So, there seems to be a handful of these things on the market for a decent chunk of change and then the DIY approach. Since I had a piece of cedar and I was at Princess Auto here's what I came up with.

Cost $8 for the inspection mirror



Squared up the cedar with a hand plane



Chop into 2x2x2" squares



Cut on a 25 degree angle to make a wedge shape after measuring the rough angle needed on the drip tray



Snipped part of the last section off of the inspection mirror and drilled a hole through the edge of the wedge to pressure fit it into and that's it.

Great write up. Are you selling these?

Great write up. How is it in use? Is the mirror large enough?

I love your initiative, and it looks really cool. But my question is, why do you need a hands-free mirror?

I bought a set of three 2.5" diameter mirrors off amazon for $7.50 shipped to my door. Once my basket is ready and engaged on the group, I hold the mirror in one hand and operate the lever with the other. When the shot is flowing well, I put the mirror down and watch the stream directly.

How expensive would it be to do this with some sort of small camera? Obviously not for $8.

Tinter wrote:Great write up. Are you selling these?

Not selling. Just an idea. Pretty simple to knock together.

emradguy wrote:I love your initiative, and it looks really cool. But my question is, why do you need a hands-free mirror?

Doing other things plus hand holding anything will be shaky.

mckolit wrote:Great write up. How is it in use? Is the mirror large enough?

Mirror is a perfect size at that distance for a portafilter. Inspection mirrors have a slight magnification factor so they are probably ideal for this sort of thing.

jpender wrote:How expensive would it be to do this with some sort of small camera? Obviously not for $8.

You could mill up a slightly larger cube and then leave a small lip along the bottom edge (like the bottom of a chalkboard) and rest one of those tiny GoPro's on it I suppose.