FPV Googles/Mask
FPV Googles/Mask
3D
Published 2017-04-24T18:51:17+00:00
HobbyKing sells a low budget DIY FPV mask under the Quanum brand. I liked the idea of using a display with a lens in front of it. The picture is so much more immersive than with FPV googles. And the low price is a huge bonus too. But there are things with the Quanum mask that suck. The screen is ultra low resolution. The mask uses a Fresnel lens which makes it impossible to obtain a sharp image. Fresnel lenses are unsuited for use in anything close to the eyes. High magnification reading glasses provide better sharpness, but are not so easy to mount in the Quanum mask.
There were a few 3D-printed mask designs available, but none of them allowed for using reading glasses. They also seemed rather heavy. As a result I decided to build my own mask out of foam and 3D-printed parts.
Instead of cutting out the main body parts from foam, I decided to buy them ready made from http://flyingwings.co.uk/fpv-uav/fpv-eco-goggles.html. The parts turned out to be of high quality and made out of very durable black foam. I highly recommend using these rather than cutting or printing your own. It is possible to use up to a 5 inch 16x9 screen.
I then designed the 3D-printed parts needed to mount a three point head band, reading glasses, cabling and the screen to the mask.
I am using a Boscam FR632 receiver. I have designed a holder for it that can be found here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:788540
I used 4x reading glasses that I bought locally in Sweden at Clas Ohlson and modified by cutting the frame. I am sure that it will be possible to find similar glasses pretty much everywhere.
The screen I used is a 5 inch variant with 800x480 resolution. This particular screen does not go into bluescreen mode when the signal is low, which is a must for FPV.http://www.banggood.com/Blue-Sky-5-Inch-HD-Digital-Panel-Display-800x480-Snowflakes-Screen-p-970382.html
I am providing alternative mask fronts both for the screen I used and a generic variant that can be used with any screen by manually cutting out a hole to make it fit. The only modification to the screen is that I drilled two holes in the back plate for the cabling and replaced the original clumsy cables. I made a back cover for my particular screen that hides the cable holes.
The head band is made from a 2 inch (5 cm) elastic belt.
Total cost for the mask (not including the receiver) was about 60 Euro. My 32 channel diversity receiver was another 60 Euro. But you can find 8 channel 5.8 GHz receivers for well under 20$ today, which is kind of amazing.
All parts are small enough to fit on a 15x15 printing bed.
| Date published | 24/04/2017 |
| Technology | FDM |
| Complexity | Easy |