DIY GoPro Cable Cam Mount
Parts you’ll need to make a DIY GoPro cable cam:
- GoPro Tripod Adapter from Ebay ≈ $5
- Double socket arm from Ebay ≈ $10
- One 1″ ball and 1/4″ post from Ebay ≈ $10
- One 1″ ball with plate from Ebay ≈ $10
- 100m of 3mm cord from Ebay ≈ $55
- Skateboard wheels w/bearings from Ebay ≈ $10
- Flat steel/aluminum
- Six sets of nuts, screws and washers
Tools you’ll need:
- Power drill
- Wrenches
- Screwdriver
The Secret Sauce
This compact cable cam rig packs a big wow factor in a tiny package. The peeps over at Maia Media figured out a nice little trick to get their cable to roll nicely and stay put on some cheap skateboard wheels.
Mount the skateboard wheels and then carefully heat up a screwdriver. Slowly roll the hot screwdriver along the wheels to create a groove for the cable to sit in. Keep working it until the cable stops falling out of the grooves.
How would you improve this design? Leave your comment below.
Little ingenuity goes a long way. I tried to design something similar, but there was always something off about my design and when I’d make a model, it never came out good. I wish I would have googled for this in the first place instead of wasting 3 days in the garage.
I got a cable cam working pretty okay in my backyard, but it stops randomly and sometimes the movement isn’t smooth enough. This definitely looks better than my design, so hopefully it’s going to give me a much better footage than my own setup. Now if I can just get my dog to cooperate a little…
The gopro cable cam mount looks pretty tough to build and it’s not a cheap contraption either. I mean when I say tough I just mean tougher than most dyi here, so it’s definitely doable in say couple of hours or less. The price I guess is expected considering the complexity of the build. I enjoy a good challenge anyways, so let’s see how it goes.
Thanks for the awesome idea I started building mine using your mount concept and with some luck across the perfect light weight skeleton, just looking for the perfect tripod ball head to add a swivel mounting base to my project and do some test runs , check out the cable mount so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99747222@N06/9420395262/
This is a decent first draft, but not ready for prime time. Firstly, if you must put grooves in your wheels, use a soldering iron. It will make the grooves a lot smoother and more uniform, while being a lot safer to make. But I wouldn’t even bother with those here. Instead, pick up two snatch blocks from a sailing supply store like West Marine (or find one on eBay). You can easily eliminate the angle pieces and the roller blade wheels. Also, the snatch block allows you to quickly and easily attach and remove the entire assembly from the line. Best of luck to all who attempt it!
Awesome tip, Jackson! We’ve been planning on shooting a tutorial video for this since we agree that the design can be improved. We’re going to investigate your suggestion. The trick is find a pulley system that has loose enough bearings to spin easily. Cheers!
This is some footage from my DIY cable mount uses rollerblade wheels, the wheels are grooved by running a bolt through the bearings with a large washer and nut tightened up to prevent the wheel to spin on the bearings then I put it in a cordless drill and held it against a nail that I hit with the grinder to give it a nice sharp cutting edge that was held in a vice.
http://youtu.be/aDAKWzCPRbE
Found also a good trick is to use braided fishing line as this has practically zero stretch!
Video does bob around a bit in the end but only after clipping the bushes on the way past.
Only made the mount yesterday so when I get time will post some picks of the mount in the video and resubmit it. I also have a few ideas for adding R/C radio gear for quick release and camera pan so might even add that before updating video.