Making Magnetic Ceiling Camera Mounts

[@fscolorado5051]

Clough i've been a machinist for 36 years, i have a cnc shop in CO. and buddy your all right in my book, i love how you don't ever let these trolls give you shit.

[@e.scottdaugherty8291]

Nice, retired electrician here, Very familiar with your materials, outstanding execution.

[@e.scottdaugherty8291]

A thought, bright paint knuckles to avoid head-knocks.

[@opieshomeshop]

As a just in case, you might want to consider getting cat leashes to hang from the ceiling so if there is an accident, the camera wont smash into the floor. You could run the cat leash right through the holes of that steel fixturing. My camera is mounted on a good tripod, and I have cat leashes all over the shop so wherever I put my camera I hook it up to the leash as a just in case. Also, I have a ceramic lens filter on my lens to protect it from mishaps as well. The ceramic lens filters are ultra-strong. Just a UV type filter so it's clear will work for indoors filming. The cat leashes are softer and wont scratch and are extremely flexible, can adjust with no issues and tuck away easier over normal camera tethers. It was a Hollywood cameraman that gave me the idea. Hollywood uses all kinds of unconventional things on their sets.

[@mikepetersen2927]

Nicely overdone! With the openness of the unistrut, you can add power cords to avoid the dreaded "the camera died 5 minutes ago & i didn't catch it" moments. Nice way to add lighting too, if needed. You'll be the envy of KZbin machinists everywhere! Over time, I can also see you wanting to have repeatable camera positions for consistent/favorite shots, so there might be some rigid arms w/ magswitch bases in your future. (That, or a lot of tape/colored marks on your Noga arm! 😁) Have to add to the chorus of suggestions about a safety cord for the camera. Gravity is NOT your friend.

[@Steviegtr52]

You have just made what i have been planning to do for a long time. 1 for the mill & 1 for the lathe. I must try harder. Great video. Regards. Steve.

[@jescheffler]

Dammit James, I was drinking coffee when you did the camera size bit. You almost made me ruin my monitors.

[@3dmazter]

For the cold saw. When I use it I put the whole backside of the saw in a big upright standing cardboard box. With the material running just in front of the box opening. It realy saves on cleanup after sawing. The sparks ar hot but do not set the box on fire. And if you tape the bottom flaps no sawdust gets behind them and you just pour out the dust into the trashcan

[@Eggsr2bcrushed]

One trick for making jank setups not chatter as much - zip tie a ziplock bag full of random nuts and bolts to the part. Acts as a damper. Also works for long boring bars in the lathe. Sounds stupid but it works.

[@joell439]

I’m all in for making the process of recording easier and more rewarding. We all win. Thanks James for sharing how you created the infrastructure to make all of our lives better. 👍👍😎👍👍

[@jpwipeout99]

This is the best video thank you. My mail is sitting on a platform 8 inches higher and no tripod even gets close. So this will work perfectly.

[@mattchilton4950]

Great project as always, your production quality is top-notch . I made a light duty gantry with that superstrut and some custom bent steel brackets mounted to the peak of my roof trusses last year and it works great, really is like adult erector set.

[@GBWM_CNC]

It looks very convenient! Great job

[@marcoperuch]

Danke!

[@ahbushnell1]

Unistrut is great.

[@tablatronix]

very nice, I am installing 40 linear feet of unistrut using allthread joist hangers in my new workshop right now. Love the little handheld grinder

[@David_Best]

Great video. Luckily my shop has open joists (basement) with 86" to the bottom of those joists. So I'm able to use a Manfrotto Double Articulated Arm and Superclamp to hold my cameras to the joists. I do use the big Noga to hold my camera when shooting on the mill and lathe, attached to a steel plate screwed into the bottom of the joists.

[@ThantiK]

Oh that innuendo at the end... love it.

[@dobrzpe]

nice. i BET that'll be a useful addition to the shop. ANYTHING to make it easier to get a shot is SUCH a timesaver. impressively simple. i like it!

[@Saturn49YT]

James' bracket hole spacing: 24.000" on center. James' garage ceiling joist spacing: 24±1". 😃

[@sebastiendesormeaux1853]

When something is worth doing, it's worth over doing it...and you are doing an awsome job at it! The celing is so under-utilized usually. And very true about the vibration translated to the camera!

[@scottroland6577]

Once again, Very Well Done. Many Thanks Scott

[@AJMansfield1]

Unistrut! We went through probably over half a ton of the stuff every day at my old job. We even had a hydraulic shear with a special shaped die for cutting it. Once you got in the rhythm of using it, you could break down an entire bale of the stuff into the required cut list in a single shift, just gauging the lengths by counting holes.

