Introduction: Duct Tape Camera Bag

I recently bought a digital camera on ebay. Since it came without a camera bag i thought: Why not build on made of Duct Tape.
By the way: As stated before I am not a native speaker and I did not know that the tape is called Duct Tape, so please forgive my improper names for the pictures.

It looks like this instructable is going to be a long runner since i don't find the time needed. There is more than half a year between making the bag (and taking the photos) and making this instructable. So if there is anything unclear or confusing in the steps please ask ...

Update: Today (rainy day in Oct. 2010) I try to finish this instructable ...

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

List of needed materials

- some Duct Tape
- ruler
- scissors
- transparent sticky tape
- the cam (for measuring and fitting test)
- soft wrapping foam-paper (the stuff, new monitors are wrapped in, I don't know the real name ...)
- sheets of rigid paper (to give the bag more stability)
- some paper glue (not shown here)

Step 2: Build the Inner Housing (overview)

First of all get the measurements the camera your are building the bag for. Be sure to add some tolerance. I made my bag with only 1 mm add in all dimensions. As a result the cam fits very tight (too tight I would say today).

The inner housing of the bag will basically be a cuboid. So all we need is the mesh of the cuboid with the proper measuring. Add to one side of the mesh another piece for the closing latch.

To protect the cam I made a inlay for the bag from soft foam paper. For this inlay you only need the pure cuboid mesh.


Step 3: Build a Test Inner Housing (optional Step)

This step is optional you can leave it out. I just wanted be check, whether my measurements are correct.

Cut the mesh from the paper, fold it, and fix the general cuboid shape with clear tape.

The last picture shows the measurement check for the foam-paper inlay.

Step 4: Build the Inner Housing

Cut the mesh from the rigid paper, fold it and tape the edges.

If you want foam-paper inlay, glue the foam paper mesh onto the rigid paper before taping the edges.
Taping all edges makes the next step (duct taping the cuboid) easier.

Step 5: Covering With Duct Tape

Now comes the fun part, covering the cuboid with dukt tape ...

I started with one long layer from the cover shield all around. The next layer comes in orthogonal direction (first image).

Next step is building a back of the bag:
First place the back of the bag onto a snippet of tape(second image .
Second tape the small side on the cuboid (third image).
Third cut on all 4 edges V like parts from the tape (for easy folding) (sorry no direct image but check out comments on third image)

Then I enforced the whole back by two layers of duct tape (same direction a the first layer) (fourth image).

Step 6: Build the Strap for the Cover Flap

Start with a long strap (min. one time around the bag) of duct tape and divide it over the long side into halves.
Place it in the middle between the top of the bag and where the cover flap will end when fixed with the strap.

Then put a small peace (of the exact length of the longer side of the bag) of tape inside out on the long strap exactly there where the cover flap will be. This ensures that the cover flap will not stick on the tape.

Step 7: Build the Belt Loop

First build a loop around you (favourite) belt. For this just wrap a layer of duct tape inside out around the belt.

Then place the loop on the bag (second image). I put it at the same height a the strap for the cover flap.

Secure he loop with additional duct tape. I put one all around the bag through the belt loop over the strap for the cover flap.

Step 8: Final Words ...

After using this bag for almost 2 year i found out that a too tight fit (camera into bag and cover flap into strap) is not optimal to use, I would recommend to add 2 millimetre on all sides to your camera measurements.

As you can see on the last image I also cut off something from the cover flap to make it easier to be pushed back into the strap.

If you find big misspellings please correct me, I promise to update the instructable as fast as possible (which might be not tomorrow but I try ...)