Just finished my sidemount :D

[meduus 0]

Well here's my sidemount i've just finished today for PC101 camera. It's missing few softpads, but today it was a lil late to go to the store to buy necessary material :)
I'm thinking on adding a fiber based cover to it.
On thing that bothers me a little bit that the camera is maybe too far away form the helmet, but I can rebuild the L-braket to get it 1cm closer. What do you think is it worth it?

[Deuce 1]

In the third JPEG it looks like theres a channel between your L bracket and the helmet mounts that looks especially snagadelic. Maybe consider mounting the bottom of the L bracket directly to your helmet with adjustments only at the top half? It just looks like that setup might snag lines as your risers and lines come up your back on opening.

All this stuff makes our sport more dangerous, but that third picture there puts scary entanglements in my imagination.

Yes, it's worth it to get it closer.

JP

[meduus 0]

The frist design i made I tried to connect the L bracket directly to the helment, but then I ran into various attatchment problems because of the two piece adjustable design ( the bolds and nuts required free space between the bracket and the helmet ) so i decided to clear it a little bit from the helmet. After I put it together I did notice the channel there between the helment mound and the L bracket, so I think I have to move the L bracket a half a centimeter up and front. That way that channel should dissapear. or what you think?

[Deuce 1]

Meduus, I'm a chicken. I think you should get an Optik with a flat side so you can mount that puppy up without exposing yourself to any additional risk.

My boss on the DZ uses a bracket somewhat like the one you've designed, it's just not for me. Optik, Hawkeye LT, Bat-half-rack, whatever.

Maybe somebody else with a custom solution should respond. I'm an off-the-shelf guy.

[AndyMan 7]

Snagadelic, baby!

I'm very concerned about snag hazards on the bottom of the mount, as shown in pic#3.

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[PhreeZone 20]

That thing sticks out there further then my Pc110 does. Is there anyway to make it stick out less? Smaller platform to screw the camera in on maybe?

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Cajones 0]

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I can rebuild the L-braket to get it 1cm closer. What do you think is it worth it?

Depends on wether you are going to get any lines snagged in that 1cm space... If you are absolutely certain that you will not, then why fix it? If there is any chance that you might get any lines (or even just one) caught in that space and have a parachute entangled with your camera/helmet - and you have the means to prevent it, then why not prevent it?

The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

[meduus 0]

Thanks all guys for the concernes. I'm now going to modyify/rebuilt it a little bit.
Here's a little quick idea that I had ( attatched pic ). I want to make the L a little bit narrower and lift it up about 1.5 cm and then an additional connection to the helmet wich comes from the sidemount. The red line on the first JPG is the new L braket and I also made a second JPG with photoshop where a scaled and moved the whole thing and drew the current position with a blue line. And the third images is the same as second one without the blue lines ( i thought they might be distracting a little bit )
What do you guys think about this idea, does it solve the snag problem?

[AndyMan 7]

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What do you guys think about this idea, does it solve the snag problem?

It's a lot better.

However, I'd make sure to cover the join with duct tape, something strong that will keep a line from somehow getting wedged up between the join between the L braket and frame.

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[meduus 0]

ATM I'm thinking of even losing the frame and connecting the L directly to helmet like some ppl here have done it ( have to build new L anyway to make it 15mm narrower ) I will lose the ability to adjust the camera up and down, but the whole thing would stick out 8mm less or so. Is it a good I idea?
I've noticed that if I connect L directy then still remains a possbility that the lines may get stuck between the L and the helmet.

[Cajones 0]

Perhaps you could integrate some "deflectors" into your design, that would cover snaggy gaps and direct lines away from your camera/head... ?

The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

[MrHixxx 0]

I would crop it down like this as close to the helmet as possible and fill it in with silicone/latex caulk (green). Snaggadelic is good in Austin Powers movies, but quite bad on camera helmets...

Good camera helmets are kinda like plumper pornos. The best ones have no gaps. My 2 cents (okay I didn't spend that much on photoshop).

