Hi. In this instructable I would like to show you what I did to protect my Gopro camera.

Although the camera comes with an housing ... I couldn't find on internet whether it would survive a hit (multiple hits) from BB. And paying 40GBP for a new one to try it is to expensive. So I decide to protect the housing with some stuff I had from a previous project.

Materials :
- acrylic glass 3 GBP inc shipping
- glue (I've used this)13 GBP inc shipping
- foam 1 GBP (pound shop)
- black film/sticker (optional = 1 GBP)

Glue :
- micrometer
- drill
- jigsaw
- dremel / proxxon ... rottary tool
- file or sandpaper

Step 1: The Front

Measure the width and height of the cover. It something around 72 x 56 mm. When drawing the line for cutting on the acrylic add some extra "mm" to the height to overlap the black locking mechanism and a little bit for the bottom. Add some extra "mm" for the foam (I added about 2mm) to the length and for the sides (2x5mm).

Now measure the dims of the "black round rectangle" that's covering the lens. It should be like 43.5 x 39 mm. Now when drawing the lines for the "black rectangle" place it like 6-8mm from the longer side of the acrylic (on the picture it's the bottom) ... and 7mm from the shorter side. The 7 mm covers the 5mm of the side that will be covering the housing and 2mm for the foam. Once you have that, drill a hole(s) into the rectangle and cut it out with the jig saw. Once cut, you might need to file/adjust some of the sides so it will fit onto the housing.

When you cut this rectangle out, place the glass on the housing and determine the position/center of the button. It helps, when you remove the protective film from the glass so you can see it, make a dot and use a 12mm drill bit to make the hole. Once you drill that out, you can play with the rectangle - to file some bit and pieces off, so it will fit nicely. I recommend to do it very tight, as I didn't want mine to "wable".

Step 2: The Cover for the Lens

Now you are ready to do the cover for the lens. All you need to do is just to cut out a piece, that would cover the hole and overlap it 5mm each side. I was to lazy to cut, so I just did it in a way, that it cover the whole wight.

If you look at the picture, you will see five lines that I have made. It may sound silly, but I was thinking - what if it's raining and the water would be kept over there and disturb the picture? So I've made these 5 draining channels :) but you don't have to do them ... it was just me.

At this stage, you can use the glue and glue/weld this small piece to the front cover ... or wait just to do it all in one go, with the sides.

To see how to glue/weld acrylic, please have a look here.

Step 3: Sides

this one is really simple. Just cut out 2 pieces of the same wight with your desired depth. I've used 30mm on mine.

One of them needs to be adjust = you need to cut the hole out for the WiFi button and make room for the big black knob. Again use the 12mm for the hole and then cut out with jigsaw the entrance (like on the 2nd picture). For the knob ... I've used proxxon with a small circular saw attachment to make the space.

Once you have this, you can glue all of the bits together, to the "main front" piece. Please, bare in mind which side is which, so you don't end up with wrong sides.

If all done, now you can glue the foam to the side that you did NOT drill the hole. The reason for this is, that it will act as a locking mechanism and keeps the cover in place. If you have made the "black rectangle" hole really tight, this foam will push against it and it won't fall no matter what :)

Step 4: Almost Finished :) ... However It Needs Support

Now, if you did everything like described here ... you'll find out from the video, that it' not enough. Please, have a look at this video to see why it doesn't work without the support !!!

Step 5: Support

The sides require some additional support as the energy from BB is really strong ... especially if the edges of the sides are not ideal (like mentioned in the video for gluing acrylic) so it doesn't have the required strength. That's why I added extra tiny off cuts to each side for support.

After that I have placed some black film/sticker over it ... so it doesn't reflect the light so much. And you are ready to go :)