Blueberry Pi Camera

The Birth of Blueberry!

Blueberry is the 3rd camera housing I made, but at this point I had realized that it would take some revisions before I would arrive at a design that I liked enough to produce a batch of. Looking at the bins of filament I had sitting around, I decided on the translucent blue PETG. This will require higher temperatures than PLA, and build plate adhesion will be more of a challenge, but the PET will produce a more durable and weather and sun resistant case. Blue just happened to be the color that I had in a 2.85mm diameter filament, which is what my Taz6 3d printer is designed for. I have a lot of 1.75mm filament, and will be using it, but occasionally, and with higher-temp plastics, the filament will bunch up at the top of the hot-end and then jam, and ruin the print. So, printing with 2.85mm filament is more reliable for me.

Here you can see the built-up standoffs. The cone shape adds strength and prevents the creation of a tall and fragile tower. You can also see the rails in the front that help hold the camera mounting wall in place. This uses the same 12v to 5v buck converter as the first model, and the major difference between the two models is the height and width.

And it has the same tethered cowl, with the 12v power input in the cowl and then wired to the screw terminals of the power adapter. It also flops apart easily when you are working with it, especially with that heavy HQ lens attached.

This model also did not have an attachment point, so it could only really be sit atop something, which is hard to work with.

I have repurposed part of this old build:

The base is being used on the Pi that is set up as the router in the camper. The large, flat surface of the bottom is perfect for using some velcro Command Strips to hold it up on the wall of the camper.

It has a Pimoroni Automation HAT attached, which allows me to monitor the camper’s 12v battery (its input) and  the 5v output of its own supply, and has additional features.