Cage for budget action cams with GoPro style mount

Use case

Budget action cameras like the SJ5000+ or SJ4000 came with no quarter inch tripod mount and no build-in GoPro mount. So you always need a cage to mount it on whatever you want to run it on for your crazy video takes. The cameras came with a cage with a quarter inch thread, but if you want to mount them on any of the typical GoPro-style mounts, you need yet another adapter. 

My cage comes directly with the GoPro-style mount, so no additional adapter is needed. It fits to many others of these little action cameras, so it can probably be used as a replacement for lost cages as well. (If it does not fit right away, you can scale it, see below.)

Different versions of this print: more or less tight on the connector

My originally published design works with nominal dimensions on the connector (3.0mm gap, 3.0mm width of the legs). It turns out that on a Prusa Mk3S this results in a slightly too tight fit. Therefore I have made the new version( _v006 ) which has 2.9mm gap and 2.9mm width of the legs, resulting in an almost perfect fit on the printed parts. The respective .stl file has the “less tight fit” in the file name.

Size of a perfectly fitting camera

If have made the cage to fit perfectly to a SJ5000+ camera, which I have measured to have a size of 62.2 x 42.2 x 22 mm. If your camera has slightly different dimensions, simply rescale it in Prusaslicer for each of its directions. (Scaling in the direction that changes the width of the GoPro mount legs is of course limited to a few percent, otherwise the mount will not work anymore. But as all these cameras are of very similar size, that should not be an issue.)

Printing

To make this part printable without supports, I have decided to print the snap-hook separately and glue it on to the lever after the print is done. This has opened the door to provide two hooks with smaller and bigger size. I you print your part from PETG, which is more flexible, I recommend to use the bigger hook. The lever will easily bend far enough to release your camera if you want that. If you print from more stiff and bridle PLA, you may want to go for the smaller hook. The hooks are printed in almost no time, so if you are unsure, simply print both hooks and try out which you prefer. Make sure to use a glue that is proven to work on the material you use.

Disclaimer

In my personal take, the cage will hold the camera very securely and if it breaks then you have probably just had a bad accident anyway. But of course it is purely your own responsibility to decide if you trust this part enough to put your camera in.

Have fun everyone, even if the possibilities for doing crazy stuff with our action cameras are a bit limited in these crazy times. Take care for yourself and for others, we need to limit our losses until we have finally defeated this pandemic!