I wanted to share what I have been working for the past month to properly mount a camera to the IRIS+ (or original IRIS). I never liked the idea of flying a camera like the Canon S100 (or any camera) without some protection and vibration isolation. All take-offs and landings stir debris that can impact an open lens. And any type of crash or flip during landing has the potential to damage the camera.
When 3DR came with the mapping kit for the X8 I was hoping that they would sell the camera case and mount to everybody. That's not the case. And the price for the mapping kit is high and I don't need more telemetry radios and a Pixhawk. I'm referring to this kit.
The mount and case are very similar to the ones offered in the kit. The mount has an isolated top plate with a GoPro mount to latch the camera case. The bottom plate is screwed to the adapter plate that goes to the belly of the IRIS. The GoPro mount from the top plate goes through a hole in the bottom plate. The plates have 10 mm holes to add bigger rubber dampeners.
The case is designed around the Canon S100, but similarly shaped cameras will fit. There are 5 mm in all directions to add a layer of foam. The white label in the front is where I'm going to add another hole. The red sharpie marks in the back are where I'm going to expand the holes for easier button pressing and screen viewing. You can also glue a filter for lens protection. There are clear filters and UV filters, for example. The diameter of the filter you see below is 58 mm.The pictures below show how it fits on the IRIS+. There is a clearance of around 2 cm from the ground to the lens tube, so I'll most likely add legs that are 5 cm taller. There are 2 leg designs for the IRIS in Thingiverse where 8-mm carbon fiber rods can be added. Again, the white label you see is where I will add another hole to manipulate the shutter, the dial, and the power button.
The complete set weighs 322 g (IRIS+ maximum payload is 400 g). The weight contribution of the camera is 193 g and the camera case and mount weigh 130 g. Well worth the weight for camera protection and vibration isolation. Weight will go slightly down with the next version I got printing (2 expanded holes and 1 new hole).
I will test the flight performance soon. We just got a big snow storm so I won't fly until next weekend. The design is very solid, and I'm expecting no major issues. I'm hoping that the weight distribution doesn't affect the flight performance.
I have another design for the back portion of the camera case with a longer GoPro mount, so the camera could easily be pointed forward if desired.
Replies
Eric:
My apologies for the confusion. I bought an early IRIS with a tarot gimbal and had several crashes which destroyed the original tarot mount. I found and 3d printed the Tarot gimbal mount (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:274349) and had a failure with this design. The mount failed when a left or right force was applied and the cylinder around the M4 attachment bolts snapped.
Now I have upgraded to the IRIS + and in my design I thickened this attachment cylinder and added more support for it.
Your design and work look great. Just wanted to share one of my problems I found sofar in this venture.
Thank you for clarifying the comment.
Wbal57. I have never had a failure with my Iris adapter mount.
Ian:
It may be my in the quality of my printer (it is a $399 davinci 1.0) but I found that the cylinders in the design were very thin and printed out with two passes of the printer nozzle at .6mm thick. For my IRIS the mount failed at this same point 3 times without crashes. Two had one cylinder crack in flight and was not found until landing. The third time it completely came off in an auto mission and hung on by a hot melted USB connector. I thought the Davinci proprietary filament was the problem and tried a different filament in natural ABS with the same results.
A higher quality printer may make have better results
wbal57 I am sure it is. My early prints trying with lower % infill proved futile too. I only print mounts at 100% fill. Also the thickness of the post is also key as Eric will also contest to I am sure.
Eric you rock!! Thank you so much.
I'm gonna give printing the base of your
design a go at the maker space here.
Excellent design, this is the closest I have seen to 3DRs own solution, well done.
If I may be permitted to comment, I mean no disrespect here. There is a tremendous about of support needed for it. This not only increases time to print but makes rough edges everywhere the support is. I tried to minimize that in my design, and even though it is not much like 3DR's, has smooth surfaces all round and l think would be easier to print. Foam is optional but not needed. But I do not publish my work for Liability reasons so I guess my point is a little moot.
Anway I wanted to compliment you on an outstanding job in getting it as close to the OEM version as possible.
Yes! Thank you sir! Well played.
Hi: I made it that way on purpose as a lot of the new Gimbals are coming with the Gimbal suspended from as opposed to sitting on the dampers. We are also using stronger dampers that gimbals like the Tarot. We have tested the suspended system and it can safely hold up to 2.5 pounds weight.
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