Don’t ask me how, but somehow I managed to convince my girlfriend that is was a good idea to buy a Nest Cam to keep an eye on my future-son’s bedroom. And if that’s not special enough: I even convinced her that it is a good idea to mount it inside the baby crib.
Honestly, I was a bit baffled that she agreed with this idea. But now that I managed to take that first hurdle, it is time to find out how to mount the camera on a safe and esthetically nice way. After unboxing, the Nest Cam is mounded in a metal mount. The mount is screwed to the bottom plate with a 6mm bolt. I could just remove the bottom plate and design something as a replacement.
But after taking a closer look, I noticed the actual camera module is snapped into the metal loop and can easily be removed …
With this in mind, I fired up my favorite CAD tool: Fusion 360 and started drawing the new mount. The crib contains a 8 mm metal rod on which the hood is mounted. So this would be the best place to mount the camera on.
By using two bolts I can firmly clamp the new mount on the metal rod, and have the option to tilt the camera if necessary. The mount contains a 8 mm slot to make sure it will grip onto the rod nice and tightly.
Now that the design is finished, it’s time to put my Lulzbot Mini to work. In this case I use White ABS since it’s durable, and the white color will help the mount to blend away into the hood. If only Nest would sell a white Camera as well …
After a little bit of waiting and some sanding the printed pieces looked just like I designed them. I know this is the idea behind a 3D-printer, but it still surprises me every time!
With the help of two shortened bolts and two wing nuts I can fit all the pieces together …
And with the camera perfectly snapping in place, I’m convinced this will be a safe and beautiful way to mount the camera in the crib.
Of course I also need to attach the power cord to the rod. A bit of 3D-drawing and printing is all I need for this.
The S-shaped clips firmly snap on the rod and keep the cable in place. Not only does it look nice, but it also prevents my son from hacking into the Camera’s firmware.
With everything mounted in place, it sure looks like a nice and safe solution.
And with all the white ABS, most of the work nicely blends away in the background. I’m sure most of the family won’t even notice it’s there. (And that will probably prevent a lot of comments …)
Now, if we want to make an other Truman Show, this might be a good starting point!
… there still is one thing missing, though!
If you want to print this mount yourself, check out the STL files on Thingiverse!