The GoPro is the iconic small / lightweight action camera.
I picked one up to shoot band footage and try out some YouTube videos.
(I bought the GoPro HERO10.)
The catch: GoPro uses its own proprietary mount, so you basically need a dedicated GoPro tripod.
Which means buying a separate tripod from the one you already own.
Letting an existing tripod go to waste seemed silly, so I decided to make my own adapter that lets a GoPro mount on a standard tripod.
How the GoPro Mount Works
Quick look at the mount design.
Most cameras and camcorders have a tripod thread on the bottom — typically a 1/4-inch female thread.
The GoPro doesn’t have that 1/4-inch thread on the bottom, so it can’t mount directly on a standard tripod.
Here’s the underside of the GoPro:
It comes with a proprietary GoPro mount.
To make my adapter, first I need to remove the stock mount from the bottom of the GoPro.
It’s held in by 4 Torx T5 (star-shaped) screws — remove them with a T5 driver.
With the stock mount removed:
Building the Tripod Adapter
The plan: bolt the new adapter to the same 4 screw holes the stock mount used.
Design
For the adapter material I picked up a 5 mm × 15 mm aluminum bar at the home improvement store. Cost: about 380 yen (~$2.50).
5 mm thickness is enough to take a tripod screw, and 15 mm width fits the GoPro’s underside perfectly. Length-wise, I’ll cut to size with a hacksaw.
15 mm width is just right for the GoPro:
The fabrication plan:
4 holes in the corners (2.5 mm dia) to match the GoPro’s 4 screw holes.
One hole in the center to be tapped for a 1/4-inch thread. Tapping requires a 5.1 mm pilot hole.
(I didn’t have a 5.1 mm bit on hand, so I used a 5 mm bit — explained below.)
The dotted-circle areas in the diagram are notches I’ll grind out — there are small bumps on the GoPro side that the adapter needs to clear.
Fabrication
Time to actually make the adapter.
Marking
Mark the hole locations.
Then dimple each mark with a center punch and hammer so the drill bit doesn’t wander.
Drilling
Drill the holes with a power drill.
(The next photo is from my first attempt — the holes drifted off-center; I forgot to take a photo of the second, successful attempt.)
Holes drilled.
The corner holes drifted slightly off-center, so I had to enlarge them from 2.5 mm to 3 mm to make the screws line up. Good enough for personal use 😄
…The right approach is to start with a smaller bit and step up gradually so the holes don’t drift — I cut corners.
The notches above and below the center hole clear the bumps on the GoPro side.
Tapping the 1/4-inch thread
Now the key step — tapping the center hole for the 1/4-inch tripod thread.
I bought a 1/4-20 tap at the home improvement store (I think it was around 700 yen).
The instructions say to drill the pilot hole at 5.1 mm. I didn’t have a 5.1 mm bit, so I used a 5 mm bit instead.
0.1 mm under-spec, but it worked fine.
■ Substituting cooking oil for tap oil
The instructions say to use tap oil. I don’t own machine oil, so I substituted regular cooking oil.
I also don’t own a tap handle, so I used an adjustable spanner instead.
Result: cooking oil worked just fine for tapping.
I can’t tell you how it compares to dedicated tap oil, but I got clean threads either way — good enough.
Cutting to length
Final cut to length with a hacksaw.
Quick file pass to deburr the cut.
Test-fit on the GoPro underside. It seats cleanly.
Mounting
Bolt the adapter to the underside of the GoPro.
Screws: M2 × 8 mm, from the home improvement store.
(Since I enlarged the holes to 3 mm, I’m using washers underneath.)
What I’d improve next time
The corner screw heads stick up above the surface of the aluminum bar. The cleaner approach would be to counterbore each corner so the screw heads sit flush, like in the diagram below.
The tripod still mounts fine, so I’m calling this version done — but mostly because counterboring would be more fiddly work.
Done!
Adapter on the GoPro — let’s mount it on a tripod.
Mounted on a standard tripod!
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