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My home-brewed in-car camcorder mount

There are places where you can buy specially-made camcorder mounts that go inside your car.  Unfortunately, those mounts are often quite expensive ($100 or more).  I decided to do some looking around and come up with my own (cheaper) solution.

The majority of my in-car camcorder mount is made of R-A-M mount parts.  Go to their website.  Look at all the cool stuff they make.  You will find a solution there--one that fits your application (or can be made to fit your application rather easily).  They don't sell directly to the public, but they do have a dealer listing on their web site.

I started with their R-A-M 1" Ball Universal Mount With 6 1/4" x 2" Plate kit, part number RAM-B-111.  I already had this kit before starting this project, so I don't remember how much it costs.  ($40 or less???)

Next, I ditched the ball base that came with that kit (may be cheaper to get the spring-clip arm and universal plate separately) and replaced it with a 1" ball base with the proper stud that screws into the base of camcorders/cameras.  The R-A-M part number for that guy is RAM-B-202A and should cost between $8 and $10.   That part is the key to it all--once you have it, you can use any other R-A-M hardware to securely mount the camcorder to your vehicle.

ballmounttop.JPG (13463 bytes) ballmountside.JPG (10147 bytes)ballmountbottom.JPG (17127 bytes)

I have a rear stress bar in my VWs, and that's what I mount the R-A-M stuff to.  First, I wrapped the stress bar with some padding (some leftover spongy shelf liner material).  Then, I got a couple U-bolts and nuts from the local hardware store ($2 or less) and used them to secure the 6 1/4" x 2" plate to the stress bar.  The U-bolts I got had to be a little wider than the mounting plate in order to fit around the stress bar, so I got some that came with matching plates that goes across the bolts (as shown in the picture below).

base.JPG (33424 bytes)

stored.JPG (40957 bytes)

One neat advantage to this set-up, is that I have the freedom to mount the camera anywhere along the width of the car.  Also, as shown in the picture above, the base and arm fold down and out of the way when the camera is not in use.

Now, all I did was screw the ball mount into the base of the camcorder.

camera.JPG (25373 bytes)

cam_w_mount.JPG (26289 bytes)

All that remains is to put the ball in the top end of the arm, tweak the position/angle of everything, and tighten it down.  (I hope the pics don't take too long to load...)  Note that the parcel shelf/hatch cover must be removed to make room for the camera.

leftside.JPG (44342 bytes)

rearangle2.JPG (44856 bytes)

rearview.JPG (36459 bytes)

sideview.JPG (32109 bytes)

insideview.JPG (38736 bytes)

The R-A-M mount holds the camera firmly, yet easily and quickly allows you to adjust camera position and angle.  I love it!

Send me an e-mail if you have questions or comments.

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