I need more hobbies.. Working on a PVC post discrete camera housing... (a better birdhouse)

Ri22o

Ri22o

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Jul 30, 2020
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Indiana
I want another view for anyone coming up the walk to the house and have wanted to add a camera at about 42-48" high on the approach to my front door. This has been something I have been thinking about for a while now. Originally I bought one of the small, wooden birdhouses and was going to use it, but have had a better thought... After having my neighbor 3D print some camera spacer rings for me I started considering getting my own printer. Walking around the house realizing all of the simple problems that having one could solve, I decided to order a Bambu P1S. The printer hasn't arrived yet, but I am already designing some things I want to make. One of these is a topper for a 4x4 PVC fence post that I plan to set in the front flower bed and use to house a T54IR-ZE.

I work for a CAD/CAM software company and part of my job is testing our software. It's a bit of a win/win. I get to test the software and design some parts at the same time. (I have already found some bugs and logged them, so it's working out.)

I plan to put the post about where the corn decor is. It will also have a "Welcome" type sign on it, which is the guise I am using for installing it. My hope is the sign will also draw attention to look towards the camera.

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This is what I have come up with so far. It is 3 pieces. The bottom that attaches to the post (allows me to easily resize for various size posts), the mid-section, and the top. I have put a design on the other 3 sides that mimics the look of the camera. These circles will either be printed in black or painted black.

The camera will be sandwiched between a pedestal on the mid-section and on the lid, which should allow it to eyeball around. I figure there is about 6* of adjustment in each direction, which should be more than enough.

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I just grabbed a P1S with AMS over Black Friday. I just started printing with it this week, had to build a space for the printer.

I have only built a few things off maker world but it amazes me at what the P1S can do. It’s my 1st experience with a 3d printer.

My biggest problem is the cad end of it, I’ve tried to learn at a few different times in my life but never had much success. Always learned enough to get thru whatever project I needed at the moment then forgot it all as soon as the task was complete. I once again find myself with a need to learn to draw.

What cad program are you a part of? Beginner friendly?
 
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Unfortunately I didn't get BF pricing, but hopefully what I paid wasn't too much more.

This is Mastercam. I'm not sure how beginner friendly it is, but I had no experience with it before I started at the company just under 2 years ago. I do well at picking up things as I go, so it wasn't difficult for me to learn it. Luckily I am on the CAD team and my job is to muck around in that area and try to find things wrong with it.

Obviously I want to recommend our software, but I do see a lot of people using Onshape and Fusion. I know we have a learning edition (I think it's the same as the regular product, you just can't post code to run a program on a CNC machine), but not sure what is required to download it.
 
BF pricing - $749 for the combo. I had a microcenter which was close enough so I made the drive. Luckily/unluckily the microcenter was in Paterson NJ, a 1/2 price sales tax zone. Paid cash with no shipping, just the 3% sales tax and the risk.

I’ve been playing with tinkercad but haven’t gotten serious. Maybe fusion 360 at some point. Tinker isn’t very precise but not sure I need precision, just need to get comfortable somewhere. Years ago I actually bought turbocad and a book, tried like hell to teach myself. As I said, it was a lot of learning only to forget it all 3 days later.

I also prefer a Mac which limits my choices. Only windows machine I have runs headless with Blue Iris.
 
Not too bad then, I paid $799 from Bambu. My local Micro Center didn't have the combo with the AMS.

What I did to become more familiar, and this will work with any software, was to watch Too Tall Toby on Youtube. He has a lot of great videos with drawings to model with. He does have specific videos for some of the softwares too, which might help.
 
Might want to think about sizing it to fit over a post sleeve. That will clean it up as far as the post look and give you space inside for cable and connections. Most have a channel at the corners where you can run cable up from the ground around the post. I just mounted some of mine to the outside but similar idea/height.

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It is designed to go over the top of a 4"x4" PVC fence post sleeve. This is what I had planned on using. Were you thinking something different?
www.menards.com

4 x 4 x 8' White Vinyl Fence Post Kit

This low-maintenance vinyl resists damage from the sun, water and insects. It has been designed for use with fence panels and does not require treated wood posts. Wood post inserts are only recommended in. areas of H wind, D frost lines or for Extra support with gate hardware. Post kit includes...
www.menards.com www.menards.com

Do you typically set a 4x4 and then slide the sleeve over? Or do you just set the sleeve and leave it hollow? The specifications don't require a post unless there is high winds or a gate latch.
 
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Wasn't sure what you had planned, using a sleeve or just sitting it on top of a 4x4. The sleeve will look much nicer and no paint, hides the cable easily, etc. Better way to go right in front of the house.

For mine, I have ~2' of the post buried and ~2' above ground. The sleeve is at ~32"' so ~8" of open space inside the post sleeve for a splitter, cable, and all. Wasn't all that precise about it. You don't need that much post buried. As you said, it's not doing anything structural. Was easy digging for me there and I had a 4' scrap 4x4 laying around so WTH. I didn't bury much if any of the sleeve. It's just resting on the ground over it.
 
Ri22o said:
Did you set it in concrete, or just tamp the hell out of the dirt?
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Naaaa... just buried it. It's doing nothing but just standing there. Was years ago and it's gone nowhere. No lean or anything at all. Soil's different different places so YMMV I suppose but kinda doubt that you'd need to do much.
 
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