As soon as I got my GoPro 3 I wanted it to be mounted on my DJI F450 frame. Thats the multicopter I am using most of the time, it just flies so beautiful and never gave me any headache.
The way I assembled the frame, was a bit unfortunate. The extended space from the center plate, is left and right. It would have been better, to have it on the front and back. That way, I could have mounted the GoPro easy in front. But the disadvantage would be, that the camera would be quite low, and the propeller would be visible in the middle of the image. Thought to myself thats also not ideal and I should look for a different solution. I found it in the packaging of the GoPro. It is mounted on a square thick black plastic plate when you buy it. Instead of throwing it, I thought it could be useful.
My idea was to use it as an extender for the top center plate. It already comes with the perfect GoPro mount. So when I manage to mount it smart, I will get the camera into a raised position and I don’t need to change the configuration of the quad.
Soon it was “Dremel time” and I cut away the unwanted parts. The plate sits perfectly on the screw heads from the frame, just some of the material at the bottom corners need to be removed. For esthetic and aerodynamic reasons I removed also some parts of the front.
To be able to mount it, I place to small strips of double sided tape in the corner which fit there perfeclty. I also drilled two holes, to be able to use a zip-tie. One into the bottom of the plate and one directly into the foot of the mounting. There is a third hole, which sits on the wrong place, so don’t drill it.
Here is the quad turned upside down and the camera mount is already installed. You can see the zip-tie securing the whole installation. The little lines in the plastic, are just at the perfect place and match to the screw heads on the top. Even without double sided tape, it would hold very well.
And the result of 30 minutes of work. When I find some time, I will sand it a little bit to make the edges look nicer. But for now it works!