So this is my 3rd GoPro camera. Honestly, I’m not all that stoked on GoPro, but it takes passable pics in the water, and I like taking pictures for fun. Especially of my talented surfer friends. Me….not so much. Yikes.
I replaced my broken GoPro Hero 3 several months ago with the newer Hero Black Edition. It’s much smaller, lighter, and doesn’t require the pain in the ass housing.
However, the GoPro remote I had bought only a year ago had also given up the ghost. And I was NOT about to buy another remote, nor was I going to pay $50 bucks for a wrist strap mount that I knew wouldn’t be small enough for my wrist.
Luckily, we have a 3D printer, handy for printing out custom bits of plastic (PLA). But this plastic is made from corn, AND is compostable. Super gnar.
I put my “custom order” in with my husband, who drew up what I wanted for this project in
Creo Parametric, a digital drawing program. The file was exported for use in our MakerBot 3D Replicator. The original prototype- a custom-sized wrist mount with 1 1/2″ wide slots for a wrist band to pass through- was printed in low resolution (the surface was very grainy when completed, but it printed in less than a 1/2 hour). This prototype was made to check sizing and fit with the camera.Once that checked out, a final version was printed in black using a much higher resolution. The underside of the mount was still very rough, due to how the item is printed. Since I had already intended to cover it with a scrap piece of wetsuit from a chest piece (where the rubbery grip is), it didn’t matter. The small piece of neoprene foam was going to be a cushion for my wrist. I used my quilt clips to make sure the glue made a good bond between the pieces.
Because I thought it would be EASY to find 1 1/2″ wide Velcro that would be suitable, I wanted the opening for the strap that wide. Also, the strap needed to be wide enough to prevent the camera from sliding around. But, alas, I had to make do by sewing two strips of 3/4″ Velcro side by side to make a wide strap since 1 1/2″ couldn’t be found readily. Good gravy.

Measured out the length I needed- make sure to flip the Velcro and re-sew it, or it won’t stick to itself!
It turned out to be very comfortable to use, and I could easily paddle with it on. Here are some pictures from the other day using the wrist mount in the water.
Glad I got a few pics. The GoPro camera’s broken now, but the mount held up great. It was fun while it lasted.