Need help with equipment design

[HeavyMetal]

So I already have a GoPro tube mount made up (dizzy/tim made it) that the gopro mounts to. its purpose is to set the gopro back away from the vehicle to film it in motion.

anyway, it works well enough, except it has deflection in it and tends to vibrate at the end with the camera, making for shaky/jittery imagery. this was predicted obviously and dizzy welded little loops on the tube itself to fasten something to to attach to the vehicle at the other end, another brace basically.

now the mystery is, what should i use for that extra brace? It has to be:

Easily removable, and easily installable, and quick. Cannot be solid really (aka it needs to be length/orientation adjustable)

Basically we need something that will hook on the bar, and attach to the car (presumably tube on a tube chassis) and be tight to brace against vibration at the end...and i need to be able to easily move it between vehicles (easy put on and take off)

what are some ideas for what I can use? we used a ratchet strap in a pinch, but theyre a bit of a hassle and im not interested in that route if i cant find an efficient way to use them, i refuse to believe there isnt a killer option for this out there.

image example:

[Zullock Holmes]

http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/...s-p-28932.html

welded to a telescoping piece of tube, kinda like a tripod leg.

[HeavyMetal]

that doesnt have a means to pivot and such for different angled mounting without some serious high drag engineering

i should probably buy a ratchet strap for it, but i feel like thats a cop out for a better solution

[Zullock Holmes]

a ratchet strap is going to provide very little rigidity.

You can make it adjustable everwhere, its just more work, essentially you just need 3 piece version of that tube mount, where the center is independent (can rotate) and have like one or two allen head studs that you can tighten after adjusting.

Just more work, phil has a lathe though, so the execution isn't too hard.

[HeavyMetal]

the second we bring a telescoping bar with 3 pieces and rotating pivots, we have gone beyond what i want/what is realistically feasible. 2 allen studs, 4 hex bolts for the clamp, so on. it all adds up to too much time to effectively use the mount for its purpose. not to mention whats involved in making a rock solid telescoping bar thats reliable. this mount isnt a set it and forget it for a race, its for setup shots. set it up, make 1 run, come back, move it, make another run, come back, move it. minutes of use at a time, its for staged promo shoots

a steel cable in the form/function of a ratchet strap would be rigid and make a lot more sense, but i dont know of the application.

[HeavyMetal]

perhaps adding a "truss" of some sort to the system would bypass all deflection altogether and i wont need other nonsense...

a piece of plate welded vertically to the backside of the tube, lengthwise?

[Buffalo Phil]

If you get a steel cable (or a ratchet strap for that matter), you'll need a second one opposite of it in order to cancel out all deflection. If the arm is allowed to bend upwards, in towards the steel cable, then you're still going to get a vibrating gopro.

The real problem here is quick detachability.

[HeavyMetal]

fact is, itd be a lot more allowable vibration than just unsupported at all

when it comes down to it i would gladly trade a little vibration for the ability to be efficient with the mount. high efficiency and a good image is much better than cumbersome and a rocksolid perfect image

[Zullock Holmes]

the key to rigidity is triangles, without another rigid arm you're gonna have a complex mess of cables and ratchet straps that in the end takes longer to rig up than a couple quick adjustment tabs.

literally it would be two or three tube clamps then just as simple as adjusting and tightening tripod legs. total of one or two minutes in setup.

I think for the quality of result you're looking for, you won't get much better in terms of setup time.

[crosbike]

Sort of along the lines as zullo. Tube within a tube (telescoping duh) and just one bolt that can be tightened with a bolt. On one side of the telescoping tube a hose clamp to attach to the tube on the buggy. the other side is affixed to the camera outrigger. and if you use the same size bolt head on the hose clamp and the bolt to tighten the tube you only need one tool. sorry if this doesnt make sense.

[HeavyMetal]

the concept of multiple tube clamps, each of which having their own footprint on the car, is not sitting well with me. tripod legs? what is the telescoping bar made of, how does it work, is it rock solid? does it smoothly operate? do i need to juggle ratchets and a socket and an allen key around now?

keeping the single tool around for the crane is tough enough, in the field especially at KOH it becomes a massive hassle to always have tools on hand for mounts and deal with micromanaging setup

the gopro cage mounts we use now are simple and even they are a bit of a pain to swap around, so i am building magnet mounts for them for promo shoots

[HeavyMetal]

i understand the tube within the tube, i am just not seeing this to be efficient/realistic at all, maybe a visual will change my mind

[lilnapsak]

the use of some type of balljoint at each end of each leg (top and bottom) would give you free range of motion to mount a telescoping tripod type design.

[DizzDizz]

I put 4 tabs on it so u can ratchet strap one direction then in the opposing direction to hold it taught. Buttttttttt they are probably still a little weak.

[1cleantj]

how bad are the vibrations now ? it is mainly over large jolting jumps or all the time? would isolating the camera a bit help ( example gel pad under camera mount, or rubber bushing abound gopro arm mount to dampen vibration)? if its a rigidity issue, can you add 2 braces welded to the arm about 12" from bottom coming out a few inches ? it would essentially mount to the vehicle the same as now, just more support...