Ender 3 Bed Handle w/ GoPro Mount by jfusco

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3016490https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4647485
TL/DR: I reworked and mashed a couple of different things together (4647485 and 3016490) to create a bed handle for an Ender 3 (Pro) with a GoPro mount on the side. The mount is very stable, even with extensions.
I installed a Raspberry Pi to control my Ender 3 Pro with the anticipation of using OctoLapse. For some reason, OctoLapse causes my printer to stop extruding after about the third layer so, for now, I'm force to rely on the built-in timelapse function. With a frame-mounted camera it was pointless to record a timelapse because with the print head and the bed beig captured in so many different positions you don't really get the sense of the model building up. It's just too much movement.
Before using Octoprint I was using a bed handle-mounted action cam with a built-in timelapse feature. It worked pretty well except most mounts I tried to use caused it to bounce horribly. For a timelapse that wasn't a big deal but for live viewing it was terrible. I needed to find a new handle and mount to use.
I have been using the handle plapointe6 created (thing 4647485) and liked the handle but the camera mount was one of the bounciest. I tried using the corner GoPro mount scarpenters made (thing 3016490). It was quite functional and sturdy but you could easily shift it on the corner and if I'd tried I bet I could have slid it straight out without undoing the post. The plapointe6 handle is beautifully minimalist and the scarpenters mount is quite solid. My solution: Combine the two.
I opened Tinkercad and started by removing the thin camera mount from the handle. I imported the corner GoPro mount and lined everything up with the right mounting hole on the handle and voila! Once I had it installed I found a couple of problems. I installed a set of drawers next to my display and the connection handles were bumping up against it so it couldn't move. Switch to M5 20mm machine screws and you get a nice, low-profile connection. Second problem was that if you centered the camera on the Y rail the screw head bumped into the rail and was just screming print problems. I fired up Tinkercad again and put together an angled extension to raise the camer just a bit to give it clearance. The 25° angle gives it decent but close clearance so I also included one with a 45° angle for a little mor height if you prefer.
Even with extensions the mount is very solid and hardly even wiggles so live viewing with OctoPrint does not involve any nauseating effects. Being attached to the Y axis the relationship from camera to model remains constant providing a nice timelapse even using the recorder built in to OctoPrint.