Friction Ball Joint OEM? 1

[mesa5]

Does anyone know of a company that makes locking/friction fit ball joints for OEM applications? I need a ball-in-socket type joint, but instead of being free floating I would like it to either be lockable, or preferably, have enough friction to hold up a 1 lb load until moved by a human. Essentially I need an oversize GPS mount with threaded connectionson either end instead of typical mounts.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[sreid]

How about a Magnetic Base Dial Indicator holder.

 

[3DDave]

There are a number of spherical ball tripod heads for photographic use.

 

[mesa5]

I have looked into both of those products, but the problem is I can't find anyone that makes the "raw components" not already integrated into an existing product. I need to do a short production run, so I can be stripping apart tripods just to get a ball and socket.

 

[3DDave]

The heads are separate from the tripods.

 

[Sparweb]

There are 1001 products on the market that do something akin to "an oversize GPS mount".
Some are so simple that I'm sure a small amount of reverse-engineering would furnish you with an assembly you can use.

STF

 

[mesa5]

There are 1001 products on the market that do something akin to "an oversize GPS mount".

You'd think that, until you start researching it. Very few have the features I'm looking for (friction fit w/o a separate locking knob, threaded terminations on both ends, OEM supplier, etc...). RAM mounts (as you've pictured) do come very close, but I wanted to see if there was anything else.

Obviously reverse engineering is a possibility, but I'd like to avoid it if I can. Its not worth the effort if an off the shelf solution exists.

 

[gruntguru]

Ball joints from the front of a Mini are adjustable. Link
The male thread is part of the front upright so you would have to make that part.

je suis charlie