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[meduus 0]

Ok here is the new version. And as MrHixxx recommended I'm planning to fill the gaps with silicone. Waht do you guys think now?

[MrHixxx 0]

It looks much improved. You may be able to get away with filling your gaps with gaffer's tape. Once you have taped it up, try dragging canopy lines over it and see if the catch anywhere.

I would try trimming back the bottom plate, so it is only as wide as you need it for the camera base.

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[meduus 0]

The bottom plate sticks out almost the same as the battery, actually the bottom plate sticks 2 mm less out. Do you think it's still too wide? It would be possible to make it 8mm narrower and no more, but what difference that would make (the battery will stick out the same as now ), besides i will loose the hole in the bottom plate for the strap and have to find another way to connect the strap?

[MrHixxx 0]

If you need the width of the plate to protect the camera keep it. I would only trim it back to match the camera. This way there is enough to protect it from a riser strike on the bottom, but it doesn't protrude such that it rip somebody open in a collision.

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[lewmonst 0]

my first reaction was "whoa that's huge..." sorry. it does stick way out there. I had a D-Box flush with the side of my mindwarp, and i still thought it stuck out too far. the V2 looks better with the deflector, but i think you'll feel the weight of the camera that far off your head even more than if you moved it 1 cm closer. do you do anything special on opening? I lean my head forward a little and look to my right, grab my risers before they reach my hear, and I've never had a riser strike. Hope it works for ya!

btw, do you have a cutaway system?

peace

http://www.exitshot.com

[AndyMan 7]

How tightly does the rear deflector follow the contour of the helmet? Is the reflector attached to the helmet?

My concern is that your attempt to make a deflector might actually be a huge snag factor itself. Is it possible for a line to get under the deflector?

(shown in pic #2)

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[meduus 0]

Yeah, the first one did stick out too much, I realised that after i had put it together :/ But on the new version it's about 2cm closer and i can't get it closer anymore without using a screwdriver and knife on my PC101 ( have to remove the hanstrap somehow then), but this is something I don't want to do, cause it won't be always attached to the helmet.

No cutaway system yet, but I plan to build one, when I get my chin cup.

[meduus 0]

I understand your concern AndyMan, but the rear theflector is pretty tight. (on the pic#2 it's too dark to see it clearly) There's only one 1cm area in the mittle of the deflector where the gap is about half a millimeter. I did spend quite a time shaping the deflector. I knew that otherwise it could be a potential line snagger It's attached to the helmet with a rivet. Even now there's no way a line could get under the deflector, but I will fill the even the tiniest gaps with silicone and I'll be covering the connection areas with tuct tape. If I'm ready with the final tweaking, I will post the final pics here :)

[jose 0]

One more thing to consider. I see how you have riveted the mount to the helmet. The rivet is nice an smooth with no snags, but makes it really hard to remove the whole thing if you want to. Another thing about the rivets, since they are aluminum they tend to loosen over time and can create issues. Unless you have large washers on the inside that spread the force over a greater area, you could have seperation anxiety upon opening.

I would recommend using rounded allen key machine screws with low profile locknuts on the inside. Even better yet, epoxy the nut and washer to the inside of the helmet allowing you to achive a smoother surface that wont leave dents in your noggin.

Other than that, second one looks great. Simple with no moving parts.

[rapper4mpi 0]

It seems like you are getting a lot of good advice here. Maybe it was mentioned already, but, all those sharp edges on the mount area also a danger to your lines and/or left riser. Maybe not immediately, but over time, they can slice at your riser on opening. This is not a good thing. I'd spend more time filing them to round them, then cover the edges with tape.
-Rap

[madflying 0]

Hi there,

I've just finished my L side mount for a PC101, all comments are welcome.
madflying@hotmail.com

Fab

[quade 4]

Well, from what I can see of it . . .

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[madflying 0]

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Hi there,

I've just finished my L side mount for a PC101, all comments are welcome.
madflying@hotmail.com

These are my pics......sorry about that just found out that i didn t upload the pics

Fab

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