Entry #9- Homemade Laptop/Camera Mount for Chasing

This chase season, I've got a bit more freedom as well as money to be able to chase more to my leisure. With this, I also want to have a more effective setup in my vehicle during a chase. Before now, the only real "setup" I've used was a bunch of cameras, my phone, and a tripod being loosely tossed around the passenger seat, making the entire process a disorganized mess. I've also never used a "proper" dashcam nor have I ever used a laptop in the vehicle. And while the PYKL3 radar app and SPC mesoanalysis page on my phone have served me well, it would be much more convenient to upgrade to a laptop. It would only be more disorganized (not to mention risky to the laptop's condition) to have it sitting loose in my lap on the chase.

To solve this, I looked online to try and find a laptop mount. I quickly figured out that it would be well out of my budget (which for a teenager working part-time after school, that isn't a ton) to pay $200+ for a quality mount. That money would be much more valuable to pay for gas on a chase, or to put toward camera equipment for the future (and not to mention college looming in the next 18 months). Again, I started digging on the internet, and eventually found some good ideas using PVC piping to create my own mount, all mounting into the cupholder. The page that inspired my design can be found at this link: http://www.mdpub.com/laptoptray/index.html. I really don't even think I can take most of the credit for my design, as my modifications were relatively common sense, but I'd like to show the process I've gone through.

I started off trying to find something to serve as the platform for the laptop to rest on. I'm lucky enough to live in a household where we always have a ton of old scrap materials to work with (thanks dad), and I was quickly able to find a shelf off of a broken shelving unit. Someone could also very easily use a piece of plywood cut to the size of their laptop. For grips, I tore some rubber grips off some broken, useless camera mounts I save exactly for circumstances like this. I glued those on strategically and came up with this:

Now that I had the table portion done, I was able to go to Menards and pick up some PVC I would need. I can't remember the names of all the parts I bought, so here's the reciept. The total came out to less than $20! Keep in mind that I also didn't use a couple of the fittings, so it could go even cheaper.

I used 2-inch PVC because my cupholder measured 3", and fittings onto the 2" pipe would expand the size of the end of the pipe to just under 3". That was actually the most difficult part for me, so make sure to put extra thought into how well the pipe can snugly fit into your cupholder. I had to wrap some duct tape around the end of the PVC in order to get it to fit as tightly as I wanted it to. If it ends up being a little too wide for you, you can always sand it down as well.

The next step really just common sense. You fit the PVC together so it can perform the tasks you need it to. In my case, I wanted a camera mount straight above the cupholder, and a laptop mount coming off the side and in front of the passenger's seat.

When it comes to attaching the pipe to the platform, a drain that would fit into the 2" pipe did just the trick. All you have to do is unscrew the metal grill from the drain, and then screw the plastic on the side of the drain into the wood.

This was what it looked like after my first attempt at fitting it all together. I didn't yet have the camera mount on top and the entire rig was a bit too tall for what I needed.

So I adjusted it, and eventually found a "sweet spot" height for what I would need. At this point, I cemented the PVC together (which I also had lying around the house), and I crudely screwed the camera mount onto a fitting that could easily remove from the top of the pipe.

At this point, it was pretty much done. There were a few stability issues, however, with the rig being able to support the weight of the laptop. The simple solution for me was to put some velcro on the area where the laptop platform and dash would contact each other anyway. After I did that, the entire setup became surprisingly solid.

At this point, the rig was complete. A passenger (even one as fat as myself) can comfortably sit in their seat with no problems, and a driver has few issues with shifting gears although it is a tiny bit of an obstruction.

So far this rig has held up well just driving around in my day-to-day life. It's easily removable from the cupholder, so you can take it out when it isn't needed. I've left it in just to see how well it'll hold up and endure, and so far it's doing really nicely! The entire thing cost me less than $19 although I did have everything other than the PVC laying around. Even with that, though, I couldn't see a rig as simple as this one running anyone much more than $30 or so. It certainly beats $200 for a commercial mount!