Thought some of you might find this project interesting or useful.

Starting Parts
5 - Pan head screws ¼ -20 x 3
4 – Wing Nuts ¼-20
5 – Hex Nuts ¼-20
1 – Thumb Screw ¼-20 x 2
1 – Split Ring Hanger 1”
1 – Split Ring Hanger 1 ¼”
4 – Washers ¼ x 1
6 – Furniture Grippers 1 x 4
Gorilla Glue



Parts Used
1 - Pan Head Screw ¼" -20 x 3" $0.88
2 - Wing Nuts ¼"-20 $0.98
1 – Split Ring Hanger 1 ¼” $2.23
2 - Washers ¼" x 1" $0.26
2 - Furniture Grippers 1" x 4" $1.00

Tools Needed
Scissors
Screw Driver

Optional Tools
1 1/4" Mini Clamps
Dremel
Gorilla Glue
1 Bottle of Beer. I chose Killians for this project, but the choice is yours.
Some tunes. I chose some Alice in Chains, but again it's your choice.

Step 1. Place Washer on Pan head screw. Have a drink of your beer.


Step 2. Place Put Screw through whole in top of Split Ring Hanger. Have a drink of your beer.

Step 3. Screw Wing Nut to down Screw to tighten on Split Ring Haner. Have a drink of your beer.


Step 4. Apply 2nd Wing Nut and Washer. Have a drink of your beer.


Step 5. Cut 2 strips of furniture gripper 1/4" wide by about 2 1/2" and 1 Strip 2 1/2" with a round center cut to fit washer. Have a drink of your beer.


Step 6. Apply 2 strips to bottom piece of Split Ring Hanger and Strip with round center to top. Have a drink of your beer.


Step 7. Unscrew on of the screws holding the Split Ring Hanger together. Have a drink of your beer.


Step 8. Place Split Ring Hanger around Steering Wheel and screw back together until you have firm snug fit. Have a drink of your beer.
Step 9. Screw Camera on, position in direction desired. Have a drink of your beer.
Step 10. Screw upper wing nut and washer tight to camera to hold camera in position. Have a drink of your beer.




Optional Steps
I cut the screw downt to 2" with dremel, you could just use a 2" screw, but I wasn't sure whow long I'd need starting out.
I also used gorilla glue to glue the upper wing nut and washer together so the washer doens't fall off when the camera isn't mounted.

Notes
I didn't try it yet while driving as I hadn't finished my beer yet. While it does provide a good view, and is certainly steadier than my hand while driving it also occurs to me having a hunk of metal on my steering wheel isn't the best of ideas, and you have to be on a straight road for best results, or course we have plenty of those in FL. I figure with a smaller Split Ring Hanger it could be adapted to hang from a rear view mirror. And easily adapted with a few accessories to mount via head rest posts. I'm also looking for a way to have a quicker release/attach mechanism than the screws on the Split Ring Hanger. I also have to give credit where it's do as this is not an entirely original idea, it was inspired from another similiar item I saw here .

Couple shots from mount

 

Interesting idea, useful for night shots and stuff from inside the car.

 

I found a few faults with your instructions:

1. Ran out of beer!
2. Mounted the camera:



Could not see over the steering wheel.

Please advise.

 

Well if you're going to mount that you'll need a passenger steering wheel as well. Or else feed the video to an LCD somewhere and drive off that. As for the beer depending on how much your drinking each time you may need a 2nd or 3rd bottle, I guess I should have put each drink can only be 1.2oz if you're drinking a standard bottle/can. I had already had a "few" earlier, so this one did't go as fast for me. Now that it's a new day and I'm sober I can work on the obvious safety issues here.

 

Neat idea.

You could also use The Pod
with a bit of velcro and mount directly on the dash.

William

 

I appreciate your ingenuity, but I just don't see this working; I would not be able to turn the wheel 180º with that attached. It would hit my legs. Just too dangerous. :-(

 

This idea actually reminds me of the mobile office desk that attaches to your steering wheel so you can put your laptop in front of you while in the car. You can't drive with it, but it does allow you a place to put your computer while sitting in your car.

I think if you solve the quick release idea, you "could" conceivably make the idea work. You still wouldn't use it while in motion, but you could pull over, and snap the camera on and shoot as other MINIs drive by, without spending several minutes screwing it on.

Richard

 

Ok, I had to go move 9 cubic yards of topsoil from my grandparents flower gardens, it doesn't sound like alot, but that's alot dirt, at least I get some dinner out of it. Anyways, I've got the combined ingenuity of myself, my little brother and grandpa working on it now. Right now I'm working on a swing arm that attaches to the post of the head rest. I assume you can remove the head rests in the Mini? Anyways so far so good, I just need locking mechanism to hold it in place once it's out and keep it from swinging into your face if you stop quick. The disadvantage to this so far is you seat had to be pretty up right for the camera to be level.

 

When you get to the exciting turns arent you just getting pics of the dash? Or maybe you are not supposed to use while driving, but then what is the use?

 

You are right, hence the swing arm.

View from right side


View from left side


View from Behind


View from Behind


Driver View

 

Ah, so its not really a steering wheel mount like the title says, that is good. Hey, that's not even a MINI!

 

Well it started as a steering wheel mount, but I realized that wasn't the best idea. Yeah it's not a MINI, mine is still waiting for a ship in england. Besides it's better to experiment on your old car than your new one. I shot some video from it earlier, but it weighed in at a hefty 630MB, so I'll have to cut a short piece out and put it on google. It worked pretty well but I'd still like to see a little more stability.

 

As I wait for google to do their thing here is a link for the vid on rapidshare. It's pretty boring so if you're looking for action there is none. The A620 did a pretty good job with the video though for a $260 point and shoot camera.
http://rapidshare.de/files/17073148/...ount1.avi.html

if you don't have an account just click the free option.

unfortunately the biggest problem was cut from the video, the first left turn and the arm swung out and the camera was looking out the passenger window, so I'm working on a magnetic solution, using two magnets popped from an old "hide a key" to hold it in place. Hopefully I'll have some time to waste on this over the next few weeks and get something more polished. I think a mount that connects via the head rest post on both seats would be best if you had a remote trigger, but without one it'd be hard to take a picture if you're not doing a continuous recording like video.