oriented strand board. don't ask me how I happen to know that, i don't know.


NEEERRRRD!!! :lol:

I didn't think it was lumped in with a generic name like "plywood" for some reason! :)

Boost--Probably too much to drop at the moment, but I'll look up the info on the camera and check with The Powers That Be. ;)

Sounds good, bro.

This camera's damn near brand new. Has MAYBE 30 minutes on the heads. I bought it thinking I was going to use it more, but I haven't. So it's going up for sale. It has 3CCD and all that junk that'll make your picture look awesome.

I do have this: http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Canon_GL1


That should be all the info...



Let me know if you're interested. Or anyone else for that matter.