Hummingbird Shooter

Step 5 Fabricate the Piston Mounting Plate

I could have just drilled a hole through the wood frame extending down to the shutter release, but realized if I didn't drill exactly right, the piston pin might not be exactly centered on the rounded top of the camera's release button, and might not trigger it.

So I drilled a larger hole in the wood with a paddle bit ( one-half inch), and mounted a small sheet metal plate, with the piston assembly mounted to it, over the hole. This allowed me to position the metal plate so the pin was exactly centered over the hole. As a side benefit, I realized that the axis of the button is not straight up and down, but is angled slightly forward--using the sheet metal allowed me to slightly bend the plate so the axis of the piston and pin exactly matches the axis of the shutter button.

The plate is simply a piece of galvanized sheet metal (flashing or HVAC material), acout 1 inch square, with 4 small mounting holes drilled in each corner for mounting screws, and the center drilled and tapped for the piston assembly's threaded end.