Introduction: Jigsaw Vision GoPro Mount
This morning I tried to zip tie my action camera to my jigsaw. Rubbish. So I did what I do best, take apart a brand new tool and modify it. I thought it would be pretty neat to have a camera on the saw....turns out I am right!!! I have photos and a little test video at the end. And here we go.....
Step 1: Take Apart the Saw
I was fortunate enough to have a flat spot on my jigsaw. Tool manufacturers design tools like sports cars. I don't understand how hard it is to put flat spots that are parallel and perpendicular to the cutting edge. Anywho rant over. I carefully took apart my jigsaw. Mine was made very well so it was easy to take one side off without the entire insides coming out. I used one of my gopro mounts and applied double stick tape to stick it to the half of the jigsaw that had all of the guts. I put the empty side of the shell back on to drill another hole. Sorry I didn't take photos for this part, kinda hard to juggle it all and use the camera. I had to drill the holes at an angle to miss some of the internal structure of the jigsaw housing. I used 3m VHB tape to keep the machine screw from spinning too much since I wouldn't have access to it to hold it still. I put the two halves of the jigsaw back together with the screws sticking out.
Step 2: Mount the Mount
Notice the screws are sticking out at weird angles. This actually was a good thing because it added some tension to the mount. I bent them straight enough to put the mount through them. I pushed the mount with sticky tape to the jigsaw and put a washer, lock washer, and nut with loctite. The screw heads got clipped short so they didn't stick out all goofy looking. I didn't bother smoothing the rough cuts because the camera can't see it and who cares.
Step 3: Finish Out the Mount
I had to hack apart one of the clip mounts so it would not run into the machine screws. I used my good old pal hot glue to keep it all in place. I think it helped a bit with vibration as well. I mounted my camera at an angle that had the saw blade and that was it!! The footage came out great and I am really happy with the results. I have a short test clip here.
If you want to see this bad boy in action on my YouTube channel, head on over to YouTube.com/ProperGents and subscribe.