Shapelock Tripod

Wendy suggested I record the kids debating this week. She wants to debrief them to enhance their skill development rate. To me, it just means sore arms as I hold my phone steady for 15 minutes at a time. So, in this case, Wendy really is the "mother of invention." And she has encouraged me to combine my love of four things: Shapelock, my iPhone, photography and creating

It took me a while, but I eventually realized that I didn't need two rare-earth magnets to hold my phone in place. Now I just have a stainless steel disk on my phone attached with a really awesome two-faced tape. No the tape doesn't dry out. Yes, it's easy to remove. I suppose if you were a bit of a wimp or using a phone case already, you could just mount the disk to it. I like my phone sleek and scratchy.
Going with a shorter bolt next time
Parts: 
  1. Disk, Magnet and housing from Lee Valley
  2. 4" bolt - 1/4" threads
  3. Spiffy long nut - 1/4" threads
  4. Shapelock. I don't exactly know how much, but if you got the free sample from their website, you could probably make 10 or more similar projects and reuse the materials virtually endlessly.

I'm very happy with this prototype. I plan to shorten the bolt to make it balance more securely on the smallest tripod I've got, which is very nice for cooking and reading. Total cost is roughly $5. It's made more valuable by the fact that I own three tripods already and the phone goes from my belt clip to tripod to handheld in 1 second flat.
Leo made the penguin pencil holder last year
Perhaps I'll paint the assembly once I get it just how I want it. So, hopefully never.

Comments

Ian said…
Kickstarter
2:52 pm
captainorange said…
Alpha testing first ;)

That reminds me of the magnetic keyboard/joystick combo I saw the other day. People were very concerned about the magnets.
3:33 pm
Ian said…
I just picked up a cool iPhone accessory for the car. It's a big button that you stick on your dash, and there's a small cord from the button that goes to the 'line in' in the stereo and the cigarette power source or whatever they call that now. It doesn't have any cord to the iPhone but uses bluetooth to connect to your phone. When you get in the car, you press the button once and now it's paired with your phone. Then you use the button to do exactly what the little button on iPhone earbuds do: play/pause music, invoke siri, do handsfree phone calls, etc. Pretty neat. Sound comes out of car speakers and uses the mic inside the button.
8:28 am
captainorange said…
Sounds pretty great. I wish I had a line-in. I have a BT device, but it transmits to FM. Sound quality varies wildly.
7:23 pm
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