[@KiwiBassHead]

Absolutely brilliant exercise in unnecessary precision. 😁 On another note - it you think those cold cut saws make a mess you should try their predecessors which used 14" diameter abrasive wheels. They created a REAL mess!! Keep up the awesome work, Cheers from NZ.

[@ChazzC]

Nice project, James. And a great blend of info, details & humor.

[@Mr_Wh1]

Love it. Very satisfying.

[@tallkent71]

Overkill is why I love this channel.

[@Rydermanmakes]

Nice project. Had the same problem with the first magnetic camera rig i made. My second one has 3 arms to 3 magnets instead. I can now have it inside my cnc machines attached to the axis with all the quick movements back and forth, and it's sturdy like a rock!

[@air54plane]

Love Your solution !! Smart !!!

[@platin2148]

I found multifix 3m being a really nice solution if you don't want to drill or can't drill. Works best with more surface.

[@ODIS-bp1ks]

All Thread and Uni-strut. Love these products....and.... Love your content!

[@rpavlik1]

Pretty nice! (There's no kill like overkill!) I'd probably put a safety cord of some kind on there, maybe with a carabiner on the end to clip to the unistrut? Cheap insurance, even though that mag base looks pretty solid. Does that one have a weight rating? I know there's a company that makes yellow switchable magnets with a variety of weight ratings.

[@Clough42]

In fact, I have a safety wire on it now, with a carabiner clipped into the Unistrut. :) Patrons got a quick video of the drop test.

[@spidermonk3084]

Great idea! Keep up the good work!

[@GapRecordingsNamibia]

I see James has the same sort of concentration face as the rest of us!!! That honestly made my day.... Thanks James. Yes, I can confirm the tripod myth is true..... One suggestion though if I may....... Get some line leashes that can mount to your celling and camera. Just in case, I mean you did reference Murphy so he'll be looking out for you.. Lucky for you sitting in the US, BMDC does not cost you as much as for us in Africa.

[@Clough42]

Yeah. It's what it is. :)

[@Kami8705]

Always surprised more youtubers don't do a very lightweight bridge crane to support cameras and lights like this. Would be more versatile and just about as easy to build with unistrut since they already have rollers for it

[@UncleKennysPlace]

Or so I'm told. Priceless.

[@SpaceLint]

Great video (as usual). I had two ideas when watching the video… Spring load mechanism which would allow docking the vertical arm horizontally up on the ceiling so the mount can be out of the way when not in use. Install a bunch of 80/20 track on the ceiling and convert to top/ceiling mount fixture to a locking wheel version. Hopefully this would allow for more flexibility with camera locations. Videos packed with tons of useful info. Thank you! Especially appreciated the duty cycle comment concerning your plasma cutter/setup. Something I hadn’t considered/fully appreciated until now. Especially in Arizona, opening the garage door during most the year would greatly reduce the duty cycle! 🙃

[@Clough42]

I think the duty cycle on this machine is specified at 40C (104F) ambient, so it's more of a worst-case scenario. Except where your live. I'm confident you can exceed that. :)

[@maxheadroom1506]

LOL James- "let me just pull out my cnc plasma cutter." Me thinking - "You have a cnc plasma cutter."

[@amundsen575]

nice video as always. I use uni-strut as a trolley with a an electric winch , chucks and vices don't get lighter with age, no problem moving 500lb band saw

[@Zt3v3]

I want to buy your old stuff when you're done with it. I bet everything you own is better than new.

[@smokingdivot1762]

great video, i thought the best line was "do you need a milling machine to do this, of course not,. but we have one..", then 10 seconds later i hear "is this overkill, of course, what's your point"

[@umahunter]

Nice job 👍👍👍 my only suggestion is to add a safety cord from the camera maybe with a carabiner that clips to the post just in case the unexpected ever does happen your camera doesn't crash into the concrete 👍👍👍

[@grislyzero]

@clough42 If you ever use Uni-Strut again, there are some nuts called Cone Nuts that do the same thing as Spring Nuts but don't have the annoying spring that can slip out the back slots. Recommended if you have a chance.

[@caseytailfly]

Nice build! I would love a follow-up video on how you like your 935TV now that you’ve had it for a while.

[@Dudleymiddleton]

Just remembered The unistrut nuts with the springs on them we used to call them "Zebs" here in the UK - named after Zebedee, a character in a kid's show in the 70's called the magic roundabout - he looked like a tomato with a mousetache bouncing around on a spring - yeah it was a bit weird lol!

[@ke9tv]

Where would the engineering world be without SuperStrut and 80-20?

