DIY headrest camera mount: Build thread / How to..

[Beddie]

Been meaning to stick a quick guide up for a few weeks and seeing as Richwig got round to making his i thought i'd do a few pics on my version of a DIY headrest mount, aka the 'Pikey mount'...  

Started off as i fancied a headrest mount for track / ring footage and found a few on ebay etc, best out of the bunch imo was the 'Hague' mount but at nearly £70 posted it's pretty damn pricey so i got to thinking i could build my own for much less...

Parts required


1 x length of 20mm square ali bar stock
2 x M15 'U' bolts
4 x M6 wing nuts to suit U bolts
1 x M6 40mm bolt
1 x small length of 6mm poly pipe
2 x 20mm square rubber end bungs
1 x mini camera tripod ball mount


First step was to cut the bar stock to length, i got the bar from B&Q and it comes as a 1 metre length and handily i found that 500mm seems to be the perfect length for the mount so it was cut in half (leaves enough over to make another mount too!)  




Then got all the other bits and bobs ready...

M15 U bolts and wingnuts..





20mm end bungs..





Mini tripod ball mount (removeable type required that has screw thread fixing in base)..








Length of 6mm Poly pipe





Once the bar was cut to length i offered it up to the headrest tubes to mark the position of the 'U' bolts mounting holes, the final position of the camera mount was marked on the end of the bar by halfing the distance between the 2 headrests so that the camera will sit as central as possible..

Bar was then drilled for the 'U' bolts and for the camera mount (7mm drill for clearance on the U bolts and M6 bolt for ball head hole - my particular mount had a square base so needed a 10mm hole on the top side of the bar)

Quick lick of paint with some black matt plasticote i had lying around leaves this...




Small lengths of poly pipe cut to size and slipped onto U bolts to help them grip the headrest tubes and cut down on vibration...




Then all the bits assembled ready for fitment into the car..








For camera duties on the mount i chose a Flip Ultra HD cam:  full HD recording and super simple to use, very light and the new 3rd gen version shoots in 60fps and has image stabilisation, £95 on ebay  







And finally mounted in the car  






Total cost for the mount was just over £12  


Sample footage:

[hugh jass]

  :congrats:Great thread. A little bit better than my 1kg of blue tac on the dash

[DaveB@Vagbremtechnic]

Fantastic Thread Steveyboy

No Elevators or Lifts were "modded" in the procurement of the u bolts or bar I hope.....

[SteveP]

Good work steve, also impressed with the quality from the flip ultra 

[Beddie]

Fantastic Thread Steveyboy

No Elevators or Lifts were "modded" in the procurement of the u bolts or bar I hope.....

Even I'm not that bad...  
Although there might have been £12 of expenses for lift parts on the timesheets that week.....

[rich83]

 

[Beddie]

Good work steve, also impressed with the quality from the flip ultra 

Cheers mate  
I must admit for the money it's exceeded my expectations and ive found a wide lens kit and exterior case for it so will try for some exterior footage  

[mortygttdi]

Nice work Steve The Flip looks a good alternative to the expensive Go Pro HD? if it works externally then bonus.

Darren

[Ifti]

I'm selling a Flip UltraHD at the moment. Only a few weeks old and still brand new in it's box. Will place an ad over in the selling section if anyone wants to try this mount for themselves 

[Deako]

Wish i would have done this instead of buying one of these last year. 

http://www.cameragrip.co.uk/acatalog/hague_chm_camcorder_headrest_mount.html

[Beddie]

Wish i would have done this instead of buying one of these last year. 

http://www.cameragrip.co.uk/acatalog/hague_chm_camcorder_headrest_mount.html

That's the one i wanted but built the Pikey mount instead 

[damoegan]

Great work Steve, I've been looking at making something along the lines of this (a bit like the one Deako has posted ) 

[Beddie]

Great work Steve, I've been looking at making something along the lines of this (a bit like the one Deako has posted ) 

Cheers! 

Pikey mount FTW!, cheap as chips and less than 30 mins to make 

[chungster]

Very good Beddie! Gonna have to get this set up for Trax I reckon! 

[tony_danza]

Ace.

Can I borrow it for Friday??