How to: Make a $7.50 in-car camera mount

[lunarc]

I have always had an idea to make a decent camera mount that could be mounted in bewteen the rear seats but have never followed through in actually making it...Until now!


So after checking out the center head rest i decided that would be a great place for a camera to go...since there were holes going into the seat and a headrest with long metal poles i could use that for a foundation... i drew up a quick sketch and went to the hardware store and picked up these items.

Time to Build
About 45 minutes~1 Hour depending on how good your drill bits are

Tools Needed
Power Drill
Drill bits (1/16"-1/2")
Dremel (Not manditory, but helps for cleaning edges)
Vice or C clamps


Supply List
1 x 10" heavy metal tie $2.49
1 x 1/4" machine bolt .13 cents
1 x 1/4"machine wingnut .8 cents
1 x 1/4" locknut .5 cents .7 cents (not required)
1 x 1/4" washer .10 cents (not required)
1 x Marine/Auto Heavy $3.29
Weatherstripping




The idea was to have the head rest poles go through the mount and lock down the camera in the process. So i measured out the width of the headrest holes with a piece of paper





then poked holes with the bolt to mark it off



and ended up with my template



with that template i laid it onto the tie and lined up the holes as close to the middle as possible...turns out one of the pre-existing holes lined up perfect so that only left one hole to drill. Since this metal is pretty thick and heavy duty be sure and start with a small bit and work your way up to the larger...it makes the task much easier.

Here the hole on the right is completed, the hole on the left still needing to be drilled out to fit the headrest.


After both holes were drilled i figured out where the camcorder could be mounted...turns out, one of the holes lined up perfectly for it, so no drilling needed...i did have to drill a hole for the digital camera because the mouting point was on the opposite side.

Here is a test fit, looks good!


Notice how the bolt mount works, first you put the wing nut on all the way to the head of the bolt, screw in the bolt to the bottom of the camera, once the bolt is all the way into the camera screw down the wing nut to tighten everything up. Works very nice.


Once all the holes were drilled and test fitting of both cameras and headrest i needed to lay down the weatherstripping...the weatherstripping allows for very little play when the camera is mounted and also protects it from scratches.

Here is a test fit after weatherstripping was installed...it made the fit VERY tight but that is exactly what i wanted.



you can see the stripping coming through making it a very nice and snug fit



Ok now that was all complete it is time for a test fit! I mounted the camcorder FIRST (very important, makes your life much easier) then put the head rest on backwards through the holes pushing the camera all the way until it is snug. Pull the seat forward and install headrest, then pull it back and lock seat into place

Check it out...this thing could actually work!





This idea worked out great, the headrest did what it was supposed to and the camera barely moves. You can tilt the camera up and down around 5 deg up or down to help with alignment. I have some test videos i still need to compress as well as race day vids. But the mount worked better than i thought it would. Hardly any bounce and actually has a really good view of me driving as well as the track.

Here are a couple caps from my digital camera

The digital camera should have been zoomed in a bit more...also my digital camera takes pretty low rez videos (hence the grain) but my camcorder is much cleaner and with my camcorder the wide angle worked out a bit better...




thats all folks...let me know what you think. I am thinking of a few more tweaks or add ons later. Keep an eye on this thread for video updates!

[Sponsor]

[JohnMichael]

Man, not bad! I think WD40's setup is a little more smooth, but for those on a budget and not very wrench-savvy...this could be a godsend!

[SVTmonkey]

Awesome idea!

I've pondered this myself a few times, and here ya go...

[ory69]

Lunarc is my bro and the real deal...save your money on this and you can spend it buying a new paintjob or maybe some fuzzy dice.

[JohnMichael]

Originally posted by ory69
Lunarc is my bro and the real deal...save your money on this and you can spend it buying a new paintjob or maybe some fuzzy dice.

What?

[..:: sleestak ::..]

nice work and excellent write up!!

If I put a camera in my car, I would get way to many tickets making Steve McQueen flicks, lol.

Now let's see the video. lol

[lunarc]

Wow so many posts already...WDs setup is pretty sweet too...i considered it but i feared my huge noggin hitting the camera as i am driving around. This mount could easily be mounted to the front passenger seat as well. Glad you guys like it. The video from the camcorder is much nicer.

[MaximusZTS]

I would like do do this. I would mount the camera on the passenge seat instead. And plus that way you can get behind the camera and make tweeks to everything.

[MaximusZTS]

BTW great job.

[pio]

the good thing is that you can put it on anyplace you have a headrest...
maybe in the front passanger seat...