Natika Mount for Pro Grill

(yes I screwed up on the numbering)

Ok so I finally got this all installed (over the course of ~3-4 days) and took it out for a maiden today...

First things first I needed a spot to put the switch for the anytime front camera...



Found a good spot to put the relay



The Natika Camera has about 1m of cable on the camera side (the side with the super-thin connector that would have been SUPER easy to feed through a firewall grommet.) It's got about 3m on the other side and that side has not one, not two, but THREE large lumps (connectors and a junction) in the cable. I managed to get the camera connector and junction lump through the small extra nipple in the main firewall harness pass-through on the driver side. The wife helped (not sure it would have been doable without a second person). A couple of failed attempts, lots of cussing, and some lube.

Camera!!


Pretty sure the apparent misalignment in the picture is from the angle I took the picture and not actually there.

This was the 8th print. I realized after putting it in on the truck that maybe I should have stubbed the ends where it comes to points to better match the grill... I don't actually care that much though...

And...

Success!!!

You can see the grill in the bottom which makes at least a rough gauge for distance etc. I'm not convinced either way on the lines yet, I figured I'd keep them until I know I don't need/want them since it's a tiny little wire that I have to snip/repair to go back.
I had to snip the purple and the white wires to flip and rotate the image.
You can see the ONE switch I went to all that work to get installed.
Interestingly both the back and front light up when I switch to the front, only the back lights up when I switch to the back though.

Questions/Comments...

 

Looks really good! I like the solution for not having to drill the grille. I've always found those distance lines strange when they're aiming into the ground like that, but just imo.

For the switch, they both light up for the front because what's actually happening is a signal for the "backup camera" to come on and then switching the input to the front. It's why when you go to turn the front camera off you get a split second of the rear view.

 

Print me one? I pay

 

I'm curious why you had to rip off every dash piece to get that switch in there. When I did mine I just reached down through the radio hole and popped out the blank I had where you slushbox bois have your ECT power button. Only piece of trim I took off was the one around the radio.

 

Replaced that panel with a meso custom part that adds the switch location. Mine was completely full from the factory. OR with tech and premium package.

 

Looks like shipping would be ~$8, eeeeww

 

Ok so I said I'd throw the files up...

Fusion360
https://www.dropbox.com/s/axxnc0mc68l13h4/TRDProNatika Mount v8.f3d?dl=0
STL
https://www.dropbox.com/s/st7zfwvnrt2pm20/TacomaProNakitaMount-v8.stl?dl=0

And if anyone feels obligated to donate something frosty...
https://ko-fi.com/s7726man

Let me know if you have any questions about design decisions. The path to the end result is not the "cleanest", but it's largely a product of the reverse engineering process.

I did drill out (5/32) the screw holes to get the screws I used in. I used the screws left over from the letters on my pro grill (course thread, large head).

on my printer it worked best to print it with the show-side up.

 

What setting was your printer when you printing it?

 

It was a while ago, don't remember exactly. I used PLA+ though and a lot of coats of filling primer and sanding.

 

Thank you for this stl! Worked great on my pro grille, clicks into grille perfectly and secures tightly with screws and washers. Printed with 40% infill and it seems to be a very durable design. Shows a bit more bumper than I'd like

 

Probably depends on the bumper you have.

It's about as angled as would fit in the little grill slot without cutting or anything.

I like being able to see some of the bumper, it gives a solid reference point for relative position of things.

Really want to get motivated and build a second one, move them to the outsides of the grill as a stereo pair. Then send a processed depth map image instead of just the camera. Part of the point was to see objects, drops, etc. Without depth perception that can get tough.

I did about 10 rounds of filler primer and sanding and then a few final coats of matte black spray paint and sanding. It still looks good as new parked in the Mojave desert sun every day. And doesn't really look 3d printed, matches the rest of the grill pretty well I think.

 

Does anyone have a photo of how they secured the mount using screws in the rear?

 

I need this

 

Been installed since I finished it, no issues with it.

My "pro grill" Came with extra screws. Course thread with a large head. The mount clips in a little bit just due to the geometry, but the screws hold against the top edge.

 

Awesome. I’ll look for something similar in the parts bin. Did you use the camera spacers from Natika? There appears to be 4 different sizes.

 

@TurdTaco64 DO Tell me more!
I want to change the whole switch panel with a custom one. Is this doable in the manner you describe?

Even if I can do a switch or two it would be good as I put off tearing my dash apart just to get to this center switch panel.

 

No it fits in as is, no additional spacers.