Engineering type folks, inspiration please.

Cut a long story short I wanna better satnav mount, ram do some for my satnav but they don't allow use of the charging side of things.

So I've got a standard Tomtom sucka mount and took it apart to get to the ball, like so...




Ram do ball to ball clamp arms but only in .560" and then 1"" so nothing will fit this as it's approx 18mm ( I didn't write exact size down when I checked it with my vernier).

So, does anyone have any ideas where I can get a ball clamp that I can get for this size? Or any suggestions on another way to mount it?

Mounting to the bike is the easy bit, I just need to be able to clamp the sat nav end.

I could remove ball altogether but thought this would be a good form of adjustment using this method.


Cheers

[Bibio]

depending on the diameter of the stem of the part you have. you could cut the ball off it and cut a new thread onto the stem and use one of these.

http://www.buybits.com/Product/4692/...-sku-4692.aspx

if the stem will go into the above RAM ball but not accept a thread cut onto it then just use 2 part 'liquid steel' down the hole of the RAM ball with the tomtom stem in the middle. i would be inclined cutting small grooves in the stem if using the liquid steel method.

once achieved the it will fit any RAM mounting hardware.

I reckon a standard RAM arm will hold that ball, the width of the jaws is just adjusted by tightening the screw thread. It's basically just a clamp and within reason will grip other sizes of ball. My RAM arm will grip the mirror stem on the XT.

Or just add some rubber to make up the gap within the ram mount.

Thanks guys, you gave me some ideas there.


Bib, the 1"ball would be ideal as I could then get two clamps and have one on my DRZ as well, a 1/4 unc thread is bigger than the Tomtom thread but I could just bush it which makes it removeable.


Col, would that clamp work on two different diameter balls, meaning the standard 1" one end then my 18mm one the other?

Can I try yours on it? If this worked this would be cheapest and best solution.

Thanks again, my creative juices have started flowing

Utilizing the front centre tank bolt,replace with a Telforiser ball mount,use the bracket shown in Ralph's post with hard sponge rubber[as in draught excluder]to take up the difference in ball mount size. I ran the lead under the tank,cable tied where applicable, direct from the battery and cable tied it to the bottom of the Telforiser front tank mount.
This was a Garmin Zumo which allowed me to either remove the set itself or remove the complete fitting by removing the bracket,only the front ball mount and the power source remained in place when the bike was left overnight,

I used this for the best part of 10,000miles and had no problems it only takes 30secs to refit in the morning,hope the idea helps.

[yorkie_chris]

Same thing with ball on centre nut, but then just take 2x plates, drill holes a little smaller than the balls in each end, add a stainless coach bolt, wingnut and spring washer and job's a good un.

Use 5mm ally for ease, you could even have it looking fancy and polish it up.

Yep, the clamp is just two halfs, with a bolt through the middle. It'll clamp two different size balls, or it'll clamp one ball with the jaws closed at the other end. You can try it on mine, but it would be good to try both 0.56 and 1" clamps to see which one grips better, from the perspective of the diameter curve of the ball vs the curve of the clamp. It looks like your ball there is hard plastic and the RAM mount is designed to hold a rubber ball securely, so maybe a bit of rubber between would be required to stop it vibrating loose, particularly on the DRZ, but the clamp can clamp pretty tight and you may not need it. As with anything not designed for the purpose, it would be a bit of trial and error.

As YC said, my plan was to put a ball on centre stem nut, then a longish clamp arm to get it up the level I need it.

Im glad I posted this now as it's gave me a couple of good ideas


Cheers

After measuring the ball again accurately, its exactly 19.60mm, a standard ram ball is 25.40mm so that leaves 2.9mm either side of the ball which as suggested i could make up in rubber if needed.

So, im gonna gamble and order the 6 inch double 1" ball socket arm and a threaded 1" ball which i will attach to my central stem nut.

Im hopeful this will be a quality fit rather than something lashed together.

They do one of these which would work but id still need the rear docking shoe fitted to power it, but not attached to anything will look naff but its a plan B if plan A dont work.