My Homebrew step-by-step

[Todd_ID]

I finally got excited enough to start my homebrew trail camera hobby.  I bought all the stuff for making an infrared external flash unit, but I thought I maybe should get my feet wet with a simpler build for my first one.  This build is a Sony W80 with a Simple Sniper board and a HPWA (High Performance Wide Angle) fresnel from Snapshot Sniper all in a Pelican 1020 case.  I figured I have about $105 into parts, and it took my 2 evenings of about 3 hours each from start to finish.  The camera came from Ebay; I bought a lot of 10 non-functioning W80 cameras for $100, and now I have 8 that work after a little parts swapping and cleaning.

Here is my starting point:

[Todd_ID]

This is the disassembled camera.  The shutter control board that you need to get to live just under the power and shutter buttons.  It takes more tweaking and bending and prying than I expected to get it apart, but after working on all of the cameras I have come to see that there is always some little tab that you are not seeing that holds up the show.  


This is the board you are trying to get to.  The ribbon strip that connects the shutter board to the main board simply pulls out; there is no clip that holds it in.  Just pull it out, do your soldering, and the plug it back in.

[Todd_ID]

I ran the wires from the connector in through the microphone hole before soldering.


This is my first soldering attempt.  I used the same solder points as BobR's instructions showed.  I reassembled the camera completely only to find that it wouldn't power up when the wires were shorted (red-blue), but it would take a picture when shorted (yellow-blue).  I disassembled it again thinking my soldering must be bad on the power switch.  I jumpered the solder points, and it still didn't work.


I found that the camera would power on if I jumpered a different point on the power switch, so I soldered the red wire to that point, and it worked just fine.  I glued the wires to the board with a dot of super glue to keep them still while reassembling and to provide a little strain relief.

[Todd_ID]

This is the camera reassembled and functioning.


Now it's on to the case.  I cut a short piece of 1x1 aluminum angle (from Home Depot) and drilled a 1/4" hole for the thumb screw.  I used Goop glue to glue it to the case lid.  Also in this picture you'll see the red lining trimmed to allow the camera to fit sideways in the 1020 case; I left the seal around the rim so it'd still be watertight.

[billythekidrock]

Sweet!

[Todd_ID]

I used a spade bit to drill a 1" hole for the HPWA fresnel.  I just eyeballed the location over the sensor on the board.


Test fitting the HPWA.


Once the HPWA was fit but not glued I located the holes for the board mounting screws (again by eyeball) and drilled and countersunk the holes in the lid.  The HPWA sits on top of one of the board mounting screws, so they have to be countersunk.

[Todd_ID]

I used the nylon standoffs that I got from Snapshot Sniper that are for this board and this HPWA fresnel combination.  I also drilled a hole for the sensor on/off switch and mounted it.  I used Goop around the switch for waterproofing.  The silver clip on top of the board is the 9V battery holder that came with the board.  It mounts to the board using the board mounting screw and comes with a nylon spacer that keeps the battery holder from shorting on the board.


I drilled 3/16" holes to mount the eyebolts in the base of the case and Gooped them in.  Now it's time to locate and drill the lens extension hole.


I just eyeballed the center and used a 1" spade bit.  Then I used a dremel to grind it just a bit larger.

[Todd_ID]

The lens extended about 1/4" past the front of the case.  I used a piece of PVC that was laying around that had a large enough internal diameter to accomodate the small part of the lens that protruded.  I Gooped it to the case and then cut a piece of glass from a cheap picture frame I found in my shop.  I Gooped the glass to the PVC and let it all dry a while.  I taped the lens, flash area, and HPWA in preparation for texturing and painting.  I laid beads of Liquid Nails construction adhesive very scientifically spaced throughout the cover and sides of the case.



Then I used a piece of kindling to spread the Liquid Nails into a textrure of some sort.  I tried hard to keep the adhesive texturing away from the seam between the two halves of the case and away from the hinges and latch.  I let this dry for a few hours.

[Todd_ID]

Noticing that tree bark has a bit of a red tint to it I painted the entire case with a base coat of a ruddy brown primer.  Then I gave it an almost-covering-everything coat of Krylon Camo Ultra-Flat Khaki paint.


I grabbed a tree branch left over from a Christmas wreath and used flat black to add highlights over the whole case.


I tried a few pictures, and I was getting a bit of reflection from the flash inside the case, so I taped off the inside of the lens extension and flash area and painted it with flat black. 

[Todd_ID]

And here's the finished product.  I'll be anxious to get it out and working and will post pictures when I get some.  The motion sensor is far better than on my store-bought trail camera, and the sensing-to-picture time is very good as well, so I think it'll be a good combination.  My testing in the driveway thus far is encouraging!

[Crunchy]

Now those are good instructions and pics help a ton.  I am going to make two myself here in the next few so I will be hitting you up for some info soon.

[cwuwildcat]

Looks like another project I'm going to start, and piss of my wife because I'm working on it instead of the honey-do list!  Thanks for the instructions.

[Skycruiser]

Gol dang, Todd! You are one clever and persistent guy!

[Todd_ID]

Looks like another project I'm going to start, and piss of my wife because I'm working on it instead of the honey-do list!  Thanks for the instructions.

That sounds very familiar!

[let.it.fly]

great texture, now paint that bad boy, bet it will almost disappier on the right stump