Quick-Release Filter Mount

This is a project I worked on individually during my mechanical engineering internship at DJI’s industrial drone department in summer 2017. It was intended to be used for 3D camera on the agricultural drone to take pictures of crops. We need a quick release filter mount to allow users quickly switch multiple combinations of filters for the two lenses on 3D camera.

I went through multiple designs after taking advice and requests from camera engineers on FOV, industrial designers on exterior look and hardware engineers on camera specifications. I also worked with DJI Japan who needed the prototype for testing on crop field. I generated the engineering drawings and was able to successfully prototype 5 units and sent them to testing in Japan.

All of my work was done on DJI owned computer so I am not able to shown any of the CAD or FEA I worked on. Below are some images of the prototype I made.

Exterior Look

As you can see, I have a camera cover that protects the 3D camera while the extrusion is analyzed to balance the center of mass when mounted on X5S gimbal.

Top view

The quick release mechanism is the knob that is a hand screw which allows user to take the filter combination off and quickly switch on another set with different combination. The cutouts and chamfer in the middle are for FOV purpose. While extra openings on each side is to let users easily see the engraved name on filter pieces.

Filter combination set

Above is the other side of the filter set that would be part of the quick release mechanism. It’s two parts screwed together with rubber rings in between clamping two filters in the middle. Users can have multiple sets ready and just use the hand screw to attach them to the camera cover easily.

Notice there is a neat design that keeps the hand screw with the set when screwed off from the camera cover. This is done through a two part hand screw and extra vertical space.