Mounting Camera in Aft Centering Ring

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RocketFeller

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2009
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
74
I am trying to figure out how to mount a camera in an upcoming project. The rocket will have a 12" body tube with a single 98mm motor mount. This leaves what seems like plenty of room to mount a small GoPro-type camera in the void area between MM and BT. I would try to keep the camera as close to the outside of the CR as possible.

Has anyone tried this? My main concern is that exhaust gasses may obscure the video. I was thinking that angling the lens outward slightly might alleviate this?

Any thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated!
 
That is really cool and, like you said, the price is very reasonable. How does one 29mm motor power it from a front-motor position? It is a little unclear to me from the photo of the rocket.
https://store.heavenlyhobbies.com/01-023-0008.html
I have this built, but haven't flown her yet. Its a really innovative idea at a good price. Though I didn't buy the one he offers with a camera, I bought a different camera from hobby king for less money.
 
I would be more concerned about the exhaust gases and solids deflecting off the blast plate on the launch rail and totally obscuring/coating the lens or lens protector making the video a black blob. Might want to insulate the camera from the motor tube as well, it could get rather hot and the LiPo's in modern cameras don't like heat.
 
Rocketfeller I tell you what, I will get her flight ready for this weekend. We have a launch on Sunday I guess its time to try her out its been built since the early summer just haven't gotten around to working out how I'm going to hold my camera in place. This kit was made for the camera that he sells with the rocket. Mine is smaller then that and needs to be a tight fit in the aft tube so it doesn't bounce around.
 
One problem of mounting cameras anywhere 'down low' on your airframe is the smoke and soot that will accumulate on your lens and obscure your images. As elegant a location it might be in terms of construction, the bottom centering ring is pretty much the last place you will get successful video from. Your lens will clog up almost immediately.

If you still want to try, you should consider a glass window for the camera to look through, or maybe even clear tape across the lens that you can remove & discard after flight. Whatever you do, DON'T let the soot stay on your lens for too long as it will corrode the coatings and degrade your image quality permanently (ask me how I know :rofl: ).
 
Here's a few pictures of my Washigei Reconnaissance Vehicle.

1. the aft camera BT with cone off
2. aft BT and cone
3. aft section together
4. aft BT glass window
5. upper section motor mount
the kit calls for a heat shield of aluminum foil on the aft cone, I opted to go with a heavy coat of high heat engine paint.

IMG_1770.jpg

IMG_1768.jpg

IMG_1766.jpg

IMG_1765.jpg

IMG_1763.jpg
 
I thought I should update this thread. Despite doubts, it worked great!

[video=youtube;M6Jq9-5t6Hw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Jq9-5t6Hw[/video]
 
I would be more concerned about the exhaust gases and solids deflecting off the blast plate on the launch rail and totally obscuring/coating the lens or lens protector making the video a black blob. Might want to insulate the camera from the motor tube as well, it could get rather hot and the LiPo's in modern cameras don't like heat.

Glad it worked for you. I tried it with a keychain camera mounted between two low power engines on a regular pad with a flat blast plate. Blow back off the blast plate permanently fogged the lens. Your blast plate is angled, so maybe that is the solutions. Nice video!
 
Glad it worked for you. I tried it with a keychain camera mounted between two low power engines on a regular pad with a flat blast plate. Blow back off the blast plate permanently fogged the lens. Your blast plate is angled, so maybe that is the solutions. Nice video!

We coated the lens with Rain-X prior to flight. It fogged a little bit, but I wiped it immediately and it came off easily.

I think two things that helped were the distance between the lens and the motor (about 5") and the very clean burning propellant that Mike Fisher made for us.

Bonus points if you can spot Mike (twice) in the video!
 
Back
Top