Raspberry Pi Camera

In order to add to the fun of the Raspberry Pi, I obviously need to add the camera module :-).

While waiting for the actual camera to come in, I printed a dummy camera shaped part and have been fooling around with how to mount it. The steel solidoodle case begs for me to use magnets. Here's a base with magnets and a 1/4-20 nut trap I can use to make an allthread post for mounting everything:

I'll want the ribbon cable kept away from the carriages and things, so I can run it through this guide near the bottom of the post:

At the top of the post I have a couple of parts that go over the threaded rod. A camera mount with tabs on the side (and M2 holes for the board to mout on), and a clip that holds the other tab to keep the camera from moving, secured with an extra nut on the bottom:

It is a little tricky to get that mount assembly on. The easiest way seems to be spinning the rod to go through both nuts (easier done outside the case away from steel plates).

I've been printing with my dummy camera in place and it seems to avoid the carriages in the corner I have it in. It may be about the only place I can put it in the case and still see what is printing.

Nope. The post sticking up from the bottom won't work. Can't get the camera high enough to see anything till the print is quite high. Need to invent a completely different way to do this. Maybe I should use magnets to hang it from the top of the case, but the design will need to be much thinner, maybe using M3 allthread instead of 1/4 inch so I can get everything outside of the carriages. Maybe even stick out the side some with a new hole cut in the side panel to make room. I suppose with careful measurment I don't even need the height to be adjustable.

The focus also needs adjustment, but they actually sent the special lens adjustment tool with the camera, so that part should be doable after I get the camera positioned in the right spot. No need for tweezers to hack it. (Wrong, the dadgum focus tool won't fit over the lens with the camera in the mount, had to use tweezers after all).

The redesigned camera works better hanging from the top on M3 allthread, but I still can't see much because it is so dark under the carriage and cooling fan duct. Maybe I should put some LED lights at the same level as the camera (or mount them under the carriage).

Let's make a knurled cylinder with an M3 hole and M3 nut trap in the top to use as a special wrench to tighten the nut intended to hold the camera in place. It is very difficult to get to with large clumsy things like needle nose pliers.

Here's the new thinner M3 allthread mount with the camera in place:

It is difficult to see how the pieces go together for the camera mount, so here's an exploded view:

Here's the old 1/4 inch mount with a shorter allthread and just the cable clip:

Put it all together, and I can now get images like this:

(That yellow circle is just the skirt leftover from printing the knurled tightening knob for the bottom nut.)

I also successfully made a timelapse with octoprint:

Go back to my main Solidoodle page.