I designed my own arm clip for mounting anti collision/NAV lights

[mikegrad]

I use the older firehouse lights on my M2P, M2EA, and i was tired of mounting the velcro to the aircraft body itself. So i designed and printed the below clips for the mavic arms. They work pretty good! i have seen some commercial ones that you can actually slide the light into, but i wanted to keep the weight down and the options free - you could even drill through this and use some screws and straps for a more permanent mount!

The design process did take a good 4+ hours to get all the angles correct. Printed in PETG for strength and flexibility! Oh, and im not really sure this is a hardware mod, but it was the closest place i thought it could go..

 

[vindibona1]

While your mount is quite creative and handy. I can appreciate your workmanship.

Not my idea, but I've adopted the poor-man's method of arm mounting that I saw somewhere and thought it was brilliant and had to try it. Elastic hair bands that cost about $2.50 US for 300 of them. Extremely think, flexible and strong. I like this mounting better than velcro. I don't think you can get any lighter than this. I actually lost an Arc V with Firehouse velcro so not using that stuff any longer. Never lost one with this stuff. Super cheap effective and takes no time. I have Vifly's mounted on my Mini 2's front arms the same way. Elastic hair bands

 

[mikegrad]

While your mount is quite creative and handy. I can appreciate your workmanship.

Not my idea, but I've adopted the poor-man's method of arm mounting that I saw somewhere and thought it was brilliant and had to try it. Elastic hair bands that cost about $2.50 US for 300 of them. Extremely think, flexible and strong. I like this mounting better than velcro. I don't think you can get any lighter than this. I actually lost an Arc V with Firehouse velcro so not using that stuff any longer. Never lost one with this stuff. Super cheap effective and takes no time. I have Vifly's mounted on my Mini 2's front arms the same way. Elastic hair bands

View attachment 150508

i like that - simple and cheap. any issues with them breaking, or the light sliding out the side?

 

[vindibona1]

i like that - simple and cheap. any issues with them breaking, or the light sliding out the side?

None. In fact if I need to remove the light I can just pop it out from behind the bands. To make it easy to get back in I'll use a tweezers or other slim tool to get under the bands to make it easy to reinstall the strobes. Every couple of months or when I see stretching or drying I'll replace the bands as they get a bit stretched out. I've actually lost two strobes with the velcro. One just fell off randomly without any reason beyond wind and the second fell off when it had a minor collision with a tree branch. You can't imagine how miffed I was losing the strobe just because the velcro didn't hold. Both were attached with the Firehouse supplied velcro. For other mounting positions I use heavy duty velcro, not the ones from Firehouse. Note: The Firehouse velcro starts out fine, then gets worn quickly and doesn't have the retaining strength as when it was new.

Again, no issues with the elastic bands. IMO can't get better and cheaper for mounting on the arms.

 

[Flying Skwerl]

While your mount is quite creative and handy. I can appreciate your workmanship.

Not my idea, but I've adopted the poor-man's method of arm mounting that I saw somewhere and thought it was brilliant and had to try it. Elastic hair bands that cost about $2.50 US for 300 of them. Extremely think, flexible and strong. I like this mounting better than velcro. I don't think you can get any lighter than this. I actually lost an Arc V with Firehouse velcro so not using that stuff any longer. Never lost one with this stuff. Super cheap effective and takes no time. I have Vifly's mounted on my Mini 2's front arms the same way. Elastic hair bands

View attachment 150508

DOES THE LIGHT EFFECT

 

[Flying Skwerl]

Do the lights interfere with the camera exposure when videoing or taking photos at night? Are you using any Velcro behind the light against the arm? What brand if you are?

 

[MS Coast]

I use the older firehouse lights on my M2P, M2EA, and i was tired of mounting the velcro to the aircraft body itself. So i designed and printed the below clips for the mavic arms. They work pretty good! i have seen some commercial ones that you can actually slide the light into, but i wanted to keep the weight down and the options free - you could even drill through this and use some screws and straps for a more permanent mount!

The design process did take a good 4+ hours to get all the angles correct. Printed in PETG for strength and flexibility! Oh, and im not really sure this is a hardware mod, but it was the closest place i thought it could go..

View attachment 150493

Why not just put the velcro on the arm?

 

[vindibona1]

Do the lights interfere with the camera exposure when videoing or taking photos at night? Are you using any Velcro behind the light against the arm? What brand if you are?

The lights do not effect camera exposure in any way, nor do they seem to present signal interference no matter where they are mounted.

The lights all have "male" velcro just for versatility in case I want to place them elsewhere. The arms on my M2P do have velcro, but I have had two lights fall off of the velcro, one on it's own and the second after a minor crash. The hairbands can and will hold the lights in place without it. My Mini 2 has only the hairbands on the arms and I have had no issues in over 1 year's time. I do see that they get a little stretched out over time, but it takes only seconds to replace them. I think there are like 300 bands in the pack for $2.50- perhaps a lifetime supply . You can't believe how much elasticity and strength these tiny thin bands have. I would highly recommend them, even if you use velcro.