Monster Mount

Big Project	Project	Project Manager

Big Project	Project	Project Manager
Electronics Mounts	Monster Mount	@Nathan Green

Task Description

The goal of this task is to design a light-weight mount which can “clip” onto an arm without removing any wires. It will use a dove tail mechanism with clevis/cotter pin to lock the mount on the arm.

Constraints

Constraints	Written By	Append Date

Constraints	Written By	Append Date
Light weight	@Smile Khatri	October 4, 2023
Must mount: $200 CV camera FPV camera (facing down) Optical flow sensor (OFS) 1D lidar	@Smile Khatri	October 4, 2023
Easy to clip onto the arm	@Smile Khatri	October 4, 2023
Minimize exposure to prop wash	@Smile Khatri	October 4, 2023

Relevant Contacts

To be written by the component owner and should be used if collaborating with another subteam. This should be the “component owner” of the other subteam and/or the person on those subteams. Delete if not used. DELETE THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE PUBLISHING

Subteam	Contact	Contact Description

Subteam	Contact	Contact Description
Operations	@Anthony Luo	Informing that cameras and OFS must be aligned properly (in terms of angle) with respect to the forward direction Notifying about prop wash issue

Assignees

Assignee	Asana Task	Date

Assignee	Asana Task	Date
@Smile Khatri	Mechanical - Monster Mount - Asana	August 2023

Task Progression/Updates

Author: person updating Date: YYYY/MM/DD

Author: @Smile Khatri Date: 2023/10/04

Design/Manufacturing Updates

The initial design of the monster mount (hereafter referred to as MM) consisted of a tube fixture with a dove tail section, and a plate (on which the sensors are mounted) with a socket dove tail region. However, the problem of this design was that the long side of the plate was perpendicular to the carbon fiber (CF) tube which meant the sensors would be exposed to prop wash (shoutout to @Anthony Luo for pointing this out).

Design #1 sitting on CF tube

Design #1

Another issue with this design is that the X and Y axes of the FPV cam, $200 CV cam and OFS would not align with the X and Y axes of the drone (assuming that the forward direction of the drone aligns with one of these axes).

This revelation led to design #2. Also, at this point it had already been decided that the MM would sit on the front left arm of the drone.

Heavy modifications were made in design #2 to reduce the weight of the mount and also solve the camera and OFS misalignment issue.

You can see that the cameras and OFS are rotated 45 degrees so that their axes align with the forward direction. The alignment of the lidar doesn’t matter according to @Anthony Luo.

In design #2, the plate will slide onto the tube fixture in a perpendicular direction to the length of the tube. This will allow the long length of the plate to be collinear with the CF tube which we expect will protect the sensors and camera from prop wash.

As for sliding in the dove tail, it is a medium tight fit and a cotter/clevis pin is used to prevent the plate from sliding.

For the OFS, it will be stuck onto the plate using a double sided thick sticker and also via a clamp. The clamp will be a ‘plank’ which is attached to the plate using M3 screws. Heat set inserts will be integrated into the plate so that the plank can be screwed (no pics yet).