Balloon Attachments and Clips

This week I have been trying to get my head around how to attach the balloon to the camera and although I haven't made this a top priority like it should have been, I'm happy with what I have reached.

I started off with looking at what is already available and what I could replicate and then make my own. The first is this fancy version of a balloon cup.

Having already purchased and tested how a balloon clip could be incorporated into the design I thought this looked easy to test and try. I started off making it out of blue foam just to get a general feel for the shape and then neatened this up before trying it.

I tried it out with a 9" balloon to see how it would fit with this. I had made the clip just big enough for this size of balloon. I then thought that this might actually work so I decided to lasercut it out of cardboard and try the rigidity of this. It wasn't until after I had done this that I realised it was gonna be far too small to fit a huge 36" balloon.

I had to rethink how the balloon would be attached to the camera. I didn't want to just make a huge version of this clip. I was thinking more about how the user would interact with the product as a whole and how difficult it could be seen for them to set the device up. I don't want the user to have to attach the balloon to the helium tank then tie the balloon and then attach it to the camera then attach the camera to the reel. It all seems overly complicated and difficult. I was also thinking hard it would be to tie a 36" balloon and the chances of letting this go would be pretty high. Therefore I'm thinking that attaching this to the camera device and then inflating it would be more suitable.

I had also looked at this interesting looking clip. Apparently it's suitable for large balloons to keep it shut. I read up on it and had a look at it in closer detail and thought that this would be perfect to try out. I ended up buying one and when I went to try it out on my 36" balloon it was far too big. The way the clip works is amazing but it didn't shut tight enough to stop the air coming out of the balloon. This would be a huge problem in the ideal world.

Here's some more clips and attachments that I have came across that might still be useful later on in the project.