I needed a video camera teleprompter recently and (unbelievably!) did not find one already on Thingiverse (as of July 9th, 2016), so had to cobble one up quickly. I'm sharing it here for anyone who needs something like this.
This was quickly designed for my specific needs so please don't complain that it doesn't do this or that. If you need something else, please modify it or design it yourself.
Some notes:
- The ipad arms and camera risers are mirrored, so just print two of each
- The glass is 10" x 8" and was appropriated from a picture frame. In my case, the glass was 2.25mm thick. I placed 3M blue tape around the perimeter of the glass initially to protect from sharp edges, but ended up printing up some protective edges for the glass. I left the tape in place as it allows for a better grip, especially for the hinges.
- The glass is just a press fit onto the hinge, so only install it when you are ready to use it. It can fall off if you are not careful.
- The ipad holder is sized for an iPad 2 with no case but should allow everything else to sit in place, except maybe an original iPad 1
- The camera risers are designed to be glued into the slots on the base. I used 2 part epoxy glue
- The tripod mount is a Manfrotto quick release style specifically for my tripod. It may or may not work for you. It is screwed and glued onto the base. I may add some other mounts later on, or you can design your own. ** Update - I added a mount that accepts a tripod screw, but I did not test it. I'm not sure it's strong enough to hold the whole contraption on the tripod, so use at your own risk.
- Try to balance your camera and ipad in such a way that the tripod mount is the center of gravity. 3-D PLA printed stuff is not that strong, especially with the grain, and can easily break if too much weight is applied.
- Everything else is screwed together with #6-32 screws cut to length, except for the hinges, which use #10-32 wingnuts and studs. The camera tripod screw is a 1/4"-20 screw. You can probably find a 1/4-20 wingnut stud but I used what I had around, which was a screw, so you need a screwdriver to tighten.
- The hinge wing nuts are not positioned in the best way for tightening with the glass in place, so I suggest you use Loctite and tighten them before inserting the glass in place.
- Ideally, you should cover the glass and camera with a black cloth, but if your background is dark and you turn up the brightness on the ipad you may be able to get away without it.
7/11/2016 - Added Manfrotto round mount for Compact Action tripod
6/29/2021 - People keep asking for editable files, so I managed to get some STP files which should be editable in Fusion 360