TriFold tripod
A 50 g tripod that stays screwed to the camera, with three ball-jointed legs that fold flat. Patent lodged, sold to friends and family and placed fourth in UQ Ventures.
- For
- Own venture
- Context
- UQ Ventures Validate program
- My role
- Inventor and designer
- Year
- 2022
- Weight
- About 50 g
- Mounting
- Standard 1/4-inch camera thread, tightened with a coin
- IP
- Australian provisional patent lodged
- Tools
- CAD, Engineering drawings, 3D printing
Problem
After five years of carrying a camera everywhere, I was almost never in my own photos, including the ones with my partner. Like most casual photographers, I left the tripod at home because it was bulky, and propped the camera on tables and ledges to take timer shots instead. More than once it fell.
A tripod small and light enough to stay on the camera permanently would always be there when needed.
Design
TriFold is a small plate assembly that screws into the camera’s tripod socket. Three legs end in ball joints, clamped between two plates by a central 1/4-inch bolt. Tightening the bolt squeezes the balls, and the friction holds each leg wherever you set it. Fold the legs flat and the tripod sits almost flush under the camera. Swing them out and the camera stands on its own. The bolt takes a coin, so no tools are needed.
3D model loads when you scroll here.
One leg and a clamp plate from the CAD files.
Validation
TriFold went through UQ Ventures’ Validate program. The work defined the problem and the customer, compared TriFold with existing mini tripods such as the Gorillapod, and costed a bill of materials covering the legs, rubber feet, D-ring bolt, ball bearings and 1.6 mm stainless plate.
Protecting the idea was a real concern. A simple, clever product is easy to copy once it is public, so the work included a study of StikBox, a selfie-stick phone case that was copied and sold cheaply within a week of its Kickstarter launch. I then drafted and lodged an Australian provisional patent with a drawing.
Outcome
- A working prototype, followed by finished units sold to friends and family, most of whom were happy with them.
- The finished tripod weighs about 50 g and is still in daily use on my own camera.
- TriFold placed about fourth in the UQ Ventures program.
The program gave a grounding in the business side of a product: who the customer is, what they would pay and how to protect the idea. The project has since been paused while other work took priority.