I am struggling to find what I am looking for, perhaps I have not stumbled across the best search terms yet.
I would like to find a small, inexpensive swivel mount to be used with a project box for an ESPHome based multi-sensor. Something which can turn in all directions, and has flat mounting on both sides (one side to the project box, and the other to the wall). For example something like what come on mmWave and PIR sensors so you can adjust where they are pointing (in fact this is my exact application, as I want to include an LD2410 mmWave sensor).
The closest I have found so far are small(-ish) “satellite” speaker mounts, but those are still a bit too big, so I will keep looking.
I would love to have a 3d printer some day for things like this, but not there yet. In the end maybe I have to pay someone to 3d print something like this for me perhaps. But consumer off the shelf would be preferred (I think?).
Yes! Something like this was exactly what I had in mind! Which does not seem to be available commercially (or I am not finding the right search terms). I guess I will have to pay some small maker of 3d printed things for something like that.
Did you just find that on an image search? Or via a listing on some 3d printing site?
Perhaps someone here in the community who has a 3d printer could make some beer money offering them (hint, hint )? If the model were parameterized, it should be possible to even just scale it and offer in different sizes, I suppose…
Well, I will give you credit for cutting directly to the pertinent questions.
Unfortunately I am not sure. But you are right, this is the correct order to proceed.
I am imagining something relatively small, perhaps a few inches square, but I really would need to nail down which ESP board I plan to use, first.
I guess my thought was to make a general thread about this sort of thing, as surely I can’t be the only one looking for something like this. Rather than something tailored to this particular project I am working on at the moment.
Inexpensive (relatively) and readily available (at any hardware store). You could maybe put 2 together (in a Z fashion) to get whatever (up and down) adjustment you need. You could mount not quite straight if you needed to rotate, but often I think this will not be necessary for a mmWare (or PIR) sensor.
Did you put something on them to keep them in place (stiff)? Or just found some naturally stiff hinges?
EDIT:
Searching for “stiff z hinge” gives results for some Samsung folding phone and some kind of fishing rig, apparently. Which illustrates the problem here and why I made this thread. I will resist the urge to comment any further on the enshitification of Internet search these days.
[0] I like the air freshener(?) one as well, but for different reasons.
The hinge is just plastic with a small project box held to it by velcro tape. Room to put usb cable out the back. Such small boxes are easily toppled by heavier usb cable.
I tried searching for something like this (on eBay and other sites in US, many ways including by seller name) but could not come up with any results, which sort of illustrates the problem here.
(separated to own post to more cleanly mark as solution)
I had forgotten that Apollo sell something very similar to this (perhaps even the exact same?) as a mount for their MSR-2, as well as their MTR-1. Those two look very similar to me, with the one for MTR-1 looking like a bit longer “stem” perhaps. These are currently $4.99 each, plus shipping.
Their product page indicates these are remixes of this item (by Gyrobot, on Thingverse).
So I suppose you could also take/send those files to your 3d printing service of choice. I haven’t done anything like this yet, but maybe it’s time to see who is around me (and/or what is available online).
)? If the model were parameterized, it should be possible to even just scale it and offer in different sizes, I suppose…
Which illustrates the problem here and why I made this thread. I will resist the urge to comment any further on the enshitification of Internet search these days. 