Wood Camera Tripod Mount

I bought a used tripod and saved myself $70 off the new price, but it didn't come with a mounting plate to go in the head of the tripod. It was a pretty easy fix really, just took a chunk of chechen wood and a 1/4x20 bolt to build my own.

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Notable Materials:

> Tripod

> Scrap hardwood

> 1/4-20 bolt

> Spray polyurethane

Notable Tools:

> Table saw

> Miter saw

> Drill press

> Angle grinder

It's at this point that I realize we have a problem with the new tripod, my old camera mount will not work with this one. But I have tools so I can fix this situation!

Now I want a nice dense piece of hardwood for this so it will last. I grab this little piece of chechen out of my scrap hardwood drawer.

I measure the head of the tripod and cut the piece down to size on my table saw, then my miter saw so it fits in the head. I also cut it down square so it can fit in either direction.

The camera mount attaches to the tripod head using a 45 degree dovetail, so I set up my table saw with an extension on my miter gauge to cut the matching angle on all 4 sides.

Test fit and we're good!

Now I just need a standard 1/4-20 bolt to fasten the bracket onto the camera. After a little rummaging through my miscellaneous hardware drawer, I got one!

First I bore out the bottom of the bracket the size of the head of the screw, then I drill through for the rest of the bolt to fit through.

Test fitting the screw, but this guy is going to be a little too long to fit in the camera so I cut the bolt down shorter with my angle grinder and chamfer the corners so it fits into the camera easily.

Then it's just a matter of applying the finish and here I use a few coats of spray polyurethane to make sure it holds up for me.

So it's just a matter of screwing it into the camera and we're ready to film!

Success! Thanks for checking out the build and be sure to watch the build video for the full experience:

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