[@fehmiatas]

[@neosenshi]

Very nice system. What stud finder were you using? It looks very useful.

[@kensherwin4544]

That looks like a Franklin stud finder. I couldn't tell the model but I love my 710 series finder. I don't remember the exact model though.

[@dgcorey65]

Any thoughts to add tethers to the stand? Great job as always

[@vincei4252]

Very nice. You gave me some ideas on how to flatten a 19" diameter 1" thick aluminium plate I'm going to need for a mirror grinding project. My mill isn't as big and rigid as yours so it's gonna be interesting! Wish I had a giant grinder that could get this done in one pass :(

[@jasonward4480]

Another great build! Check out Manufacturing Models in Fusion, creating duplicates used to be the best/only way to nest/arrange parts for packing but they've somewhat recently added a dedicated solution for exactly that

[@Clough42]

Yeah, I'm vaguely aware of it but haven't dug in yet. Thanks for the reminder.

[@Joe_Bandit]

I wonder if it would be wise to build a little cage for the camera just in case - something as long as the lens to protect it.

[@darikmatters8866]

Unistrut is a brand name for generic strut channel.. All of then are interchangeable except the original (Kindorf which is 1-1/2 instead of 1-5/8). A very short list of some of many other brands.. B-line, Versabar, Superstrut...The current industry standard for the universal version is MFMA-4

[@KavorkaDesigns]

This tripod has an extendable arm, highly recommend it, there are maybe newer better versions, I got mine from B&HPhoto in 2014, a BIKE rotatable mount on top of the tripod or similar is ideal Manfrotto 055XPROB Pro Aluminum Tripod BH# MA055XPROB

[@Runoratsu]

It won‘t ever come off just from the camera weight, but I‘m pretty sure I‘d be able to walk into it with something I‘m carrying and knock down the expensive cam in the process in under a week. How about at least a cable safety with carabiners like when hanging studio equipment, between the magnetic base and the camera or the base and the arm?

[@chrisj4570g]

The reason a fly cutter is called such, is that chips….fly everywhere. A few strategically placed milling machines along a fortified military installation would be good defense for advancing marauders. Blue chips exiting the mill at Mach 4? Great defense tactic.

[@floriansolles445]

Great video, as always. I was wondering, have you ever considered trying to make some camera gear like a cage or a (manfrotto or arca swiss) plate/nato rail ? Or is it just not worth it ? (cheaper to buy it/ not a good video subject ... )

[@taranson3057]

I have a 1000lb rated magnet that would be great for this sort of project. I need to make something like this but with a stepper and driver to control the movement of the camera while recording to eliminate the shaking.

[@0ADVISOR0]

Nice build, maybe add a safety string in case you bump that thing and the magnet falls off. Better be safe than sorry, eh?

[@andrewbrimmer1797]

Are you ready for your close up to paraphrase

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

Excellent idea there. I am going to make something similar to that for my camera. I hope you do not mind me being a copy cat.

[@Clough42]

Go for it.

[@rvamerongen]

Great build. And extendable for other extensions like Lighting. Question; is that a Manfrotto 396B arm or?

[@Clough42]

It's a Noga Big Boy.

[@rvamerongen]

@@Clough42 thank you. 👍🏼

[@akschu1]

Hi James, what do you use to scroll around in fusion so smoothly?

[@Clough42]

3Dconnexion SpaceMouse Compact 3D Mouse: amzn.to/2TSJ2q9

[@akschu1]

@@Clough42 okay, you are the second person to have one of these, I guess it's time to order. Thanks for tempting me with new tools.

[@Roobotics]

Now I can't help but wonder if dross or burr is the right thing to call the sharp edges of the metal here, dross is specifically waste byproduct from molten metal that doesn't have the same desired properties as the metal, so usually you skim the dross. I'd imagine this would be more of a burr, but it was also made by making the metal go molten..

[@mikebroom1866]

That's exactly what I do with my cold saw. Up against the garage door. What a mess.

[@Dreddip]

There's no kill like overkill.

[@paranoiia8]

That remind me comment of my friend that wanted to attach lights in different places in workshop: "you dont need fancy stands when you have kids. TOOOOM! Come here! Stand here and hold that."

[@NourMuhammad]

I was woundering how do you move around in Fusion while your mouse is not used for moving around, are you using some kind of a detecated device to move your design objects ?

[@klaernie]

James has a video mentioning the space mouse

[@TheDigitalHombre]

Nice solution for the camera! But you might also consider making certain shots more dynamic. This KZbinr has a camera slider with steppermotors homemade. Yes, I know, it's in German ;-) Possibly a nice project for the future?

