Camera Connectors Aplenty!

Howdy, wonderful people!

Well, it's the end of the month already, and that means trying to get ongoing projects wrapped up wherever possible.  There's still stuff on the Pi case to-do list, but here are a bunch of things that should help with camera positioning, and it includes an adaptor to work with the Breezy and Hinged cases!  

Let's take a look...

Swivel Connectors

Rotate the camera arbitrarily with these swivel connectors!  I've built two types, which swap the two connectors around.  I'm not sure that the second version is all that useful, but it wasn't a lot of extra work, so why not :)

The connector prints assembled with the rotating part.  The bolt prints separately, as you'd expect :)

Extrusion Mount

Now, this one's really a general-purpose mount that's ideal for zip-ties, bolts, or whatever.  The reason it's called Extrusion Mount is that it'll serve well for putting T-nuts and bolts through to attach to extruded aluminium frames!

90 Degree Connector

As the name suggests, this connector just rotates things 90 degrees! 

Clamp Mount

Remember that print-in-place clamp that had the bolt printed lying down?  This is basically the same concept attached to the camera mount!

Breezy Mount

Now those hinged cases can have the camera components from the Sentinel case easily attached!  This mount replaces the regular closure ring and provides a mounting point for the camera parts.  

Note the orientation in the picture above, it's important.  The threaded ring is actually thinner than the rest of the plate, and this allows it to tighten effectively.  If the mount is attached with the other side against the case you'll find that the ring tightens without the mounting plate being held firmly.  

Extension Arm

It's like the regular connector, but substantially longer!  That's all. 

Bolt Spacer

Need more tension to hold things tightly, but finding that there isn't enough flex in the parts to support it?  Add these spacers!  The model is 0.4mm thin, but the intention is that it be scaled to whatever thickness is useful for your situation.

File Locations

All these files are on Dropbox under under 813 Sentinel Pi Case / Camera Connectors

Printing Tips

As usual with articulated parts, make sure to avoid such things as stringing and overextrusion that might bind moving parts together!  These designs are reasonably resilient - I've printed these test pieces with quite rough, fast settings and they came out perfectly functional :)

Print orientations should be like so:

Final Thoughts

It's good to finally have a fairly flexible way to connect all these camera parts in useful ways!  I'm currently reprinting all my Pi cases accordingly.  In magenta filament, if you were wondering.

Maybe be a little cautious when dealing with the high quality camera, though, because of the weight.  We're still dealing with plastic bolts here, and there's only so much friction and force that we can bring to bear on holding that weight in place.   The other cameras really don't weigh anything at all, though, and there's no issue :)

What I would like to do at some point, though, is just make an all-in-one case with the camera integrated and fixed... one day, one day. 

Oh, and for anyone who's been waiting for a Pi3A version of the hinged case, I have a board on its way to me right now, so that'll be happening soon enough!

Have fun, stay safe,

xoxo

Sven.