Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Necessity (or cheapness) is the Mother of Invention . . .

For those of you who know me, you also know that I have some strange addiction to making things out of PVC pipes/fittings. (I guess I should've been a plumber rather than a librarian but I digress!!)
Well, a few weeks back I bought a new camera to take with me while paddling. I've always been intrigued by handsfree videos so I figured I'd try to make my own deck mount. Guess what was my first material of choice? Yipper, CPVC pipe (the smaller beige variety) which is readily available from your local hardware store. Coupled with a 3" suction cup, a set of chair leg protectors, misc nuts, bolts and washer (see image below) and you're good to go!!



Put them altogether (in this case I used the head from an old table top tripod) and you have this:




If you don't have a tripod head, you can make one for mere pennies using a 3/4" CPVC coupling, a 1/2" CPVC cap, two washers, two nuts and a short piece of 1/4" coarse threaded rod. Here's the final result



The beauty of using the CVPC system is that there is myriad of confgurations (ooohh big words) available. Here's just one example:


I've left many of my connections loose (unglued) but have used pins to hold them together. That way they are sturdy, safe and easily changed.
Sorry about there being no detailed instructions. I'm waiting to hear back from my lawyer re the patent. Just kidding of course. If there is anything that you'd like me to expand upon, just drop a message.
Stay tuned for more PVC adventures. As a teaser, I've just put PVC tips on my Greenland paddle and I'm in the process of testing a PVC under deck pump holder. Pretty exciting, what?

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