RaspberryPi camera V1.3 cover

I have a Raspberry running OctoPi on all my 3D-printers. To have a camera as part of the setup is a must in my take, to be able to have an eye on the ongoing print once in a while.

The cheapest and easiest to install camera is clearly the Rasperry Pi camera, that is attached to the RaspberryPi board with the ribbon cable. The V1.3 camera with 5 megapixels is by far good enough, works without any configuration and sells for less then 10€ at Amazon. The only thing that I don't like at all, is a dangling ribbon cable (with it's own will) around my printers. It simply does not look professional and you always need to take care not to get caught in it. 

This is how I came up with this simple add-on that fits on basically all RaspberryPi housings that feature a slot for the ribbon cable right above the respective connector on the board. This part presses the camera board slightly to the housing to hold it tight. The remaining length of ribbon cable can easily be stored within the original RaspberryPi case.

Simply glue this part onto your housing with a tiny amount of superglue. You can easily break it open if you should ever want to take out the your camera. This allows you to use a housing of your choice and still have the camera nicely covered and the ribbon cable well hidden.

Of course you need to arrange the whole RaspberryPi housing in a position that lets the camera have a nice view on your print bed. The easiest way is by using an articulated arm with a glue-on ball joint. That is exactly what I have done, reusing all needed parts from this older publication: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/36742

Simply print as many pieces of the articulated arm as you think you need, glue on the ball mount to your RaspberryPi housing and assemble everything to your needs.

Enjoy and happy printing!