FINAL MAPPING ASSEMBLY :: FEB 13, 2015

As promised, here are the images and captions for the community
to benefit from for the custom mount design to fit the Canon S100 to the Iris. 
Looking back at this process I see way simpler approaches to mounting a camera,
especially with Pascal's Sony RX100 MkII mount. However, I'm paranoid and find
having a secure payload means way less anxiety in the field and that helps fly better
and be more responsive in recoveries. It also helps make consistent product in the 
end which helps trouble shoot the post-flight software side of things way easier.

Parts used:

1. 1.5" screws cut down along with nylon lock washers and regular washers
2. 3DR Iris tarot gimbal plate
3. Flite Test Electrohub
4. Custom designed 3D printed mount for Canon S100.

I wish I could share the actual mount template but that is not my intellectual property. 
If anyone is interested in having the mount printed I can put you in touch with my friend who
finalized designed of the mount. Enjoy!

Left Side View: Battery & Media card access. Camera secures to mount with standard 1/4"  tripod screw.


Front View: Initially the idea of the mount was that the front most screw would fit in the rear of the stock Iris gopro mount. having the mount directy on the frame lead to heavy vibrations.

Right Side View: You can see one of the vibration dampeners in the center of the image. The key to minimizing vibration was distancing the camera mount from frame with the use of the Tarot gimbal adapter plate for Iris.

Rear View: With out the use of the two zip ties, the camera mount would weigh down more on the left side due to the S100 battery weight.


Zip Ties: I intially used two purple zip ties which where the guage and found that they added too much slack or not enough slack. Also the size of the closed loop made by the the two purple zip ties led to getting cuaght on the mount screw and electrohub nut. Later i switched to a thinner yellow guage zip tie and found perfect balance for adjusting tension.

Belly View 1

Belly View 2: My friend who helped design the mount says he has found a way to remove excessive material from this original design. 

Movement: The two 1" or so screws that descend the electrohub allow the entire assembly to slide against the belly of Iris.

Custom tall legs: Are made of carbon fiber, reinforced with bamboo shish kabob skewer and bound with two layers of heat shrink. At the bottom of the leg is the same metal washer with locking nut as found at the top. Doing this greatly minizied the bounce associated with landings that at times resulted to flip overs and broken legs.

Front view: with lens extended at capture focal length of 24mm.

Inittiating Script: The second of the two buttons bellow the back scroll dial (playback button) is what initiates the 2 sec capture script. I've set up the CHDK to  self initiate on start up. 

Beta Bird: Front view of the entire assembly and mount on the beta bird. With the mount assembly now finalized, I will be investing in the newer lighter arms as well as cleaning up the ugly wiring.

Accessibility: There is just enough room below electrohub and camera mount that I can change a few settings if I take off my gloves which really bites at 5 degrees fahrenheit!

Top view of the electrohub: I initially bought the electrohub with the goal of building an APM2.6 quadcopter. When i was problem solving the mount & vibration for the Iris, I visualized a design that used standard CD/DVDs. However the 3 mounting holes were slightly too large to adapt the mount to the Tarot plate. 

Balance: In order to not mess with the gains on the TX, the electrohub uses two exisitng holes for the left and right screws for center X-axis balance. For y-balance  a new hole just above the top most hole found in the electrohub, and another just above the inner most ring of holes. The goal was to keep the perfect balance found with the Tarot gimbal.