I’ve decided that it’s time to upgrade the workbench camera so I picked up a new Microsoft LifeCam Studio with HD sensor. It’s a very nice 1080p camera that comes with a flexible mount that can be connected to a tripod. This also allows easy mounting to this overhead boom that I built from PVC pipe parts which lets me position the camera virtually anywhere over my workbench! Having this camera also frees up my JVC video camera so that I can use it to record videos of projects while I’m broadcasting on my ustream channel with the LifeCam.
The parts for the boom cost about $35 and took about an hour to assemble. I might make a change to the overhead mount and see if I can use a double roller channel from a pocket door. This will facilitate easier movement of the boom without having to deal with rotation caused by the weight of the boom. For now, this assembly serves its purpose quite nicely!
Thanks go out to atdiy and whisk0r of Toymaker Television for the cool Hack A Week song. “Thanks guys!”
Keep on hackin!
This is so great, easily my favourite hack so far! I think I’l follow this design when I finally get a proper workshop of my own.
This system you came up with looks pretty expandable too. You could feed the wires down inside the pipe to protect them from snagging on things while you’re working or you could add extra fixings to the end so you can add small spotlights to aid with illumination when in a tight spot.
Also it occurred to me that you could also add a counter-balance weight to the beam so that it doesn’t put too much torque on the main pivot.
Your workbench is pretty sweet.
It would be nice if you could provide a list of parts. You mentioned the odd one but didn’t go over anything such as the diameter of the PVC. Just a point form list on your post would be very helpful for people like me who would love to build one, I could just copy and paste it from your list into my shopping list on my phone.
How much weight do you think this could support? I wouldn’t mind making mine so it could have different attachments such as a light or a magnifying glass.
BTW love that work desk with the overhead lighting. Did you make that as well?