I recently purchased a headcam from emerson and wanted a chest mount to capture moments on my bike. The GoPro chesty was expensive and incompatible, so I made my own. I figure someone here may try it for hiking adventures, or fellow mountain bikers would experiment with it.
Materials:
-A hard "plate". (thinner plastic is good, not too flimsy and not too stiff)
-1 or 2 inch webbing (or both. length varies by your body size)
-A buckle for your webbing.
-Velcro, lighter stuff for the shoulder straps and industrial strength for the mount.(optional)
-A mounting plate for the camera (optional)
First, you have to cut 2 panels for the front and back plates. Pick a size big enough for your camera to be stable, but small enough to not feel bulky. Then, you have to cut slits for your webbing. I used a grinder, but a dremel with a cut off wheel would be more suited. The top 2 can be angled to keep the webbing from digging into your neck. The slots for the midsection webbing go vertical and make sure you cut them for your webbing size. (i used 1-inch all around, but you could use 2 inch for everything or just the midsection)
This is what the panels should look like. You need 2 of them.
Next, you can sew the straps. Originally I tried gross-gain, but it was to slick to bite in the buckle. Make sure the webbing is long enough and has room for adjustment. Pick a side for the buckle and sew the strap to the midsection slot on the other side. Then, you run the strap through the back panel. This allows it to slide and center the straps based on it's position. After that, I sewed my buckle to the front panel on my desired side. Run strap that goes around the back through the buckle, and you're done for the mid section.
The strap on the right wraps all the way around your body and carries the male buckle.
NOTE: 2 inch webbing will work better for the midsection strap. It may add comfort, and it will definitely make the mount more stable.
Now for the shoulder straps. Make sure you have enough to go over your shoulder, and have room for adjustments. You can always cut off excess. Sew the straps onto the back panels angled slots, and feed them through the front panels slots from the side that faces your body. Add velcro to the outside of the strap, and the inside of the strap that comes back up from the slots. Make sure you have enough adjustment room to set the camera's height based on your usage.
The straps would look like this.
Finally, add your camera's mount or velcro. If you have a GoPro you can use a flat mount they sell, and stick it to the panel. I only have 1 mount for my camera, so I put velcro on the mounting plate and one on the chest harness.
Here it is being worn.
No test footage because I haven't found the peak position for riding my bike with it. If I wasn't clear enough please tell me and I will try and help out. (I'm new to these DIY write ups, and always forget to take pictures of the making)
-JW
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Originally Posted by FLRider
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