Prusa i3 MK2: V1 Raspberry Pi Camera Mount - The Round Tower

Attention: Please take a look at the project's update section down below.

With the Raspberry Pi camera holder "The Round Tower" you have a convenient mounting for a Raspberry Pi camera, to observe your printing job or make time lapse videos.

Because a 3D-printer needs a lot of attention!

Using an infrared filtered camera you can watch your prints even in absolute darkness, given that you have some infrared LEDs connected.
For this purpose I use the Kuman camera as shown in all the pictures (affiliate links ahead...).

• DE: http://amzn.to/2ftEymf
• UK: http://amzn.to/2eVZkY9

It comes with two ambient light controlled infrared LEDs. As the LEDs get quite warm, I have heatsinks attached to the back copper plate to cool them down.

• DE: http://amzn.to/2gd9aK2
• UK: http://amzn.to/2gciQFk)

The Round Tower's arm uses the hexagonal hole on the side of the Prusa LCD controller's brackets and is secured Prusa-ish with a ziptie. :-) No screws or nuts necessary!
It also has a covered ribbon cable duct that hides the rather ugly ribbon cable which leads it behind the LCD controller. From here it can be guided just like the LCD's ribbon cables all the way to the back of the printer. If you don't have your Raspberry Pi sitting somewhere in the back of the Prusa i3 MK2, having the ribbon cable behind the LCD controller should give you a good starting point for a nice cable routing.
If you want to route the cable all the way to the back, you'll need a longer cable. I used an 1 meter flex cable:

• DE: http://amzn.to/2fSCQIi
• UK: http://amzn.to/2eBAUaN

Don't like having your camera placed at the left hand side of the printer? No problem!
The Round Tower has a symmetrical geometry and can also be mounted on the right side.
The camera's bracket does not need any other tools either. Just guid your cables through the rounded slot, connect it to the camera and snap the camera into the bracket. Done!

I have chosen this distance and angle for the camera, because it results in a simple build with a good viewing angle, especially for the critical first layer. But if you don't agree, don't worry. Having the camera bracket sitting on a 8 mm in diameter socket, there will be more extensions in the future to place in between, like adapters for increasing the height and adjusting the viewing angle. And it should be also fairly ease for you to design your own extensions (see dimension drawing). If you do, please share them on Thingiverse!

Please also take a look at my other designs, printer parts, and tools.

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Please also consider buying your next gear via one of the affiliate links found inside my Thingiverse project pages or directly over the following links.

• Amazon.de
• Amazon.co.uk
• eBay Germany
• GearBest.com