A B
C
EF D
KEEPING THE POWER BUTTON PRESSED ON:
Figs. A and B: Use pliers to bend a 3" aluminum mending brace. Fig. C: Attach a #8 screw onto the bracket
with 2 nuts. Fig. D: Position the screw directly over the
power button and glue it in place with 5-minute epoxy.
Fig. E: Turn the screw by hand until it begins to tighten
against the power button. Fig. F: Tighten the top nut
against the brace to lock the setscrew in place.
my camera will switch on upon power-up if its
power button is held in the depressed position. To
do this, I fashion a simple bracket and setscrew.
I bent a 3" aluminum mending brace as shown in
Figures A and B.
Now thread one nut partway down the #8 screw,
insert it in a bracket hole, and thread the other nut
on the other side, so that it looks like Figure C. Then,
positioning the screw directly over the power button,
glue it in place with 5-minute epoxy as in Figure D.
Hold onto the nut between the brace and the camera,
and turn the machine screw by hand until it begins to
tighten against the power button (Figure E).
Photography by Alexander Tarrant
You should feel some resistance, and the camera
should turn on. Don’t overtighten, as this could
damage the camera. Tighten the top nut against
the brace to lock the setscrew in place (Figure F).
Note that with the power button held down, you
may not be able to operate the camera manually, as
its buttons will be unresponsive. You will, however, be
able to operate it remotely using the gPhoto software.
6. Assemble and install
the camera mount.
Camera tripod sockets accept a ¼- 20 bolt, which
makes it easy to improvise a mount with a single
bolt, mounted through the floor of the enclosure.
Use a hex nut to tighten a large washer against the
bottom of the camera.
I want my camera pitched upward within the
enclosure, to capture more of the sky, so my mount
includes an L-bracket bent down to about 45° using
a couple of pairs of vise-grips (Figure I). The camera
is attached to the bracket using a ¼- 20× 1" machine
screw, a big 1½" washer, and a nut. The other leg of
the bracket is mounted to the enclosure floor.
If your enclosure has knockouts, you may want
to use them for bringing your power cords and USB
cables into the box; I just cut a notch at the front
of the box floor for easy access with the enclosure
cover door removed (Figure J).
5. Install the enclosure window.
I removed the front cover of the enclosure, cut a 4"× 4"
window, and sealed the glass into place with the
silicone adhesive (Figures G and H, following page).
7. Put it all together.
After assembling the enclosure outside, I plugged
my PC and the extension cord into the UPS power
supply, and ran the power and USB cables out my
window. I made sure the setscrew was properly set
to ensure that the power is on, then plugged in the
121 Make:
