keegs

I'm going to a track day in a couple of weeks and wanted to be able to record some video. Last time I went with a windscreen stick-on model they didn't allow me to use it for the risk of it coming off and flying around the cabin in case of a crash.

So this time I decided to create something I could bolt down physically to something.

I envisaged using the rotary shape in the passenger front seat to bolt something in place and did a bit of search on the forums. One had a metal bar mounted in the rotary hole going between both seats but this is a bit full on for me! What I want is something small, basic, easy to make and stable.

This thread just has a few bits of information for what I did..

keegs

My intention was to bolt together a small front and rear bracket to the passenger seat only and then have a small piece protruding allowing for the camera to be mounted. This would allow the camera to be roughly eye-height and should give clear view of the windscreen, albeit not centred and even worse, from the wrong side of the car :D

The first two photos are of the front and rear rotors respectively for tracing.



The 3rd photo is the traced photographs put to scale on to standard A4 paper (210mmx297mm) so that I could print them out. I measured from the bezel edge of the rotor versus right to the very edge as I don't need it to be the exact full size. I then converted the A4 image dimensions in pixels to mm and then scaled the trace to be the correct size. It involved a few print outs and some minor adjustments, but relatively easy.



Measurements for those that are interested:
Front rotor: top to bottom is 100mm, widest edge at bottom is 125mm
Rear rotor: top to bottom is 85mm, widest edge at bottom is 103mm

The 4th photograph is of the tripod mount I purchased off amazon; it uses the standard 1/4" bolt holes in the bottom and top and so I plan to use the 5th photograph to just bolt it together.




To mount the tongue for the camera onto the rotor shaped brackets I thought I would just use a L shaped bend and just bolt it on, potentially using the existing bolt holes/bolts that hold the front and rear rotor brackets together.

keegs

I saw that some in other designs people have used plywood or MDF metal (wood) to bolt it all together. This could work but in order to minimise the bolts required and maximise strength for the thickness of the material I've opted for a piece of aluminium.

I can readily get 2mm thick alloy but I didn't think this would be strong enough to stop the camera from bouncing slightly with the bumps of the track. 4mm would be a real pain to cut with my limited tools and to bend for the camera mount so I went for 3mm. Turns out this is a real pain try and find at a physical store/shop in London UK and so I ended up buying it on Amazon too!

The first photo briefly shows the alloy plate, this is 200mm x 200mm and is all I need.



I was originally thinking of bolting the camera mounting tongue onto the rotor shape but now I think I'll cut it out of one piece of aluminium and just bend the tongue up to a right angle. Less bolting should mean less chance of things wobbling.



Similarly I think I'll now use one tight bolt to hold the back and front together as two should be a bit excessive for the weight I'm carrying. The two I originally thought of was because of another design I saw on the forums where by a metal bar went across the rear of the seats. For the weight of the bar two would make sense, but 3mm alloy and a camera should be okay with 1 bolt I think.

I originally bought 6mm metric bolts of 70mm length but I think I'll go back and get a larger size e.g. 8mm and just use one bolt. I'll have to cut out the alloy shape, bend it together and see how it looks. I might need to go with 2 bolts!

This weekend I'm going to start cutting.. although without a vice and a work bench it might be a long and arduous process!

gwilliams6

I am a professional Photographer and a longtime RX owner . This is what you need. It would clamp in the rotary hole of the passenger seat and give you a range of different positions to mount a camera. I have used this in race cars, in and outside of airplanes etc.

Manfrotto Super Clamp with 056 3-D Junior Head 2910 B&H Photo

EricB

iTrader: (7)

I made a mount ( rectangular piece of aluminum ) that extends to both the ends of the baby anchor in the back seat..

I slotted the aluminum down the entire length and had bolts and wingnuts to slide the camera left to right.

I like this setup because it allows to see a greater view of the interior (hand movement + can see out the windshield )

keegs

gwilliams6 - that looks like a great bit of kit, but a bit more than what I need. Mine won't be going anyway. I have a windscreen stick-on-unit that I use for inside/outside vidoes and things like snowboarding (stuck to the board) which works a treat, but it's not permitted for this event.

EricB - can you post the link to your thread? I think I've seen or two similar to what you describe, bolting off the baby anchors. One of the requirements for me was able to stop/start the camera and reposition the angle from the drivers seat.

keegs

Just a couple more pics for now..

The basic original sketches as to what I'm trying to achieve:


Testing the front and back cardboard cutouts before tracing the alloy:


Lastly the alloy marked up and ready to go:

keegs

So the DIY job is now all finished! I'm very happy with the result.

Freshly cut with a jigsaw and with the edges filed down for a smooth finish:


Some foam stick-on door seal stuff to protect the plastic of the car seat rotor:


Mounted, ready to go:


Back using the wing nut for easy release:


With a standard digital camera (HD) mounted:


I've taken a couple of videos, interestingly there was a strange vibration with one camera that resulted in a nasty sound coming through the video stream. However trying another camera with the exact same mounting setup had no issues, so I think my camera was less tolerant to vibration or something (it happened even at idle). The latter camera has the tripod mounting hole at the end of the camera on the bottom instead of in the middle (odd) and the tongue isn't quite long enough for the camera to be able to spin around so I have to twist the tripod which is annoying. To be honest I'm now looking for a case for my iPhone that has a tripod thread as the quality of the phone is better than the cameras.

Still, a few hiccups aside, I'm happy with the design, the look and the usability.

If anyone wants a copy of the designs in full resolution etc just let me know.

Happy motoring!

gwilliams6

Hey Nice DIY project!

I have done this in cars for years and this will be easier off and on and steadier and with more options for different camera positioning and angles from different places in or outside of the car. You will be amazed how simple yet effective this unique clamp is.