Pork's BlendMount Project

[porkandbeans]

I'm looking for a BlendMount to use for some research. It can actually be broken in pieces and unusable for what I need. Really, a broken one would be ideal as you can imagine I'm not looking to spend much money since I'll never use it. Even if you have one you only use on occasion, I'll rent it from you.
If I can't find something low cost, I may consider buying one and reselling it when I'm done.

 

[StuLax18]

Are you gonna copy the design and start making your own cheaper version? (I'm all for that btw). Maybe someone will happen to have one lying around they'd let you borrow.

 

[mishanja]

You probably could pick one up on eBay (not a "BlendMount" brannd, but some chinese knock-off) for cheap... I bought one from there a while back

 

[porkandbeans]

Are you gonna copy the design and start making your own cheaper version? (I'm all for that btw). Maybe someone will happen to have one lying around they'd let you borrow.

No, not a straight Rob & Duplicate project. I wouldn't do that. I confirmed with BlendMount yesterday that they don't offer anything close to the mount I need for a little camera. I wish they made this style and I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I think their's is the best and I want to study it before I make my own.

You probably could pick one up on eBay (not a "BlendMount" brannd, but some chinese knock-off) for cheap... I bought one from there a while back

Good tip. I will look harder, but it is sifting through the bazillion various mounts on eBay. Then my concern would be studying a piece of junk. Could be a different route though.

 

[PMG 705]

Look for Mike's Mount.

Tapa on Note III

 

[StuLax18]

No, not a straight Rob & Duplicate project. I wouldn't do that. I confirmed with BlendMount yesterday that they don't offer anything close to the mount I need for a little camera. I wish they made this style and I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I think their's is the best and I want to study it before I make my own.

Gotcha. Doing a Russian style dashcam? I've thought about using an old iPhone for something like that. Both if SHTF and just to catch some bad/funny drivers every now and then.

Look for Mike's Mount.

Tapa on Note III

I remember looking for one of those and they seemed pretty hard to find. Worth a check though as one could pop up at any point.

 

[pmanliu]

Not a blend mount and nor does it mount to the mirror but this is what I use and prefer. Will something like this help for your project?

Radar removed


Sent from my XT1060

 

[porkandbeans]

Gotcha. Doing a Russian style dashcam? I've thought about using an old iPhone for something like that. Both if SHTF and just to catch some bad/funny drivers every now and then.

I remember looking for one of those (Mike's Mount) and they seemed pretty hard to find. Worth a check though as one could pop up at any point.

That's it. Just in case I take a wrong turn and drive to Russia some random day. And perhaps someday I will crash gto's Willow party. This would not be a replacement for a nice race GoPro, but is pretty cool for everyday street and strip.
Here is the DVR camera I got a while back. I was expecting a cheapy, but it is better than I expected. It only comes with a suction cup mount and uses the 1/4-20 threaded mount like other cameras and tripods use. The suction cup fits okay for occasional use but I want better and a nice clean position under/behind the mirror.

I looked up Mike's Mount (thanks Ian) and didn't see any threaded mount options. It won't work for me. Pat, I like how clean yours is - that's pretty slick, but need the threaded option. And the camera will fit perfectly up under the mirror with a perfect mount.

I found some on eBay that will work, but a custom blendmount-type is still my ideal hope.

 

[StuLax18]

Moved out of ad archives for update.

 

[mishanja]

I hope you did not pay much for that camera, I bought exact same thing some time ago from eBay, POS broke in less than a week.... :at-wits-end:

 

[porkandbeans]

I hope you did not pay much for that camera, I bought exact same thing some time ago from eBay, POS broke in less than a week.... :at-wits-end:

No, these are definitely cheapo China cameras. I like it to tinker around with while I figure out the right one I want. The more important factor for me is to be able to mount it, keep it up, and use it without thinking much about it. (wait, that may have sounded a little dirty and condescending. Insert your own ehem ehem). So, I don't yet want a good one. And I won't want an expensive one later because I don't want to take it down for theft prevention.
But yes, this cheapy has to get taken down as to not melt, so plan isn't ideal as of yet. Luckily mine still works and it's probably been almost a year. The suction cup mount did melt and warp from the heat and the battery went to crap from the heat, but I did get working again after a new battery for a few bucks.

---------- Post added at 08:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:25 AM ----------

So I was playing around with different options and I still want to dissect and re-engineer a Blendmount to work. Blendmount has the sturdiest and cleanest attachment I've seen so far, but the mounts are not versatile to other devices. And that versatility is something I really like about the 1/4-20 mounts.

I tried this pole mount to clamp on the mirror arm, but this one doesn't have enough adjustment so aiming a camera was a real pain. It is also clunky and fugly.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390796363244?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


Then this came about as a new item. Exactly what I needed in the first place and works well.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191113757035?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


While buying a bunch of clamps, adapters, mount couplers and crap all for a few dollars each, I also picked up this. Stu-man's genius idea was stuck in the back of my head. It is a fun toy to play with and the mount is so versitile to attach to anything. With a cell phone always handy and available, you could clamp a camera to almost anything.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111412711513?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT



Here's the DVD camera mounted. With the tight clamp and the 1/4-20 thread, this camera is not going anywhere. The led screen flips up and hides behind the mirror well enough to not block driver's view.






For sh!ts and giggles, here is the cell phone mount. I would definitely not use this for everyday driving, but it would be fun enough for a track moment, a planned spirited run, a parade or caravan of sorts. Monitor or trouble shoot on the fly with the Torque app.







I will be playing around with this stuff some more and I'm sure my pile of random mount options will still keep growing, but with the versatility, I'll use everything for "something" weather is mounts a DVR, cell phone, DSLR, or whatnot. But My end goal is much closer to a Blendmount style. Ideally, I wish Blendmount would make one. And then down the line, I'm sure I'll try different dash cams too.

 

[la_fx35]

Wow, very nice Pork. :good: :good:

 

[Cruiser]

Very creative Pork. Keep us posted.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[mishanja]

I like it, but next, you would need to come up with double blend mount to hold both camera AND radar... I have a "blend" mount-like mount for my Passport radar, so wasn't much of the choice for the car DVR but to use suction cup. I'll post a picture here tonight of my setup, as I just installed new car DVR this past weekend...