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Bed mount for Logitech webcam

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by lowside, Sep 10, 2015.

  1. lowside

    lowside New Member

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    I recently setup Octopi to drive my Robo and wanted to add a camera to take advantage of the timelapse functionality and ability to monitor my prints remotely. So I drew up a camera mount arm that attaches to the Y axis bed rail. I've tested the mount with a Logitech C270 webcam, but it should work with most of the Logitech webcams.

    After going through a few iterations I'm really happy with the final design. The mount uses one 1-1/2" #6 machine screw and matching nut to mount to the empty hole in the end of the Y axis carriage on one side and hooks onto the carriage on the other side. It lifts the camera up and away from the bed to provide a good viewing angle but is still pretty solid thanks to the screw mount and an additional brace I added to the arm in the final version.

    Here's a few pics of the mount in action:
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    And a timelapse shot using the new mount:


    STL files are up on Thingiverse for download: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1006864

    Try it out and let me know what you think!
     
  2. Greg Thomas

    Greg Thomas New Member

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    This is the best mount for Robo 3d I have seen yet. I have tried several that mount to the plate but they always seem to come lose, I now have the cam hooked to a vacuum part sitting in front of the printer. This just moved to the top of my print list.
     
  3. lowside

    lowside New Member

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    Thanks for the kind words Greg! When you do get the mount printed up and installed I'd love to hear any feedback you have about it. It's been working well for me so far, but I'm sure there are always improvements I could make :)

     
  4. Greg Thomas

    Greg Thomas New Member

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    I definitely will. Funny thing is I have an unopened spool of Black that I think I may have to crack open for this print. I like how it looks in black.
     
  5. DjAnnexAlpha

    DjAnnexAlpha Member

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    Awesome! Love the design. Question, did you use a powered USB hub to make power hungry peripherals work?
     
  6. Greg Thomas

    Greg Thomas New Member

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    Running a camera and the printer shouldn't put to any undue strain on the power. I have had mine up for over 2 months and haven't had any issues. I am using the Pi 2 though. I have another one running an emulationstation and that one has the powered usb on it.
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Heck I have two web cams on the computer and two printers.
    It works.
     
  8. lowside

    lowside New Member

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    I'll second Mark and Greg, my Pi seems to have no trouble powering the camera at all. I do have a hardline run for my network connection, so there's no wireless dongle or anything else taking up power. But honestly I don't think the camera uses enough energy to even worry about. You're likely to run out of USB ports on the Pi long before you're able to draw enough power to start causing issues and a powered hub is a cheap and easy solution to both of those problems :)
     
  9. DjAnnexAlpha

    DjAnnexAlpha Member

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    Awesome! I plan on getting that acrylic enclosure and getting a Pi 2 Model B, running a webcam off it, and monitoring my prints from work. I was also thinking of getting an wifi outlet so just incase I need to cut the power I can cut it.
     
  10. lowside

    lowside New Member

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    You might also look into installing a relay to control power to the Robo's power supply. Then you can turn on/off the printer directly from OctoPi. There's a write up on how to do this on the OctoPi wiki https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/wiki/Controlling-a-relay-board-from-your-RPi

    If you're not comfortable playing with mains voltage another option would be the PowerSwitch Tail which is really simple to setup and use: http://www.powerswitchtail.com/Pages/default.aspx

    I haven't done this to my Robo yet, but I have a similar setup on my Shapeoko CNC router and it works great.
     
  11. DjAnnexAlpha

    DjAnnexAlpha Member

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    Thanks for that info. I am definitely interested in the PowerSwitch Tail. I have the experience and knowledge to do wire splicing and such but would rather not attempt it yet. I ordered the raspberry pi 2 and the webcam should be coming in next week. Super excited =D
     
  12. DjAnnexAlpha

    DjAnnexAlpha Member

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    My Raspberry Pi 2 Model B came in the mail today. Will get started on setting it up tomorrow. Will also order a cheap $25 usb webcam for it. Super excited!!!
     

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