Raspberry Pi Camera Mount for MP Select Mini by Bogdan87

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This mount allows you to attach Raspberry Pi camera directly to the bed of Monoprice Select Mini, for a great videos/timelapses and monitoring the progress of your prints.
Raspberry Pi Camera is significantly lighter than, for example, GoPro, so it won't put much strain on the bed/stepper motor. Also, many of us already have a Raspberry Pi running OctoPrint, so this is an easy addition.
See a video of the mount in use:http://youtu.be/EGkVbrJnm24
Note that there are 2 alternative camera mounts: one directly for the Raspberry Pi and one for a camera case I had (link below), and decided to make one mount for it too - for those of us that prefer the camera to be enclosed. Both designs have been tested.
Requirements:
Raspberry Pi (1/2/3/anything that runs OctoPrint/OctoPi)
Raspberry Pi Camera (V1 or V2, Note: I only have V1 thus I haven't tried with V2 myself, I'm hoping it should work as well as the size seems to be same)
longer camera cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M4DAQH8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=bberg-20&linkId=952e392a3b7c959f07e79b9ad41ab5aa
M3 screws and M2 spacers
Optional:
Camera case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M4DAQH8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=bberg-20&linkId=952e392a3b7c959f07e79b9ad41ab5aa
In most cases you'll need to print only those 3 pars:
bed mount
arm (use longer or shorter depending on the preference of camera angle)
camera mount
I had the above camera case available, thus the "camera housing mount" is designed to fit with this particular element, if you happen to have it too and would prefer to use it instead of the open "camera mount".
If you want to make your own element to hold the camera (i.e. for any other camera case), here are the tab dimensions, to allow seamless joining with the arm:
tab length: 12mm
tab height: 10mm
tab thickness: 2mm
tab spacing: 2.55mm (note: this is space between tabs, not the pitch, and is slightly larger than tab thickness to allow easy fitting)
M3 hole diameter: 3.75mm
fillet at the end of the tab: 6mm (half of the tab length, so it's completely round)
*** bed and camera housing mounts have 2 tabs (prongs?) in a joint, the arm has 3 tabs for joint on each side
Moreover, provided is a test pieces for the joints. Please feel free to use it for your remakes for a quicker development :)
To make sure the joints fit nicely with your print settings, you can print the "camera housing mount" and "joint for test" files, and then check the fitting. If it's correct, print the remaining parts.
Screws required for assembly:
M3x8mm - quantity: 4 (4 screws, 4 nuts)
M3x16mm - quantity: 2 (2 screws, 2 nuts)
M2 spacers, screws, nuts - quantity: 4 pairs (to attach the camera to the mount)
If you don't have those, they can be easily purchased i.e. on Amazon: -
M3 and M2 screws: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M4DAQH8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=bberg-20&linkId=952e392a3b7c959f07e79b9ad41ab5aa
M2 spacers (stand-offs): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M4DAQH8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=bberg-20&linkId=952e392a3b7c959f07e79b9ad41ab5aa
Those are the exact sets I use, thus I guarantee the required sizes are in those sets.
No drilling required, and it screws right onto the bed, which happens to have conveniently located holes. It doesn't collide with the base as bed moves, with fan/hot end, x/y gantry, doesn't come in the way of linear bearings under the bed - I checked it all :)
And mounting camera this way makes time-lapses significantly better: instead of bed jumping back and forth (as is the case with cameras mounted to the base instead of bed, or standing next to the printer), you can actually see the product being constructed.
Great for use with OctoPrint!
[Updated on 4/23/2017]: I re-uploaded updated version of the "bed mount" - considering that there are various M3 screws out there, with varying head heights, I moved the tabs a little higher to minimize the risk of scratching the base.
[Updated on 4/30/2017]: Added short arm - about half the length of the original arm. Makes for a more compact package, and provide slightly better view of the printed object.
Note: if the footage from your Raspberry Pi camera appears blurry, you can adjust the focus by screwing the lens - there's even a dedicated tool to do that. Quick search will tell you everything :)
Enjoy!
For more projects, please visit my personal blog:http://www.BogdanBerg.com/