Cheap Teleprompter From IPad Box

For this build you will need:

1. the original iPad box.
2. 1 sheet of foam core (black is best, I could only find white though)
3. Some double sided tape.
4. some black paint (I used flat black spray paint.)
5. a box cutter (or olfa art knife)
6. a pen
7. lots of hot glue
8. a ruler
9. a square
10. 1/4 inch bolt.
11. 2 - 1/4 inch nuts
12. a sheet of plexi glass, or picture frame glass
13. *optional automotive mirrored window tinting

In this step you're going to be creating the camera cowling. To do this you need to cut out three sides of the iPad screen picture on the top cover.

Make a cover for the back out of foamcore and hot glue it in place. Then cut out a hole for the camcorder, making sure that the center of the lens is in the middle of the viewable area when looking at the prompter head on.

We are going to create some tripod mounting gear by soldering a 1/4 inch nut and a large washer together, creating a sturdy-ish base for the box and mounting everything with hot glue.

Some things to consider. The inside of the iPad box top is lined with some sort of durable clothlike paper. Get rid of it. It's too hard to paint evenly and will cast strange reflections in the camera portion of the box. I'm having some trouble with my autofocus because of the glare.

I added a light hood to the back because the edges of the camera hole aren't flush against the camera. I was getting some back light leak which was interfering with the viability of the text.

Another thing to consider would be to add some automotive mirrored glass tinting to the front side of the reflective surface to really make the text pop. I'm not sure how this would affect the camera though.