jkbrooks

Design files for 3d printing

slovakdc

I went with Marylander's solution. I purchased the Shapeways 3D printed Garmin clip and slid it into the rear tabs of my Ortlieb saddle bag. The Garmin Varia LT515 fit nicely into the Garmin clip. However, due to the orientation of the Ortlieb bag, the Varia faces down several degrees. It's not perpendicular to the ground. I rode with it for the first time today. It was clearly working fine. Every time a vehicle approached me from the rear, it was depicted on my Hammerhead Karoo 2 bike computer as advertised. I'm satisfied. I may be able to adjust my Ortlieb bag so that the Varia will not tilt downward so much.

Thank you again, Marylander!

Marylander

WheresWaldo deserves more thanks than me, he designed it. I'm glad it's working for you.

JohnJ80

Here’s my latest mount of the Varia Radar. I like how it came out. It’s made up of the K-edge number holder and the K-edge stem cap. I think this may be the cleanest frame mount version I’ve seen if you have braze-ons.






Here are the links to the number holder and to the stem cap computer holder.

J.

jkbrooks

I like that JohnJ80! All off the shelf parts! Wish I'd seen your idea (or had a similar one) prior to my fairly overengineered approach

JohnJ80

what would be really cool is if someone did a 3D print model for the whole thing including the mount foot.

jkbrooks

wonder if someone could start with the drawing I had the Pakistani engineering kid do for $40 & modify it to include the 3/4 garmin mount. You’d think someone has a design for the mount piece that could be used. The Gino piece could be designed out pretty easily you’d think

But, alas, I didn’t take enough math in college to help much there 😉😅

robertAltman

@WheresWaldo,
Am I understanding correctly that you are the designer of the Shapeways Varia mount?
If so, I have a question for you: I did purchase one and it when the clip is mounted downward through a bike bag loop, the clip orients the Varia horizontally. Is there a reason for this? It seems to me like the mount should be rotated 90 degrees. Any chance of having that new configuration fabricated?

WheresWaldo

Turn it the other direction once inserted. It is designed to be used in either portrait or landscape modes.

robertAltman

How did I miss that?! I swear I tried it over a dozen times. Thanks.
I may wind up ordering a second clip so that I can leave them zip tied on my every-day and all-day bike bags.

There are a lot of great ideas on this forum, but I don't ever seem to have the time to actually build anything (and I would rather be riding on *my* time)

Thanks again.

WheresWaldo

I love all the suggestions in this thread, and the clever ways people are mounting their devices. My personal opinion, any way you can get it to work is the best way for it to be done. If it's my Shapeways clip or JohnJ80 and his braze on mount, or jkbrooks use of whatever it is that he is using, they work so they are perfect.

Marylander

Nice job on the mount! Google camera tether to see some options.

jkbrooks

I've got a "travel" bike with couplers (was my primary bike . . . then). It doesnt have rack braze ons so I didnt have a place to mount my gino/3d printed set up. I needed a bolt hole on the seat stay. Found a pretty cool solution. Works pretty well. Gotta make sure your mounting screw doesnt go all the way through to the frame. I mounted the collar on some silicone tape to minimize marking & I didn't crank it down super super tight (these things are made for internal combustion applications.) Obviously, I just moved the gino/3d printed mount thing I made along with the garmin seatpost mount and bolted it straight on. Used a star washer & will cover bolt in locktite. Works way better than the p-clamp approach I started with (which failed but the p-clamp cost me $1 and the shaft collar cost me $25.)

I paid my pakistani ME student $30 to make some design changes for this new approach. Happy to share those and the originals but I'm going with the v1 you see in the photo.

Collar shaft on seat stay. Gino bolted to collar shaft. 3d printed deal on gino. Garmin seatpost mount on 3d printed deal. Garmin mounted upside down. I used a spacer on the bolt connecting the gino to the collar shaft.

ColoFatherOf3

I'm surprised garmin doesn't offer a solution for attaching this to a saddle bag as opposed to having to 3D print from a 3rd party.

WheresWaldo

Garmin has specific instructions on how to mount the Varia device and it was designed with that in mind. They expect that the Varia is mounted vertically and that it is perpendicular to the ground, it's in the instruction sheet. Too much variability when mounting on a saddle bag so I suspect that is the reason they don't offer one.

And, I might be biased, but there is nothing wrong with a 3D printed mount.

JohnJ80

I too have no issue with a 3D printed mount and I’m sure Garmin anticipated that. It would be a giant PITA if they had to make all manner of mounts themselves and it would be impossible to come up with the diversity of mounts that are available from the 3D innovators.

Garmin’s guidance about mounting is ridiculously conservative. When the Radar first came out, I didn’t like the mount on the seatpost so I just put it in my jersey pocket which is transparent to radar. The performance wasn’t different than of it was mounted on the post. Even now, when I’m riding on a frontage road highway adjacent to a highway, the radar is accurately warning me of cars on the other side of the highway.

Warbird21

Great thread, I just ordered a Shapeways mount for my new Varia, thanks @ WheresWaldo!
I removed my seatbag last night and rode for the first time with the Varia, wow, I'm glad I made the investment, it worked great.
Does using it noticeably decrease the battery life of my Garmin 530?

ColoFatherOf3

I love the innovation of the 3D printer providers and didn't mean to slight them with my post. I can understand that Garmin would likely not entertain issues with performance of the radar unless mounted they way they authorize. Given it seems to work when mounted on a bag, I think that just shows that Garmin has a design that likely exceeds its own objectives. I would not hesitate to purchase a 3D printed mount.

Warbird21

My Shapeways/WheresWaldo mount was delivered. My bag strap for a light let it hang a bit too low and not horizontally.
I cut a small slip in the heavy fabric side of the bag and inserted the mount. It's very secure, and keep the light in the right position.

jkbrooks

https://problemsolversbike.com/produ...mount_-_271821

not sure how I came across this but I think this is the route I’d go if restarting the project. $8 is hard to beat & single piece + garmin seatpost clamp mount (its 22.5mm so I’d think you’d have to use some tape to bulk it up). Probably perfect if you got rack braze-ons. If not, my little Rutland Enginerring bobble would give you a bolt hole on seat stay.
My original goal was to mount varia on seat stay because I use a big seat post bag for touring (and I’m short so there’s precious little real estate on the seat post to begin with.). I have tried clipping other rear lights to the seatpost bag with a Jerry-rigged lanyard which worked about 80% ok but I’d have less confidence in having the radar back there.

ive learned here that I’m not alone in my quest…and that there are some REALLY great ideas people come up with!

JohnJ80

way too bulky for my taste. A lot easier to come up with either a strap around the seatstay to mimic a brazen and then a mount for a Garmin qtr turn to that. Anytime you start with the emulation of a seat post your committing to something at least 25mm in diameter.

mschwett 

tiny bit off topic (no bags) but i just got this SWAT mount for the varia, nice quality, seems robust enough, fits perfectly.