Kiteforum.com

Made a few more changes on the Max mount and was instantly reminded me why I'm not a design engineer.

The idea creating a stiffer GoPro mount area made me realize the reason they're usually supported only on one side is because they NEED TO BEND in order to tighten around the insert. Making it completey solid doesn't work. *SIGH* Then I realized that the camera should be inserted in the opposite direction as the holes for the record and power button are pretty mucn not accessible because of the loop. *DOUBLE SIGH* This was my first print with nylon and after 12 hours it warped at the bottom. I've read this would happen but now I have to compensate for it. I like the shiny nylon look but cleaning up all those overhangs are much harder than on softer plastics.

While waiting for this test to print out I mocked up the simple up-down mount but now I realize this wont really work properly either.

Back to the drawing board!

Damn. Decided to test how much strength/flex the mount has and it's not good. The angled line mounts are a definite no, the top arms were the first to snap at the angle. The lower line arm to body snapped next. The oval ring and camera bracket are pretty sturdy. I'll try printing this in polycarbonate next but I don't have a lot of hope.

Both the Nylon and the PLA prints cracked. The PLA was 15% (right) infill and the nylon was 100% (left). Was hoping the nylon would bend but it wasn't much. I think I may need to print at a higher temp to get the layers fused better but warping will be an issue. Flat, thick and without a lot of angles seem to make the strongest prints.

Some interesting results on the nylon prints after a few days. Did a test print of the basic mount and right after the print it seemed very brittle but after a couple of days the nylon is A LOT more resilient. I think the nylon prints need to absorb some moisture after they're printed. I found some posts where it was recommended to boil them to speed up the process. Though when printing them the filament needs to be completely dry. I can't break or split the layers on this print with my hands. Literally bent it in half and it just springs back. I bent the tabs more than a few times. This mount feels more bombproof than the Camring one now. The hardest part is trying to clean all the print imperfections now because of how tough it is. I was only able to break the ring after I stepped on it (180lbs). Everything else just bent. It's finally acting like nylon now. Stoked!