Playsport Bar Mount

After the success of the wand mount, I wanted to make a mount I could attach to any kind of round bar (e.g. handlebars) and record video. Here's how I did it.

Once again the design started in SolidWorks. The idea was to have this clamp to any 1" bar and have a way to level and change the angle of the camera. A few "feel good" calculations and the design was complete.

I started with some aluminum stock I had leftover from the handlebar risers I did earlier this year. 

I needed a way to mark a line directly down the center of the piece so I used a very expensive line drawing machine...lathes can do anything!

This would be my first attempt milling on the South Bend. It turned out OK for something like this. The biggest negative was being limited to 0.5" thick piece since I'm using the tool holder for a work holder.

Another milling and drilling operation on the lathe. Not the best way of doing it but I made lemonade.

Then I got a chance to use some large twist drill bits I bought some months back. Working my way up to 1" with 3 or 4 pilot holes made the job easy.

This is where the precise line was necessary. I used it to guide the cut that split the piece exactly in half.

Next job was to machine the top piece used to angle and level the camera. Again using the versatility of the lathe to turn, mill, drill, and tap this piece.

And finally all the pieces together.

Here it is in action, ready for the first test.

And the first video...worked great!



Making a Headboard

Our master bedroom needed some TLC and my wife had been gathering ideas for a headboard for some time. So we put the ideas to use and I surprised her with a couple extras that brought it all together.

We'd been without a headboard for a few months since we broke our last one. This is how our room started out.

I grabbed an old cardboard box and we began laying out the outline of the headboard and button location. 

Then we took the template outside and traced it on to some MDF.

After cutting out the headboard frame with a jigsaw, my wife got to sanding the rough edges and drilling holes for the buttons. She makes it look easy...and good...mmm MMM you drill that MDF uh huh.

Back on track. I drilled in some screws on the back of the headboard next to the button holes; these would be used to tie off the buttons. I also ripped a piece of 1x6 at a 45; this would make it very easy to hang on the wall, nice and level.

For the padding, we used 2 foam mattress pads form wally world (much cheaper than foam at the craft store), a layer of batting, and a can of spray adhesive to keep it all in place. Here's my wife cutting out the foam. 

The foam was cut exactly to the size of the headboard, while the batting was cut oversize so we could fold it over the back and staple it. Starting from the middle, pulling the batting tight, and many well placed staples worked great.

We used the same technique for the cover material, but before attaching it my wife laid it out and ironed out any wrinkles. We also made sure to pull the material taut and checked often for creases or wrinkles.

The buttons were a bit of a challenge. We were using heavy duty fabric for our cover material so it was thicker than normal and wouldn't work with the button kit. So I had to try and reduce the thickness somehow; I ended up using sandpaper to grab the backing on the fabric, then pulled the backing off to thin it up. Then I made a little contraption the help press in the button with a hammer, and it somehow worked.

Attaching the buttons was simple, but it's definitely a 2 person job. I pushed the needle through from the back, attached a button, thread it back through to the back, then while my wife pressed the button into the headboard, I tied the thread off to the screws out back.

Lookin' good and ready to hang.

But first, we had to hang a little surprise I got for my wife from Lowe's. After she wrapped the cords in burlap, we hung 2 of these next to the bed.

 

She's happy, I'm happy. Fun project.