GOPRO 8 Tourist Friendly Case with accessible USB port

cults3d

The ultimate tourist case for GOPRO 8: Wear it like a camera. Heavily tested! I made one for GOPRO 7 and used it all summer in Japan - it was a total game-changer! Many times I would just switch it on and let it roll, hanging on my neck for a point-of-view shot that was absolutely unobtrusive. Nobody even reacted to it as a camera, thanks to the excellent Hypersmooth stabilization I've got an incredible amount of usable footage. And importantly, it weighs nothing! You don't even know you're wearing it. Set it for quick capture, linear field and wear it around your neck all day and you have the best travel video camera you ever dreamed of - always ready at the press of a button. Now it's time to make one for GOPRO 8. Sadly, GOPRO 8 went away with the removable port door - now it's a removable door that covers and holds both battery, SD card and port. But I really want to have an accessible USB port - it was the best feature during my travels - no need to take the camera off the case for charging and downloading! So this case holds the GoPro 8 with its doors fully removed and the design has a special part with a foam that holds the battery in place while having the USB port fully accessible. The design size is calculated exactly with all the tolerances in place - after printing it will be slightly larger on each side because the next step is to add foam that will hold and pad the camera in place. See the pictures where the foam goes. The front part (where the front display is) has a thinner tape instead of foam to avoid any potential scratching of the plastic front display window. The foam is 2mm black craft foam - it's common everywhere, available at Walmart and other stores. To glue the foam I use 3M Super 77 adhesive - it's a tried method. Spray the foam, let it dry till sticky, then press to the part. Super 77 is a great glue for securing materials that don't normally bond well. The part that holds the battery has a foam that not only presses the battery but also sticks out and it's folded over so it creates a sort of lip that covers the top exposed part as well. See the assembly image for details. After the assembly of padding and adding the strap, the camera holds in the case very securely - it can't fall out, it sits there very tightly. The 4 corners have through holes where you need to push pieces of standard 1.75mm filament (or copper wire) and then secure it with thin superglue that seeps into it. This is to mechanically improve the design in z direction and to avoid layer separation when straps are pulling on it. I used this printed with PLA+ every day hanging on my neck for a number of weeks with absolutely zero issues. The strap and its thickness is a calculated part of the assembly padding that holds the camera from the side and presses it to the battery foam. The strap is braided about 1.5mm thick. If you use very thin straps, you may need to add some padding on the left-hand side. You can also make a little foam "cork" to close the USB port hole. I used the GoPro7 with exposed ports in Japan and had no problems at all, but closing the port with foam insert will protect it from elements. The "rustic" finish I used: print in "silk" copper, then spray paint with black, then rough the edges. However, for best mechanical properties, I suggest using black PLA+. The silk PLA is usually a bit more brittle and stringy, while the PLA+ will make better layer adhesion. This whole design was tested heavily and took a lot of hours to make it just perfect from both ergonomic and mechanical properties. Bonus - a dock for the camera with the case. There's an extra zip archive with a "dock" cup holder. It's basically a platform where you can securely put the camera with the case. It's up to you how to use the dock, you can put it on a cup for elevated view, or push and glue a 1/4-20 nut to the bottom and have a dock that screws to a tripod etc... I personally use it in my car cup holder.