3D Printing Dual Camera Mount for Pairing Z12's

[guykuo]

In one of my mounting locations, a single Z12 is about to gain a partner to improved simultaneous vehicle, surroundings, and license plate capture. Currently, a single camera junction box is in that location. It is Tap Conn'ed into cement and I was not wanting to drill more holes to add another junction box to mount the 2nd camera. Instead, I modeled up a dual mount that will fit atop the existing junction box. The riser portion will bolt onto the standard round junction box. The top, flat cover will have both cameras bolted to it and then it will go atop the funner shaped riser.

Here are picts of the model and a video of the riser being 3D printing in PETG. I have used a PETG mount for two turrets atop a camera pole. That has held up well despite all sorts of weather.
The top cover of this new mount design took just over 8 hours to print. The funnel is going to be over 24 hours of print time.

You will notice the riser is not symmetric. The two cameras are offset unequally from center to better clear a nearby pillar.






View attachment mount printing.mp4

 

[bigredfish]

Very cool!

 

[Broachoski]

Nice project!
Tell us about your printer setup.

 

[Heavyopp]

24 hours to print?
That would make me crazy, what happens if something goes wrong at hour 23?

Nice job.

 

[MrSurly]

24 hours to print?
That would make me crazy, what happens if something goes wrong at hour 23?

Nice job.

You clean the plate and print it again! That's the beauty of 3d printing! It's similar to digital photography in that there's relatively little cost to make another or even to make mistakes. Prints that take a day or more seem like a big deal, but they aren't because most of those hours, you're asleep or at work anyway.

This looks like a great idea! I plan to also create several custom camera mounts.

 

[Flintstone61]

Flintstone grunts, scratches his ass with his club, and thinks about using a chunk of wood...and Bovine intestines.

 

[guykuo]

You clean the plate and print it again!

You left out the crying that also happens

Printer is modified Prusa MK3S with better motors and bearings for higher precision printing. It's not fast, but the output quality is way better than stock configuration. For these pieces, I print in PETG at a higher than normal temperature to ensure good fusion.

Here is the top cover with comparison to the type of junction box I already have in place. The top has 10 bolt holes - two are just for securing the cover, the outer four do double duty holding camera and cover to riser. The medial four only hold the medial camera brackets.




Progress continues on printing the riser. It is now far enough that the outer bolt pillars are starting to be printed. The central two start from bottom of the piece. The outer four pillars start further up the sloped walls of the piece. Printer has printed up high enough that those are beginning to be formed.



Only six more hours to go (hopefully)

 

[Starglow]

My son has at least six 3-D printers and sometimes prints items on consignment. It's amazing what can be done with 3-D printing.

 

[CanCuba]

My son has at least six 3-D printers and sometimes prints items on consignment. It's amazing what can be done with 3-D printing.

I've done some research into 3D printing and it is amazing. A lot of stuff on Etsy is 3D printed now, and like you say, impressive.

 

[BORIStheBLADE]

Very cool. I've always wanted to get into printing.

 

[MrSurly]

I have a an X1C and love it!

i was wondering which filament you were using for this, since UV exposure is a thing.

 

[guykuo]

It finished printing without disaster. Still need to cleanly remove printing brim, but it will be ready for installation today. The existing junction box sits horizontally upon cement masonry. The new riser will bolt onto that junction box. Then a POE extender will split the line for two cameras. That will fit within funnel of printed riser. Then, I will bolt the two cameras to printed cover plate. Finally, connect the wires and bolt cover onto riser. Will be a bit fun in sub-freezing temperatures, but it's likely the only dry day for a few weeks. Definitely will be generous with silicone grease on the ethernet connections.

 

[guykuo]

i was wondering which filament you were using for this, since UV exposure is a thing.

I primarily print in PETG for my projects. PLA would not be great outdoors. ASA is even better than PETG for UV resistance, but I'm not fond of generating fumes during printing.
I chose black color to help the PETG resist UV, but know it won't be a forever lasting thing. If I can get five years, I will be happy. I have had good experience with my pole mounted 3D printer PETG mount. That has been up for a couple years and is holding up well in sun, snow, and LOTS of rain.

Printed as one piece which slips over top of lamp post.



One of the turret mounting rings attached.



Mount slipped upon lamp post


The final installation with two turrets to assist the PTZ's. You can also see my "brims" protecting the turrets from rain.



Based on this experience, I expect the new dual Z12 mount to do well in PETG. I might not fully trust the new mount in vertical position, given the 7 lbs of camera that will be torquing it. Thankfully, it is going on a horizontal junction box.

 

[Ssayer]

I drew up and printed a part for my lawn tractor's leaf blower system about 7 years ago with Cheetah TPU. It still works like new.

 

[Ssayer]

24 hours to print?
That would make me crazy, what happens if something goes wrong at hour 23?

Nice job.

My record is 48 hours for a big 4-dragon tea candle holder for my nephew. Yes, you do tend to sweat it more and more as time goes on.

 

[guykuo]

Ever looms the Spaghetti Monster. There is that balance for every 3D printer owner between wasting time looking too often vs catching problems and avoiding a couple hour old blob of death. Both of my printers have webcams so I can look in on them - natural for an IPCamtalk member.

 

[Ssayer]

Haha, yep. I use two cams on one printer. One watches the print, and one watches the display. All set up in Blue Iris. Can't beat being able to check on it any time you feel like it from anywhere. I also have the printer set up on a wireless switch so that I can turn it OFF any time anywhere if I see an issue.

 

[MrSurly]

This X1C has some of those features built in to it (it should for the price, right?)
It will detect and shut down on spaghetti or on first layer fail, and push-notify through the app and has a camera and time-lapse and other handy stuff. You can send a job to it remotely, which is cool. Unfortunately, it can't clean up the mess or wash the plate by itself, but it's fun to play with.
I recently tried my first multi-color print on a widget for a friend and yes it was slow but I really liked the results.

 

[MrSurly]

That post mount looks amazing. That's PETG after five years?
Very impressive!

 

[Ssayer]

I've got a Creality 10s which I have heavily modified. I could run it off of a computer using Simplify3D, but I just prefer it's own control panel and not to have any extra links that might screw up.