raspberrypi.org/magpi The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book 77
INSTAGIF NEXTSTEP Projects
Instant design
To begin with, Abhishek sketched
out his plan on paper, before
turning to Autodesk Fusion 360.
His design had to take two units
into account: the camera (dubbed
CamPi) and the cartridge (SnapPi).
To produce the camera, he used
a Raspberry Pi Camera Module,
an iPhone lens, and an 8GB SD
card. The cartridge uses a 2.8-inch
screen and another 8GB SD card. A
Raspberry Pi Zero W was fitted into
the cartridge, and a Raspberry Pi 3
was used in the camera.
“I had to think and visualise ways
of assembling the thing, and look
at how it would be disassembled if
I had to troubleshoot something,”
explains Abhishek. “I needed to
consider how everything would fit
together and be placed to minimise
the size. A lot had to be done to
conserve space, and I mutilated
both of the Raspberry Pis I used in
the project quite a bit, but that’s
what made using them so great.”
>STEP-01
Inserting the components
There wasn’t much space for the
components in this build. Abhishek
fitted a 2.8-inch PiTFT screen into the
cartridge, and he chose a 400 mAh
LiPo battery to power the cartridge
when it’s ejected.>STEP-02
Using a Pi Zero
A Raspberry Pi Zero W was soldered
to the screen. Abhishek removed the
header pins from the screen, sanded
down the Pi’s micro USB ports and PCB,
and removed the top casing from the
HDMI port.>STEP-03
Charging up
The cartridge is charged by a PowerBoost
1000C charger in the camera. Python and
Node scripts run in the camera, handling
the connections and camera control.
Clicking the button starts and stops the
GIF recordings.SNAP HAPPY
The Pi boards were trimmed and
sanded. The Ethernet port and a
dual USB port were removed from
the Raspberry Pi 3, so the mounting
holes could be used for the
camera chassis. Four circuits were
produced to manage the wiring and
distribute power, and Abhishek
made his own USB cables. Major
issues included finding a suitableway of ejecting the cartridge from
the camera (Abhishek chose a
rack-and-pinion mechanism with
wheels to eliminate friction), and
solving a wide-angle problem.
“But I like the community the Pi
has,” he says. “A solution to the
problem you are facing is probably
out there somewhere.”Instant success
It helped that he split the project
into small, doable chunks.
“It meant I could go through an
individual process of iteration,
testing and refinement,” he adds.
Indeed, once the working piecesFor me, it was not so much about
the learning curve being steep as
about finding creative solutions
were ready, it was simply a case of
assembling them into the printed
plastic components that made up
both the camera and the cartridge.
Finally, Abhishek could point the
camera, press the record button,
and watch as the cartridge popped
out and the GIF appeared.
Was it worth it? “The reaction
has been super-positive,” he says.
“For me, it was not so much about
the learning curve being steep as
about finding creative solutions to
the problems that arise every step
of the way.”The parts were printed using a Project 7000 SLA printer,
before being sanded and painted