GoPro Hero 2 Camera Naked Mounting Clip - By TechShopJim

Description:

This is a mount that you can click your naked (just the camera without the clear polycarbonate waterproof case) GoPro Hero 2 camera into, and mount it on any standard GoPro mount mechanism.

I created this because my family and I are going on a 2 month cross-USA road trip, and I want to shoot a time-lapse video (1 frame every minute) from inside the car through the windshield looking out at where we are going (the final video will be about 42 minutes long!) But I encountered several problems with the GoPro camera the way it is supplied from the factory:

1.) The GoPro's clear waterproof case with the mounting mechanism blocks the USB cable, but I need to run power to the camera through the USB cable during the entire trip (the battery only lasts about 4 hours of time-lapse shooting at 1 frame per minute). Plus, I don't need to waterproof the camera inside the car.

2.) I don't want to leave the GoPro camera in the car overnight or while we are seeing attractions, so I want to be able to very easily take it out but not lose registration on the aiming of the camera from day to day.

3.) Mounting the GoPro camera to the inside of the windshield with the supplied mounts requires the camera to be mounted upside down and the software set to flip the image upside down, and the mounting pieces that are required makes quite a large mounting mechanism that blocks a lot of the windshield. It was just really not possible to mount the camera where I wanted it with the standard mounting mechanism.

In my application, I just want a simple mount that points the camera right out the windshield as close to the top center of the windshield (in front of the rear view mirror) as possible.

This mount connects to the short GoPro static mount which snaps in to a baseplate that is stuck to the inside of the windshield with the included VHB tape. The naked GoPro camera can then snap in and out of the mount quickly and easily without losing position or registration from day to day.

It really is amazing how snugly the GoPro camera snaps into this MakerBot-printed mount. I think if I wanted to spend the time to re-print it before our trip, I would take a few thousandths off the length of the arm that clicks onto the back of the camera. I am unable to shake the camera loose from the mount, but it still feels a tiny bit loose. I think GoPro should manufacture an injection-molded version of this mount, but if they don't, maybe I will. Hey, GoPro management...if you want to license this design from me, we can definitely make a deal that will be very cheap for you (you give me a dozen GoPro Hero 2 cameras) I'll give you the Autodesk Inventor live design files and all the rights to manufacture these. Let's talk!

This design was created in Autodesk Inventor 2012 at TechShop, and printed on a MakerBot Replicator in black ABS plastic.