[@75keg75]

21:40 Murphy’s law - whoever the frick that was!!!

[@suzysheer66]

argh ! camera envy... i feel so inadequate with my runcam 5 orange, at 4k 30fps... ;)

[@75keg75]

Was about half way through and thought an oversized GoPro style mount would have be cool. 3d print in your favorite carbon Fibre nylon, with your base plate or integrate a magnet in the plastic. That way you could start print and go do something else - Pump iron or respond to the PC master race commenters hehe

[@ozz5350]

👍👏👏👏

[@DavidtheSwarfer]

hey @JoePie you need some of these (-: (Joe is always tripping over the tripod)

[@Clough42]

Joe's ceiling is quite a bit higher. :)

[@jebowlin3879]

Im still waiting for someone that does YT vids to make a camera gantry

[@CraigAndera]

I have sort of a medium sized camera, I guess. My wife says I make really good videos with it, though.

[@notsonominal]

.. lookatchu strutting your stuff on camera...!

[@dhollm]

Personally I'd go with a safety bungee just in case something knocks the mag base loose. Seems like cheap insurance.

[@xyzspec82]

I would not use a magnet. The risk of hitting the camera is too high. Hope she doesn't kiss the floor! Other than that, another great video James 🙌🏻👌🏻

[@kashifkhan3040]

safety cord is a must

[@DinosawrsAreAwesome]

On a set you'd put a safety chain on it, mainly to avoid it hurting someone, with the added benefit of it saving the camera, even some bright tape would help in this scenario. If it fell it would probably just trash the lens hood, it might destroy the lens, but it's convenience vs effort and convenience nearly always wins. I've put more expensive gear in sketchier situations and seen much more expensive gear on much much more sketchier rigs.

[@Clough42]

It has a safety cable on it now. Patrons got a video of the drop test.

[@sblack48]

You have a great list of links for the tools you used but you didn’t include those structural screws. I know, you try and try and we still complain…..🙄

[@David_11111]

yay I was like 100 :)

[@twobob]

Likey

[@seabreezecoffeeroasters7994]

Just a thought on the plates run thin tabs (breakaway so 0.5mm?) on the Plasma jobs to keep the tip up issue minimal, much as it will mean a little more cleanup but you still need to deburr anyway.

[@azyfloof]

If you're not stubbing your toes on the tripod legs every five minutes while filming, are you even filming? :P

[@splackism]

A bungee cord will save the camera and lens if you run into it.

[@troyam6607]

i dont know how to feel about that jab about my small camera 🤣

[@d00dEEE]

The mounting plate may be 6" above your head, but the mag mount is just... about... right... Wear your hard hat.

[@StripeyType]

$15/lb ?!?!?!?! that's INSANELY low!

[@caseysmith1718]

Why go through all this effort when you could simply connect 4 Noga arms together to hang from the ceiling? 🤣

[@jobkneppers]

James, I enjoyed this video just as all of your content. In your machining approach this time however it felt like overkill when you machined the surface of the pads with a fly cutter. I know the urge; everything has to look good at least, but this is just a surface to cling a magnet to... No more than that. A belt grinder would suffice to make it look good and perform the desired function or am I missing something here? No nagging, or just a little bit, but I'm a sucker for a functional approach and this machining (especially with the "indicate it in" part) is really over the top for such a part with such a function. (next to edge finding a location for holes in the profiles to match wood somewhere in the ceiling or have a level surface for a free moving articular joint with no accuracy needed) Maybe you're trying to impress your new girlfriend (joke) but please stick to a minimal "mean and lean" or "this is sufficient enough" for the approach to accomplishing working parts.... Conclusion; you know how to work accurate but the best machinists I know also know when to go quick and dirty and achieve a perfect workable result too in less time. This episode was over the top in my point of view. Thank you James. Just a heads up from a long time loyal appreciating viewer. All the best, Job

[@carlhitchon1009]

I'm not so sure. To get the most out of the magnet, the fit has to be close.

[@jrk1666]

the eternal game of what hobbists can get away with

[@jhawker2895]

Overkill ??? No level on camera ... Rather than a magnet just screw the holder arm into a threaded hole (or welded bolt) in the steel Plate ... (No chance of arm coming loose). Just having fun with you and your obsessive compulsive nature ... Thanks for Sharing ... Stay safe and Well

[@Pest789]

James needs to do a collaboration with Cranktown City, LOL

[@Clough42]

In fact, the camera has a level indicator built into the display. :)

[@jhawker2895]

@@Clough42 Plus you are a very level headed guy ... Love your channel

[@BeekBass]

BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!