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How to Make a Mini Tripod for Your Camera. Turn an old tennis ball into a nifty camera
tripod in just minutes. Inspired by an Instructables.com project: http://www.instructables.com/id/SDMK5MWFDO29GEZ/
You will need A tennis ball A pen A knife, scissors, razor blade, or saw A quarter-inch-by-one-inch,
20-thread, nylon machine screw and a drill or hole puncher (optional). When wielding
a knife, razor blade, saw, or drill, always use extreme caution. Step 1. Take an old tennis
ball—one that has lost its bounce—and cut it in half with a knife, scissors, razor
blade, or saw. Step 2. Take a pen and, at the bottom edge of one half of the tennis
ball, anywhere you like, make a small mark that reaches about half an inch up the side
of the ball. Then make another pen mark half an inch away from that. This set of marks
represents the first "foot" of your tripod. Step 3. Mark out the second foot by moving
one and a half inches away along the edge of the ball and making a mark there and a
mark half an inch from that. Repeat this process one more time, making a third set of marks
one and a half inches away from the second set. Step 4. Flatten the ball and cut away,
in a straight line, the space between the three “feet” you’ve just created with
your pen marks. When you release the ball, you’ll have a dome with three feet that
are separated by arches. Step 5. At the top of the dome, draw a circle about the size
of a quarter and cut that out. You may also cut out a little square adjacent to the circle
to make a keyhole design; this will allow you to tilt the tripod in different directions.
Step 6. Take the other half of the tennis ball and cut two circles out of it, each approximately
one and a half inches in diameter. Then cut a quarter-inch hole in the dead center of
each circle to make two washers. If you have a hole puncher or a drill with a quarter-inch
bit, use that to make the center holes. Step 7. Take a quarter-inch-by-one-inch, 20-thread,
nylon machine screw and hold it so that it points up, with the screw head on the bottom.
Now push one of the washers, rounded side up, all the way down the screw until it touches
the screw head. Step 8. Next, push the tripod dome down over the washer. Finally, push the
second washer, rounded side up, down on top of the dome. The washer, dome, and washer
should all fit snugly together. Step 9. Find the tripod mounting hole that is on the bottom
of all cameras, both film and digital, and place it over the screw sticking out of your
tennis ball tripod. Voilà! You’ve got a pocket camera tripod. Did you know A tennis
ball is still good if it bounces between 53 and 58 inches when dropped from a height of
100 inches.